Ice Follies

I tried to show you in my last post that there was a lot of ice in the Harbour – although I didn’t mention it specifically. My limited understanding of the process involved in creating this mess is that it involves snow, followed by runoff in the rain, quickly followed by a flash freeze. We’ve had a few of these events lately.

The fishermen I’ve spoken with over the past couple of days have each volunteered (without being asked) that they’ve never seen the ice this thick right in the Harbour.

Flash forward (see what I did there?) to yesterday morning. One of the salmon boats – so called because they carry the crews to do whatever it is they do with the salmon cages – decided that they were going to go on their usual run.

I stood there with a couple of boat captains watching their attempt to break free. Neither of my companions thought this was a great idea as they estimated the ice to be 3 to 4″ thick and that can cause a lot of damage. Not only can the hull be chipped or cracked, but there are water pipes and hydraulic hoses under there.

Icebreakers in the far north can just plow through thick ice. This ice isn’t that thick, however the Irish Lass isn’t an icebreaker. We watched as its bow rode up on the ice and then as they backed off to try again. This was repeated numerous times until they managed to force a path out of the Harbour.

I admit I was a little worried I’d wind up taking photos of a rescue operation, but they did make it. There was a lot of yelling back and forth as they were warned to check their bilges. Locals may not be fond of the salmon crowd but no seaman wants to see a boat sink.

It is bitterly cold again this morning still I took the dogs down to view the current state of that sheet of ice. She closed up again last night and they, once again, successfully forced their way out. There’s a lot of head shaking when my friends talk about this. I didn’t mention that, given I think they’re all nuts themselves, it’s something each one of them would do if they wanted to go somewhere. 🙂

Meanwhile, things are going well on the home front. The cats haven’t killed my giant house guest and are getting more comfortable with the fact that he doesn’t seem to be leaving. The kitten is the dumbest bravest of them all and they’ve been nose to nose a few times.

I could possibly be entertaining another guest in the near future – although it’s doubtful. I issued an invitation to an American Congresswoman to visit. Lauren Boebert apparently thinks Canada needs liberating. I suggested she come up here and start with me.

She’s from Colorado so the weather won’t be an issue. Her biggest problem will be finding us on the map. Admittedly I’m a lot older, but she’s an idiot so I figure it’ll all even out. I’ll get somebody else to take the photos. 🙂