From the Keeper’s Desk – April 29 & 30

Greetings!

April 29 and 30 were a couple of interesting days at Eagle Bluff Light Station. Late Monday a storm moved along the bay and up the west shore of Door County. Winds really picked up. They actually blew the benches over by the stone wall and lilac bushes. Winds must have been high enough to knock a tree across the power line that feeds the lighthouse. Power comes into the park above ground on poles from Highland Road and Hwy 42 to Shore Road. At Shore Road it goes underground close to the Northern Sky area. It is then above ground from there to the Welker’s Point campground area. Our lighthouse power comes underground from Welker’s Point.

When I got to the lighthouse Tuesday morning Mike and Billy were working but there was no electricity. Battery operated power tools and hammers to the rescue.

Bob needed electricity inside the lighthouse for the heaters he uses during painting. I went home to get our generator. Power did not come back on until 2:30 pm. The day started out with calm winds but by 9AM they really picked up. There were whitecaps on the bay. Mike and Billy did not want to handle sheets of plywood in high winds so they ended work for the day at about 11AM.

Chuck was busy at the lighthouse on Tuesday afternoon. In his words and pictures:

Racking was built and hung from the floor joists in the basement to securely store the extra bead boards and old oar. Everything was moved away from the outside walls in order to facilitate National Restoration work on the walls (wire brush the walls and apply a lime wash to stabilize the stuff crumbling off the walls and getting all over our storage shelves). I also did a bit more gift shop work, installing the new “shelves” for the electrified kerosene lamps, as the side plate rails have been removed, and re-installing the little red shelving units above the dry sink.

See four photos below. Painting is coming along nicely, with the office/music room being completed this week and the upstairs hallway before our “cleaning/set-up” day next week.

The basement looks so neat and orderly thanks to Chuck.

Progress is moving along nicely on the summer kitchen. By the end of the day today rafters have been installed. Mike does not plan working Thursday as there is rain in the forecast all day.

We had a special guest at the light station today. Mike is puppy sitting for his daughter and brought 11 week old Maverick along. Maverick was oblivious to all the work going on but sure enjoyed some attention. Otherwise he enjoyed some good nap time. Maverick might be back again on Friday.

There was a surprise visit by a contingent of four Coast Guard Crew. They replaced their beacon on the lantern deck railing. They said they replace them periodically and ours was due for replacement.

I captured two days of activity in the pictures that follow.

Inside work:

Outside work:

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