Great Weather for Ice Fishing

Out and about again today. Weather notifications say-"Snow stops in 35 minutes" and then 5 minutes later says "Snow starting in 10 minutes". It has been snowing off and on all day.

All I can tell you is it snows every time I go out to shovel or clear the drive. Of course when I come in the sun peaks out. (only briefly though)

Had to run a few small errands so we took the long way home around the lake, past the Winter Sports Complex, and into Snug Harbor.

Evidently the ice fishing must be fairly good as we saw a few people out on Muskegon Lake. If it stays good on Saturday and Sunday I expect there will be many ice fishermen out there. My dad would have been staying with us just to get his ice fishing in. Every time i see people fishing out there on the lake, at the channel or by the river I think how much time he would have spent up here.

I haven't been ice fishing since high school but it was always nice to sit in the heated shanty with Dad and talk about everything and nothing. I can't even remember which bayou we used to fish at or if we even got any fish.

Stay warm and stay safe. Oh. and if you are one of those people who think keeping your thermostat at 65 degrees is too cold. Set it, go outside for 5 minutes, and come back inside. You will appreciate 65 degrees. Remember if we run out of gas completely because of the compression station fire we will really appreciate 65 degrees!

I am adding a few videos of the ice fishing for you to enjoy. Enlarge them to see the fishermen. Thanks to my copilot for the filming.

Took A Drive Today

We had to go out and pick up eggs at our CSA today. The chickens are adjusting well to the cold. We picked up six dozen eggs. It was so beautiful on the way to the farm that we decided to take a winter's cruise along the lake shore Scenic Drive.

It was fantastic and here are some nice photos we wanted to share.

Looking into the woods near the Winter Sports Complex

Driving toward the beach

 

Looking out into the lake

At the beach

Beach grass and the lake

Another look at the lake

WINTER WONDERLAND

I have always loved winter, mainly for the blowing and drifting snow. We are currently experiencing the winter vortex here in West Michigan. Living close to Lake Michigan means the lake effect snow just seems to never stop once the weather gets to the true winter temperatures. We have about 14-16 inches of snow here in our woods. The wind is blowing and drifts are starting to form. I have shoveled the drive a few times to keep it open for coming and going. The sound of the wind, the bracing cold, and the continuous falling snow are invigorating. I love being outside but not to long with the sub-zero temperature.

I have checked and filled the bird feeders for our feather friends. The cold has brought a frenzy of hungry birds to the seed feeder and a wonderful assortment of woodpeckers and nuthatches to the suet feeders. The turkeys come by every few hours to scratch and peck for the fallen seed.

Here are some videos of the weather here. Look closely at the suet feeder to see a woodpecker.

 

I just had to add this video from Swartz Creek thanks to school friends who posted it toady on Facebook. Especially like the idea of a family day. Baking cookies is always a great snow day cold day activity. Hot chocolate is always nice. when the snow is fresh and clean you can always make snow cream with a little vanilla and sugar.

WOLF BLOOD MOON

Drove out to the lake shore last night to view the Blood Moon. Since it is also the full moon of Januar it was also the Wolf Moon.

We first went to the park turnaround but found it difficult to see the moon.  We ventured on to the Blockhouse parking lot. after some parking manipulation we we able to to put our seata back amd watch the eclipse begin.  the outside temperature was 0 degrees Fahrenheit. we wayched from around 9:45pm until a little after 12:00am.

It was spectacular and we did learn a couple of new things for the future. As you will see by the photos posted below that we had some trouble catching the moon as was eclipsed. In part because we were using a phone camera and because we did not know how to remove the flash. We finally found the icon to turn off the flash and our shots got a bit better.

the second thing we learned is that when you by a vehicle with a moon roof it means you can  open it and see the sky very clearly. Thinking it would be cold if we did so was not true. 10-55 minutes of the car turned off was good once the car was heated.

We are now looking forward to viewing meteor showers from the same location.

Here are some beginning photos with the flash working.

Taken with the flash working

Finally the flash is off and we got these -

Around 11:30 pm

the last one we took

Beautiful Day for walking in the Park

What a glorious day. Sunshine, little or no wind, and a temperature of a refreshing 27 degrees. Drove  over to the channel parking lot. Took the channel walk to the east listening to the tinkling sound of ice sheets as they collected near the rocks. Turned into the Channel Campground to walk among the empty campsites; watching the the trees as they cast their shadows and created interlocking patterns around us.  Catching the sounds of birds as they also enjoyed the sunlight and warmth of this winter's day.

Nearing the lake camping sites we could hear the wind soughing gently through the pines. Caught brief glimpses of swans on the lake as we approached the beach just around the corner from Devil's Kitchen. The previous days had created fantastic ice coverings of the shoreline vegetation. With the sun glistening through we saw delicate ice structures. Winter homes of water sprites? One could only imagine. Check them out and see if you can catch a glimpse of a sprite.