It appears as though the cold snap has broken. Today it is a balmy 19 degrees. Almost feels like summer.

Took a walk on the lake. Very strange. In places there is about 2" of ice then about 4" of water and then a layer of ice too thick to measure. But it made walking even in the snow shoes a bit difficult. Dogs has a hard time as well. The two pictures attached are from about 200 yards out on the lake.

No snow to speak of in 4 days. Looks like we're back to "normal" winter.

The one responsibility about having a blog was brought to my attention by my son Willie, and he said: "Dad if you are going to have a blog you have to make an entry every once in a while". So taking his advice I will try and be more consistent in posting to this blog, but no promises.

The last week has been most interesting. Over the weekend, Jan. 3 and 4, I was in NJ but we got 8-10" of new snow up here. Had to plow on the way down to the house, but it was fairly cold so even this much snow wasn't much of a problem. It snowed another 3-5 inches over the next few days. The problem is beginning to be where to put the snow. The mounds are becoming intimidating.

The most interesting thing has been the temperature. As everyone knows the cold has been coming from the West. On Tuesday night at 10:00 it was 26, by Wed. morning at 6:00 it was -7. It never got above 0 on Wed. Thursday morning, again about 6:00, it was -12. When I got home form work at 4:30 it was-4. It is now 10:44on Thursday night and -12. I haven't ever been in
-12 degree weather before and it is truly amazing. They talk about Adirondack "fireworks" at this temp. Boil some water and throw it in the air. It just kind of tails off into the air and never hits the ground. The evaporation, as with your breath, just hangs in the air. Apparently as it gets even colder the water begins to pop and freeze almost imediately once thrown into the air. I'll wait to see that, maybe later, it's supposed to be -21 tonight.

I don't know if it can snow when it is this cold. I guess that's the good news. It is beautiful up here in the winter, as I've said before, and with this cold things are beyond crisp and clean. the crunch of the snow even sounds clean. Tough on the dogs though. Our older dog, Tupper, doesn't handle it well. Lying by the wood stove is her idea of winter. Lincoln on the other hand is undeterred. If there is a stick to be chased; rain, sleet, snow or -12 makes no difference, it's heaven regardless.

Well I guess you can take this posting too far, so I will call it quits for now. I'll take a walk on the lake in the next day or so, take some pictures and include them with the next posting. As I've heard everyone up here say over the last day or so when saying goodbye; "stay warm".

I know it has been some time since I last made an entry to the blog. I apologize to my millions of readers.
Trying to catch everyone up over the last two weeks: the weather over the holidays was a true mish mash. We had warm weather and some mixed precipitation just before Christmas, then on Christmas it was cold and beautiful. Some "warm" weather followed Christmas and turned the access to all our houses to some fairly treacherous ice/snow. The new year dawned cold and beautiful. Didn't get much above 10, with that gorgeous deep blue Adirondack sky. Then of course it clouded up and began snowing. Not much accumulation however. As a matter of fact it was relatively snow free until about three days ago.
On Tuesday the temps got close to 30 and it began to snow. So it was a mix of snow and rain, call it snain instead of sleet. There was about 6 inches of whatever you call it, then Wednesday night it got colder, while continuing to snow. So at least the next 6 or so inches was light and fluffy. So here it is Thursday night, still snowing, 10 degrees and it is supposed to be a very cold weekend.
Both accesses to our houses are clear and well taken care of. The only problem I forsee is where is all the January and February snow going to be plowed. The mounds are growing, thus the roads/driveways are shrinking. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 2 /3 months.
Pictures will follow early next week.

December 20, 2008

First real snow fall of the year yesterday. The call was for 2-4 inches, we got at least a foot. But the temperature never got much above 15 so it was amazingly light and fluffy. Easy to plow and shovel. Today it reached 10 and was one of those georgeous cold, crisp, days. Nice to be out in. More snow called for tomorrow, between 3 and 10 inches. Giving themselves a fair margin of error. Still staying cold, reaching the high teens then back into the single digits tomorrow night. First official day of winter, I guess it's only fair.
The road is in good shape. Lots of snow, but good traction so there shouldn't be any problem getting in and out. Supposed to stay cold right through Christmas. Both roads in are clear and very passable.
Happy Holidays and safe travels to all!

The attached picture will give you a better idea of where the ice line was around 2:30. Since then the wind has picked up out of the north, the temperature has dropped 16 degrees, now 12, and it has been snowing steadily. The ice line is probably now only 50 yards off the shore. Amazing change. Supposed to go to minus 3 tonight and a high of 13 tomorrow, but 44 on Wednesday. Go figure.

It's been over a week since I last posted anything to the site. This last week was a "warm" one, in the 30's may have touched 40. Normal temps returned again Friday with high in the 20's. It was 12 this morning at 7:00. Despite the warmer weather last week somehow the snow kept coming. No major accumlations yet, just little bits at a time. There is probably 6 or 7 inches on the ground here at the lake. Amazingly enough, in the village the ground is barely covered. The big change is the lakes are beginning to freeze. The portion of the lake we look at is frozen half way to Corey Island. What is amazing is the family is on Corey Island. Looks like they got there Thursday night. Must have used an ice breaker.

The road down to our camps is in pretty good shape. Between my plowing and the Bettman's plower, Rick I think, it's fairly clear and easily manuevered. The original ROW is not plowed and the confrontation is coming as I left a letter indicating my intention to keep it open in Mr. Day's mailbox this morning. We shall see.

Two pictures are attached showing the progress of the ice. Hopefully the line is visible.

More later as things develop.

November 23, 2008

Yes Virginia, there is a sun up in the sky over Upper Saranac Lake! But it is only 8 degrees. Beautiful!