"The First Walleye"

Today marked our first weekend of ice fishing on Tainter Lake. My husband and his oldest son Mike, plus Mike's friend John, drilled their holes this afternoon in search of fish....Walleye to be exact! After getting their tip-ups in the holes, Ted hauled down arm loads of wood so we could build our usual toasty warm fire. I helped bring some wood down the stairs, but let me tell you, that's a workout in it's self! The hardest part is walking down fifty snow covered steps to the lake with an arm load of woods. As you can see in the picture Ted started off by burning our scrap cedar wood from a recent project we worked on. The cedar actually smelled really good as it burned. Then Ted threw on some oak logs to get the fire really going. I ended up roasting some brats for a late afternoon snack....very yummy!
So Ted caught his first Walleye today. That was exciting. She was a nice momma with a big round tummy (21 inches). He was going to put her back in the water, but Mike decided he would take her home since his freezer is getting pretty low on fish. We all like Walleye since it's nice and firm meat. I think it's best when you panfry Walleye in Shorelunch coating & seasoning, or make your own by using dried bread crumbs & an egg wash.

Mike was jigging for pan fish like bluegill or perch. No bites however. The temperature was great today. We had a high of 36 degrees. As you can see the lake out in front of our house has standing water underneath the snow layer. This usually happens during the winter, but not this early! Kinda weird. It makes walking around really sloppy & wet. Once we get a cold snap again, then that first layer will freeze up, but it will probably still stay wet underneath. It has something to do with the weight of the snow on top of the ice. By the way mom, there's about 8-9 inches out there....don't worry.

A Santa Treat For Us

It happened again....at 4:45 pm today our treat man stopped by the library with his newest cookie treat. Remember the candy turkey? This time he walked in with one of those big round tupperware containers that holds a 10 inch pie. In the container, was a whole bunch of santa cookies made from Nutter Butter Peanut Butter cookies. Our library patron was so excited about giving us each a santa cookie. Now remember, this is a male patron! I think it's really neat that this guy takes an interest in baking and treats. Before he left, he asked if he could give us an extra cookie that we could put on display in the library! I said sure, but can't guarantee that some little kids won't grab it and eat it. Only in a small town!

What a Cat!

I didn't know what to take a picture of tonight, so I decided to use this picture of Annabelle. She quite the model isn't she? I think she loves to have her picture taken since she poses real nice for the camera! One of these days I'm going to take a picture of kitty watching TV....yup, she does that. If animals or birds appear on our TV screen, kitty will go up to the screen and just sit there and watch for the longest time. Our former cats never did anything like that. Annabelle definitely has her own personality. I still miss Sheba, Walter & Patches, they were good kitty cats too.

"The Bullet"

The woman I buy my eggs from stopped by the library this morning to pick up her requested books She stood at the circulation with a big smile on her face. She said, "I brought you something." In a little paper cup was this funny shaped egg. Remember one of my past posts where I talked about a chicken that lays really small eggs (I showed a picture)? Well, this time the chicken laid a "bullet" shaped egg. Actually this is one of the larger bullet size eggs! I guess her other eggs are usually even smaller. I just stood there and laugh a good one....a chicken that lays bullet eggs. I guess this particular chicken is one of her largest chickens in her flock, but she lays these really small eggs. How funny is that?

Guess who found the eggs while trying to shoot this picture...geez. She's such a pest sometimes. Good thing I was right there to catch the egg as it went flying off the plate. Never trust a cat!!!!!!!!!!!

Old Can Be Nice

My husband decided to get our ceramic Christmas tree out and put it in our bay window today. It looks really pretty when all the lights are turned out in the dinning room. We've had this tree for many, many years. When Ted worked for the Post Office he knew a woman that made these ceramic Christmas trees, so he decided to ask the woman to make a tree for me. Well, he ordered the largest tree ever! I know it's probably an out-of-date type of tree, but I still love it. So how long will it be before the cat bites off the little lights? Years ago we had a big Maine Coon cat named Patches (Patchie boy), and Patches loved to remove the lights by biting them off. I would have to go around and look for the colored lights that he removed and put them back on the tree. I'm sure it won't be long before Annabelle will discover the lights too.

The Ice Shack

I took this picture on Saturday of Chris's ice shack that he built. He wanted to keep the cost down so he decided not to line the sides with plywood, but used plastic instead. Then, he will throw a really good tarp over that to keep it in good shape during the winter. I think Chris is planning on moving his shack to Lake Menomon in Menomonie, WI during his Christmas break from school. I think it's great that Chris wanted to build his first ice shack. Maybe next time he won't have to be so cost conscious and can build a bigger one with all the bells & whistles. Does anyone want to go fishing this weekend?

We're Finally Getting Snow

I know it's hard to see the snow, but you almost have to click on my picture to make it larger so you'll see our snowfall today. I left for church at 10 am this morning and when I finished eating lunch after church service, it was snowing really big flakes. I felt really excited because the more snow we get, the better it will be for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Ted figures we now have over six inches of really good ice on our lake. I'm thinking by Christmas I will have my skis all ready to go for a good workouts on the weekend.

Sunday's Reflection:
Do you really know what your spiritual gift is? The apostle Paul reminds us to know what our gift (s) are so we can use them to help others in our lifetime (Corinthians ch.12 1:12). The best part is that our individual gifts are given to us by God himself...chosen specifically for each one of us. Just something to think about for the new week.