Lighthouse Diary: Day 4
I have got to quit going to bed so late. That alarm clock went off way too early this morning. It is raining this morning, but the wind has shifted, and it looks like blue sky to the north. The lake is extremely calm today. We actually have more shoreline, amazing how that works when you don’t have huge waves crashing into the shore.
I went for a short walk this morning, I did not want to get too far from the lighthouse in case the skies decided to open up and rain on me. I might have melted and no animals hiss or growl at me today.
We were much busier today; it is the start of Memorial Day weekend and the State Park is filling up. The Rangers said the entire park should be full for the weekend. We still had time to visit with a fair number of visitors. Tomorrow may be another story. We had a couple kayak out, we had one family with some pretty unruly kids, and we had three couples who were very interested in being keepers. Our association is unique because we are the only Lighthouse Keepers Association that I know of in the State of Michigan that does not charge their keepers to be a keeper.
The piping plover lady stopped in for a visit. They are out most of the day looking for the plover nest. They said they have one with four eggs in it, in the dunes by the beach house.
Elaine and Joan took the afternoon off and were going to points unknown; I know ice cream and chocolate were on the agenda. I did suggest if they got to Traverse City to go to Moomer’s Ice Cream shop. Jack and Elaine used to own their own ice creams store in Sparta. They returned home around 10 p.m. I stayed tucked in my room so did not hear about their adventures. Sharon and Jim went out to dinner with family, so that left Bruce, Jack and I to eat leftovers. I did make a pan of brownies earlier in the day. Apparently the smell of baking brownies carried all the way up to the top of the tower. I had several people ask where the baked goods were being sold.
Jack, Bruce and I went for a long walk after dinner. We walked north on the beach and then back through the dunes looking for plover nests. I had never walked back there and got a different view of the lighthouse from that angle. God rewarded us this evening with awesome clouds so my pictures would not look so bland.
History Lesson; Addition of indoor plumbing in 1949.
During 1949, the Coast Guard extended the kitchen and living areas within the three apartments and installed indoor plumbing for each apartment. The privies were retained for a few years and were then removed. In 1952, a Coast Guard official labeled one of the photographs of the site that still showed the privies, “No longer needed, but not forgotten.” At the same time a steam boiler was installed in the basement supplying central heat to each room through the use of radiators.
Sam, our part time gift shop assistant, came out today. Sam has helped us out for many years. She knows as much about the gift shop as anyone. The keepers love her. Sam will finish up school next year at GVSU. I have never had an opportunity to get to know Sam as she is always in school when I am at the lighthouse. She is very, very nice.
Another beautiful day, lots of visitors and the day seemed to fly by.
As Always, Ceil