Overwhelmed

The Rotarian work party was absolutely incredible. The amount of work done in a short time, given the challenging weather conditions (strong winds) was fantastic.

I drove up to the property yesterday with a group visiting the island to show them the light house and was blown away by how fabulous the old buildings look. My grin was ear-to-ear. The buildings absolutely gleam and the red doors are great.

Although there is still some painting to be done, the majority has been finished including the small pumphouse, the former boat house from Ross Island - the shed Grimmer Ingersoll used as a workshop, and the keepers house. The boat house beside the keepers house is not painted because a crew started working rebuilding the southern end which had greatly deteriorated. A new sill is in place and corner posts have been cut to replace the rotten ones and it now needs to be resheathed, cedar shingles applied and the doors reinstalled. We hope to get this done in the next two weeks so the building can be enclosed for the winter.

We will be posting photos and other information about the work in the next few days.

Florida Rotarians

The time draws near (next Friday and Saturday) when a group of Rotarians from Seminole, Florida, will be arriving to help us with the buildings on the light keepers property. The paint has been donated and we have arranged for scaffolding. The group will help paint the two buildings at the top of the hill and also the light keepers house, beginning with that building on the weather sides (north and east) and seeing how much they get done.

We are overwhelmed that people from as far away as Florida would take time from their busy lives to help us. The Grand Manan Rotarians will be having their meeting on Friday morning next week instead of Thursday so these Rotarians can attend. There will also be a dinner at Castalia Marsh Retreat for a more casual interaction with each other that night. The following evening, dinner will be at the Inn at Whale Cove and hopeful an evening sail with Whales-n-Sails to see the light house property from the water and the sunset.

Anyone interested in joining in the work and play can meet Friday or Saturday morning at the Swallowtail property.

Successful Ham Radio Weekend

Art Gunn and Sterling Carpenter were very happy with the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend when they set up their ham radio equipment at Swallowtail August 14-16.

Approximately 162 people visited with Art and Sterling, asking great questions both about the event and also what we are trying to do at Swallowtail. The atmospheric conditions were not as conducive to the radio frequencies as might be expected but Art and Sterling were able to talk to a few others set up at lighthouses around the world.

Given the great respond, we expect this to be an annual event so keep the third weekend in August next year open if you wish to participate.

Ham radio operators

On August 14, 15 and 16, two fellows from Fredericton, Art Gunn and Sterling Carpenter, will be coming to Grand Manan to set up their mobile ham radio equipment and participate in the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (www.illw.net). They will be talking to other ham radio operators, also set up in lighthouses from around the world. This is an exciting opportunity to learn about this type of communication works and actually see it in operation.

Art and Sterling have also generously donated a new electrical panel for the former Ross Island boat house and the pump house, a much needed replacement.

Music and lobster rolls

Another successful evening of great food and entertainment was had by all, July 18 at the Covert Hall in North Head. The event was sold out and some lobster rolls went out as take-out. The salad greens were donated by Sysco and the rolls were donated by the Save Easy. The lobsters were donated by a local fisherman and turned into divine lobster rolls by Laura Buckley, Inn at Whale Cove Cottages. Desserts were donated by thirteen people and included everything from cheesecake to rhubarb squares to Black Forest cake.

Entertainment included guitar, violin/fiddle, cello, keyboard and vocals. Dinah Romig played and emceed the musical portion to great rounds of applause.

We greatly appreciate the fantastic support and with the money raised, look forward to working on the boat house beside the keepers house this fall. The southern end is in desperate need of repair.

Wildflowers at Swallowtail

The wild flowers at Swallowtail, although windblown at times have been remarkable this year with the wet, foggy conditions in June. This also promoted abundant mushroom growth. Cobwebs have also been outlined by the fog.

We are taking photographs of the various flowers and hope in the future to have a list and photographs in a binder to help people identify the flora on the peninsula.

Burgers and Hotdogs

Despite showers and fog, hamburgers and hotdogs were cooked in the Rotary Club canteen on Sunday, July 12 next to the Save Easy grovery store to raise funds for the ongoing restoration and historic preservation of the Swallowtail light station. Although we originally only planned to cook for three hours, there was a steady stream of people and we remained open until 5 PM when the store closed.

We had originally hoped to have the canteen set up at Swallowtail and have everyone visit the light house but with the environmental soil cleanup around the light house, it was decided to just move everything down to a more central location. Perhaps later in the summer we might be able to have an event to the light itself.