Warming Up To Twelve Below

7:36

Up at 6:15 because I have breakfast this morning with a few of the boys still here in the North at 8:00 so I have to hustle a bit with the blog and pictures.  I usually get home from breakfast at 9:00 and then have a half an hour until I go to yoga.  It's still dark at the moment, 7:00, no fishermen on the lake but I expect they will be out once there's light. It's  now 7:30 and temperatures have risen to 5º in an hour and a half and the guys are out fishing already.

Yesterday was so cold early that I had to really push myself to go to yoga, thinking not many would be there because of the below zero temperatures.  But  the regulars were there, a couple even from Mayville, and one guy who I have gotten to know some over the past year.  Class was fine, more rigorous than Yin but still easy enough so I felt comfortable.  No coffee, as I just went straight home. I checked our other car which had been sitting in the garage for a couple of weeks, and it started right up so I am going to drive it some tomorrow because Evie needs the car around 11:00 for an appointment.  Unfortunately, it would no start this morning so I will be calling AAA.

Woodlawn

Fishing Buddies

 We watched Jon Stewart and had a lunch of tuna sandwiches and ramen soup, half a healthy lunch I guess.  The rest of the afternoon we hunkered down in our warm house, read some, took a nap, watched a bit of TV.  But at 3:00, I drove off to Smith Library at the Chautauqua Institution to pick up a book I reserved and ended up with two more books and three DVD's.  When I got home, I decided to test the lake, to see if it was any better for cross country skiing.  And it was, so I spent about forty five minutes skiing, down to Wells Bay and back.  I did talk with some fishermen and they said the lake was around four inches thick though yesterday they thought it was less than two inches.  Scary. And as I was skiing, I saw three snowmobiles  race by on the lake, the first of the year. It was easy going towards Wells Bay but much windier and colder heading back.  I was glad to get back to our warm house.

Looks Like Fun

We went off to the Viking Club for Wings and Things around 6:00.  We were able to sit at the bar though we did not win any money this time.  We talked with a couple who rode snowmobiles to the club.  They are real fanatics, driving around fifty miles a night during the week, up to two hundred on weekends.  They have been all over the county, into Pennsylvania and even said they knew friends who drove their snowmobiles all the way to Letchworth Park,  a two and a half hour drive from here via #86.  We also struck up a conversation with a guy who just happens to have been fishing off of Victoria early this morning and late afternoon and saw me cross country skiing.  He is always out early,  even when it's 14 below because there's a small window when the walleyes bite, somewhere between 6:30 and 8:00.  He's going to wave to us this morning if we flash our light.

We also met the couple whom we sat with a couple of weeks ago when Evie won 'big money.'  They live in Ashville, and they remembered us well.  Unfortunately, there were no seats near them, so we didn't get to talk with them much.  We like them and hope to see them more often.  Finally, we struck up a conversation with one of the regulars at the bar, a guy who has sat in the same seat at the bar every time we have been there  and seems to know everyone. His name is Bob Pickett and it ends up he was Road Superintendent of North Harmony for thirty years and when we asked if he knew Sally Carlson, the Town Supervisor, he laughed and said it was his sister.  Small world.  He also mentioned that he  gets up at 5:00 every morning and opens up the Bemus Point Inn for the guys so they can have their coffee.  He also knows Woodlawn well, having done some work for Bob Palmer in the 1980's who at one time owned Pine Hill.  We had our wings and fries and beer, both quite good, and enjoyed getting out, meeting more new and interesting people.  Even the bartender, Mindy, seemed nicer, more interested in us.  A good evening.  We came home and watched Downton Abbey before going to bed, full but happy.