Saturday

 Friday night brought us the teensiest bit of really dry snow.

This much, enough to skate through and make angels.

 B and I drove to the south end of the Lake to try out the ice there,

since we couldn't skate down and check it out.

 Bad medicine as seen from mid Lake.

 Twirl around and see the Rod and Gun Club.

 Ibex Mountain.

The sun shone a bit here and there and the temps increased dramatically as we played.

By the time we departed, the ice was mostly cleared of snow and lovely still.

Friday the 13th

 Bull Lake.

The ice here is fabulous, even beter than Savage Lake

AND the sun is shining!

 This is a natural spring area. It usually freezes though.

This open water impeded us from skating to the south end of the Lake.

 This is the usual compression fracture at the north end of the Lake.

The ice crystals here were amazing.

Actually, they were amazing everywhere.

In places it looked like we were skating on labradorite!

 Mike arrived a bit later from working.

Upped the entertainment factor a few notches!

 And they skated off into the sunset!

Al Fantozzi came out with his axe and chopped the ice to check depth, 7 inches, he says.

Then he went for a hike in the woods.

Note: there is no snow. It is SO weird!

 Speaking of weird!

Playing with the self timer a bit!

Yes, and sadly, there was a murder on the ice.

They left a lot of forensic evidence...

coors light drinkers, they were, go figure!

shotgun shells were also left on the ice.

The broken bottles and shotgun shells were encased in the ice.

We put this guys head back on for him!

Thursday

 I skated every night last week.

This is Savage Lake in the evening.

 This pressure crack crosses the entire Lake.

 Looking South.

 I wasn't the only one enjoying the ice.

 Best I can figure is that this ill-fated fellow came out on Sunday when there was

water on the ice and didn't make it back before the temps dropped.

At first I thought he was a lily pad.

Nature can be harsh.

 As the sun disappears on the horizon.....

Late 2011 Sk8ing

 Welcome to Shannon Lake.

This little lake is tucked up in the low mountains above Old US Hwy 2

and the Kootenai River.

 You have to hike in.

It is a short, steep hike.

Slippery too, on this day.

 Jim skating from north to south.

 The sun was trying to burn through.

It didn't quite make while we were here.

 A veiw of the Kootenai on the hike out.

 If you squint and use your imagination, you can visualize

the town of Troy in the above foto.

 Here is the steepest part of one of the routes in.

 This is the trail.....really!

We skated here in late November or early December

I cannot remember which.

I tried to post on the blog then but it wouldn't let me.

I just found these again and love them....

So better late than never!

Life on Ice

 Ha ha! Self timer shots.

This first one, I am hurriedly spinning around and

my ice saver flipped out of my pocket and I have my

spinny hands! hee hee!

 My Aunt Pammie made me a hat for my birthday and I was trying to get

a foto of it for her in the gorgeous sunlight on the ice...

Seems like murphy's law that my head would not be in either foto!

Love the reflection though!

Too bad the hat doesn't show in the reflection.

 At this end of the Lake it is fairly shallow and I love how this marsh grass pokes through.

 Another attempt at a hat foto at the other end of the Lake,

it still doesn't show all that well.

This time the camera was on someones dock rather than on the ice.

 Twilight.

Smooth Skating

 We have had the weirdest winter.

Over-all pretty mild.

Barely any snow, in fact, the only show around right now

is the stuff left in frozen piles from the plow.

 The Lakes did freeze early on.

But the ice has been weird and transitional.

I keep checking.

 It rained night before last, seems like all night long.

It was so warm, it rained way up high....Ugh!

But Jim checked the ice (he lives on Savage Lake)

and look at this!

He called me immediately!

 I mostly leave my skate bag in the car at all times,

Just in case!

It is SO difficult to be at work and not out playing on the ice!

As you can see,

I will be delayed getting home every evening

till the weather turns!

Hoping for a clear, cold Friday!

A Day on the Lake

Family photo minus Molly & Costa, plus Deb Zwang,

who wanted to be in our family photo!
Alianza Zwang on skates for the first time!

Montana pole Dancing.

Nat and Silas on ice.

Part 3! Yep! 3 Lakes/1 day!

This is Milnor Lake.

It is across Highway 56 from Savage Lake.

These lakes just froze this week with the cold weather,

so when the snow fell last there was not ice for it to land on.

The ice on these lakes is crystal clear, you can see the bottom of the lake!

It is very eerie!

But the skating is phenomenal!

Lily pads frozen into the ice perfectly!

When you skate over them you think you are walking on water!

Super sunny day!

I almost felt guilty for tracking up the Lake!

We did our best to skate it all up!