MAKING ICE HERE at Lake Iwanttobethere. Got pretty cold here last night at least colder then what it has been this fall. Winter is still officially a few more weeks away but as far as I am concern as soon as we start making ice we are in winter. When I let the dogs out this morning I saw that the deck was covered in frost, dogs took off running and ended up sliding off the end of the deck. I put the light jacket back on the clothes hook and took out the heavier one next to it. I walked around the yard as the dogs did their thing inspecting as I went. For a Saturday morning it was quiet, I went down to the dock and looked out over the lake. Could hear a crow squawking and I searched the sky looking for it. No clouds in the sky and I had to cover my eyes with my hand to block out the bright sunlight.

The old wood boat rests on the shore flipped upside down. I lightly kick at it a little to see if it was frozen to the ground or not. Talking with my neighbor Chuck he has offered to come over with the tractor and pick up the old boat and bring it up to the wood shop. I had it in the back of my mind that maybe this winter I would clean the old boat up and give it a couple of coats of paint come spring. Daughter will be picking up her dogs this afternoon but till then I have them here. The old lab walks at my side as we both move a little slower these days. The Austrian Shepherd is a ball of energy as she is off running with Duncan. The past several days have been like a doggie play date for him.

This morning over breakfast I asked the wife how shopping on Black Friday was. That is all I had to say as I buttered my toast and put some home made apple jelly on. The wife started ticking off who she bought presents for and where she went. I asked her if she noticed anything different this year then last and she told me "The lack of cars" Drinking some of my juice I said "How so?" I think my mother noticed it first, she said. There were hardy any cars in the parking lots. It seems everyone in town now drives a big pickup or an SUV shopping. Conversation then turned to winter is almost here and everyone has four wheel drive, could be that gas is now under two bucks at the Gas N Go so the big trucks can come back out and play. The wife nodded her head in agreement but how do I explain Mrs. Gervivs with her walker trying to climb up into her son’s monster truck? And she was driving..

I didn’t have an answer for that other then the fact that some people with big trucks enjoy parking up on the curb. During the winter here there is always someone who has to park their truck on top of a snow bank. With the dogs back inside and all in the kitchen, the wife is baking. I headed to the den and sat back in my sun heated chair. As winter grows closer the sun is lower and now I have to tilt my head some to keep the sun light out of my eyes as I type. A few days short of a month before Christmas and it is kind of a quiet time here at the lake. Normally we would have snow on the ground and I would be shoveling and looking for things buried under it. Not this year and Sunshine Ray’s forecast is calling for no real snow and above average temperatures for the next week. It is cold enough at night to make ice so winter is still coming, he is just sneaking in this year here at Lake Iwanttobethere