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

Snow plowing in Minnesota

Oh, the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Boy this could not be more true than is has been this week! On Tuesday we had about 4 inches then after an evening of reprieve another 4 to 6 inches is expected today.  The cold air will rush in for the weekend before more snow is forecasted for next week.  All this has put a damper on the original plans to head up to Mille Lacs for an evening of fishing as it will take them at least a few days to deal with the snow in getting the roads back open and ready for the wheel houses.  Besides the snow we will be just on the edge of a blizzard warning  so there is no reason to push things.  Besides watching a rather boring Superbowl at our neighbors house, we did head to Eau Claire to have lunch with my niece's daughter who is going to school in Eau Claire.  Although I did not get a chance to stop at Scheels, it was fun to see her as we ended up at the Olive Garden.  This is the week that I usually am in Anaheim, California however this year did not work out very well.  Talking to a friend he said it was cold, in the low 60's there........heck, based on last weeks temperatures, 60 degrees would be 90 degrees warmer than last Wednesday morning's temperature of -30, personally it could not have been that bad!  This last weekend it warmed up and gave a chance to deal with some maintenance issues like changing the oil on the Honda generator.  I am pretty sure that the manual suggests changing oil every 100 hours yet because it runs on ECO mode most of the time, with little load attached, as well the oil used is a Mobil 1, 5W-30, fully synthetic, extended range oil so realistically there is close to 300 hours on the oil before it's changed.  Actually the oil isn't too dirty and it uses only 13.5 ounces of oil per change so it isn't too hard to do.  The other issue that been keeping me busy is cleaning and restocking the Salem as we get ready for the Perch Extravaganza at the end of the month. Things like getting the propane tanks filled, the inside dried out, the cupboards restocked, and the stuffed reorganized and put away.  One thing was to get a propane torch for the tool box.  It was -22 below when we packed the Salem up at Red a couple of weeks ago and when we tried to raise the house up to pin the axles, the cold weather had stiffened the grease in the axles enough to prevent them from moving, which they usually do by their shear weight.  Marked asked me for a propane torch to heat the grease however a simple pulling on the spring allowed it to get back in place.  Nevertheless I figured it would be good to have a torch in the house so we are ready for most any emergency.

It has been really cold!!!

After this weekend the phase of cold weather should be behind us.  Besides snow removal, I'd like to get up to my friend Bill Lundeen's, he has a guide trip next week and I always let him use some of my equipment.  There is a Sports Show in St. Cloud this weekend, I always enjoy going to them.  One interesting thing that happened while blowing snow with my John Deere lawn tractor is that something punctured the plastic window in the door of the cab.  Deciding to try this clear Flex Tape to repair it I brought it to work and went to the local Walmart and found a roll for about $13.00.  Admittedly that stuff is crazy.  The goofy guy on Television cuts a small boat in half then uses it to hold it together then takes it out on the water.  Well, I believe it now as the warning inside the roll says: Test in an inconspicuous place before using.  Tape is not intended to remove cleanly.  May damage surface during attempt to remove.  Well, they are not kidding!  It is truly amazing how strong that stuff is and my first attempt didn't sit right and I was able to get it off but just barely!  The window is good for the rest of the winter but just in case I called my John Deere dealer on getting a replacement door.  After a day he calls back, says that I might as well call their supplier direct and deal with them.  He gave me the part number, the 1-800 number, and the price, $30.00 for a replacement panel.  Heck that is a pretty reasonable price so I called an ordered one figuring the repaired one will be okay till the end of the season and it can be dealt with when it's warmer out!!!.  The other thing I am working on is my trip to Dallas on March 8th.  Locating all of my bass tackle isn't easy in the cold and I have my boat stored up north so that's out of the question.  I have found most of the stuff and

Wacky Worm Setup

only need to get a new O ring tool which isn't much.  When fishing Joe's tanks are bait of choice is the sinking plastic worm, rigged Wacky style.  Basically an O ring put in the middle of the worm then a hook goes under the O ring.  It is quite deadly and luckily on February 15th Cabela's/Bass Pro has their O ring tool on sale for $5.00, cheap enough!  I have enough time to secure everything I need as our friend Matt has already sent pictures of a recent bass outing that was met with some success.  In another month it will be even warmer and the bass should be biting better.  It was a fabulous time last spring when we fished Joe's Tank's and it will be nice to see those guys again and fish bass, Texas Style!  As mentioned before, our plans are to still stop at the Bass Pro Shop headquarters in Springfield, Missouri and see the Wildlife Museum, apparently the largest in the world.  The only problem Bruce is worried about is if his plane can safely fly back with all of the new stuff we buy!  I don't think that will be a problem but one never knows!

