Ice aquarium

A rarity around here, it was sunny out today, so I took an hour or so off at 2 pm to take a hike on the back side of the lake with the dogs.

This morning was the first day the whole lake was iced over. It was so cool, I wish I had a camera to share. I was hiking around and could travel ON all the creeks and channels along the edge of the lake, and there are alot. I could explore places I usually couldn't. And the ice was perfectly clear, I could see everything. It was amazing, amazing. All the vegetation under 2 feet of pure glass ice, like another world I got to visit. All the frozen channels were this labyrinth of glass pathways leading through brush thickets and 5 feet tall reed canary grass. While under my feet was a special world.

I walked out on the lake too. Along the edge the ice was perfectly clear, but out alittle further the wind had made the ice white. I saw a smooth ice patch out deeper and wanted to see through there so I walked across a strip of white ice. When I got to the other side of it I saw a couple of fish darting around....uh oh, not so much ice. Crack! Yikes. I start hustling back and the cracking followed my feet. An especially freaking feeling when you can see down perfectly into the 4 feet of water you are standing on.

Later, upstream one of the creeks feeding into the lake, there are a few beaver dams and faster flowing water so the ice wasn't as thick. I smartened up and got back on land. Both Roy and Reena eventually fell through and got a bit of a shock I'm sure. It was only a small creek I knew they could swim out of so I wasn't worried. Good for them to learn that not all ice will hold them up and to learn to discriminate the difference.

Reena kicked up 3 hen pheasants and a ruffed grouse. I was thinking I should bring my shotgun out on our next hike. The natural pheasant population here is non-existent and I'm quite positive these were released by someone. Fist time I have seen any all year. I doubt they have the smarts to make it through the winter. It would be great if we had a self-sufficient population but the habitat just isn't extensive enough. But, most people up here won't give up and many keep trying to convince me I need to release some each year. I keep telling them it's not something I will do for several reasons. However, a few people in the valley do it on the sly on their own. Then people see a few pheasants each fall and think, see we have a small population. We just need to help them out by releasing a few more.