Oct 21 - we've got snow

It will be gone by the end of the week, but at the moment we have snow. The prediction was for 1-3cm but it just kept on coming. We got a full 6 inches -- 15 cm -- but some of it is already gone. The below-freezing temperature overnight has kept much of it on the ground but the warming trend -- 12C / 54F by Friday will chase all of this away.

So we played -- the dogs ran round and round. Mya spent a lot of time outside -- she loves the snow. Lauren and I used the GT Snow Racers (sleds) on the driveway slope beside the cottage.

Between the rain and the snow we got a lot of precipitation. I bailed the boats and also moved Jason's boat to the other side of the dock. The strong north wind had it continually bouncing with its stern to the waves. Swinging it around to the small dock in the lee of the Whaler, with the bow towards the waves was a better setup.

I also drained the garden water system in the shed and added antifreeze to the pump. I didn't bother moving the power washer into the basement just yet but I did keep the door to the boathouse closed. The warmth from the ground will protect it for now. I turned on Jason's basement heaters and in the evening, the inside heaters to ensure that the temperature drop would not do any damage. There really was not much chance of that but better safe than sorry. With a completely clear sky, sometimes the temperature drop is more than expected. As it turned out the weatherman was right on target at about -5C the next morning.

I finished up the DVDs of Dad's videos. At some stage I may start editing but for now that's enough. I now have to make copies for Arlene and Philip -- all in good time.

In addition to bailing the Whaler I also shoveled the snow out. Since it has all that built-in flotation the snow is actually insulated from the warming effects of the water. While Jason's aluminum boat only has snow on the seats, the Whaler had snow (and ice) on the floor. That makes for slippery going ! I had an ulterior motive in cleaning the boat -- time to go fishing !

It was cold out there, cold on the hands. The trouble with crappie fishing is that there is lots of action so your hands don't get a chance to dry out. Perhaps I should be wearing rubber gloves ? That would be ok for putting the fish on the stringer but not for putting small minnows on the hook. Anyway, there is another feed of crappie in the fridge -- 7 from last night. We have a feed in the freezer too but we'll eat last night's catch this evening.

For dinner last night we had a stir fry with leftover pork loin, veggies and Shorwoods curry sauce plus white rice. It was quite good. Lauren loved it for a while but eventually found it a little too spicy. I guess that the "spice of life" got to her so she switched to "variety" and had more rice (ooohhh bad one).

There were lots of ducks flying overhead last night at dusk when I was fishing. The cold weather has them migrating again. There were no gunshots though -- not shotguns or rifles. I expect that the moose hunters found yesterday pretty sloppy but the snow would allow them to see tracks so it's a mixed blessing.

We ran the generator twice yesterday with two 15 minute power outages. Of course you don't know how long the power outage is going to last so you just deal with it. The power outages forced me to assess the spare gas situation -- with only 5 gallons on hand and it due to go into the Whaler, I needed more. So ... I tracked the virgin snow on Osprey Road going into town for gas, milk, frozen peas, newspaper ... and two bottles of wine for Sandy. The road was a winter wonderland. The heavy snow was bending branches down all over and at one point I brushed a small branch with the top of the X5. By the time I came back though mine weren't the only tracks.

Naturally the wood stove is running constantly now. Naturally that drops the humidity -- 24% in here now. Higher in the basement -- 35% -- because it's cooler. I don't exactly need that big-ass dehumidifier now ! Pretty soon I'll be turning on the humidifier upstairs -- sigh -- but the really dry air is hard on the sinuses.

I'm not going fishing this morning. Yes, I'm wimping out. I am looking at the icy fog moving across the water knowing that it would be cooolllldddd. As I sat fishing last night the depth finder was telling me that the water temperature was dropping. From over 55F the day before to 53.3F when I got out there, to 53.1 when I left -- I expect that it's even colder now -- sub 50F would be my guess. Once the water hits its maximum density at 4C / 39.2F there is no warmer water below to cyle up and we'll get the surface freezing in the bays. Usually by the time we leave in November we have had some ice -- but who knows, with global warming ... hah.

OK -- enough for today ... nothing much planned for today but as usual I'll keep busy !