Noble Moments

Polar Bear Plunge

What is a Polar Bear Plunge? The first recorded one took place in Boston in 1904. It occurs in many Canadian communities each year generally as a New Year's tradition. It has become an international activity branching out into fundraising events and is sometimes even toted as a healthful cold water plunging therapy for athletes.

All that aside, this year, we introduced the little boys to the idea of a polar bear plunge. I suppose technically their Canadian cousins introduced them. If it wasn't for the 2020/Covid 19 they may not have been as familiar with their cousins and subsequently with the idea of a Polar Bear Plunge.

It was New Year's Day and mid-day this video came in on the family group chat.

All the Karlsson's took their plunge also.

We watched the videos and then the conversation from the boys of why? What are they doing? and then... Can we?

To which I replied... "Why would you want to??? Besides all the water around here for at least 100 miles is all frozen solid. No. can. do. The best we could do would be to go jump in a snowbank."

And then... we posted that Duncan was going to go do snow angels in the snow bank. He had said no such thing but .... he's a good sport.

So... Emerson and Whittaker joined him and out they went.

Into the snow drifts they went.

Whittaker standing in the cold and watching had a change of heart and decided snow angels were not for him... He says in the video, "I don't want to." So we said .. Okay, that's fine. But minutes later he said, "If I don't have to take my shoes off I could do it."...

Reassured that he could do it or not do it... Do it with his shoes on or off... It was his call... off he went. I almost didn't have my camera ready.

Of course his shoes filled with snow and fell off so he ended up doing it with them on and with them off.

Then....

erghhh... those children..... "What about you Mummy?"

So, wearing Patrick's swimsuit and a t-shirt since my swimsuit is packed in storage somewhere with other SUMMER clothing, I headed out. It wasn't a delightful experience. Oh so cold...

Ava went a few more times... Eden a month later went again and Duncan and Caleb did also.

I say... been there, done that!

Frozen Lake Play

We heard a rumor that the lakes around here had frozen. Frozen all the way across. It was totally believable since the temperature hasn't been above 32*f/0*c for many weeks now. At first my reaction was... ok soo... doesn't this happen every year around here.

Apparently while the lakes do freeze over here all the time, they don't always freeze over... CLEAR. As in you can walk across the lake and look down at the bottom of the lake.

I'm not sure if I'm in awe or a little freaked out. And truthfully about both, walking across a frozen lake and looking at the bottom while doing it.

Duncan had an opportunity to be in town and went to see this phenomenon. He was in awe.

He and his friend were sliding all over and amazed by the lake.

It was even featured in the local 'paper'. (it's online)

Photo Credit to Dave Bell of the Local Online Paper

Better go check out such an awe inspiring event when it occurs locally.

So, while friends were here, we went adventuring.

However in the week between when Duncan saw the lake as the local paper showed it and when we arrived....

well...

it snowed.

In some ways I think it was less intimidating for me since it was covered in snow.

Just a tiny bit though.

We'd brought ice skates to test out the ice.

So... obviously the first thing to do is to clear an ice skating arena.

Using resources at our disposal.... we attempted to sweep the powdery snow off an area... by holding Emerson's arms and using him as the plow. Everyone got down and tried snow angels and sliding with their arms and legs open wide. It was going to be quite a process.

We looked around for anything that might be useful at clearing the snow.

Low and behold at the boat dock, there was one paddle and a broom in the hollow of the metal pilings by the pier.

The new implements were far more effective at clearing the snow.

The ice was black... but clear.... so hard to describe the incredible sight and to try to wrap our heads around the massive scale of the enormous lake being frozen solid.

I encouraged keeping the skating area near the shoreline....

After a while... clearing the snow from a large area was less appealing and instead a skating track was devised. With figure 8 patterns and circles; it was grand.

Then the skaters went rogue. They had discovered that although clearing the ice allowed us a cool glance at the ice... they could actually just skate through the powdery snow atop the ice. They took off. I held my breath... and called out, "How about coming back... closer to shore!" It would have been more encouraging if there had been signs posted regarding the safety of the icy lake... or perhaps pylons to let us know where it was thick enough for skating... or if there had been even one other soul out on the lake... maybe ice fishing... but no, not another person. We were the only ones on the vast icy lake.

I was relieved to have them turn and return to Emerson and I. We hadn't brought skates and stayed with out skating course... sliding around. It was a really incredible experience but there was a definite element of anxiety with it as well.

The band of brave icy lake skaters.

The sun was setting and the temperature was dropping so it was time to head back to shore... and then home. (And probably some more hot cocoa)

About twenty feet from the shore we noticed a series of rocks covered in thick ice. It was rather reassuring to see how thick the ice above the rocks was after having walked all over the lake. Perhaps I wouldn't have been as anxious if I had noticed the thick ice on our way on, instead of on the way off of, the lake.

