With all the fancy, plush, heated ice houses and the hi-tech, wind-breaker tents, today’s ice fishermen/ women have it pretty nice. Even the guy squatting for hours on an overturned five-gallon bucket seems way too content for his/her environment. But that’s what fishing’s all about - even in winter.

Well, we survived the day-long snowstorm on Friday. Thankfully, it ended before nightfall, so there was time to clear some of the snow right away. I spent the day and night in town at Jon's house, since I didn't know how soon my snow plowing person could get to my house and get the snow cleared so I could drive out. You know, it would be a tragedy if I was snowbound for any length of time. When did I turn into someone that absolutely needed to leave my house every day? Uff.

This weekend's snowstorm marked the first time I had to pull the snowblower out of the garage this season. I'm fairly proud of my snowblowing abilities, as I just learned how to use the machine (thanks, You- Tube) two winters ago. Previously, I enjoyed (just kidding on the enjoying part) a full shoveling workout experience. However, living in a house on a hill on a corner lot with all of the city sidewalks surrounding the lot and a half deep property, as well as all of the sidewalks up to the three doors of the house in every direction, a snowblower became a must.