Dusting

A dusting of snow is perfect, well, the deer hunters think so!  Today was the opening of deer hunting, which will continue for the next six eight days.  I'm less excited about deer hunting because it means my running attire needs to change slightly.  At this time of the year, I usually wear a bright orange vest, hat and gloves, so any stray hunter can see me running along the roadside.  Just wanna be safe, ya know?

With a pretty good breeze blowing over the last two days and nights, the lake ice has not been able to completely freeze solid.  I'm sure that will change as tonight's low is expected to be around 8 degrees.  Burrrrrr......

The ice that has formed near our dock seems to be pretty solid, maybe like 2-3 inches?  Don't worry, I'm not venturing out.  For now, I'll just wait and watch the beautiful ice form over the next 6 weeks.

Got out the down comforter for our bed.  Guess it's time to bow down to Old Man Winter.

Silence

I'm still here, but just silent.  Been a busy week.  I promise to be back soon.

My Red Ledger

 

I found my grandma Fannie's cookbook ledger in my closet yesterday and realized I haven't looked through it for many years.  The date on the ledger says 1972....I was twelve years old when she bought this ledger.  So, I brought it out and set it next to where I normally sit when I'm watching TV or checking my blogs and Facebook.  I told myself I really need to look through the entire book since my grandma worked so hard to collect the recipes.  Grandma Fannie collected enough recipes so she would fill three ledgers.....one for each of her granddaughters.

 

And look what grandma did.  She even included cut out photos that she clued to the pages.  I don't think she actually made all the recipes, but the one's she did try, she had written a message or maybe changed the measurements.  When I look through this recipe book, it brings back memories of foods, desserts and baked goods my family enjoyed when I was growing up. 

 

After turning to the last page of the ledger, I found this article cut out from the Milwaukee Journal dated July 29, 1981.  I remember my grandma enjoyed following the Royal family and when Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married, she followed every news article and magazine picture. I smiled when I saw this newspaper clipping.  I remember my grandma well.

I think it would be fun and very nostalgic to periodically try some of these recipes from grandma Fannie's ledger, especially the German desserts.  I'm glad my grandma was thinking of the future and wanted her granddaughters to have a little remembrance of her.

PS.  I started my own recipe ledger in 1978 and my mother has her own recipe ledger she started in???  Our love of food and recipes is a family trait!

And the Rain Moved In

I'm sure people would call us crazy, but Bike man and I raked our yard this afternoon in the drizzly rain.   Even after Bike man decided to head into the house, I stayed outdoors and continued to rake in light rain.  I just couldn't come inside since the temperature was in the mid 40's, which felt wonderful to me.  Yup, I was soaked when I finished my raking, but I felt an accomplishment.....just had to get those fall leaves raked before the snow flies.

Tomorrow?  Rain turning to snow.  

Full Moon

Running in the dark can be daunting, but add a full moon and it gives your run a whole different perspective.  With my headlamp turned on, I was all ready to tackle the dark road tonight after work.

So I ran about 1/2 mile and came upon a house that had a perfect view of the moonlight on Tainter Lake.  I suddenly had the urge to stop running and walk into their yard and capture the moonlight by my cell phone camera, but opted not to do that since they might look out their window and see a crazy woman standing in their yard wearing a headlamp and flashing red light!

Tonight was awesome with it's warm temperature of 46 degrees and no wind. While out running I heard an owl in the nearby woods and also heard lots of geese that found open water on Tainter Lake.  I love listening to the wildlife.

 Speaking of the lake, we have about an 1 1/2 inches of ice that has built up during the cold nights this week.  Bike man, and his son Mike, tried to launch their boat at the boat landing for a little fishing this afternoon, but didn't get too far.  The boat landing had a layer of thin ice, but as they tried to proceed out to the main channel of the lake with the boat, they ran into thicker ice.  No luck for a fishing boat.  Breaking ice could mean damaging the boat.  I think this spells the end of lake fishing and the beginning of ice fishing.......no turning back guys!   And please wait until Christmas to go ice fishing ok?  

Birthday Wishes To Our Daughter

Happy 27th Birthday Rebecca!  We love you.....

Lake Ice?

I could not leave for work this morning until I ran down to the dock to take a picture of the first lake ice.  Yup, I was really excited.  Temperature must have been around 15 degrees this morning, but really, I didn't even notice.   

All I wanted to do was capture the moment of ice forming on the lake.  Every late fall, we wait for this moment.  I know my Georgia blog friend Jackie waits for this moment as well.  I thought about her this morning as I took these photos.

Since it was really windy over the weekend, the water froze as the wind was blowing.  Isn't that cool?  So the good news is, temperatures will warm up around 50 degrees this weekend.  Bad news?  This lake ice will not stay.  That's ok, because the lake usually freezes solid around late November or early December.  It's the natural cycle of Tainter Lake and living in the Midwest.

Talked to a book vendor from Milwaukee this morning on the phone.  So she says to me, "oh, I could never live in northern Wisconsin where it gets so cold."  What???  So I shot back, well if you're an outdoors kind of person, you would love northern Wisconsin.  Why do people think northern Wisconsin is desolate and brutal?  Actually, our winter season is beautiful and we have lots of activities you can do outdoors to stay health and tough.  I love where I live........so there lady from Milwaukee!