Minus Ish Last night.

Okay so we got lucky and the forcasted 30 MPH winds stayed away so it actually only felt like the -30 that it actually was last night, whew! Nothing like trying to heat a house when its 30 below with 30 MPH winds, so we avoided that anyway.

We have one of those indoor outdoor digital thermometers sitting on the shelf next to the kitchen sink. When I looked at it this morning before work it really sunk in how cold it was, 72 degrees at the kitchen sink (its right above a heat register) and -30 outside, hey its 102 degrees warmer on this side of the kitchen wall than on the other side of the kitchen wall! 102 degrees! "hey everyone get up and get on the swim suits its 102 degrees warmer in the house than outside! Okay all kidding aside imagine this scenario in the summer when its 80 degrees outside, it would be 180 in the house, think of the energy savings potential, "hey honey grab the venison roast from the freezer we can dry some jerky right here in the house, we don't even need the dehydrator"..... okay that is a little silly but even a cool fall day would be say 40 outside and 140 inside, does it even get to 140 anywhere on the earth on a given day? I guess I will have to google that one when I am done posting this.

Oh by the way fish 1 fisherman 0. No fish through the ice yesterday...... but we did fry up some BlueGills from last summer so I guess that's almost as good.

A gal from work just walked in to tell us a good joke. God was telling some angles about this beautiful place he was going to create called Minnesota it will have pristine lakes and rivers, thick pine woods, beautiful ponds and swamps with an abundance of wildlife....... wow the angles said everyone will want to live there...... then God said wait until you see what I have planned for them in winter!

Jon

Deep slush!

Over the Christmas Holiday weekend a couple of fish houses were put up on our side of the lake...... so I figured I would check the lake out. Holy slush batman! In front of our house we have about 6 inches of snow then 6 inches of slush then 3 inches of water on top of the ice. I wanted to bust a trail through it all so we could get the 4 wheeler on the lake to someday hopefully plow the rink back off so we can flood it once the slush freezes..... well it took about a half hour to get the four wheeler through that mess. After 4 times of digging it out of the slush (it kept getting high centered) I was able to get a trail out past all the thick slush to where everything on top of the ice was frozen solid, whew, what a mess. The 4 wheeler was a block of slush after all that. We are going to try some ice fishing tonight now that we can get on the lake with the 4 wheeler (the path I cleared last night froze nice and solid over night), I will give you a fishing update soon.

It should be a cold one tonight the forecast is -18 with 30 mph winds..... we got about 2 inches of snow last night, with another 1 to 3 forecast for today. I don't think the lake is going to be low in the spring with all this snow to melt and fill it up. It is going to be a wet and muddy come spring for sure.

Take care and stay warm.

Jon

Merry Christmas from Lake Gilmore!

It was -15 last night with clear skies. The stars were very bright in the bitterly cold winter air. This Christmas morning is sunny and bright. Almost blindingly bright with all the snow. Hope your Christmas is very merry.

I realised I never posted pictures after the blizzard and we have had another since so the pictures above are of the lake and shore just outside our lake side door on this Christmas morning.

Jon

4 more inches of snow!

Monday night and Tuesday morning gave us at least 4 more inches of snow. The Fargo paper said that Fargo is almost at its record snow fall for December so I am sure we have to be close also. Man am I glad I got a snow plow blade for the 4-wheeler this year, sure does beat using the snow blower and shhhh don't tell anyone but it even makes snow removal kinda fun! It is much better to have too much snow than not have any so I will not complain.

Temps were a little bit warmer the last couple nights but last night it was -14. The cardinals have been signing in the pine trees in the morning. When I load the wood boiler in the morning the cardinal will usually call back if I whistle to it. I have been doing that for several years. I wonder what the life span of a cardinal is? Could it be the same one or many different ones? Who knows. It sure confuses the dog, he gives me a funny look when I whistle and he is right next to me and when the cardinal whistles back he sure looks even more confused.

I had 2 swans fly overhead yesterday morning, trumpeting out their song as they went. I looked for them in the river by Zorbaz but didn't see them. Maybe finally making a press south or they might have a different winter spot.

Merry Christmas and remember Jesus is the reason for the season.

