Tag Archives: danger

Animals at Lighthouses

Adult Memories, Lighthouses, Photos, Recreation, Travel, Wildlife, , , , , , , ,

 

Lightkeeper's Menagerie
Lightkeeper’s Menagerie

In November 2011 I made a post about a book by Elinor De Wire called The Lightkeeper’s Menagerie. This was a book about stories of animals at lighthouses. Later, in 2012 I received a nice email from Elinor and an offer to send me a copy of the book. The book arrived a while ago and I have yet to delve into it’s 328 pages (I will soon Elinor!), but I came across a couple of photos that brought to mind my stories of animals on lighthouses.

I did write about Cougars on the Doorstep but this post is referring to mostly my pets who lived on the lighthouses where I served.

cats on a canoe
cats on a canoe

The picture on the left shows two cats on the bow of a canoe and I immediately thought of our first Siamese cat called

Tipsy at Pulteney
Tipsy at Pulteney

Tipsy, because she used to drink beer!. Tipsy travelled to our first lighthouse at Pulteney Point, but before we moved to the lighthouse we used to take our canoe out on the ocean.

Tipsy always wanted to come – in the car, in the canoe, on walks, into bed – we could never leave her behind. So, off into the ocean she went with us. Upon our return to shore she would jump from the bow, about 10 feet from the shore, and swim to the beach! She was not afraid of water as most cats are. Tipsy loved the lighthouse. Lots more to do than being stuck in an apartment!

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Tricia grins
Tricia grins

At Pulteney Point we decided we needed a dog as well. Well, one of my favourites was the Dalmation so our next trip out we purchased a Dalmation pup. Tricia was a Continue reading Animals at Lighthouses →

Ocean Water Samples

Adult Memories, Equipment, Fisheries and Oceans, History, Keepers, Lighthouses, On The Job, Storms, Weather, , , , , , , , ,

One of the duties of a lighthouse keeper on some stations, was to do a daily Sea Water sample. It was started very early on (see the story here), before the advent of Global warming, and the observed data has been beneficial in many ways as you will see at the bottom..

Kains Island (Quatsino) lighthouse

In the above-mentioned story from Kains Island lighthouse, the samples started in 1935, so we have seventy-seven (77) years of ocean data. Also in the story is the fact that in the early years . . . 

. . . the small glass bottles of sea water with cork stoppers were stored in wooden boxes with many little squares, one for each bottle1. These boxes would be shipped out when the supply ship re-supplied the station once a year, usually in July.  Continue reading Ocean Water Samples →