No Blacksmithing due to Extreme Cold!

I haven't done any actual Blacksmithing this week.  We have had 5 days with lows reaching -20 to -34F.  It was -29F this morning at 8am.  Too Cold!  

Here is my shop at -29F, and the fog behind it is ice fog from a power dam on the Black River.

It looked a lot different in August!  The Christmas Ice Storm took down most of the trees.  At least now I have a view!

I decided to check how deep the ice on the river has gotten.  It was around 8 inches on January 1, then we had 5 days of 50 degree weather that reopened the river.  Here is the river in warmer weather.

 The ice near shore never melted all the way, and then it grew a lot in the last week.  

I drilled my hole about 15 feet from shore.  I was expecting about 8-10 inches.  I measured 14 inches before even hitting water!  I think there is around 18 inches near shore.  

 I thought it would be in about 2 feet of water where I drilled.  Turns out there is just 18 inches of ice!

Turns out it was ice all the way to the bottom!  The ice has heaved up and the water in the hole doesn't even reach the top of the hole, because the ice is sitting on the bottom of the river!