Winter Wonderland
For awhile, Diane and I considered escaping from the cold months of January and February to a warm southerly climate, like Florida. After some debate, we decided that instead of undergoing the expense, we would instead embrace the winter and try to get involved in some outdoor activities.
As a teenager, I used to cross country ski whenever possible, but I had almost forgotten how much I like it. In the way back past, I even convinced Diane to like it a little bit. So, we acquired some skis.
Also, I have some friends here at the lake that really enjoy ice skating. They've convinced me that I would like it, and that I should get involved. We acquired ice skates, too.
I should mention that December 2000 was a brutally cold and snowy month. In fact, it was so snowy, we broke the December record - more than twenty three inches. I don't think our average high temp was more than about ten degrees, either. Brrrr!
As soon as we paid for skis and skates, we got our January thaw. Temps have been in the mid 30's to mid 40's. Almost all the snow has melted, so skiing is definitely on hold.
At least we still have ice on the lake. The ice has been pretty awful, though. On the days it froze, the wind was really whipping, and put quite a ripple to some ice. Other ice has a slushy layer between a thin surface layer and the actual base ice.
Today, even though it's thirty five degrees, I decided to clear off some ice so that when it does refreeze, it will be decent. It was very solid, but a lot of water on top from recent rain and some melting. I took the shovel down, and wore myself out in short order just clearing a small area. The snow was so wet and water logged, it was just about impossible to move.
I finally gave in and brought down the snow blower. I ended up clearing an area roughly thirty feet by fifty feet. I also spent some time cleaning up after the snow blower, and tried to level it out a bit. Since I'm new to this, I'm interested to see if it will actually work.
Thirty by fifty doesn't seem very large, but I think it will be a good experiment. Hopefully, it will freeze hard in the next couple of days and I can try it out.
