Mon 2 Sep The Island archives should record that Oscar has returned to his roots. Oscar is a shiner who was released yesterday by the Banta family back into his mother's natural habitat. He had been living in the Banta aquarium since his mother was captured from the river here and taken to their home. A third generation is still in the Banta aquarium and some of them may one day join Oscar.

Justine Wolk, a guest of the Banta's yesterday, deserves a special mention in the dispatches, cited by the Captain's Wife as "deserving of glorification for her effort and participation" in the Captain's project to remove the unsightly mess that had accumulated in the river near the Captain's float. Many will recall that a huge log had snagged in the branches of the fallen sycamore tree there and all summer has been accumulating floating trash and detritus. The Captain was able to somehow deploy sufficient rope and volunteers to remove the fallen log and clear out the unsightliness.

Tue 3 Sep Ed Gero's potluck dish at the Regatta was so popular that several wistful chewers demanded the recipe. In honor of the occasion, he has named his dish Sycamore Island Stir fry and the recipe has been forwarded to the Webmaster and may be obtained from the Island web page.

Wed 5 Sep The encounter seemed so innocent... who could have imagined the consequences to come. The squirrel was very young, and the Caretaker thought surely he was on the screen porch because of youthful exploration. The squirrel had been interrupted while about some business on the table near the door where there were several bags of grass seed in large paper bags. They had looked at each other and the Caretaker had actually been flattered that the squirrel showed no fear and sort of ambled off unworried. It was only after dark when loud critter sounds came from the screen porch that the Caretaker put it together and realized what had happened... the squirrels had located the secret Caretaker donut stash! The Caretaker jumped up and bolted for the door before he realized that by his very actions he was busted. Just as every Mother can tell when every little boy is guilty of something, this lore is somehow passed on through the Y chromosome to little girls, who become wives and can tell when big boys are guilty of something. Thus, every husband learns to cringe when a certain tone creeps in to the "Where are you going?"... which in some instances is code for "Why are you acting so guilty?" And so the whole ugly story was revealed... how the fishermen had left this box of donuts so decadent that just one bite was guaranteed to harden a mile of artery. The really tricky question was "Why did you feel you had to hide them?" Fortunately, most husbands eventually learn to recognize trick questions, and so instead of confessing that he simply wanted to avoid the lecture about the 40 zillion calories, the Caretaker tried to explain that he was not actually trying to hide the donuts... after all he did not hide them under the bags of grass seed... but merely placed them in the same paper bag. In the end the donuts were not confiscated, but they might as well have been, because there was no joy in gobbling them after discovery... and they went to the fishes.

Thu 6 Sep We have received news that Bill Banta is in the hospital as a result of an insect bite received on the Island while he was substitute caretaker last Sunday.

This year there is a multitude of stealth mosquitoes... so small and light that one cannot feel them land and are unaware of being visited until after the bite itches. These are the Asian tigers that are newly arrived in our area. The last two times the Caretaker has come down the path he has been bitten... in the daylight... so the threat lurks even before arriving at the Island and all visitors should prepare accordingly. On the last page of a special Scientific American issue devoted to nanotechnology passed on by Tryon Wells, Laurence Corash, Chief Medical Officer of Cerus Corporation, answers a question that has certainly been mulled over by this caretaker and probably everyone with an outdoor job: If a used needle can transmit HIV, why can't a mosquito? His answer:

The AIDS virus (HIV) on used needles is infectious when injected into a human because the virus can bind to T cells and start to replicate. The human T cell is a very specific host cell for HIV. When a mosquito feeds on a person with HIV, the HIV enters the insect's gut, where it cannot find a host. The malarial parasite, in contrast, can survive, multiply and mature in the mosquito's gut. The parasites then migrate to the insect's salivary glands. Because mosquitoes inject their saliva when they bite, the parasite is passed along to the next human on whom the insect feeds. The complex interaction between the infectious agent and the mosquito is thus required for malarial transmission. HIV, however, deteriorates in the gut before the mosquito bites again and therefore is not transmitted to the insect's next victim.

