Dusty Skies, Milky Lake

8:44

Two Guys, Sled, Augur, And Tent

This morning is quite a contrast to yesterday's sunrise and two below weather.  At the moment, the skies are a vast canvas of gray, the temperature, a toasty 32º compared to yesterday.  Lots of ice fishermen are out, the ice supposedly five to six inches thick.  And yesterday, for the first time, we saw snowmobiles racing by on the lake.

Saturday was a cold but glorious day, especially through the early afternoon when it started to cloud up. I wanted to get in some cross country skiing but sensibly, I waited until 11:30 when the temperature was climbing, at 19º.  So we had a nice morning, no hurry to get to the Transfer Staton or clean out the refrigerator.  By 10:30, however, I was on my way there and Evie was busy the kitchen, roasting eggplant and zucchini for ratatouille for tonight's dinner.  She also was starting a mercimek corba, lentil soup and because I wanted Slovenian sausage and sauerkraut for dinner, she put together beans and potato soup, another Slovenian specialty to go along with the sausages.  Needless to say, that took most of the morning. 

I helped with the cleaning up but took off to ski at Long Point State Park by 11:30.  Like the previous Saturday, trucks were lined up along Lakeside Drive, ice fishermen despite the fact that last week they all received parking tickets.  I had to carry my skis to the woods because the snow on the road had been plowed.

Groomed Trails, Blue Skies, Frosting On Trees

The woods, however, were glorious, trees and bushes frosted with snow, the trails groomed by other skiers, fat tire bikes, and snowmobiles although I had the woods to myself, coming upon only one other person, no bikes, no snowmobiles.  I was out for a good forty-five minutes, working up quite a sweat despite the cold weather and I was extremely pumped to be able to slide easily on the trails, no freezing up of the skis.

I did not get home until 1:00 as Evie was finishing up with frying up some bacon for BLT's for lunch using the bacon fat for the beans and potato soup.  I was quite hungry after my skiing so the BLT's were a perfect antidote to my hunger and we watched another episode of Breaking Bad, Evie enjoying a healthy salad.

5:55

The rest of the afternoon went quickly, reading, nap, some TV. While I showered before cocktails, Evie put together a snickerdoodle cobbler she found on the Internet.  So while we were enjoying our Manhattans and appetizers, the aroma of snickerdoodles filled the air.  We love this hour on the lake, the sky turning a dark blue at dusk, the snow-covered lake almost phosphorescent.

6:05

Dinner, then was easy as was dessert.  Just boil the Slovenian sausages, heat the soup and sauerkraut, enjoy, then top the snickerdoodle cobblers with a scoop of ice cream and we had a perfect ending to a Saturday night.  We watched Real Time With Bill Maher, then another episode of Breaking Bad before a few minutes of the NBA's dunking and three-point shooting contest.