First Ice Fishermen Of The Year

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I was up just before 7:00, to another cold morning of 16º.  The ice looks like a skating rink this morning, smooth and shiny where the sun hits it.  A couple of guys are out on the lake, just off of Long Point, sitting on their sleds, fishing for walleye and bass.  And I just noticed another guy out in the middle of the lake, about twenty-five yards from Tom's Point, either brave or stupid.

Ice Fishing Off Of Long Point

Ice Fishing Off Of Tom's Point

We missed the sun yesterday as the weather returned to Chautauqua gray after a day of sun and blue skies.  It felt like back to normal actually, cold and gray.  So I was in no hurry to get moving in the morning, taking a long coffee hour, reading the paper, both local, NYTimes, and Washington Post.  We began moving around 10:00 and I wanted to make a dinner I read about in Bon Appetit.  It combined white beans and Italian sausage with tomatoes and sounded interesting.  By the time I put it together, I realized it was not much different from a white bean chili.  Big deal.  It's supposed to be served over parmesan toast, a real peasant dish. 

I drove to the Transfer Station later than usual, around 11:30 but still had to wait for a couple of cars to move on.  I am always surprised at how much trash the two of us can accumulate in a week although I admit that we did spend a good amount of time tidying up, getting rid of 'stuff.'  Lunch was leftover pancakes from Thursday night's dinner.  I just popped them in the toasted, pulled them out, added butter and syrup and I had a breakfast like lunch. 

Tailgating Cuties

Around 1:00, we started getting text and photos from intrepid kids, Tom and Jill, who were already in the Kansas City Chiefs parking lot, tailgating with thousands of other Chiefs fans.  We spent the afternoon waiting for the game by either watching TV, reading or in my case, napping.  Around 4:00, I gave the cross country ski a try but I had developed a blister skiing on Friday say I did not get far, just to the mailbox and back.  Game time was around 4:45 and Evie made us some guacamole and chips to go along with a beer.  It was a great game if you were a Chiefs fan and our kids seemed to have a great time, cheering on the Chiefs in snow and cold weather.  I have to admit I was happy to be watching the game in our cozy TV room, with food and drinks and not worry about fighting the traffic on the way home from the Chiefs game.

Chiefs Win!

After the game, Evie made us dinner, a salad with the leftover salmon and hard-boiled eggs.  It was just right along with a Portuguese roll from Wegman's  We ended up watching the first two series of the Cowboys/Rams game but then reverted to routine, watching Friday night's Colbert and another episode of The Great British Baking Show.