By Joe Crain
You may, possibly, recall that at the end of last month’s article we were hoping that things would warm a bit so we could get our annual fall leaf blowing done for the year. After we were frozen in our tracks by December-like temperatures and unseasonably persistent snow, well, we got our wish. In the matter of a day the thermometer went from a high of a December-like 30 degrees to a June-like 70 degree high! We quickly fired up the blowers that day, and though we had to move a little ice along with the leaves in a few shady spots, it looked like we just might get through this annual chore. We had a lot of ground yet to blow clear of the fallen leaves. The temperature rise held steady through the week and we saw 70-degree high temperatures four times that first week of November and our confidence in finishing the job was high. Our mood turned a little less optimistic after we had a warm and wet snow storm the weekend of the 7th. About six inches of snow came down in heavy wet squalls. The new snow for the most part quickly melted due to the previous week’s crazy warmth still locked into the ground. When we got back to it on the following Monday, some warm weather gave us optimism that we’d be able to finish the job. Well our warm spell fell off a cliff that night and for the rest of that second week of November our highs were once again unable to climb out of the lower-to-mid 30’s. Once again, we were blowing a bit of ice along with the leaves and our progress slowed a bit, but it was still looking like we may actually get all of the grounds cleared. Things were starting to look a bit bleak as the forecasts started to call for more snow the coming weekend. We pushed our blowers back and forth over the grounds that week as the temperatures continued to fall a bit lower each day. With all of the moisture we had gotten, snow soaked down through the leaves we needed to clear. Our progress got slower and slower through the week but we were within striking distance of finishing at the end of
the day on Friday the 13th. (Friday the 13th… hmmm…) As we parked the blowers for the weekend we had about ten yards left to the lower diamond road and about 30 yards left from the front of Logger One to the Rec Hall left! Well that weekend we got a monster snow storm that left us looking out at eight inches of snow covering those remaining areas to blow! This time the preceding week was in the lower 30sand the snow was standing solid at eight inches, and to this day we still have a hard crusty two inches or so of that storm total with us. It is looking like those last piles of leaves are going to have to wait for spring to finish removal. The snow was perfect for my first skinny ski of 2020 though!
We shifted gears for the second half of the month and got to work on some indoor projects. Caretaker Andy spent some time doing some much needed plaster repair and painting in the Caretakers House. And I headed over to the Horvath House next door and pulled all of the windows out for some much needed repair over in the shop. I removed all of the windows from the house, covered the window holes with plastic to keep the winter out and started to remove what was left of the glazing. Some of the windows are so bad that a gap was showing between the glass and the sash. I will have to replace a bit of cracked glass as well, but this should make for a much more pleasant stay for a few staff members next summer.
Hoping that winter will come to stay now that December is here, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.