I suppose these rocks were also there in the summer...

Yes... the rocks have always been there.

Such a difference.

And then...

Duncan flipped the ice from the rock over. Instantly we knew it was an ice throne.

It was there for a photo shoot.

So we complied.

Strike a pose. "I'm ready for my close up."

Just chillin'

"This is great... but it would be better with snacks."

Such dramatic poses... An Ice Queen?

Perhaps a larger ice chair would be more comfortable...

P.S. I was also there... not just a camera taking photos!

"That's enough"

Winter must be taking its toll.... we've begun to dress up poor Jim as a sleepy time lumberjack!

Meet Pooka

Pooka was well sought after. We decided that a kitten for Christmas would be the ideal idea. It had been 6 months since Miss Moppet died and the house construction had reached a stage where we could 'safely' take on a kitten. Sooo, the entire week before we headed to Utah we were searching online for a kitten.... BUT... each one we asked about was already gone or spoken for. Sometimes the listing would only be 2 minutes old and the kitten would already be gone. Finding a kitten didn't look promising.

Whittaker spent the entire drive to Utah reading any new listing he could find from 3 different sites. Late that evening we managed to contact one that still had a kitten available and made arrangements to meet at a 7/11.

Apparently meeting someone at a 7/11 to pick up a new kitten is a family event. Caleb and Sarah, joined Jim, Whittaker and I to meet Pooka for the first time. She was so sweet, petite and snuggly.

Fortunately, she was also a VERY good traveler. We had 24 more hours before we would be home. We spent the night and she slept between Whittaker and I. The next day we were in the car essentially all day. She spent 90% of the time on Whittaker's lap. A few times we had to put her in her kennel.. hoping she would use our makeshift litter box in the end of the kennel.

Once home... she has rarely been put down. There is no shortage of people willing to hold her. She doesn't appear to mind. She is such a chill cat... Sooo docile. (except at 11pm)

She loves to be in a box by the fire place... and the cookstove and she's taken over the crochet couch that Noella had claimed.

In fact, she seems to want to be anywhere Noella is. The feeling was not mutual though. Noella made it known that she could be close but no closer.

As soon as Noella's back was turned... Pooka stole all of Noella's spots.

Unless Emerson intervened. It was an exhausting task to keep Noella and Pooka from hissing at each other.

Eventually Noella allowed Pooka to join her...

as long as she stayed behind her and didn't play with her tail.

Noella has plenty of reprieve from Pooka's attempts to make Noella into her kitty equivalent of a BFF since... well... she is rarely put down!

Minor Setbacks

At first glance this is just the space behind the fridge. A few weeks ago this was a delightful sight. It meant that the fridge was in its new location and the waterline has been hooked up to the fridge so there is now water and ice available from the fridge.

However... this particular view at this moment is not such a delightful sight.

It is only a minor setback... a bump in our road to renovations.

The kitten, in a frisky mood, discovered the coil of hose behind the fridge and it's tendency to wobble when touched. Irresistible to a kitten... a wobbling hose. She pounced. We are not certain if she bit at the hose when it wobbled back at her or if it caught on her claw, but we do know that a tiny hole created a large wet mess. Had I not been standing on the other side of the fridge at the time and heard an 'odd sound', I wonder how long this tiny prick of spray would have gone unnoticed. It could have been so very much worse.

I called out... HELP... how do I turn the water off to the fridge. Faster thinking than I had, Jim just turned the water off to everything in the house... then we mopped up the mess and realized there must be a valve under the sink.

All is well that ends well. Patrick repaired the hose. The water has been restored. The fridge is now pushed back closer to the wall with items blocking a kittens entry. We will be more aware of this hazard when we need the fridge moved for drywalling and painting and for flooring.

Happy Birthday Sybil

Sybil attended our Jeopardy Birthday game in October with the surprise pencil sketches of each of our birthday subjects. She has been waiting for her birthday sketches. Her birthday was in December. November brought with it a few (major) issues... like knocking us to our beds for a few weeks with Covid, Patrick's job loss, cold temperatures, Thanksgiving, a small mice infestation, along with regular day to day school, chores..etc... plus ongoing construction. I didn't manage to celebrate any of the November Birthdays.

The art night before her birthday we made party hats.

I forgot to get a screen shot of everyone else's awesome party hats.

But I didn't miss the delightful Sybil sketches.

I sent a little questionnaire to Sybil so we could include some trivia with each of the sketches... however... the sketches just came pouring in and we suddenly had more sketches than trivia.