Dec 21 - cutting a tree

The most notable activity yesterday was getting our Christmas tree. With 6+ inches of ice on the lake the easiest way to do that is walk across the lake, saw in hand, find a suitable tree, cut it to size and carry it across the lake. After bringing it into the house, drilling the base and standing it up, however, we decided that the top looked great but the bottom was not. So ... I cut 4 feet off the bottom and stood it up again. Now we have a tree that is "only" 14 feet tall. It's not decorated yet -- that will be today's chore.

Getting the tree was not without incident. The shore in the bay across the lake is piled up with logs / driftwood making it difficult to get from the ice onto the land. I also found out the hard way that the snow piled on these logs provides good insulation for the water below ... and got a soaker. I have tall boots, but not quite tall enough. With one boot full of water I was tempted to walk back but reasoned that the heat was still trapped inside the boot and that I could live with the sloshing. By the time we cut the tree and carried it back, however, that foot was really cold -- not numb, but cold and stiff. I have two pairs of these winterized rubber boots ... thankfully ... and I'm still drying the insert for that boot.

We did other things yesterday, a cold and snowy day. We accumulated another 3-4 inches of snow, which I tackled with the snow blower. That, however, was after I got back from Mass. I decided to go to Britt after all, making a judgement call that the snowstorm on the doppler would mostly be past us moving south to north by the time that I headed south for church in Britt vs driving ahead of it and then back into it had I gone north to Sudbury.

I put out one of the ice fishing rigs early in the morning, since the one rig already had a live minnow attached. By the time I got home from church the flag was up but the minnow was gone. I drilled another hole, put minnows on both rigs, and late in the day got another pike. We now have a meal awaiting our pleasure.

Late afternoon we walked over to Jim & Bonnie's to visit. That worked out well because they've decided to advance their trip to their daughter's in Barrie by a day, so we would have missed them had we waited for this evening. Besides, Sandy is planning on going to Sudbury today for grocery shopping and would likely be too tired to visit tonight anyway.

Bonnie got out cheese and crackers and although it was still early, by our standards, when we got home, we agreed that neither of us wanted a big dinner at that point so we cut some bread fresh out of the breadmaker and snacked.

I think that's it for yesterday.

I'll be decorating the tree today, ice fishing, more cleanup and organizing, whatever. Sandy will be fully occupied with a trip to Sudbury. She has to get a turkey etc. and whatever vegetables would keep that long. Our plan is to celebrate Christmas on the 30th, by which time everyone should be here and recovered from traveling.

I did some research yesterday on ice thickness to support people, cars etc. I had it fixed in my head that 4 inches was ok for people walking and 6 inches would support a car. Well, I was close -- 3 inches for a person walking, 4 inches for a group of people walking in single file, 7.5 inches for a typical 2-ton car, 12 inches for an 8-ton truck, 20 inches for 25 tons, 36 inches for 110 tons. Another website mentions 5 inches for snowmobiles and ATV's. Using that guideline, we're in good shape at 6 inches.

I had walked across the lake the day before yesterday with my battery operated drill and a 6 inch bit -- and was hitting water just at 6 inches or burying the drill bit without hitting water (in the center of the lake). Of course that doesn't mean that it's 6 inches everywhere -- at the ESS Narrows there is still open water due to the current. Every day with this cold weather, however, thickens the ice. We'll be well over 6 inches now. We also have a little slush at the edges due to the water rising faster than it's flowing over the dam and a buildup of snow on the ice adding weight. That's quite typical.

Ok, enough.