Not Quite Parting the Red Sea

I think Moses and the Red Sea have us by a very wide margin here--but we were sure happy to find the great ice pack that is Lake Manitou parted just enough to get us through to shore. 

Prior to this we had been trapped by a most unusual form of ice--one that we had never seen before.  The ice--due to the warm weather--had lost all ability to carry weight on top.  However, it was still three inches thick, which meant you could not force a kayak either through it or over it.

The crystal structure of this ice was quite amazing to me.  Imagine the kind of prisms that hung from your grandma's lamp.  Now pack them all together vertically so they form an ice slab and you have Lake Manitou.  The prisms were not strongly attached, so they would collapse under weight--but each three inch prism had the beauty of a perfectly formed ice crystal three inches long with many sides.

As I write this two days later, we have the last gasp of the ice and a new Spring dawning for the lake. 

ENOUGH ALREADY!

I don't know about you--but I'm pretty darn sick of snow pictures taken at temps below zero.  We have an entire week coming up that is supposed to be above freezing.  May that be the end of it!

Here are a couple of pix of me making my way to the island from shore.

We'll be back in touch when we have something warmer to report!

Treasure Island in the Snow

It's been a pretty gloomy winter so far.  Here are some snow scenes from our last sunny day.

A Winter's Walk

 

 

For a small town, Rochester is graced with a very nice hospital facility.  Woodlawn, recently enlarged to twice its original size, sits on the old Indiana Fish Hatchery site.  The hospital has put its money where its mouth is--they have a fine network of paths around the grounds--no one around here has an excuse not to take a walk every day in the name of fitness.

For us--it is just a few minutes from the island--and on this day it was the only area that had parking available without six inches of snow to fight through.

If you look hard at the last picture, you can see a few geese taking advantage of the open water.

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.