A Snow Covered Morning

Last Saturday night we had our first real snow. About six inches covered the ground. The dogs waited patiently while we got ready for a morning walk.

Pete with his coffee

Maddie Jo waited
for us to catch up.

Asher running back to get us.
"Come on, I've already been to
the end and back!"

Asher loves to leap through the fresh snow, but Maddie Jo prefers a groomed trail.

Pete makes a path.

Maddie follows in his
footsteps.

After the walk it was time to snow blow.

While Pete took care of the driveway Asher decided to check on the chickens.

"Come out and
play."

"Not today!"

No Foolin

Snow in April? Really?

Pete and I were up late last night working at my first event for the Minocqua Area Chamber of Commerce. The Only Fools Run at Midnight 5K fun run went well despite a really icy course. About 1100 runners and walkers took off at midnight wearing costumes, glowing necklaces and big smiles. I don't have pictures yet, but I will.  You can see last year's photos on our  website.

Speaking of foolish runners. . .

When we woke up this morning there was about two inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. Wet, heavy snow came down in huge flakes.

Gracie kept getting
snowflakes in her face.

It was hard to see
where we were going.

We went for a walk, but I kept getting snow in my eyes and flakes on the camera lens. Asher didn't seem to mind, in fact, he was crazier than ever.

Asher dashing through the snow
in his winter jacket.

I had to pull Sif out of retirement and Pete may have to wake Arien up. We certainly have to brush the snow off the sap sacks.

Sif and Spring Shoveling

Snowy Sap Sack

In the meantime, Gracie had enough of the snowflakes hitting her in the face and decided to quit and go home.

"I've had enough of this."

"This is a better way to spend the day!"

Weimaraner in the WInter Woods

We were beginning to think spring was around the corner, but I've seen enough April snowstorms in Wisconsin to know better. Sure enough, this morning we woke up to see the woods blanketed in snow. Asher and I went out for an early morning walk.  He was so excited.

It looks like we got about 3 inches, but it's still coming down. The snow is heavy and it's sticking to the trees, making for some beautiful scenes.

The driveway

"Are the squirrels going
to come out?"

"Guess not. Let's go home
and have pizza for
breakfast."

Pizza Pete

Last night Pete made pizza from scratch. This is always a popular dish around our house.

Three dogs want pizza.

The homemade sauce was really rich, the dough was great and the toppings were perfect.  The dogs wouldn't let it out of their site.
By the way, pizza is one of those odd words that I think is uncountable. A noun can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns have a singular and plural form (chair and dog).

"How many pizzas
did you make?"

Uncountable nouns cannot be counted; they are not separate objects. You cannot make them plural by adding -s, because they only have a singular form (water, coffee, rice). I contend that cheese, fruit and pizza are uncountable nouns, but this idea is not supported by very many people I talk to. To me it sounds odd to use cheeses, pizzas or fruits in a sentence. I think I should say “types of cheese”, “three pizza pies” and “kinds of fruit.”

Well, I'm not sure if I'm correct or not. I can't find a definitive answer of the Internet. I do know that deer should not have an "s" at the end. This is one of two groups of deer we see almost every evening right outside of our window.

A group of deer enjoying
snack time at Payment Lake.

Weimaraners on Ice

About a month ago we decided it would be fun to have a little skating area on Payment Lake. Pete got out Yooper, I took Sif and we got to work.

Pete with Yooper

Asher and Aja
patrol the perimeter

The ice under all the snow was smooth as glass. Pete maintained the rink for weeks - sort of like he used to do with our pool in Las Vegas.  Unfortunately, he couldn't fully enjoy all of his work because he didn't have any ice skates. Then came Valentine's Day. We went down to Minocqua and I bought my valentine some hockey skates.

Pete at BJ's Sportsshop
picking out skates

We found a hockey
stick as well

Time to hit the ice. We strapped on our skates, found our balance and skated circles around the dogs.

Even Maddie Jo and Gracie came down to see the spectacle.

Gracie and Asher

Maddie Jo

Eagle River and Minocqua had pond hockey tournaments recently. The neat thing about both tournaments was they each had a girls division. At the Payment Lake Pond Tournament we can beat that with our Weimaraner division.

Asher and Gracie vs Pete

The dogs absolutely love it. They are very skillful with their paws and frequently manage to steal the puck away.

The only problem is that once they get the puck they don't like to give it back.

In fact, when Gracie gets the puck she quits and goes home with it.

This year is for practice and perfecting our plays. Next year we'll be hosting the first annual Payment Lake Pup Pond Hockey event. Get your pups on the ice and start practicing so you can join us.

We'll be looking for you!

Things are Heating Up

Over 70,000 people protested in Madison yesterday. As things continued to heat up this week in our state capital the snow started to respond to the warmer temperatures up in the North Woods.

Mad City
Demonstrations continue.
photo- Salon.com

Crazy Kitty
Enjoying the February sun.

Last week's weather was mild, in the high twenties and low thirties. Mr. French came out and saw his shadow. When a groundhog sees his shadow he hides back in his burrow, and it supposed to mean winter weather will continue for six more weeks.

Mr. French ventures outside

There's his shadow

Mr. French reminded he that he is NOT a groundhog. Nonetheless, after a brief romp out-of-doors he decided to retreat to his basement abode with the prediction that he won't be able to fully enjoy his forest for another month or so.

photo- Salon.com

Yesterday, one of the speakers in Madison said, "This governor has to understand Wisconsin is a stubborn constituency. We fish through ice!" Last weekend the Mercer Lions Club hosted their annual ice fishing jamboree.

A beautiful sunny day
on Mercer Lake.

Lion Pete on the job.

Raffles

Prizes

Good Food

Plenty of Beer

The Daily Globe reported that, "The sun was shining and the fish were biting. . ." The largest northern pike caught was 28 inches and the largest bass was 20 inches.

The scoreboard

The Andrews brothers
caught a 21" northern
photo - Jon Hawley

It was a beautiful day and everyone had lots of fun. Stay tuned for more ice adventures.