Ice

Pilgrim Cove on the beautiful Payette Lake is now frozen. When the kids were young we all learned to skate on the perfect pre snow ice. After it snows the ice texture changes and shoveling is required to get to the clear ice. The girls learned to pirouette and fall to the sounds of the boom box. I still contend that the hardest falls of my life came as my feet went to the sky and my rear end or hip took the brunt of the skating experience.  If you go on the lake early or late in the day you hear some very interesting and unnerving sounds. As we walked to the point on the lake we heard a loud thunder like boom, that noise resonates through the ice.  More often you hear moans, pops, and pings as the ice expands or contracts with temperature change. We see many long cracks that make you wonder how strong the ice might be, they do not necessarily mean the ice is weakening.  We do carry a pole for leverage just in case we find ourselves swimming. Our former neighbor Ernie grew up in the Great Lakes region and he was the ice tester for years as he skated with his hockey stick.  He confided the stick is how you get out of the water when you break through.  I later learned you can put your back against the hole in the ice and use your feet to push you back on the ice, you can’t climb out with your feet in the water.  You should be careful but walking on the lake is beautiful and a new experience I recommend.

Think of lake ice as a musical instrument, the ice vibrates up and down like A cymbal or drumhead after being struck.  One person feels the lake sounds are best described as “whale song”.  There is a legend that a sea creature lives in the 700 plus foot depths of the natural Payette Lake-the locals can tell tales of viewing Sharlie-I have not heard if she communicates by clicks, groans, or echolocation whistles. A bit off subject- my daughter Megan is frightened of the fish who swim in her lake but shows no concern for the scaly moaning monster.  An internet enabled examination reveals ice as a fascinating phenomenon. Light pillars appear on very cold, windless nights when high altitude ice crystals form closer to the ground and reflect available light sources.  The rising colored halos look like the transporter room images as Spock’s molecules were being readied to be beamed down. I encourage your own research into penitents, ice balls, pancake ice, hoarfrost, and the very rare skypunch.  My friends in Maine have a new ice spectacle as a whirling 300 foot disk has formed in the Presumpscot River.

I realize there is a faction who fear Foreigners.  In spite of that I did look to the iconic rock group of the same name to put the icing on my message. Their song “Cold as Ice” reminds us of selfish decisions “you never take advice”, “closing the door you leave the world behind” “throwing away a fortune in feelings” reminding us “someday we will pay”. Please take our advice and open the government, we can work on immigration and other related and important issues on their merits.

Slide into a fine winter week end.  Mike