Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow..............

New blanket of the White Stuff this morning

Oh the weather outside's delightful, or so it goes!  Winter arrived in full fashion this week with about 2 inches last week and now another 3 inches before Thanksgiving.  I barely got my potatoes dug before the cold came but I am pretty well set.  The only thing I have to do in the next week is get the mower deck off of my lawn tractor and mount the snowblower attachment and put the cab on, which is no easy task. Unfortunately last year at this time I suffered a stroke while working on these things, admittedly I'm not very motivated to get these things done however life goes on and it's not going to get any warmer, fortunately!  This weather means that the ice should be forming on the lakes and my friend Keith Holtan sent me a picture from the Brainerd MN, newspaper of a guy out on the ice............UFFDA!
I am anxious for ice fishing to start but not that anxious! With the cold weather scheduled for next week, maybe with a little luck we will be able to make it out on Red pretty soon.  I have checked the webcams around Mille Lacs Lake and there is no ice that has formed yet but I suppose this is not surprising as it was 60 out a week ago.   The Accuweather forecast shows that after December 1st the bottom falls out of the low temperatures and maybe December 17th is the more practical date Mark Applen and I can pull up our Salem Ice Cabins for a fishing weekend.  We are anxious to get up and see what JR did to the place as he called me in October to tell us he's remodeled the bar somewhat.  I have check some of the webcams from up north and the big body of waters are still wide open however some of the smaller lakes appear to have froze over.  Either way it will be what is is as going through the ice is not a desirable situation.  Last year we pulled our wheel houses up but had to fish our portables as one could only walk out on the ice.  I suppose it was good exercise!

Heather's nice 8 pointer

Deer hunting is in full swing back home in Eleva, Wisconsin.  My friend Kevin Aiona sent me a picture of his daughter-in-law, Heather, who bagged a beautiful 8 point buck on opening day.  It's nice to see someone get a nice deer, lord knows I never have and probably never will these days!  I still like to deer hunt and it would be nice to get a trophy before I leave this earth however, the chances are getting less as I am less inclined to chase them any more.  It is still fun to see others bag some nice deer. My cousin Greg Nelson's son-in-law is Joe Thomas, a famous Offensive Left Tackle for the Cleveland Browns. Greg is deer hunting his land down in Southeastern Wisconsin and on his land, Joe doe not allow anyone to shoot anything smaller than a 10 pointer, wow, that's a big deer.  Greg claims they really take some nice deer off that land but one could understand why!  Anyway, here's a shout to Heather, nice deer!  I getting ready for Thanksgiving and we are not sure where we will end up these days.  With everything sort of goofed up, mom's not doing too well, the weather is supposed to be ugly, it might just be that we stay close to home this year.  With all the things I have to do yet, it might be the best thing for getting caught up. At least the pins that one has to remove to drop my wheel house to the ice are loose and I am ready to pull it up.  The inside needs a good cleaning as well but for the most part she's ready to go.  One other thing that should be done is to hook up my satellite DirecTV antenna just to make sure it works.  A few weeks ago I did put in a new battery and the furnace has been run, so that's good.

Next week is our annual Fall TTA (The Transformer Association) meeting in Naples, Florida.  I was on the board of directors, including serving as it's President for 2 years.  In that time, instead of giving a feel god speech I started telling Ole and Lena jokes, something to highlight my Wisconsin up bringing.  Well it's been pretty successful and even though I am no longer on the board, the group expects a few Norwegian jokes to be told like this one:  Ole went into the Lumber yard to get some boards.  Sven was working so Ole looked at him and said " I need to buy some boards there, Sven"  "How long do you want'em Ole?"  "Vell Sven, a long time, see I'm building a house ya know!"
Happy Thanksgiving!!