Winter cometh...

There Be Ice Bergs

I happened to glance out the window on my way by and to my surprise, a "growler" appeared. You can't really see it in the photo, but there's sheet ice attached as big as a sheet of plywood just below the surface.

Here. I blew it up using a photoshop app on the iPhone:

I

I hope your turkey day is going to plan. It's 26* F with a steady 20mph breeze from the West out there. No birds seen today. I think they've all left for warmer climes. 

Ice In

Morning dawned, bright, clear and cold. Only 17°F, with a -10°F wind chill, bone snapping cold. Over the whistles and groans of the 30 to 40 MPH zephyrs blowing around and through our fiver, the low growl of the Honda e2000i generator and the wail and snort of my aging Black and Decker coffee maker was the absence of the sound that has been a constant backdrop since the end of June. Gone was the sound of water. No waves crashing the shore. Wavftelets gently lapped the shore no more. Loons no longer warbled insanity to the rising Sun. No plop! of a perch rising to snatch a mosquito from the mill pond smooth surface. Nope. Just the eerie groan of wind waves driving the weight of a seven mile long sheet of ice into the shore accompanied my coffee pot this morning. And So It Goes...

April Fools Indeed

 

SWMBO* and I tied the knot on a sunny, balmy noon fourteen years ago today. She was just shaking off the flu, I was coming down with it. By mid-afternoon, we were both sound asleep in our sick bed…

Ten and four years later, the morning dawned gray and wet, slushy snow flakes interspersed with rain while temps never left the thirties all day. SWMBO gave me a hat pin which reads “Excellence In Service” with a tiny bit of bling and the number “14” in the center. All attempts at photographing it with my phone have failed to resolve focus issues. I am such a Neanderthal – I prefer manual focus like my old SLR to these digital screen devices with AF.

We have managed to survive the March of 2013. For most intents, winter is over. We have had almost 79 inches of snow this year, about three inches more than our 30 year average during my tenure here.

Ice is now gray on the lake. The evening news is replete with tales of ice fishermen and others falling through the rotten ice with four wheel drive vehicles, ATVs, snowmobiles and Snow Cats. Those who haven’t gotten their ice houses off the lakes and rivers by now are doomed to lose them AND receive a fine from Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (each shanty must have a permanent placard with name, address and phone number of the owner). The dooryard has a large hole, once a puddle, which a year of turning with dual rear-tired axle has dug. The mud is about six inches deep where the sun has melted the frost while early morning is reminiscent of traveling the old “corduroy road” of my childhood.

Most of the snow is gone from the fields and woods. Iggy has been ranging much farther afield, out “covering” his territorial markers in the never-ending battle with the coyotes and foxes. Speaking of coyotes, a rare, white coyote came out of the woods down in West Kennebunk, crawled under a family’s porch and up and died moments later. It did not appear to be starving, so the COD will have to await toxicology tests.

I hope all of you who commemorate the Ascension had a good one. For the pagans amongst my friends and readers, hope you had all the Peeps(TM), hard-boiled eggs and chocolate bunnies, gum drops and other sweets you can stand.

 

*SWMBO – She Who Must Be Obeyed – my wife.

 

Addendum: I composed the above on the 1st but ran out of juice for the laptop before I could post the entry to Blogger. So now I’m once again up against the battery limit after reading other’s blogs this morning, so time to hit the SEND button.

Winter Coyote the Deceiver

Pretty, isn't it? Pretty deceptive, that is. This is the lunch time view from the front window where I am staying. Don't even think about going out to play in the snow unless you are from the North. It's reached a mighty 13°F at noon. But, winds are out of the Northwest (that's the direction you are looking at), has an pretty unobstructed run for 7 miles and it is blowing a steady 22 MPH with gusts to 35 MPH. That means it feels like -8°F on your cheeks, ears and anything else you leave exposed. Frozen unprotected skin inside of fifteen minutes. Frostbite of inadequately protected extremitis in about twice that amount of time. That's my world. Not a blade of grass nor flower to be seen...

Present and accounted for

Well, we made it to Baton Rouge in mid-December. Thanks to the comment by Lois in the last entry, I felt sufficiently guilt-tripped to post his update (grin). The weather has been a delightful mix of sun and rain, until a stray snowflake tickled my nose yesterday afternoon. Looks like my friends in Canada are being overly generous again, shipping their "Alberta Clippers" south to Cajun Country. Tonight they are forecasting a low of 25�° F. By Friday they're predicting a frigid 17° F. Global warming – my left foot. Seems more like the onset of a new ice age to me.

The holidays were pleasant, New Year's Eve was a repeat of the suburban war zone I described two years ago and now the the new year let-down begins. Looking for work sucks in this economy – unless you are physically able to work “offshore”. There seems to be quite a few opportunities for oil & gas platform and related industrial jobs. Not so much for old duffers who can't stand longer than 15 minutes at a time...

I hope you all have a healthy and prosperous new year. Really, who can afford to get sick these days, even if you are so fortunate as to have health insurance coverage?

Monday Photo Shoot - Winter's Last Gasp?

The little furry fuckers will be back at it in no time --
that's a 36" Poplar that's stood for over a century!

View From Camp to the NorthNorthEast - Still lots of ice

Saturday Mid-Morning 03102007

John M. Scalzi's Your Monday Photo Shoot: Post any winter photos you didn't get around to posting earlier. Because winter is going, going, gone, baby. Think of it as a last salute.