First off was squid dissection. Brave, Brave Miss Newell got to separate a whole box of half-solid half-gelatinous semi-frozen squid and put them on paper plates. The kids had just discovered that I was a vegetarian and thought this was hysterical. I kept insisting that I had no intention of eating these things! We then got to cut them up, but of course some of the girls were far too squeamish so Brave Brave Miss Newell sprung into action again.
The coolest part of the squid was pulling out the "pen"-- or rather the long bit of internal shell that kinda reminded me of the wet plastic wrapper that is left over when you eat a freezer pop. The beak was nifty, too. I wish I had gotten pictures of this but it's hard to take pictures when you are covered in squid guts!
Here's lookin' at you, squid!
Next we took the squid chunks and went down to the dock for some sea fishing. Our girls were pros at this! ...but we didn't catch anything. :(
And lastly we joined Dan Dan the Lobster Man in the Hunky Dory for lobstering. Or rather the kids and Mibee went with Dan and Elaine and I followed in the Resourceful just-in-case.
Here's the bucket with live lobsters, bait, rubber band and other accoutrements of lobstering.
The first thing Dan did was band all of the kids' claws (fingers).
Then they set about pulling up traps and seeing what was inside.
There were some females with berries; the kids watched as Dan notched them and chucked them back in. Dan also dumped out the old bait in the bags and replaced them with new.
Here's one of the girls helping to measure a lobster. Is it a keeper or a short?
In this next picture, I want you to look very closely at Dan's hand. Some of the kids noticed that Dan has a finger missing. They wanted to know what had happened but were too polite to ask. Instead they asked Mibee instead, who burst out laughing because she knew the story! Turns out that one day Dan was out lobstering with his dog. Dan tried to pull up a trap but he got his gloved hand caught in the pulley. He pulled his hand free and tore off the glove to see what damage had been done, and threw it down on the floor of the boat. There was lots of blood so he knew he had to get to the hospital. Once he was there the doctor said, "Well, that's not that bad. We can re-attach the finger right away." Dan shook his head and said, "Can't. My dog ate it."
Here's the kids with their catch: This little guy is not so sure about his lobster...
...but these crab molts are neato!
Then it was time for snack. This guy actually had to be told several times to be greedy! Get more! Take huge handfuls! He wasn't sure if Elaine was trying to trick him...
Next it was time for a navigation lesson. Here's the harbor:
Heeeeey! That's Burnt Island! I've heard of that place! :)
After our snack we were all signaled to meet up at the Lighthouse: Two blasts from an air horn and we came running from every direction from the island.
In this next activity the kids were given cards which had pictures of different things the fishermen could catch in Maine waters. Set out in front of the kids were different sorts of ways to catch or gather fish: A seine net, a clam hoe, a longline, etc. The kids had to put their fish in the type of equipment they thought were used to catch the fish (i.e., put the picture of the clam near the clam hoe).
However, I asked Elaine if I could sneak away and take more pictures of the inside of the keeper's house. She said that would be fine! So I went in and checked out the covered walkway, which I hadn't gotten a chance to explore the day before. Through the kitchen, up the stairs...
This is a sort of a mini-museum now, so I lingered for a long time near the photographs and exhibits.
I love architectural plans. This is where I got the whole living vs. dining room thing, and the bedroom vs. parlor. Of course the purpose of rooms change over time, but I crave accuracy.
It seems very romantic to want to live a lighthouse keeper's life, but then pictures like this make you change your mind:
Here is a photo montage of some of the 30 keepers that has been on Burnt Island, beginning with James McCobb and ending with the automation in 1988.
And here are the lenses that were once used in the lantern room. Note the door behind them: that's the door I was talking about earlier, that leads to the anteroom at the bottom of the tower. It's blocked off now, but you can still see it. You can imagine a keeper dashing through the kitchen, up the incline of the covered walkway, through the door into the anteroom and up the spiral staircase to the lantern room in the event of a smoke-out or other emergency.
The lens on the right is the original (note the typical fresnel shape), but the bull's eye one on the left fascinated me. This one was mounted on the weighted mechanism that needed to be cranked every six hours so that the lantern would spin around.
Self-portrait!
So how did they know what the inside of the keeper's house looked like in 1950? Well, thankfully, someone had taken pictures! The Muire family (who were living here at that time) still had much of the things in the photographs and donated them back to the island. They also provided first-hand accounts of what it was like to live here (like drinking that disgusting canned milk!).
So how accurate is the restoration? Well, let's see...
Looks familiar!
Yup, looks good!
Next, I wandered about in the rest of the house, because I couldn't resist! This little room is a little butler's pantry (I don't know what the official Burnt Island name for it was because of course they wouldn't have had a butler!) and I spied toys that were typical of that time period.
I was a very naughty girl and I touched what I wasn't supposed to: I opened the cupboards to find out what was inside them! However, what I found was very typical of the 1950's-- just some fancy dishes that were saved for special occasions (I'm pretty sure Elaine will forgive me for poking around).
Okay, so remember how I mentioned there was a secret up these stairs, and another one in the pantry?
Well, the bottom part of the keeper's house might be a living history museum, but the upstairs is a little apartment where Elaine stays. (Don't worry, Elaine-- I didn't go up there!) In the pantry, the cupboard door was ajar, and I spy with my little eye... a microwave?!?! That doesn't belong in 1950! (Click on the picture and see if you can spy it as well!)
Next up: A GPS treasure hunt and Survival!
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