Snowed In At Chautauqua Lake

8:40

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The Joy of Shoveling

It's 8:00 and I have been up for an hour.  Snowed in is putting it mildly as we had 6-8 inches last night, perhaps up to another foot to come during the next twenty four hours.  At the moment, it's snowing and I cannot make out Long Point, as the lake is just a blur of whiteness.  It's not quite as cold as yesterday, a 16º but it's supposed to stay there the rest of the day.  Looks like another day of hibernation for the two of us.

I am getting flack from my wife/editor about saying the same thing each morning.  So all I will say about yesterday it was much like the day before except for the fact that we did get outside for about 15 minutes to clear the driveway, a good thing as it's snow covered with another eight inches this morning, so we will be shoveling again today.

Hairy Woodpecker?

Finch Time

And, as you can see from our photographs, the birds have found our feeders once again after our return from our trip East.  They are hungry little devils, flitting, dive bombing other species, to  get at the sunflower seeds.

Hello

Fat Boy

We did see the first fisherman of the new years, just off of Long Point, a solitary smudge on the white canvas of snow.

Braving the Frigid Temperatures

And, around 3:00, because of the snow warnings for the next day or two, we gathered up our energy, our shopping bags, and drove to Wegman's to fill up our cellars, refrigerators, and freezers with food for the next four days, thinking we would not want to go out in the snow.  Wegman's was surprisingly busy but lacked lots of staples as the trucks were late or never made it.  The roads were no problem, lots of people seemed out at the time, perhaps doing what we were doing, stocking up for the next couple of days.

We were exhausted from our first trip out of the house since arriving home on Monday, so it was good to sit down in the living room, with a glass of wine, some horseradish cheese, and watched the lake, the sky slowly disappear at dusk, leaving only a few lights flickering in the distant Bemus shoreline.

We had chicken cutlets for dinner, with leftover spaghetti, toast, and a salad, and watched a couple of more episodes of Longmire, filling the space until American Idol, yes, we are American Idol fans, came on.  It seems better this year, less making fun of the performers, more talent, and no Randy Jackson, whose absence, as one critic put it, will drop the cliches by 40%.  I finished my Danish thriller, started another, Book III, of the Department Q series.