Hi, everyone!
The January weather has gone back and forth between well below freezing to enough above freezing to melt everything! Right after New Years, we had enough cold weather so that Sodus Bay froze over. Grandma wasn’t sure how thick the ice was, so we just looked at the frozen bay from the dock.
When it’s really cold, the leaves on the rhododendron roll up! A lot of big dead branches seem to fall off the trees in winter, too! One of the branches stuck itself into the ground when it fell!
In Fairport, Grandma and Grandpa have been doing inside things! Grandpa installed a new pull-out shelf in the kitchen cabinet, so we can reach all the containers and rice Grandma keeps there. Then Grandma went through her table linen drawers and reorganized those! Grandpa bought a sous vide cooker. It holds a water bath at a very constant temperature to cook food sealed in plastic bags and immersed in the water. Grandma and Grandpa made marinated pork tenderloin, and it was very tender and yummy!
The outside temperature got up to nearly 50 degrees F. and we had rain, so all of the snow on the ground melted away. Then the temperature got back into the teens at night and the twenties by day! That made the ice on the bay at Sodus thicker and smoother. Water takes up more space when it is ice than when it is liquid, so the ice gets cracks that freeze together. Near shore, the ice piles up and sometimes breaks into sheets!
When we got up on Monday, there were already lots of ice fishermen out. Grandma decided the ice was thick enough that she could take me out to see what ice fishing was all about. She had to be careful walking, because the ice was slippery! My new ice fishing friend showed me the sled he uses as a seat and the big drill he uses to make a hole through the ice.
By the time we walked back from our ice fishing visit, the temperature was already above freezing and the top surface of the ice was getting wet. We had to be extra careful getting off the ice! It was warm enough that the rhododendron leaves were uncurled again. I think the freezing and thawing must affect the trees, too, because there were even more big tree limbs down in the front yard!
After we got back to Fairport on Monday, the Packer-sans came to put the Ground Hog Day cookies into boxes. Even though Katie-san couldn’t come, we got all the cookies packed in an hour! Now they’re back in the freezer, waiting to be mailed.
Today, it’s just a little above freezing and it’s raining. The rest of the week is supposed to be warmer than usual for winter. I’m glad I got out on the ice at the bay when I did! It might not be safe to walk on by next weekend!
Love,
Lion-san
Hi! Nancy-san is sort of out of commission but Moose-san, Tilly and Joe-san are taking good care of her. It was good that you had helped make all those Ground Hog Day cookies early so you could help pack them early. That was interesting about the ice fisherman. Moose-san remembers some deer friends who had all 4 legs spread out underneath them on the ice.