Wind Songs: Ice At The Lake

I cannot convey strongly enough just how much I enjoy living so close to the lake.

Just up the road.

Five minutes drive.

Close enough for short adventures in the dead of winter.

Close enough for long adventures in the dog days of summer.

Trails for bike riding and walking, hills for hiking, water for fishing and kayaking..............

There is an elderly lady who lives at the end of our road.

She lives in a dilapidated single wide mobile home - an old, run down, beat up piece of junk with the same beautiful views that LC and I enjoy from OUR home.

The first time I met the lady I was walking with Kory in the middle of summer.

She was standing outside on the rotting front porch and I introduced myself and my dog.

Out of politeness I asked her how old her dog was and she told me that the dog was old - about 9.

The dog was so overweight that its' belly reached almost down to the ground.

I smiled politely and my only thought was "the same age as Kory".

We chatted politely for a few minutes about banal things that I don't remember, but somewhere during the conversation the woman told me that in addition to the dog, she also had a pet pig.

I smiled politely at that and then made ready to move on.

Saying that it was nice to meet her, Kory and I started to walk away but as we turned the woman mentioned something else about the pig.

Suddenly curious I turned back to the elderly lady.

"Did you say that the pig weighed 50 pounds or 150 pounds??"

"No - she weighs 250 pounds".

Having no idea what to say in response to that piece of news I smiled again, said again how nice it was to meet her, turned and headed back towards the house.

I couldn't wrap my head around it.

Couldn't wrap my head around the idea of an old woman, and an old dog, and a 250 pound pig all living inside that beat up mobile home (yes.........it was an indoor pig).

A week later I drove by that same mobile home and saw the pig.

It was huge. And it's belly almost reached the ground.

And it was standing on the rotting porch, staring at the front door, waiting patiently for the elderly lady to let it back inside.

I love living close to the lake so much, that I would even live in that single wide mobile home just to be that close.

Maybe.......................

The days are freezing cold but are irrevocably getting longer each day.

Kory and I made a brief trip to the lake one late afternoon last week after my business closed, rushing home (as I so often do this time of year) so that we could squeeze in some together time at the lake before dark.

It was cold.

It was silently cold and abandoned.

Kory and I had the entire frozen lake and beach front to ourselves, as we do most days in the winter.

We have had little snow this winter down at 5000 feet, so I had to be content to simply enjoy views of the snow in the surrounding mountains.

The story of this trip was the frozen lake, and the giant chunks of ice that had broken free.

The entire shore line was covered with large blocks of ice - frozen squares and triangles and hexagons that extended from the South Fork end of the lake all the way around to the North Fork end of the lake.

Endless. Unexpected. Beautiful................

We were only at the lake for 30 minutes before the invasive cold and increasing darkness demanded a retreat to the vehicle.

The visit was short, but it was long enough.

Long enough for Kory to run.

Long enough for my head to clear and for me to decompress from a busy day.

Climbing back into the warm Tahoe we turned back onto the gravel road and headed towards the house, careful to watch for the multitude of deer who live in the fields close to Buffalo Bill Reservoir...................