The Ice Queen

One thing Missouri and Southern Illinois are famous for is a winter full of ice.  St. Louis, where our condo is, and Carlyle Lake, where our home is, both happen to fall right along the line where the jetstream makes its winter dip into the plains, leaving a perfect meteorological highway for the Gulf of Mexico moisture to track up the front lines.  Sometimes we get a little snow, sometimes we get a little rain, but most of the time we get ice.  A . Lot . Of . Ice. 

 This weekend we escaped the worst of it, getting only about a 1/4" of the nasty stuff, but when you can't use the head due to winterizing and your 55-year-old bladder calls at 3:00am, it can seem like an insurmountable obstacle to relief to make it all the way to the bath house at the top of the hill.

Traveling up the severely slanted walkway to and from the clubhouse isn't too bad because there's a decent handrail, but the docks are glare ice and they have no handrail so getting across to the walkway requires a steadying of shaky legs that I just don't seem to have at 3:00am.  Ahhhh to be young again.

All in all Kintala seems to be enduring the winter fairly well.  The summer covers that we put on to protect her (in lieu of the winter ones we couldn't afford) have held up dramatically well in spite of 60+mph winds in 2 different storms.  The plywood hatch covers that we put on while the hatches were out for overhaul are not leaking in the least, our cheapo dorade plugs are doing their job quite nicely and our foam floor mat is keeping our toes toasty.  If you gotta get through winter in Missouri I guess Kintala is getting us through with as  much flair as is possible, and for that I'm very grateful.  I'm very much looking forward to the first day that I can throw everything open and let the warm Spring air rush through.