This afternoon I took the three dogs out to the reservoir to run. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the temperature had climbed into the 20s, and there was little wind. It has been almost two weeks since the thermometer has climbed above freezing, so I knew the ice would be thick enough that I wouldn't have to worry about the dogs, or myself, falling through. When we arrived we found there were other visitors--three ice fishermen were on the ice, dropping lines through six inch holes they had hand-drilled with an awl. Our Cairn Terrier Chris was the first to spot them and to decide it was his job to tell them they shouldn't be there. He ran out onto the ice, barking and pestering, ignoring my calls to return. I was curious to go out and get a close up view, so as annoyed as I was about Chris's bad behavior, it gave me an excuse to go out on the ice and strike up a conversation. The other two dogs, Maizy (our mutt who resembles a miniature Golden Retriever) and Timmy (a rescued Sheltie) followed me out, and proceeded to nuzzle a half dozen bluegills, flopping around on the ice, with their noses. The ice fishermen were from Zanesville, and came equipped not only with the bare essentials for ice-fishing, but also high tech fish finders with LED screens, which told them the depth of the water and alerted them to the presence of fish. They had managed a respectable haul of small bluegills and a few slightly larger bass. After snapping a few photos, and asking a few questions about the thickness of the ice, I took my dogs and left them alone. We did our "usual" loop around the reservoir, shortened a bit this time by our ability to walk around the edges of the pond on the ice, rather than taking the trail that circles the reservoir in the woods. Maizy, Chris and Timmy were excited about this new adventure--walking on water. I would have taken more pics--it was really a beautiful day--but the batteries on the digital camera were dead.
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