Ice Ruins

I took a hike across Spearhead Lake on Friday, March 6, and I came across an unusual sight. Frosted tombstones made from chunks of ice carved from the lake by spear fishermen lay basking in the sun before my eyes.

I looked around but saw no one. Suddenly the ice tombstones appeared abandoned in a snowy field. Where have all the fishermen gone? Before the recent March blizzard hit, I would’ve ended this passage with a thought – “These ice ruins leave behind a hopeful message that spring is on its way.” I wish this statement to be true, but it looks to me like winter is still very much alive.

The remains of ice blocks carved out from the lake by spear fishermen. These ice tombstones are left as reminders of a successful spearing season on Spearhead Lake.

A March Blizzard

A blizzard struck and we didn’t know it was coming. Last week when it was sunny and in the upper 30’s, the weather man predicted 1-3 inches of snow possibly on Tuesday. He was off by about 10 inches. On Monday the snow started at about 10 a.m. and didn’t stop until early Wednesday morning. Temperatures dropped from 30 to -20 in little over a day. It was clear on Tuesday we weren’t going anywhere for a while.

The cold temps and windy snow didn’t stop us from going outside for some hiking. Some of my family came to visit on Monday and I lead them on a hike at the start of the big snow fall. I’ve included some pictures.

My brother stands ready as strong snowy winds gust with might over Spearhead Lake

The visitor parking lot driveway was glare ice

Quickly signing the visitor guest book as the snow began falling faster

We posed for a picture as we made our way onto white-out conditions on Spearhead Lake

Cooking Dinner in 7 Degrees

The joys of living in an earth-sheltered home have been plentiful so far this winter. Deer and winter birds visit on a daily basis and at night, the stars put on a spectacular show. But when it comes to winter-time cooking, I regret to say, it can be a little tricky to find the joy in it lately.

Three sides of our earth home are made of cement and without windows. The front of the house is made almost entirely of windows, but they are sealed with plastic window insulation. The only means of receiving a draft of fresh outside air is through our one and only entry door.

Fewer doors and windows means better insulation. However, it also means you  better watch what you cook. Chefs beware: There is no fan above the stove or a kitchen window to open should you burn the toast.

Our first morning in our earth home in December, my husband and I decided to celebrate by frying some bacon for breakfast. It wasn’t long before we were shivering as we stood by the open door, waving our arms while trying to clear the air of smoke. We have since learned cooking over the stove in an earth home is ok in moderation.

Lately, since the temperatures have been above zero, we have been using the grill. Nothing tastes better than a venison steak off the grill, but it’s a whole other story in the winter. Tonight we cooked elk steak on the grill in 7 degree weather. It was quite the sitcom watching my husband run into the house several times to get warm before going back outside to check out the steak. If you ask us, grilling our dinners outside in the cold temperatures is certainly worth the rewards of a smoke-free house and flavorful food!

Living in an earth-sheltered home can be tricky, especially when it comes to cooking some dinners. Sometimes the best way to keep an underground home from smelling like dinner for weeks is to cook outside. We enjoy using our grill, even in cold temps!

Look Who’s Back

It’s been an almost-daily occurance. I sit at my desk to write. I glance out my window and it appears, eating the leftover seeds beneath the bird feeders. I don’t know how long its been there, but it always startles me. One minute I look out the window there’s nothing, the next minute the deer appears. I can see its tracks around our earth home – they mark a well-worn trail. It makes its way along Spearhead Lake, walks up the hill to the bird feeders, crosses our front yard and makes it way back down to the lake.

I wonder if this is the fawn our neighbor called about two weeks ago. Two weekends ago we received a voice message from a neighbor who had been snowshoeing the trails around our home. He said he saw an injured fawn near our earth home so he called a local conservation officer. I looked around for signs of an injured deer – blood, fur, tracks, anything, but found nothing. Judging by the among of deer tracks near our place, we knew there had been deer in the area, but it’s hard to tell the tracks of an injured deer among hundreds of other deer tracks.

This young deer visits the earth home almost on a daily basis. I'm curious to know its story.

The more I watch this young deer visit my feeders, the more I wonder if this is the deer our neighbor spoke of. It walks at a very slow pace and it’s always alone. The more I watch it, the more I convince myself it has a slight limp to its step. Could it be my mind is playing tricks on me? My guess is it is the deer my neighbor saw. Maybe it was inujred and now it’s healing. Who knows. Whatever it may be, I know it’s hungry. It was -2 degrees this morning and snowing – winter continues to exist.

Hike to the Amazon

     If ever you should find yourself waking up to a 20 degree day in an area where 0 degrees is the average for the month, there shouldn’t be a doubt in your mind of what to do that day. Seize the day!  Chances are the next three weeks will be brutally cold and you’ll be stuck indoors.  So when I woke up last Wednesday to an outside temperature of 21 degrees, seize the day is just what I did. It was a beautiful and sunny winter afternoon – a perfect day for an adventure in the woods. Where would I go today? I had heard from member of the Neilson Spearhead Center Committee there was a river called the “Amazon” where kids in the summer loved to explore. I decided that’s where I would hike, and after putting on my snowshoes, I headed out in search of this mysterious Amazon.

I laid a good trail of snowshoe tracks on my journey to find the "Amazon" river.

     After a good march across the lake, I hiked in knee-high snow through a small valley to find what I was looking for. A small stream zig-zagged its way through the valley. What I thought would be buried in snow was the stream known as the “Amazon.” It was a beautiful scene.

In the north-west corner of the Neilson Spearhead Center property lies a small, windy stream dubbed "The Amazon." It's fast-moving current has deterred the formation of ice, allowing for year-round water access for wildlife.