Jan 18 - quiet day in the frozen north

What is winter like in the frozen north ? Well, had I not gone to Britt for Mass we certainly would not have seen any signs of life, other than birds. The birds were happy to see us back but that's because we filled the bird feeder. I did see some fresh tire tracks on the road, no doubt the result of Jim & Bonnie going into Loring for church. We have not talked to them yet ... probably today.

There is about a foot of snow on the lake. The ice is bound to be thicker than before we went skiing, even with all that extra insulation. I'll find out today drilling holes for ice fishing, assuming, that is, that I can get minnows in town. There is slush under the snow, the result of the snow weighing down the ice. It's not easy walking and it's much too deep for the ATC's.

I saw a groomer working on the snowmobile trails along 522 by the railroad tracks but they have not put trail-marking stakes in the lake out front yet. There are probably tracks in the snow, but I did not get across the lake to check nor did we see any snowmobiles go by.

It did not take very long to clear the snow front of the barn and run the snow blower up and down the driveway widening it slightly from Al's plowing. The snow is light, dry and fluffy -- that's what happens when it's in the -30's. Abby and I checked out Jason's place from the outside, all is well, not much snow on the roof. I did not get as far as Donnie's. It's snowing lightly again, even though the doppler doesn't show anything in this area. It's a gray, wintry day.

What did we do yesterday ? Nothing. Sandy did some reading; I watched the last episode of Stargate Atlantis. I now have to wait for Season 5 to hit DVD (season 5 is this year) so that I can find out what happened in the "to be continued" episode that ended Season 4.

We have three days. In that time we have to:

-- do some ice fishing -- well, we don't really have to ice fish;
-- go into town a couple of times for mail, etc.
-- put on the summer tires for the trip to Florida -- that will be Wednesday afternoon
-- pack a variety of things, including coffee roaster, satellite tuner, some food that we're taking with us (eg. flatbread), a case of wine and minimal clothes.
-- do my last-minute pc closeup activities, backing up quicken and outlook, packing the external drives
-- visit with Jim & Bonnie
-- maybe, just maybe, make a trip to Parry Sound. I think that there is a case of wine waiting for me there. I could always pick it up on the way south, perhaps, and leave it at Stef's but I don't think that they open early enough in the morning.

It really won't be a strenuous three days. The only painful job will be tire changing, which is always difficult in the cold weather for a few reasons:

-- first, I know that the jack won't work and I'll have to warm up the hydraulic fluid with the heat gun
-- I'll have to chip away the accumulated ice to find the jack points under the car and clear enough space in the wheel wells to get the wheels off and on
-- the snow tires will be yucky, covered in ice and salt -- yucky is a purely technical term

This all assumes that I'll then be able to drive the car to the top of the driveway and then out to 522 afterwards without snow tires ! We're not supposed to get any significant snow in the next three days so hopefully we'll be ok. I would not have wanted to make the trip into Britt yesterday without snow tires; the roads were a mess.

Anyhoo ... that's about it. We are certainly looking forward to warmer weather ! I'm looking forward to getting back on my bike.