Happy New Year!! Play safe tonight.

Here's another photo from yesterday about an hour before the blizzard hit us. The blizzard came in on a north wind that blasted the falling snow into drifts and plummeted the temperature from -3C to -25C. There'll be snowblowing today, but I'm slow to respond because with the cold and wind, the wind chill is -30C.

Snow overnight and today before a deep freeze tomorrow.

Hmmmm, looks like this could be a Christmas decoration, but it's not - it's a Costa Rican beach shell - yes, now that's the place to be about now.

Here we are about to sit down to Christmas dinner last night. We hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Merry Christmas everybody! Here's wishing all peace, love and understanding.

White Christmas - bah, humbug. Give me a warm Pacific beach in Costa Rica any day.

This photo was taken yesterday afternoon, fresh in the new winter season. Even though it's been really cold at night, there still is a bit of open water on the lake.

This is the first sunrise of the new winter season, from this morning. It was -22C, and it looks like the lake is now fully frozen over, but I'll have to check that out later this morning.

Sunny and I went for a walk in the bush yesterday. I tried to get a photo of the 2 of us, but she just wanted to run. Getting a photo of her running isn't easy as she's pretty fast. This one is the only one I got of her running by; the rest of the photos I took had Sunny as a blur or she already had run out of the frame.

... and I'll call Rusty ...

This is the new ice from the other morning, very pretty, but now that the wind came up yesterday, it's very shattered and rough, not what I, as a rink rat, like to see.

The ice is forming in this photo from 10am yesterday morning of Delaney Bay, Trout Lake. It was -20C, and the mist was rising along the ice edge as the ice steadily formed. The type of rainbow to the west of the sun has a name, but I'm claiming "oldtimer's" memory on that one.

Here's another Kinsmen Beach photo. Today it's -20C, and our lake is starting to freeze over. I'll be trying to get out later to take some new photos.

I guess we've become accustomed to seeing spray paint graffiti on practically every surface there is available; however, you'd think by now the so-called "artists" would be producing "art" more substantial than their own name "tags" or scribbles. Sheesh, what a waste of paint.

There's a very thin coat of ice on One Mile Bay, along with a dusting of snow. The ice will surely thicken this week as the daytime highs stay in the mid minus teens and the night lows in the mid minus 20's.

I like the silhouette-look of the trees at Kinsmen Beach.

Now this ice surface would be pretty hard to skate on let alone walk on. I was down to Kinsmen Beach on Lake Nipissing yesterday afternoon as a snow squall moved in from the west across the lake and was quite surprised to see the shapes of the ice at the beach. It looked like a beach full of ice balls, similar in size to 5 pin bowling balls. There were also a few mounds of these balls further out on the ice, randomly strewn. I have no idea how or why the ice forms were made, or how or why the mounds of ice balls were made.

Yup, winter is here. Now all we have to wait for is the lake to freeze over, and it looks like conditions will be good for that later in the week as day time high temps will be around -12C.

I took this photo yesterday morning of our yard. This is the day after the 1st snowstorm of the season, and it also shows the amount of snowfall after I had snowblowed the brunt of the snow from the storm the previous night.

This photo was taken a couple of years ago, but the yard looked pretty much like this yesterday after the storm.

OK, use your imagination - imagine the photo above as a winter shot - cold, windy, blowing snow - just like it's doing outside right now. Can you picture it? I thought not - I prefer the photo as is and wish that's the way it was right now.

Brrr, cold here this morning - apparently lots of snow starting tonight from the big storm moving up from the mid-west of the US. I'm glad the snowblowers are prepped and ready.

OK, it's -10C outside, there's snow on the ground, and the mist of warmth leaving the lake is obscuring the far shore - I'm not going out to take a photo. Instead here's a totem within a totem from Duncan, BC. Pretty neat considering the size of the huge tree they were carved from.

Ah, the beaches of Costa Rica - the expression on the beach art pretty well sums up my feelings today about the snow and cold- blah!

My pals, Mike and Tod, seen here in Key West, Florida, congratulate each other on successfully completing their marathon 32 day bike trip from Merrickville, Ontario to Key West. The "tour" was not without its hardships - sore butts, cold weather, Hurricane Ida, mechanical failures, many, many flats, dubious motel conditions, and some road desperadoes. All in all, an interesting trip from a spectator's point of view. I'm sure the velo heroes will be glad to return home to the snow and cold and a "2-wheel-less" life for a spell. Way to go fellas!!
For more a more detailed trip log, including photos, click on my pal Jim's blog - "Phone Call From the Urban Cowboy."

The thing about sunrises at this time of year is that you don't have to get up quite so early to see them.

I haven't taken many photos lately, so here's one from early summer. The Butcher and I went up in a small Cessna, and this is the view of our lake, Trout Lake, looking to the east where it empties into the Mattawa and Ottawa River systems.

This morning it was very still and grey across the lake with snow sticking to all surfaces.

Well, we woke up to about 4 inches of snow this morning, so rather than deal with that crap, here's a beach photo from Costa Rica - think warm, sun, surf.

For the first time since our house fire, Sept. 30, 2003, we had a fire in the house. We finally got the new wood stove fully installed yesterday afternoon, and here is a shot of the first fire in the new stove. The basement can now be "tuned up" to be nice and cosy. And just in time, as the colder weather is arriving today.

This is a sign on the back of a farm house west of Powassan. My guess is that it used to be somewhere else, displayed more prominently.

Well now, let's go fishin'. The boat looks capable of handling Lake Nipissing; how does it trailer?

Oh yeah, wouldn't it be nice to be on a west coast beach in Costa Rica right about now?

I guess a stop sign at a beach in Costa Rica is pretty pointless - and it looks like the beach goers feel the same way I do.

Here's the view looking south southwest from the rock outcrop overlooking Trout Lake.

We went for a hike yesterday to the end of our road and then up through the bush to the rock outcrop that overlooks Trout Lake. It was misty cloudy, but the view was fabulous.

Zapateria Nicole - Nicole's shoe store in Nosara, Costa Rica - all the latest beach and rain forest fashions.

I bet the North American cousins of the Cuban Policia scratch their collective heads as to how any policing could be done under such austere conditions or using such primitive equipment as ancient Ladas for cruisers. Sort of lends new meaning to the words "police cruiser," doesn't it?

A family outing in the ol' Chevy in Havana, Cuba. This set of wheels is in pretty good shape, body wise; although, it probably has a Russian diesel engine under the hood. Anyone know the vintage of this Chevy?

Sunrise over Trout Lake this morning was awesome in advance of a day of rain. Still, all in all, it's been a pretty nice November.

Here's a view of our dock area a day before the "undocking." Oh well, another winter to endure before we do this again.

Look up, look way up, and I'll call Rusty. Anyone remember that?
We were noticing the speed of the passing clouds and I just clicked a shot as I was looking before the clouds moved in to "take over" the sky.

Los Tres Amigos

Following the "undocking" on Saturday, we has a bit of a fiesta complete with bonfire, beverages, good company and food featuring Los Tres Amigos. As per usual, a great time was had by one and all.

We took the dock out yesterday. Here it is prepped and ready to remove.

Lifting the final section in place for the winter.

Great weather and cloud formations while we removed the dock.

Here we are - the 2009 Dock Removal Gang.