Around Loon Lake

We're having a major melt now! The lake is almost a sea of slush and is not even walkable. It will freeze up again in a few days, with probably a layer of slush still on top of the ice. Our ice is over two feet thick and will continue to thicken as we go through winter. Walking on the roads is dangerous since the hard pack snow which was under tires becomes very slippery when it gets wet. Going up and down hills in a car can be done since there's some gravel on the hills. Since we're going to get a dusting of snow once the temperature drops tomorrow, sanding won't be done, as dusting makes the ice drivable.

There's still wolf activity around the lake and you can hear the odd howl, even during the daytime. There was another deer kill at the start of the week [that makes five] and pieces of deer that the wolves carried onto the lake ice were eaten by ravens. A coyote [non-wolf] became a problem for residents on the east side of the lake during the week and had to be put down by the OPP.

We had a barred owl on our porch during the night but it flew away before we could photograph it - we'll try again!