Oh The Weather Outside's Delightful.......................

Hoping to repeat my success of last Sunday night, I could not wait for this weekend to show itself. Unfortunately it showed itself as the first and earliest significant snow in many years. With lows predicted in the mid 20's I had no choice but to shift gears and take care of a few things at home. Little issues like blowing out the sprinkler system before it freezes or picking my apples before the cold renders them useless. Picking my apples was the first priority. With 7 loaded trees, it would be quite an endeavor. Finally finishing up on Sunday afternoon the day ended with 22 bushels more than I started with. My hopes are to make both soft and hard cider with most of them. A few weeks ago I ordered a cider press and apple grinder, which hasn't arrived yet. My friend Kevin has a friend near Ashland Wi that makes a wicked hard cider. I asked him if he could give me John's number and instead he had John call me. We had a fascinating discussion on pressing cider and gave me some fabulous tips like using peptic enzyme for better yields. Hopefully my press arrives by the weekend so I can start the process. One thing John says is that cider is better if blended with a number of different varieties. Sunday I bought a 1/2 gallon of Honeycrisp only cider and it was rather bland, proving his theory. Another fate for my apples have been drying large batches in the dehydrator. Using one of those fancy apple peeler/slicers I simply run them threw leaving the skins on, spread them on the drying racks adding a sprinkling of sugar/cinnamon before putting them in the dehydrator. They turn out simply delicious. I will probably try to make a few quarts of apple pie filling as long as I'm at it.

My friends Eric Hayes and John Delestry were more active in the outdoors this weekend. Eric and John have joined me on Mille Lacs on a number of occasions including the night we had a wild ride from 3 mile to Cedar Creek Landing. Determined to fish the evening bite we launched at the landing around 4:00 one afternoon. The wind was out of the southeast, perfect for drifting the reef. We had caught a few really nice fish going into dusk when all of the sudden the wind switched to the northwest and grew to over 30 mph. The landing is was exactly down wind from our location and we decided we had better head in as the waves had built up to an honest 4 feet. Eric's boat is a 17.5 foot Lund Angler with a 70 hp Johnson(Suzuki) tiller. Definitely a marginal boat in these waves, the adventure began. This was about as crazy a ride as I have been on. Eric was at the helm, John in the middle and I had the front manning the spotlight. Eric was doing a great job even though he was not aware of the raging seas around him. I kept encouraging him to stay on the throttle as we pushed through the waves. Going with the waves can be a dangerous proposition. The motor wants to push the back end of the boat down when heading up the next swell and you literally have to beat the one behind you from catching up and filling your boat. I seen a particularly large wave we just crested and I yelled to Eric to check it out, shining the light on the water next to him. The crest of that wave was about 3 feet behind and 3 feet above him! I probably shouldn't have done that. Arriving at the landing it was obvious this was not going to work. As we approached there was a Pro V on a trailer and the waves were crashing over the stern, filling the entire back end of the boat. John had agreed to jump out into the water close to shore as we headed to Mac's protected harbor. He would get the trailer and meet us there. John is a brave man. Before leaving there was a 16 foot lund hanging around the landing waiting their turn. We approached them screaming to follow us to Mac's, we'll go get your car later. They wisely obeyed our request and were glad they did. It was a very difficult to get to Macs but we made it. Those guys were immensely grateful for our insight, we were just glad they were ok. In the meantime John had made it to shore to find the guys loading the Pro V only had a S10 Blazer and could not budge the boat from the water. John ended up towing their entire rig out enough to drain the water completely. Arriving at the landing we first went back for our new found friends car. Loading them both we called it a night!

The first picture is of Eric's dog Lambeau (you got it Packers fans) with their opening day bag of ducks including green wing teal, gadwalls, and 3 mallards, a hen and 2 drakes. This is a pretty impressive bag if I must say. Lambeau is getting up in the years but he still has it in him. Eric hunts around the La Crosse area and his luck was much better than around Minnesota. The second picture is of John's son bagging his first deer during Wisconsin's Youth Deer Hunt last weekend, an nice tender nubbin buck fawn. Limited to does, he did a fine job of showing dad who's going to be the future deer hunter in his family. That deer will sure taste good this fall. Thanks guys for sending in your pictures as my weekend was pretty uneventful. It looks like the weather will be more favorable for getting up this weekend.