Melt Down

After a fair amount of snowfall that never melted due to the cold temps, I began to wonder and ask questions like......"how much weight can a roof hold?" I didn't really want to ask that question and I'm not sure I wanted to know the answer. These pictures don't do justice to the 20+ inches of snow piled on the house.

This past weekend Todd got up there to shovel off the edges so ice dams wouldn't build up.

As the temperatures have risen, I keep hoping my roof is in good shape and we don't experience any leaks.

 The fence is 4 ft. high, so is the snow pile.

This is what the view would look like to the dogs, just piles of snow, so high you can't see over them.

And the pile on the back patio is as tall as the chiminea, >4 ft.

Sunday

Don't need to ask them what Sundays are for.................



Ice Caves Part 3

 Here's another area I'd like to kayak into during the summer.

Signe trying to steal my beverage.

 This was Todd's idea, in addition to some chocolate.

 I'm not sure it kept us warm, but it tasted good.

 Proud of his purchase.

 To end the great day we had a buffet dinner at the Red Cliff Casino - here was the spectacular view from our table. Life is so good and I'm thankful.

Ice Caves Part 2

The pictures don't do justice, but I thought it was neat to see moss on the rocks just above and underneath a layer of thick ice.

I want to kayak through that opening in the summer.

If it looks like a complete white-out behind Signe, it was. It was like looking out on the arctic tundra like you see on tv.

Steve and Todd, happy?

A little cold but still smiling.

I was trying to capture the blue color of the ice; obviously I need to learn how to use the features on the camera.

These icicles must have been formed while the wind was blowing.



Ice Cave Adventure

As some of you know, we've been having a very cold winter. So cold that Lake Superior is frozen over. I wanted to take advantage of this so I asked Todd to take me to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore to view the ice caves. Here we are on the shuttle bus.

We went with our friends Steve and Signe. We caught the shuttle and I'm glad we did; the -25 temps would not have made walking another 2 miles very fun.

So fortunate the sun was shining all day, it sure was beautiful.

According to the National Park Service, nearly 78,000 people visited the caves from Jan. 15 through the end of February. The last time the ice was thick enough to walk on to see the caves was in 2009, but only about 8,400 visited in January and February that year.

 It was amazing and I'd like to return in the summer to kayak in the caves.



Cold Weather Food

Winter weather calls for soup. Made potato bacon soup - it's really about the bacon and cheese, right?

 And Todd wanted some rice custard. I like custard and rice separately, not together.



Nature's Art

Walking the dogs around the neighborhood offers some beautiful sites. The trees in front this home were bent over from the heavy snow.

 Now that's being flexible.

 Although most of the snow has fallen off, I think the branches are now frozen into the snow on the ground. When spring arrives, hopefully the trees will spring back into an upright position.