Winter travels and making fruit cakes –

The snowmobile trails were pretty much bare by the end of Snodeo weekend, and we only got a few dribbles of snow during the week. We did have a full moon float overhead one night and temperatures sure changed after that. The shortest day of daylight also passed us by, but you will hardly notice that for a few weeks. I shot the full moon as it put shadows all over the clean white snow in the backyard. I got up at 4 a.m. It was so bright out, and the deer were feeding through the yard. I took a few shots and went back to bed. The temperatures have gone down sharply since, making ice on most of the lakes. Those that are snow-covered not so much, so check it out before going out to fish or snowmobile on them.

The loons all appeared to have left the day after we caught and moved the one from Fourth Lake to Lake Champlain. The rains came that next day and gave the loons a window to get out and as far as I know all have left the area. There is still a big flock of mallards in the Inlet Channel where they will spend the winter as they have in the past. The Channel to Old Forge Pond still had some open water as it is moving downstream after the rains. If you look at the Moose River at the bridge in Thendara, you see that the water is quite high as is the Moose River down at the McKeever Bridge. They shut down the dam at Stillwater Reservoir because of flooding downstream, which will change the freezing of that body of water, so be careful using that water body for winter activities. 

I traveled down to Utica to see the Geek Squad at Best Buy to get my laptop back working on Friday, and everyone else was out shopping that day. The lines were long at other stores I went to, but I escaped with a working laptop, which took them about five minutes, and it made my day. When I walled out of there at 10:30, it was snowing like crazy just like they said it would and after few other quick stops I headed home in the snow all the way. Most everyone else was headed south and I nearly followed my daughter Erin to the house as she only got here a few minutes before me coming from Rochester in snow all the way. 

She came to help me make my ma’s fruit cakes that Karen always made this time of the year and gave as presents to many in town who enjoyed them. That night we got all the fruity ingredients together and put on the stove in the spaghetti pot for a long slow cooking. The smell in the house was again of fruit cake being made. I had invited Joann and Gordy Rudd to come the next day as they always enjoyed the fruit cakes, and I may pass on the recipe to them as someone has to keep up the tradition. We had put a little heat under the pot we had made the night before Joann and Gordy arrived. We got out the big turkey pan, and they started to add the other ingredients flour, sugar and water as per the recipe by the cupful, teaspoonful and tablespoonful of a few other ingredients.

Then the pot from the stove was dumped in and the big stir began by Gordy after adding the secret ingredient. The air in the house was filled with the smell of fruit cakes in the making. The big pan was stirred until it looked just like someone was making mud pies and all the flour disappeared from the mix. We laid out the different size bread tins and began filling with the mix until it was all gone. The oven had been heated, and in went the tins to bake. We had to make it in two separate batches in the oven we had so many tins to bake. Joann and Gordy had to leave to do other Christmas things, but their fruit cake will arrive before Christmas as will many others. I want to thank Erin, Joann and Gordy for making this happen as Karen was somewhere watching over the entire process to make sure it came out right. 

It is going to be a White Christmas in my backyard. Photo by Gary Lee.

With this super cold spell keep those bird feeders full they need all the energy they can get to keep them warm in these frigid temperatures. You see them all fluffed up sitting in the morning sun to adsorb some of that heat energy rather than eat. The peanut butter and lard mixed with bird seed and put in a suet log will give them lots of energy and they do not have to pound a seed open. You can also get a chunk of suet from the meat department and put that in a wire container or mesh bag to give them instant energy. 

I put my new iPhone out the window the other morning with the Merlin app turned on and it said there was a black-capped chickadee and a white-breasted nuthatch singing. Now if I had my ears in, I would have heard them, but I did not. 

I keep checking for snowy owls, but I have not seen one around here yet but that is another story. See ya.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

Top photo: Making fruit cakes. Photo by Gary Lee.