Dealing With the Ice

Off the Island--Shore Side Behind Me

Moving from Water to Ice

Home at Last!

C said I should get my picture in the blog as it's been a few years for me.  I thought it might be useful to show how we deal with the ice when it is in the "water or ice" stage on the lake.  We use the kayak outfitted with a two piece breakdown paddle, two ski poles collapsed to two feet, and one hoe that runs around four feet.  It is common to use all of these items in one trip across. 

Today we ran from ice, using the ski poles and sliding on top, to water using the oar, and back to ice on the shore side using a sharp stroke from the paddle to get on top again.  Lots of good, calorie-burning exercise after the holidays!  We didn't need the hoe, as it comes in more useful when the ice is collapsing all around the kayak and you need to reach out further to find a purchase to move the kayak along.

We had lots of trips across today as C runs an antique business via the mail and I wanted to get her merchandise ready for mailing on the other side before the wind chill moved to below zero--where it will be tomorrow.  If her customers only knew how their antiques traveled!

The Ice War Begins

 

Quite a tug of war around here.  The temperature calls for ice on Lake Manitou--but the wind will not stand for it.  To date the wind has been able to keep the lake mostly open--but we think the tables will turn by Monday--as the air is now still and the weatherman calls for 6 degrees. 

In the meantime, we take advantage of our channel.  The channel is in the lee of the wind, and the ice supports the kayaks as we slide them to and fro.

T'is the Season

Here is an abstract using the Treasure Island Christmas lights.  We have the bushes done up--which probably nobody can see but us.  We did a little tree on the channel side for our neighbors across the water.  And...the flagpole has a nice spin of white lights that should be visible from shore.  We hope that the pole serves as a beacon--so that all of us with far flung families might guide them home for the holidays--at least in spirit.

Say What?

Here is another little island friend in winter--the Nuthatch.  He loves to hang upside down on the side of a tree--and I obviously interrupted him in mid-peck.  This is one tough customer to photograph, as he's always on the move.  His favorite trick around here is to grab a sunflower seed, and then fly to a tree trunk to cache it under some loose bark.  A snack for later, I guess.  If you've ever heard the call of a Nuthatch--you would agree that he is appropriately named--as it sounds as if it came from something that was indeed in a nutty place.

A Salute to the Coot

 

 

Well, we have a nice pair of bald eagles patrolling the lake--and Mike Kenny reports that a very large group of swans were spotted.  The island has been graced with blue jays, cardinals, and a big bunch of gold finches in their muted winter plumage.  Among this great diversity of colorful birds sits the lowly coot.  I never gave them much regard till now. 

I've watched them for five winters now--patiently making their way from Rain Creek to Big Island in the dusk, and then returning in the early morning.  A group of American coots is called a "raft." and that indeed is what they look like as they travel tightly bunched--perhaps to look like a bigger creature when viewed from above or below.  Perhaps, instead, the ones in the middle are simply safer as predators work the edges. They move in silence, their raft getting bigger and bigger until it extends nearly from Big Island all the way to Rain Creek in late winter.  I have no idea where they come from or where they go at other times of the year--but they've become pretty good company here.

The photograph above is the exception to the rule. A small bunch appeared at the east shore of the island a bit ago.  The lake had a sudden freeze to ice, and they were able to find open water there as the rising sun on the concrete sea wall radiated heat to the water.  Soon the ice departed and I now look for their normal travels to resume.

The recent ice was a trial.  We spent three hours chopping our way to shore as the ice was too thin to hold weight but thick enough that it took constant pounding with bash poles to make very slow progress.  We had a place to be Saturday morning and nature had no regard for our schedule.  Now the water is open and now we needn't be anywhere in a hurry--such is the irony of life.

Winter's Here

 

Something called the Omega effect.  Initiated by a storm off the Alaskan Coast.  It dropped the jet stream far south and opened the refrigerator door.  It was 17 degrees this morning.  The good news--the sun is shining and we got the big and little piers, pontoon, and little boat motor under cover before the blast hit us.  Now we can either curse the cold--or enjoy the light of a bright Winter's Day.

Autmn's Last Harrah

This is the last gasp of color on the island--the other trees are bare.  The Fall came with a flurry of dropping leaves this year--all over in a matter of days.  No two years are ever alike here.