Ice Out 2014 has been a little slow starting out.  Cliff went out a week late but probably could have waited another week to go out.  Last night more snow came to pile on top of him to replace some that had melted.  Cliff is looking a little forlorn at his post.  Guesses have been coming in as to when he is going to sink.  Only 2 more days to get your guess in along with 5 dollars.  Get them in!

The steps to the beach with the new light snow we received.  Tomorrow Jake is coming home from Lawrence for spring break and I have to drive to pick him up.  Of course the weatherman is calling for 3 – 5 inches of snow Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, exactly when I would like to drive to get Jake.  Did I mention spring break, not winter break?

My raft update.  This is the most we have seen of the raft since early January.  We now have 4 of the connectors to the ladders showing.

Here is my picture for Ted of the bear in the front yard.  I am still refusing to wade through the snow to get to the bear.  This pic was taken with my telephoto from the trail to Kaubashine.  To the left of the picnic table you can see a small black shape in the snow.  The small black shape is the ear of the bear.  Things are slowly melting

Our suet feeder showing the melting.  The only thing not moving so far is the maple sap.  Our taps are dry til it warms up a bit more.  In the 5 years we have been tapping trees this is the latest they have ever started flowing.

I had some requests to see what I have been doing with my fingerless gloves.  Here are the pairs I have done so far.  I changed a little since I showed the first one.  I made a fold down hem at the top of the glove.  Ben and Grant have claimed the bottom 2 pair.  They were eyeing up what I was making and put in a request for a pair each.  I said you will enjoy them for texting on your phone without the fingers, they looked at me with smiles on their faces and revealed the use they saw for them.  They make great gloves for air soft gun wars.  You can have warm hands and still be able to aim and shoot your gun.  I never thought of this use for my gloves but made them a pair.  If they are going to go outside and shoot at one another in the woods at least they will have warm hands.  That is mom’s logic, just wear your safety glasses!

The gloves take a bit more to make than the socks.  I am working on sizing at the moment.  My friend Sue has small hands and I am making my next pair to see how they fit on her hands.  I will have a selection of these in the Looney Bin this summer.  They can be made out of any of my sock yarns.  So if you see a color in the socks that you would like in the gloves just let me know and I can make them while you are here.  If you want to order some ahead so they are ready when you come email me at jenny@blackscliffresort.com   I am working on the pricing of them.  They take a lot more hand finishing in the end and I am trying to find the easiest way to finish them to shorten that up to bring the price down.  Right now each glove takes about 20 minutes to make on the sock maker and 1/2 hour or so to sew up the hem at the top and the thumb, so double that for a pair of gloves plus the cost of the yarn