The Ice Is Out!

Yesterday the lake was covered with islands of ice. It was dark so we knew it was thin and the breeze was moving it all southward. You could tell that the lake was in the last throes of winter.

Today…no more ice! It won’t be long and the docks will be hauled back into the water and the boat lifts will be lugged into place. It’s a nasty job involving hip boots (sometimes leaky hip boots), a lot of stamina and a couple of hours work. And that water is C.O.L.D.! It used to be that all the guys on the street would take a day and help each other do the job. It was something that had to be done and much easier if everyone joined in. It was also kinda social.

They’d come in freezing cold at the end of the task and swear that “next year I’m hiring it done” and then, next year, they’d all head back out and do it all over again. But the past couple of years most everyone has hired someone to haul the docks out in the fall and put them back when the ice is out.

That pretty much happens by Mothers’ Day. Not as a tribute to mothers, you understand. No, it’s because Mother’s Day weekend is the opening day of the fishing season! Yep, it’s a big day in lake country. One nice benefit for the mothers is that, in order to ease the guilt of fishing on mother’s day, most mothers do get treated to a nice Mother’s Day brunch! Hey, I’ll take it!