What a weekend!

Lots of news to share in this installment of the Light Keeper's Journal.

On Friday The Board of Selectman voted the sum of $4000.00 to remove the stone that remains surrounding the Tower. There will be a few more steps in the process, including a review by the Conservation Commission but before long we hope the have the rocks back on the beach and the larger blocks of granite restored to a protective position. The wall holding back ocean by the parking lot continues to give up large boulders with the high tides. Lets hope that this work mitigates that loss.

This weekend saw intense winds routinely gusting to 60 miles per hour. With a hard rain on Saturday night combined with that wind, there was little sleep on the night we turn the clocks ahead. The gusts would hit the cottage and seem to accelerate. While we did not get the shaking of a few weeks back it was a long, long night. If ever there was a day when another hour would have helped it was Sunday.

The usual chores - dump, school plans, pick a room to clean - were done and I had just turned on the Sox from Spring Training. Haley brought the phone to me and our State Rep, Jim Cantwell was on the line. He told me he had Governor Deval Patrick with him and that he would like to bring the Governor by the house to allow us a chance to discuss the deteriorating condition of the seawall that guards the entrance to the Point. I made a call to Dave Ball who has been the point person on this issue for some time. He arrived with Kevin Cafferty of the DPW who has an extensive background as a contractor and engineer with seawalls.

Around 3:30 I met the Governor's group as they were dropped off by the marker that tells the story of the Army of Two. The Governor and I chatted briefly as I led him to the house and I did my best to impress on him just how much and how quickly this coast is changing right before my eyes. In the cottage we made some introductions and then some pictures were taken. Scituate Selectman Rick Murray and Marshfield Selectman Trish Reilly (once a Scituate girl herself) were also part of the group.
The conversation turned quickly to the background concerning the seawall, the legal controversies surrounding its maintenance, the current status of a state awarded grant of $50,000, and what the Governor's office might do going forward for this project and for others like it up and down the coast. We had a brief chance to discuss the history of the house and of the artifacts in the office and it was time for the party to move on to a visit at the wall itself.

Governor Patrick could not have been more gracious and Haley especially enjoyed the company of the State Policeman who accompanied him. She was made a gift of a State Police pin and immediately put the word out to her friends of the visit. I was told today with some certainty that Governor Patrick was the first Massachusetts Governor to ever visit Old Scituate Light and spend time in the cottage. We are very grateful for Mr. Patrick's attention and to the work of Representative Cantwell in making this meeting possible.



Today finds a newspaper profile of our first year here appear in the Patriot Ledger. Our thanks to Caitlin Keane and Gary Higgins for their accuracy and their images.

Tidying Up

A quick update on the rocks and a victory for the forces of good.

Last Sunday morning I went out to the yard and cleaned up as best I could. I attended to walkway until I reached a point where I thought it best to stop. I also cleaned up the small plot that is home to the memorial plinth for George Downton. The discovery of the day was the plumbing for a former water fountain, tucked in among the sea roses. The tide and winds have been a blessing this week and no great tide is expected before the 26th. I will be working on pulling the rocks away from the runway this weekend as a few of the floor boards have noticeable rot from the manner in which the stone sits against the building not allowing the moisture to wick away. The photos are below.

Before:


After:



The victory involves a little story. A few weeks ago I noticed that the line that runs up to the flag pole on the Tower had broken and that the cut was about a foot from the top of the pole. Asking if this had happened in the past, I was told that in fact it had, and that the fire department came out with a ladder truck to fix the line. That image gave me the willies. I hated the idea of a fireman out over the rocks on a ladder with a wind coming up because I had had this line break on me. I decided I had to develop an alternative plan.

Last Sunday it came to me. I would take a length of pipe and tape a hook to it. I would push that length of pipe up along the flag pole until I reached the foot of rope and I would snag it. With the wind down around 4:30 last Sunday I took to the job and got it on the first try. I pulled down the line and tied it off to a metal band rigged to the pole near the railing. I was extremely proud of myself until Tuesday when I noted that the line and metal band were now, once again, a foot from the top of the pole. UUUUUGGGGHHHHH!

Today I fixed it with able help from Haley. The photos aren't the best as we had the weather working against us, but it is fixed without the fire department hanging out there over those rocks. I am very pleased. Three more pictures below.



A sweet victory for the forces of good. Very sweet.

Got One Now

The update today in a several pictures and a word of thanks.



This set of photographs shows what the walkway up to the Light normally looks like and what the tide and wind has done in just the past few days.

I have watched scores of people navigate these rocks since last Thursday, including a bride in the rain on Saturday, and with each tide my worry has grown. The walkway is impassable and the spot where I stood as a kid and looked out through an old school binocular is filled to the height of that binocular. I am worried that the runway to the Tower and the fence along the harbor side are going buckle under the pressure of the stone and took the step you see in the picture below - nailing in some planks at the footings in the runway to the Tower - so I could sleep last night and not be up to check the tide. I have already set aside some planks to cover a breech in the runway should it happen.

