IQF Dog Yard

I'm calling todays post "IQF Dog Yard" because that's exactly what it looks like. In the restaurant business you get things that are "IQF", which stands for individually quick frozen. A product is glazed with water and than flash frozen. You can get chicken, fruit, all kinds of stuff comes "IQF". Anyhow.... Today it rained in the afternoon, and the temperature dropped just enough to turn it everything wet into ice. Almost every inch of the dog yard is glazed with a thin layer of ice. It's crazy!! The brunt of this strange weather storm is supposed to hit tonight around 9:00. Mark has been checking all the weather sites and the reports seem to keep getting worse. Almost every sort of activity in Grand Marais has been canceled for today and tomorrow. Even the restaurants closed up early this afternoon. The radio dj's and weather guys say to have two days worth of provisions and DON'T leave the house if you don't have to. Hmmmm, sounds exciting. haha. Check Mary's blog at www.blackmagickennels.com, she always post the weather. I'm actually pretty interested in what things are going to look like in the morning. Thank goodness for yak tracks!

Today, because of the incoming storm, there was no dog running. We went fishing instead. Not a bad trade. Mark, Julie, a friend of the Blacks (and ours now), Rob, and I headed to No Name lake to do some trout fishing. It started to get a little windy and chilly, so we started a bon fire. I guess with 3 feet of ice, you don't have to worry about the fire melting through. It started to rain about an hour into the trip. Despite the weather, and the lack of nibbles, we had a really good time. It was fun to be out ice fishing, our first time all season.

After we were back at camp, and the dogs had their dry, we all vegged out a bit. It wasn't until chicken soup time that I first saw the "IQF" effect. While Mark, Rob, and I were all wearing ice cleats, the dogs don't have that luxury. They were sliding all over the place. Although it's kind of funny, I feel a little bad for them. The little girl puppies were spinning around their dish so much, they just gave up. I dug them out a little patch of snow so they could get their grip.

Now we're back inside getting ready for our own dinner. The dogs are all in their houses, avoiding their ice rink yards. We'll see what tomorrow brings!!!