A Bigger Digger

We got a few inches of snow earlier in the week and a few more yesterday so the flakes were piling up in the driveway.  Pete brought home Holland to help out.  His name is really New Holland, but he doesn't look very new, so I just call him Holland.

Asher wasn't sure what to make of the machine. He chased after it a bit, but kept his distance.

"What kind of animal made these tracks?"

 

"Is that what did it?" 

"Just walk away."

As Pete and Holland carried on the dogs lost interest. Maddie Jo went inside, but Asher and Gracie were ready to get back to last weekend's mystery. They thought they found a clue - this one on Payment Lake.

A pop-up ice fishing shack has been on the lake for a few weeks now, but they rarely find anyone inside - this afternoon was no exception.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Gracie makes a great Nancy Drew

Asher took a break from the mystery of the lakes and made for the forest. There are always things of interest there.

Asher heads for the woods

Ever mindful to cross in the crossing.

What lurks in the forest along Ashe Road?

Could there be something up in the air?

Could there be something over there?

Nothing around, time to go back home. Asher obliges and runs as fast as he can and is taken for a kangaroo by onlookers and the camera alike.

The work goes on.

The Clues on Net Lake - not a Nancy Drew Mystery

Yup, we're still here. There hasn't been a lot of snow this winter, but we're enjoying what we have. There have been sightings of ice fishermen on Net Lake, so yesterday we decided to check in out.

This is the path to Net Lake. The snow is about a foot deep in the woods; fine if you have snowshoes, like Pete, otherwise you have to follow in his footsteps.

Maddie Jo would never jump off the dock into the lake in the summer, but in the winter she's unstoppable on her mission to find evidence of ice fishermen.

Here's the evidence.  They came in through the Payment Lake channel using ATVs. There were tracks all over the lake.

While Asher investigated the other side of the lake the girls and I looked on the near side.

            

Gracie found an ice hole. There were eight or ten of them scattered across the lake.

We tracked them through the channel and onto Payment Lake.

Asher loves to follow tracks.

Maddie Jo is ready to be our "muscle" if we need her.  We've been watching a lot of The Wire.

Gracie was ready for anything as well.

They both had Pete's back as he made his way home.