Winter came early this year

 Last night's rain turned to snow before it all ended. We got about 2" by the time it quit.

It will probably be gone in a day or two because the ground isn't frozen yet, but the air temperatures won't be melting it. It didn't go above freezing today.

First frost of the season

 It's a bit early this year, but we got our first frost last night.

 It got the whole area here between the hills.

I think I will wait for it to melt off before I go anywhere today.

Lake time for the guys

 Allen and I headed for Greyson Lake this morning. We drove all the way there in the rain, but it stopped when we arrived at the launch. We did get drizzled on, but then it cleared out and was sunny.

 We both caught a few fish, but nothing big enough to bring home for dinner. We still had fun.

 We went a little farther down the lake and found this. It is hard to see, but the top half is an overhang over the lake. It goes back about 40-50 feet. Very cool looking.

We also found this cave along the banks. Allen got up to the mouth, but didn't go inside. We only had flip-flops on and there was a lot of rocks and brush to walk through to get to the back.

Burn pile gone

 I lit up the "new" burn pile this morning. This is all the limbs and debris from the maple branch that came down in the pasture a while back.

 I picked a spot in the pasture that the horses weren't eating from and stacked all the stuff there because I didn't feel like hauling everything over to the old burn pile.

 It burned down nicely. This is after about an hour or so, lots of coals to make sure it will keep going.

 By afternoon, there were only the big chunks left. I moved them all into a pile near the center so they could keep going.

Leaning on the fencepost is the remaining part of the branch with the trunk visible behind it. The last branch will get cut off when I finish with the big piece, leaving just an enormous stump.

Back to Greyson Lake

 Heather has been on her vacation all week. Today we went fishing, back to our good spot under the bridge. We usually have decent luck fishing here.

 The lake was much quieter than I expected it to be, with it being a holiday weekend and all.

 We floated down the lake fishing. We tossed dozens back because they were small, but brought a half dozen of the larger ones home for dinner.

We both caught a catfish and brought them home as well. We're having fish for dinner tonight!

Back to Cave Run

 I got a few hours of fishing in at Cave Run yesterday. The lake wasn't very crowded - school started earlier this week.

 It was a bright, sunny day and the fish weren't biting very well. This was all I caught. Needless to say, it got tossed back.

 I heard some splashing from shore and watched this doe wander along the shoreline. You have to enlarge the picture to see her behind the fallen tree in the middle.

She decided to swim across the cove. I knew deer were good swimmers, but I haven't seen this before. It was an interesting morning.

More fishing time

 Heather and I caught some fish for dinner here.

 Grayson Lake really is a pretty place. We went further up the lake than we went before and saw some new things.

 This was the first little waterfall we ran across. I think it was spring fed - the water was quite a bit colder than the rest of the lake.

 This one was the next one, with several drops coming down.

It didn't have a lot of volume to the water flow, but it was very pretty.

Some time on Greyson Lake

 I managed to get back to the lake today. It was busy, but not as bad as last weekend. The geese were still swimming around.

 I anchored next to this rock wall for a little bit. It is around 25 feet tall, plus another 16 feet or so that is underwater.

The swimming was great, the fishing, not as much. Fish normally don't bite as well during high pressure systems, but it was a beautiful day anyway.

Boat painting is finished

 Pulled the boat over into the yard this morning and got started with the painting of the top.

 First, I stripped all the fittings, cleats, sonar unit, lights and windshield off and started sanding.

 I pulled the steering wheel off, too. That made it much easier to get the inside part of the dash done.

 Painting is complete. Thanks to Heather for her help with the painting. We put 2 coats on and let it dry for about 5 hours before the reassembly started.

All the parts are back on and it is ready for a trip to the lake. Looks pretty sharp for an old boat!

Car replacement

 Since work was rained out today, I stopped to look at this car today. It seems to be what I was looking for.

So, after a test drive, I did some paperwork and got the Nissan all cleaned out. This is now our daily driver, a 2009 Toyota Camry. I hope to get several more years out of it.

Boat hull refinished

 My old boat was looking kind of ratty for the last couple of years, with the paint cracking and peeling.

 When I first refinished the hull, the fiberglass resin I put on seemed dry, but was not fully cured. That is what started the cracking, but it was barely noticeable. At least for the first couple of years, anyway.

 I didn't get the boat out on the water much at all last year, so painting it got pushed back for lack of time.

 Today, I got it taken care of. It took all day to get the boat up off the trailer, sand the bad spots down, wash the hull, and get two coats of paint on it.

I also want to get the top of the boat done, but I still need to get the red paint for that. Finding the paint turned out to more difficult than I figured on. All the places I used to get the paint from no longer carry it. I did find a place in Nicholasville that has it, so next time I'm down there, I'll pick it up.

Fishing Grayson Lake

 Heather and I got an early start this morning. We headed out to Grayson Lake to do a little fishing. It was very nice out this morning and the lake wasn't very busy.

 Heather has not been here before, so it was all new for her. The lake was created in 1968 by damming up the Little Sandy River.

 Much of the lake still looks like a river, it's narrow and winding. Still very pretty.

We bumped a flock of Canadian Geese off their wading spot. They were quite vocal as they were leaving.

Heather managed to catch this tiny one that was stealing our worms. We tossed it back to get bigger.

4 wheeler is back

 Bennie finished up the tires and starter on my 4 wheeler today. The front tires now match the rear tires. The old ones were originals from 1991 and were seriously dry rotted. I am glad they didn't blow out on me while I was riding it.

The starter is a bit shinier, but not much visual difference between the new and old. It was also original parts from 1991.

Grayson Lake

 Even though it wasn't a pretty day, I went over to Grayson Lake this morning. I wanted to get a few hours in before the rain started back up.

 I definitely need to come here a bit more often. There seems to be a better panfish population that Cave Run has, and it is just as pretty of an area.

 It's a little hard to see, but the water is 52ft deep with a 73 degree reading. The water was a bit warmer than I was expecting.

I think these two were looking for a handout. They both left shortly after checking the boat out.