Happy New Year OJ. My best friend lives in Ottawa.

Happy New Year Ed!
I just left Ottawa - going to miss skating on the canal.

No frozen stuff down in AL :o)

Good to hear from you oj.....and Happy New Year to you. I would like to try walking on water but here in VA the ice is mighty thin.

Happy New Year OJ... I never did walk on water much, but I wore out many pairs of skates though...Wish I could skate again even at my old age.. but nowadays, I would have to drive all the way to Nashville..

Carolyn

There's not much ice here in Texas, except for that found in beverages. I would love to walk on a lake or a pond...ice fishing is something I would really like to try one day.

We have a lake behind our house and I cringe when I see kids and dogs walking on it. Sometimes it just hasn't been cold enough here to make it safe IMO. Last year the kids took dune buggies and go carts on the lake, the neighborhood dogs follow them way out into the center.. nobody fell through thankfully. This is not a huge lake, but it's not tiny either.. I'd say it's about 3 to 4 acres in size.

Happy New Year to you, OJ. I live near a large lake in No. Minnesota. every winter, I am amazed at how soon people put fish houses out on the ice, and driving cars and trucks out there. It seems like we haven't had enough cold weather to freeze the ice thick enough, and sure enough, in some cases, it isn't and down they go. As for me, I am all too aware of all the water under that ice and stay off.

I used to walk on water. We grew up right on the banks of White River and it still is owned by my sister and me. We lived there all of our growing up years till we both married and moved away. We knew when it was safe to go out and many times our Dad would take us out in the bitter cold to walk around on the ice. We loved to watch the ice jam when it melted in the winter when the temperatures warmed and the ice would back up the water and it would rise and the ice would make all kinds of cracking and popping noises. Right now very little ice on our local rivers.

Sue

Don't come to Newfoundland just yet! We've had a lot of rain and fog, no snow here and much warmer temps than average.

Lots of ice fishing houses, with heaters and even microwave ovens. Yep, cars/trucks too. Not for me!

Waaaay back in the day, my dad used to harvest ice from the lake and store it in ice houses... and he delivered ice to folks that had "ice boxes"... I recall going with him on some of his ice runs...

Okay, now I am really dating myself here.. LOL

Carolyn

Greetings again, everyone,

Thank you for your good wishes for the New Year: I hope you all have a really great New Year, also. May it bring the fulfillment of a couple of your dreams ... and may you dig up a couple of worthwhile new ones, as well.

Hi there, rural sun-radiating one,

Along with horse-drawn wagons bringing bread and milk, they had those ice wagons in our cities, as well. We in rural areas put our perishables in pans of cold water in the basement.

That was about seventy years ago.

About sixty years ago, they started building refrigerators.

About fifty years ago, quite few of the refrigerators that they built lasted for about forty years.

In recent years, the refrigs that they build seem to last for about ten years ...

... engineers having become quite a lot stupider, over the years, it seems.

ole joyful

Again this year most everywhere I walk there's that frozen water stuff and I don't like it at all. Another icy year. Three in a row now plus this year has been cold and snowy.

Used to ice fish and really enjoyed it. Need to go watch Grumpy Old Men and get in the right mood.

I've shared the story before about when my one boss a Tulsa transplant came up to me the one day and asked me to come to his office. Closed the door, and all hush-hush he quietly says to me in his Okie accent. Dave and Greg have been tron' to tell me that people here go FISHING on the LAKES in the wintertime! They're bullsh*tting me right? I busted out laughing and said, no, that's completely true and he goes Aw you're bullsh*tting me! You can't walk on the ice on a lake! And of course I laughed again and I was almost sorry to burst his bubble but told him not only walk on them but drive snowmobiles, cars, trucks and more. Told him to take a drive by a good fishing lake and look for the fishhouses and take a drive to Mille Lacs and see more like fish resort hotels out there. Multi-room buildings with every amenity you'd want, including TV, phone, fireplace, stove and ironically, even refrigerators! (Though I can't say whether those refrigerators would last 10 years or 40 years!) I don't think he believed me. Especially when I said we don't even bother using "snow tars" anymore! I offered to take him ice fishing but his words were The hail you awre! Finally someone came into the building he knew and he said Hey, c'mere, this guy's trying to tell me people here drive CAWRS on the LAKES in the wintertime! and he just replied, "Well, some crazy people do..." LOL The light finally started to flicker and he started to believe. I just said that ah, we're all a little crazy around here at times... just not crazy enough to go noodling! He started turning red and said GET OUTTA HERE! He was a fun guy. Enjoyed working with him. He could take a joke and give it to you too. And it just hit me now that he learned quickly to never yeowl around here! But his favorite phrase Come high hell or water... Never had the heart to say anything and started to wonder if it was a regional thing.

Happy New Year to ya Joyful.

Good story, cynic!

o j