It's Still March After All!

This is what we woke up to this morning.....the white stuff! Grrrrrr.

After walking around outside with my camera this morning, I do have to admit it looked looked pretty with the morning sunshine and lots of melting snow. The birds didn't care, they were still singing and singing.

I can't remember this gnomes name....Becca named it after some Harry Potter character. This little guy was reaping most of the sunshine and warmth this morning.

Just another updated photo of the melting lake ice. You can't see it in the picture, but there are lots of ducks and geese swimming around in the water. The sand hill cranes were also out flying around making their unusual cronking sound.

One of the interesting things about snow, is that you can tell which animals visited your house during the night. Here's some tracks from a racoon that walked up the stairs from the lake. Hey, why walk up the hill when you can take the stairs?

Lastly, we were visited by a coyote during the early morning hours. I also saw tracks from a fox and possibly some sort of bird like a crow or eagle.

A bunch of people are out ice fishing near our house, so I will go out and see if they're catching any perch this afternoon. Don't worry mom, there's still good ice out from our house, but by next Saturday it won't be safe. Maybe I'll soak up some rays this afternoon. Temperature should reach upper 50's by later this afternoon.

Timothy Got a Shock Today

So I took an updated picture of Timothy yesterday morning. He looks so nice with the sun shining down on him...he almost looks happier now! Well, guess what? Yeah, it snowed late today...geez.

As I was teaching my spinning class tonight, we were all preoccupied by looking out the windows because it starting snowing!!! And I was just telling my class about how I was planning my outdoor group rides, and now it's snowing again.

Ted and I stayed later after spin class so we could ride the virtual bikes as well. We both did a nice hilly course, however, it took me 34 minutes to complete the route! As soon as we were done, I noticed the snow coming down was really heavy. The drive home was slow, lots of wet, sloppy mush on the highway so I took it very easy.

I have to keep reminding myself that it's still March and we do live in Wisconsin where snow can make a surprise visit anytime.

Lake Ice is Melting Fast

This is a picture taken this morning on Tainter Lake looking north where the Hay River flows into the lake. Combine warm temperatures, increase water current and water levels, and you have a perfect recipe for melting lake ice.
This is basically the same picture looking north towards the Hay River. I took this picture on Saturday morning while out riding the snow bike on the lake.

Looks like ice fishing will be ending here in about a week, especially seeing the forecast of 50's and 60 degrees this weekend and into next week.

I Want To Take Spinning Class Outside

I've begun plotting my spring switch-over from spinning class to road riding. Many of my spinning participants have zero cycling experience, so I've been talking to my class about starting up a group ride that would meet at the fitness center. I'm thinking that we might begin these group rides in late April or early May. These rides would take the place of my spinning classes. I've already talked to the owner and business manager and they like this idea as well. I can't see myself teaching spinning class when the weather get nice outside, so why not just take the class outside!

No more bike riding on the lake for me. Because of the melting lake ice & warm temperatures, the lake has opened up north of our house in just a matter of five days. And to think I was out riding the snow bike, wooooo! We'll have a couple nights now in the low 20's so we won't loose lake ice, but this time of year is questionable with the ice level. I'll try to get a picture posted tomorrow and compare it to the picture I took last Saturday.

Spring has sprung!

Who Is That Crazy Lady?

I had to release a little bit of that "wild Irish" in me, ha! It's amazing what your staff will do for you sometimes. Thanks Aunt Krissy for catching me at my silly moment today.

Today Was A Day To Smile

There's something about this little gnome that I just love....I think it's his half smile. Sometimes during the day when I'm working away at my computer and really concentrating, I'll look up from my desk and see this little gnome smiling ever so gently. It just puts things in perspective for me. I usually remind myself to smile, even when my day is way too serious.

When I left the fitness center tonight around 7 pm, the bank sign said 57 degrees. The weather website said it hit 66 degrees during the day....wow! No wonder why every person I saw today was in a good mood.

Taught an extra cycling class tonight, but only two people showed up. Gee, I wonder why? Hey, I didn't even have to blow my nose during class! I'm feeling much, much better.

Our First Sign of Spring....Yahoo!

Wow, what a gorgeous day it was! Chris wanted to show off some of his tricks for me on the snow bike....no gloves, no coat, no helmet. Can you guess it was warm today? At 6:30 pm tonight, it was still 50 degrees outside.

After church today, I invited my friend Nancy to come out and enjoy the sunshine on the lake. Nancy had never been out ice fishing before! Today was a "rest" day, so I enjoyed just sitting with Nancy all afternoon talking & basking in the warm sunshine.

This afternoon was major thawing on the lake. Don't worry though, there's still about a 1 1/2 feet of ice out there, but now everything is getting really sloppy and wet. If we thought today was warm, tomorrow's forecast is for a high of 60 degrees....whoo hoo!

Guess what? Around mid afternoon I heard the Sand Hill Cranes flying high above us. I was so excited because that's a sure sign of spring. Sand Hill's fly really, really high, like thousands of feet high so you can never see them, but only hear them. What beautiful sound. There's hope everyone....spring is not far off. I also heard my first Robin today. I didn't see him, but sure heard him this morning.

How was your day today? Did you see any signs of spring?