Friday -- March 2, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 5.0     Water Temperature: 48

Shuuuwee that is some serious wind out there today. Not a good day to be doing a lot of ferry crossings, especially since the river is high as well. The gauge read five feet but it's hard to get an accurate reading with this tremendous wind. The wind is so strong the the bell rope is bowed like a sail across the channel and every once and a while a gust will come along that is fierce enough to actually ring the bell.

I was prepared for the wind so we haven't lost anything. Some of the canoes and kayaks in the higher racks were blown down inside the canoe shed. We lost one tree so far, but of little consequence. It was an old knarly mulberry that was half dead already anyway. Plus, it fell safely away from any buildings or other healthy trees and only skimmed one nearby box elder. It looks like it will be a good source of fire wood once we get it all cut up.

The ferry will be closed tomorrow, March 3, but we'll have to wait and see about Sunday. Between the wind and the high water, I'm not too hopeful that the ferry will be running.

Monday -- March 5, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.7     Water Temperature: 48

The river has finally gone down and the wind has quieted a bit so the ferry will be running today. There area couple of locust trees that have fallen over the trail. I'll be up there later to cut them up but thankfully they are small enough to step over.

Sunday -- March 25, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 3.8     Water Temperature: 44

It's been almost three weeks since my last post so I have a lot to catch you up on. Back on March tenth we had our second open house for possible new waitlisters. It was pretty well attended and it also was very helpful for one family that was on the waitlist but needed another sponsor to become a full-fledged member.

We had the monthly meeting here on March 14th but sadly, there was not a quorum so the families that showed up hoping to get voted in were forced to go home without a membership in hand. They were given hope that they would be voted in at the April meeting since attendance at that meeting is expected to be high. That's the night when we draw the lottery winners.

Big news! The Sycamore Island CANOE Club now has a club-owned stand-up paddle board! I was able to sell some of the unwanted canoes that we had here and I purchased a SUP board and a SUP paddle. We have broken from our canoe tradition and I hope that our die-hard canoe enthusiasts don't roll over in their graves, but the times they are a-changing and the new members were calling for a paddle board.

The new range for the Club kitchen is here! You may recall that the old range had to be discarded after it was discovered that mice had infested it. I'd like to send a great big THANK-YOU to Stan our Club captain and to Davey and Jennifer Hearn, who helped with the big job of getting the stove down the hill, onto the ferry and up into the clubhouse. I was a little concerned about delivering the stove since we had so few volunteers, but with the help of Stan's professional-grade hand truck, not to mention his experience in moving very heavy things, we were able to move the bulky thing without much trouble. I then drove to Rockville to take the old stove, along with some old grills and other scrap metal to the scrap yard.

Well, even though it was snowing on our first full day of Spring, there is no denying that Spring is coming to the Island. The first indication that winter was loosening it's grip was the call of the male red-winged blackbird. Then I saw my first wood ducks, looking for nesting sites around the Island. Then, right on the first day of Spring, I saw my first cormorant of the year. Now our resident Canada geese have built their nests and are sitting on eggs. The kingfisher's are back and yesterday I saw a yellow-rumped warbler!

The trees are beginning to bud too and it won't be long before the Island is completely green again. The bluebells, of course are getting taller everyday and soon they will be in full bloom. I predict that the peak blue bell viewing will be April 1 through April 15.

On a sad note, the eagle's nest across the river that has consistently produced offspring for the last 15 years seems to be quiet this year and there doesn't seem to be any activity over there at all. I witnessed some eagle courtship behavior last month so I was hopeful, but eagle sightings around the Island are now rare and I'm not holding out much hope of a breeding pair this year. Maybe next year.

We did see the fox again. Running across the top of the Island one early morning. I guess that it is somehow making a living out here by itself.

I turned the water back on so there is running water in the clubhouse and in the ladies room.

Happy Spring!

Tuesday -- March 27, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.1     Water Temperature: 46

I just learned that the Potomac river has been given a B in it's latest report card from the Potomac Conservancy. Check out their awesome website at http://potomacreportcard.org/

It's cool to think that the river is the cleanest and safest that it's ever been since this Club started.

I had to climb the ladder and change out the pulley that holds the ferry chains to the cable, always a dicey job. The other chore that has kept me busy is picking up all of the sticks and branches that fell during that horrific wind storm earlier this month. Actually, this entire month has been exceptionally windy. It will be nice when we finally get some Spring weather.

Thankfully, I got the chain saw to work. Gerry brought me a new spark plug and that seemed to do the trick, so we'll be able to start chopping up the mulberry that fell. Maybe at the workfest, which is in three weeks.

The other big job I want to complete, probably before the workfest, is rebuilding the ferry landing on the Island side. It's going to be tricky, rebuilding the dock without disrupting ferry service but we'll just have to hope for the best.

Saturday -- March 31, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 5.2     Water Temperature: 46

The ferry is closed today because of high water.