Jon

Enough already!

-25 last night and if that wasn't enough the wind was blowing a zillion miles an hour for a windchill of minus too darn cold! For those of you that are reading this in warmer climes, you lucky dogs you!



We got about another 5 to 6 inches of snow this weekend, the kids are a little disappointed because the weight of the snow has pushed the ice down and we have about 2 inches of slush on the lake and the ice rink that was the best we ever had is destroyed! Maybe with this cold the slush will freeze and we can push the snow off the top of it, we were able to do that last year. We will see.



If you can see through all the blowing snow and the bitter cold, it is very beautiful outside. Is that why we live here even in winter? Maybe, or maybe we are just weather extremists? I am not sure but what I do know is that if the weather keeps up like this I will have to cut down my entire woods to keep the house warm! December isn't over yet and my wood pile is almost half gone! Gotta love it.



Take care and stay warm.



Merry Christmas to you in case I don't get back on here until after the Holiday.

The view from the snowy ditch.

Well this isn't really Gilmore Lake related other than the fact that the same snow and ice that fell on Gilmore fell on county road 40.

I plowed the car into the ditch yesterday morning on the way to Nevis. The intersection of co rd 40 and co rd 2 north of Nevis was glare ice and as soon as I touched the brakes the rear end of my car shot out to the side. I almost got it corrected when the front tires hit bare pavement and jerked us the other way and at that point there was no getting it back straight. I told Connel to hold on tight as we plowed into the ditch sideways on the passenger side. Fortunately we were only going about 25 MPH when we started to spin out so we didn't flip or go too far into the ditch. A guy we know came by a few minutes later and had a shovel and tow strap and pulled us out with ease! I was glad it happened yesterday and not the day before when the temp was -32 with a steady NW wind. I noticed last night when I drove by that intersection again that many people had slid through the stop sign and into the shoulder on the other side, hopefully the county will at least get it sanded.

Connel commented how wonderful it was that we live in an area that almost every car stopped and asked if we were okay and if we needed help or to use a cell phone. Only 1 car out of 10 didn't stop and they were on co rd 2 so they would have had to turn onto 40 to check on us (3 cars did do this). Despite the snow and cold I do love living here.


Take care and stay warm

Jon

Does -32 degrees actually feel any colder than -10?

The deep Freeze is on! When outside your door is a better freezer than the one plugged into the wall its way to cold....... How does anything survive living in -32 with deep and drifted snow? I think that after it hits -10 forget about telling us how cold it is, just say its negative too cold outside to do anything... okay? got that weather man?

You can always tell when its -10 or less when you are cranking your car up. The sound is distinctly different, no high pitched starter noise just a deep and low ruurer ruurer ruurer, all the while your saying a little prayer for your battery "come on you can do it!"

Stay warm and don't lick any steel poles okay?

Jon

Before the blizzard!

Pictures of the lake on Saturday before the big snow storm. I should have a pic of it after the storm sometime later today. In the second pic you can see most of this years ice rink.

It has been snowing a little almost everyday! Forecast is for a bunch on Saturday. Over 3 inches on the ground now. Hope you are staying warm wherever you are!

Jon

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

Snow! Around 3 inches of snow fell over the weekend. I always cringe at the thought of the first snowfall with some accumulation, after it falls though it always seems to brighten up my mood. The trees lake and ground are covered in a fluffy white snow that fell off and on since Friday. The temps over the weekend hovered between zero and 10 degrees.

Driving around this weekend I have seen many people on the lakes, one with a couple of trucks and many with 4-wheelers. The winter cities are starting to dot the lakes......

I will try and get some pictures of the snow covered lake up tomorrow.

Have a good week!

Jon

December weather.

Tuesday was a real nice day highs close to 40. Yesterday and today have been a bit windy and colder with just a dusting of snow off and on. The lake has been making ice and noise every night. I am seeing more and more people on not only Gilmore but other lakes. I heard a report of a 4-wheeler on Fish Hook, and since I didn't also here about a 4-wheeler going into Fish Hook I assume there is over 4 inches on the lakes now. The ice fishing shacks will be hitting the lakes with full force soon.

Jon