So... we do not all have to move to the Arctic Circle after all!

Fri 7 Sep Club Captain John Matthews has been concerned about the way the path down the hill has become dangerously washed out by recent heavy rains. Noticing that there was gravel and stuff left behind at the top of the hill by the Park Service when they upgraded the path and put in the water boards, he suggested that the Club might pay a laborer to bring shovel and wheelbarrow and transfer this abandoned path material from the top of the hill and fill in those washed out sections of the path. Sounds simple.... right? Wrong! Unfortunately he did the right thing and called Nancy Poe, Ranger Volunteer Coordinator, who oversaw the construction of the much-improved path. He was told to take pictures... come up with a plan... submit the plan in writing... and someone would maybe get back to him in three weeks. This is our government in action... or inaction!

People should be reminded that it was our own Caretaker Predecessor Ken Fassler who is primarily responsible for the user friendly path folks now use... who spent months establishing the grade, locating and lugging the locust logs used to originally border the path to contain erosion, and pounding steel rods to secure these logs in place on the hillside. True, the much-improved path results from the efforts of volunteers from the Justice Department who spent a Saturday morning working on the path as part of the program whereby government employees get comp time for participation in community activities, but the government "improved" path now requires government maintenance.

Sat 15 Sep This morning we received a call from a visitor to the Island who left the Island yesterday evening to find that his car in the parking lot on MacArthur Blvd. had been broken into and vandalized. The passenger window had been broken and approximately 6 eggs had been smeared on various places inside the auto for maximum effect... for instance one egg was broken and smashed into the air conditioning vents. Previous to his departure a loud and possibly drunk group had left the area of the illegal rope swing and gone up the hill. It is hard not to compare this attitude of vandalism to the attitude of terrorism... especially considering the increase in incidences of the last two weeks. The attention of the authorities is elsewhere these days, but when it is not, their attention should be focused on the situation at the rope swing. Anyway, Members should be informed regarding the threat to their parked vehicles.

Mon 17 Sep The Caretaker's Wife has asked that a compelling quote from yesterday's Post be noted in the Log. From Eleanor Roosevelt: "Dear Lord, lest I continue my complacent way, help me to remember, somewhere out there a man died for me today. As long as there be war, I must ask and answer: Am I worth dying for?"

Tue 18 Sep A week ago today the Island was crowded with folks who were either released from work places into a traffic logjam and were seeking a quiet eddy in the chaos to ride it out... or were specifically seeking out the Island as a place of calm reflection to find perspective regarding the day's tragedies. The Caretaker was not here that day but knows this mainly because of the many comments made on the ferry by so many who have returned since and voiced their heartfelt appreciation that the Island was here for them. That day is forever seared into the national consciousness in the same way that the Pearl Harbor attack was to our fathers and grandfathers... and everyone will remember where they were and what they did. Thus... to many Members... Sycamore Island will be remembered on that day as the "Isle of Solace."

It still is! Come on down and get some.

Mon 24 Sep Looking into the low water shallows one can see patterns of curves and swirls on the surface of the mud... looking like a child's doodles or the miniature roadways of some drunken civilization. One must get the eyeballs close to see that each little trail ends in a tiny lump in the mud which is, in fact, a tiny snail whose shell is cleverly camouflaged to blend into the background. These seem to be the same snails one might see in an aquarium, and they exist by the thousands in the mud downriver from the Captain's float. The snails seem to live only in the shallows and one wonders how they and other critters kindred to this shallow habitat cope with the ever-changing river... as their very worlds migrate with the rise and fall of the river level. There is an entire unnoticed world in the shallows... one need not travel to other planets to look for new worlds to explore or strange and wonderful creatures to admire.

Once dark falls, one can walk down to the swimming dock and, standing there, look back towards the Island and see, in the mud flats adjacent to the wooden walkway, myriads of little lights in the mud. These are glowworms that must be drawn to the microhabitat there... because there is such a concentration there that they resemble glowing gems strewn about in the mud.

Excerpted from the Caretaker's Log at sycamoreisland.org

-- Doc Taliaferro, Sycamore Island Caretaker