I met a couple today walking around the point who asked me when the Town would be coming by to help the clean up. I had to tell them I didn't think they were coming. The Better Half asked me who she had to call. I told her I didn't know and that I hoped someone would recognize that a penny of prevention is worth a pound of cure.



I am grateful to have had several of the Selectmen come out today and look over the deterioration of the breakwater and the over pouring of rock. One went so far as to investigate the broken storm drain and cured it at the cost of getting himself soaked. He asked not to be named and I won't, but this was service beyond the cause.

I honest to God did and will try to pull this rock away from the house, but I honest to God cannot clean up this runway. I did it in earlier storms only because I couldn't in good conscience sit at this desk and watch any one of the many seniors who enjoy this spot as my mom once did, turn an ankle or worse. The stone needs to be put back on the beach and the granite restored to a position it once was protecting the north edge of the Tower.

I am not worried about the Cottage or that we are in any danger staying here. I have had a couple of worried calls from people but that is not really the issue. I signed on to be the eyes and ears down here to avoid having problems develop. We got one now.

Eeeekkk!

Not what I wanted to come home to today.

High tide today took a bad situation and made it worse. Many more rocks were deposited up against the outer runway wall and the building is wetter than at any time in the year we have been here. The entire floor of the shed is soaked and most of the runway floor is too. Haley and I had gone out yesterday to move some of the stone away from the building. I thought we had made a good dent in it and would be able to come back to it and whittle away some more. Mine was a misguided optimism. The pressure of the stones at the point where the runway meets the Tower must be immense.

The Tower is completely wrapped in beach stones to a height of two feet in most places and higher in some. Of greatest concern to me is the appearance that one of the granite blocks which creates the shield for the Tower has shifted down into the sand. Four hours after high tide the parking lot remains impassable and that water has reached a greater level than in my experience. The pictures below highlight the areas of concern.






The large piece of granite in the center of the first photo seems to have shifted back toward the beach, exposing the Tower to more stone and water. The stones that are jammed against the bulkhead door were not there yesterday at all - it was possible to walk from the point where the Bates family plaque is set to a point two feet beyond the bulkhead door without a misstep.

Postscript: I have just finished shoring up the beams in the runway with planks to protect against a cave in. Could it happen? I don't know. I just needed to do it in order to sleep tonight.

Rocks

In the last post I told you the house was rocking on Thursday night.

Here are a few pictures that cover the Friday morning high tide and its aftermath.








How cool is that wave in this shot?



















Help!!!

Seasick

The Keeper's Cottage was rocking last night.

Gusts of 60 miles per hour shook this old place last night for nearly two hours. I was settled in to watch the second half of the Celtics game when I noticed the back and forth and up and down you might associate with being on board ship. I checked with Haley and she had noticed the same. Heading downstairs to be sure everything was tight I found Julie looking outside to the parking lot. The wind was pushing the waves out in straight lines as they hit the ocean side seawall like a horizontal rain. The parking lot was filling up fast and there was already a hint of the rocks I would find this morning. My rehung blue and white sign had busted free of the yardarm on the side lawn as well.

This morning I gathered the sign and checked out the road and decided that the wrong way up Lighthouse was the better way to go. In the year we have been here I have never had to do that before. Returning this afternoon I found the walkway up and around the Lighthouse more full of rocks than ever. I scooped out what I could but will have to enlist the Town for a small mover to get the rest. These are not the small beach stones I can shovel, but rather are the makings of a serious wall. These stones are heavy and were moved in the morning tide; the first of several 11 foot tides we will see this week.

The wind has died down considerably from last night so I don't expect any big problems with the tide tonight. Tomorrow morning though there is another flood tide due and there are already advisories posted. Its a new year here and there are new lessons. One I could do without: the queasy feeling of sea sickness while laying in my own bed.

La Fonda Spice

A full year now - 52 posts

Out of school for the February break marked the end of year 1 here at Old Scituate Light. 365 days ago Monday, I woke up to an amazing sunrise and the beginning of a hands on class called Light Keeper 101. Anyone who has followed along week to week knows I have had a blast and filled up the notebook as the course has progressed. I have learned so much and what this year has done for Haley can barely be described.

There is a list of names in the kitchen. It is each and every guest Haley has had here over the year. Most of them "Rock." Some are "Awesome." To watch her share this place with her friends, and with my guests, has been a dream come true. She has become a bit jaded with a crowd around, but not at when an individual needs an answer. She has got the history down. She knocked me out with a direct quotation from one of the panels in the runway this week.

The main project for the break was to remake the bathroom. It was the only room left untouched a year ago and I had grown to hate it. The sink was in an awkward place and left me standing in the kitchen to shave. The lights bugged me too. Step by step, I disassembled it, and with help I will have it in a shape that will last a good long while. The new color is the title of this post - kinds sounds like someone who might get paid to show up at a bachelor party doesn't it?

Pictures will follow when the job is complete.