Sat 2 Dec Captain Matthews called to say that he had visited the area of the rope swing yesterday and found the area trashed... to include empty gin bottles lying about. Over hearing the conversation, the Caretaker's Wife chimed in to say that on Thursday night after midnight another large party group had gone to the rope swing area but she had not awakened the Caretaker to mention it. Thursday night it was considerably below freezing and one can imagine much gin would have been necessary to ignore that fact. Again, one would think there are better places to party where one does not have to walk over a quarter mile in freezing dark. This means partying two nights in a row. On the second night several female voices were heard, but it is probably safe to say no party activities were indulged in that involved disrobing.

Mon 4 Dec The bird feeders are now out... a large "Dr. Geis" hanging feeder, hanging thistle for the finches, suet for the woodpeckers, and a large window platform feeder for everyone. We managed to get them up one afternoon and waited with heightened expectation for them to be discovered, but as daylight finally passed there were no visitors but instead that type of disappointed annoyance when the main event at a concert keeps you waiting. And since it is now terminally brown down here, one could walk the Island and see no life... and hence no movement... just a sort of cold aloneness.

Stepping out early the next morning all had changed! The constant flurry of three-dimensional movement was dizzying. There were birds on every branch stretching to the water's edge. Hundreds! Or so it seemed! Jockeying for position... stacked in landing patterns that would make National Airport on Xmas eve look desolate... each waiting to make the next small move closer once a bird on a feeder left. We are no longer alone... Nature is squabbling over space and seed outside our windows.

Thu 7 Dec Areas of bare ground are starting to take on a pockmarked and cratered look, indicating the freezing and thawing of surface ground water during this period of nighttime temperatures in the 20's. This is mentioned because of the several queries from Members about the geese. They are not in evidence... frozen ground at breakfast time is not for them... the red goose poop shovel has not been used in a long time... these temperatures are sending them further south into the tidewater... but that is only an afternoon commute for them when warmer temps return.

Mon 11 Dec In the winter when the leaves are gone one is suddenly confronted with the "nearness" of everything. This is not just visually... but aurally. There is no muffling effect to soften distant noises; hence many things seem closer than before. Sounds of the surrounding metropolis intrude and it is not as easy to pretend one is far out in the country. Still... even though the city may seem nearer by its noises, it is actually further in motivation. Leaving the Island in freezing weather is more like an EVA on the space shuttle... one has to really suit up and pay attention to what is going on, especially on the water, until one gets to the next warm place.

Tue 12 Dec It was 0800 hrs when the winds shifted, chilled, stiffened, and got downright loud... heralding the passing of the front line. The whole outdoor experience changed in but a moment and it was clear that suddenly wild and awesome forces had seized control of the world as limbs came crashing, whitecaps appeared, and exposed skin begged to go indoors. There is no drama more compelling than the drama of Nature flexing her weather. Not a good day to attempt to handle the ferry.

Fri 15 Dec One of the things to occupy a Caretaker's mind in the off-season is to muse upon the physics of the ferry. Hands grip the rope... shoulder and back provide the motive force... but it is through the ankles and feet that the actual force is transmitted to the ferry. Some of you who have substituted on a busy day may have awakened the following morning wondering why your ankles were sore.

This morning there was a coating of ice on the ferry... very slippery. Hands gripped the rope... shoulders and back slipped into gear... ankles and feet moved... but the ferry did not... and the Caretaker proceeded to pull himself across the ice on the ferry deck and almost off the edge of the ferry. Only artful teetering and tottering saved the Caretaker from a very cold swim. Fortunately, the laughter of the Caretaker's Wife was masked by the terror of that moment on the precipice. You all know how the ferry can hang up in low water, and you can be sure that icy ferry operations will never again be attempted without careful calculations of the co-efficients of friction.

Thu 21 Dec There is the looming presence of yet another house across the river, spoiling the viewscape of the Island and the river gorge. This is not a new house, like last year's intrusion, but the way it now sticks out gives meaning to the sounds of chain saws across the river that we heard all summer and fall. There ought to be a law.

Sat 23 Dec The river is frozen solid between the Island and the ferry landing on the Maryland shore. It took all morning to clear a channel for the ferry, which we had to do because of family arriving to spend Christmas, and it is noteworthy that the ice was so thick that the only technique that worked required two people. A single person on this Island would be ice-bound... the ice being too thick for the ferry and too thin to walk on. Arriving family does not yet suspect this Christmas will be a "Little House on the Prairie" experience, but we hope this will add to the Christmas-on-the-Island mystique.

Sun 24 Dec Weather conditions enroute caused arriving family members to be delayed last night until midnight. The ferry was run every hour until arrival in order to break up ice that was trying to re-form in the channel we had cut through this morning. Everyone is here... there is that charming feeling of being snowed/iced in for Christmas... just like "olden" days... we expect that to last until the younger set realizes there is no casual bopping out the door for a pizza or cola replacement.

Mon 25 Dec The first of family was scheduled to leave, and accordingly the canoe was deployed on the ice beneath the ferry pull rope. Adventurous nephew Bret Green then pulled himself across the cracking ice to the towpath to show how it is done, but some family members were daunted by the procedure and decided that thin ice was a perfect reason to cancel any plans to leave the Island.

Tue 26 Dec It is true that from our perspective there sometimes does not seem to be much intelligent life on the towpath. One of the most stupid things to witness is the all to common practice of throwing sticks into freezing water and forcing dogs to swim for them. Now you would think that if the river were frozen everywhere except where a channel in the ice was cleared for the ferry that even a clueless urbanite would suspect the water was cold. Or maybe it is not brains lacking but compassion. The sticks are thrown into the clear patch of water and invariably the dog runs down the ferry landing steps and stops on the last step. Of course, the dog is not stupid, and hesitates to throw his body into freezing water. But always there is the human urging the dog on or more sticks are thrown until the dog's desire to please overcomes common sense. Often some adult is thoughtlessly trying to amuse a child by forcing the dog into the icy water, and one wonders if we finally see the effects of an older generation of parents who have seen too many roadrunner cartoons. The TV generation is now rearing the digital generation and the disconnect with the natural world grows.

Wed 27 Dec We are now seeing the first people attempting to cross the ice while hanging on to the ferry rope. A sign has been posted warning folks of "dangerous ice," and they seem to agree because no one gets very far away from the ferry landing. The Caretaker's Wife has been heard to mutter about "pioneering" again, and indeed deserves recognition for being such a good 'Conestoga Woman" regarding her daily commute to work. The ice is now thick enough that it does not break beneath the canoe, and thus the crossing is not as un-nerving. Of course the Caretaker is not allowed to play on it after the close call of going through the ice last year while the Caretaker's Wife looked on.

Excerpted from the Caretaker's Log at sycamoreisland.org

-- Doc Taliaferro, Sycamore Island Caretaker