River Day 01/25/2016

 

The weather was quite a bit different this week for River Day:  30 degrees warmer, and about a foot of snow on the ground, and on the road, and about everything else.  Temps stayed in the mid to upper 40's, and the majority of the snow from the weekend storm hung around for the holiday.

Pat, Ted, Jay and I made it down this week, as well as our local visitor, Freddy.  Freddy's neighbor Duane showed up for a few minutes, but that was only to ask for a jump start for his car (which was parked/left in the middle of the road).  When we left and stopped at his car for the boost, he was a no-show.  Oh well, it wasn't going anywhere in all that snow anyway.  And none of us were pushing, pulling, or digging.

We did a bit of shoveling right around the fire pit area, but nothing else.  And the bulk of what we burned was from the existing pile.  We didn't do much wading through the snow to look for stuff to burn.

Not much going on this week, just hanging around the fire.  We also built a small snowman (pictures included), and then kept changing his accessories.  He didn't seem to mind.

As always, we had a great River Day and kick start to the week.

The Master at work!

River Day 01/18/2016

It was a little chilly on the river this week: about 17 degrees.  With a wind chill of about -157.  Okay maybe not quite that bad, but during the earlier hours, before the wind settled down a bit, you didn't get too far away from the fire, and if you did, you made sure everything was covered.  It wasn't our coldest River Day, but it was probably in the top 10 (or bottom 10?).  With the temps being what they were, you'll see that nearly every photo from this week's celebration is centered around the fire, just as we were.

Just about everyone made it down this week: Scott, Pat, Jay, Tim, Ted, and I.  I think we have higher participation during the sub-freezing nights. And of course Freddy made an appearance, but just long enough to tell us how crazy we are.  And that his wife can't fry chicken.  Once again he declined our offer to stop by and help with the cooking. 

A significant number of pallets were brought down this week by Jay, Pat and Tim.  That led to a large number of pallets being burned by the rest of us.  Along with the pallets, we loaded up the fire with plenty of wood that we were able to gather up from the last high water.  With the size fire we had, it sure would have been nice to have had our pitchfork to tend it.  One of the local Frito Bandito's has apparently claimed it as his own.  A little recon mission may be in order to retrieve it.

Mark, Pat, Jay, Ted, and Tim

Once again a great River Day, and start of the week.  I'm sure we'll have a few more cold, snowy ones before this winter gives way to spring.

"My boots are on fire!"

 

 

River Day 01/04/2016

We've successfully celebrated the first River Day of 2016, and we had a full crew on hand to do it:  Ted, Pat, Jay, Tim, Scott, and me.  And let's not forget Freddy - who once again came bearing gifts, 6 of them!  It had snowed earlier in the day, but there was only a trace of it on the ground at the river.  We did see a few flurries, and temps started just under 30 and went down from there.

With the cold weather, a bigger fire was in order, so that's just what we had.  Jay and I both brought down some burnables (aka/old furniture), and we had the first Christmas tree burning of the season.  The tree was a little anti-climactic due to being watered until just before River Day, but it still burned (doesn't everything when you get it hot enough?).

Not much going on away from the fire this week, but we were able to add a little to the wood pile - what didn't immediately go on the fire anyway.  Looks like there'll be a lot to gather over the next few weeks, as the water had been up over the last couple of weeks from he heavy rains just after Christmas.

As always, looking for another great year of River Day celebrations!