Spring breakup

[kcowan]

[youtube]7hb9lL7WDKg[/youtube]

Taken at the perfect moment at Fort Erie!

 

[CardsFan]

WOW!!!!!

The forces of nature!

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Not so spectacular, but a brisk wind can push the ice around on Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago in early spring.

 

[Koolau]

Way cool!

 

[6miths]

This is why we don't have a dock at our Lake Huron cottage! Very impressive. That is the Peace Bridge between Buffalo, NY and Fort Erie, ON in the background. There is an ice boom (1.5 miles long) strung across the source of the Niagara River between the two cities to prevent Lake Erie ice from flowing down the Niagara and messing various things up - including the water intakes for massive hydro electric installations on both sides of the river. Obviously, on this day the high winds pushed the ice over the boom! Those blocks look about a foot thick and some weigh hundreds of pounds. I remember the 'ice house' (factory) near my grandparents' houses where big blocks cut from the lakes were processed and shipped to exotic locales around the world in the days before refrigeration (It was 'retired' when I was young but all the signage was still there). Those who grew up in the US NE may have similar memories if old enough.

 

[6miths]

Not so spectacular, but a brisk wind can push the ice around on Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago in early spring.

That one is cool too!! Thanks to both for posting. Really have to be in the right place at the right time. We have never been at the cottage to see the ice pile up with winds in the spring but have great pictures of the 20+ foot ice caves that form along the shore - or more accurately - along the edge of the ice as it forms about 200 feet from the summertime shore.

 

[kcowan]

Those who grew up in the US NE may have similar memories if old enough.

Yes the iceman cometh! We had three deliveries a week to the icebox at our cottage on Georgian Bay. Those blocks were stored under hay in old barns and lasted all summer. Sometimes he would have to chip the block down to fit our box. He was offered a beer if it was a particularly tough job.

 

[6miths]

I have very vague memories from childhood of seeing guys slinging smaller blocks with ice pick pincers and have a couple of friends who still have 'ice boxes' that are now used as cupboard/pantries. Walden's pond stuff - so interesting, the story of cold and refrigeration!

 

[Koolau]

I have only the vaguest memory of an ice box. I have no recollection of an ice man, though we certainly had milk delivery for many years (even the Wonder Bread Man would deliver bread back in the day.)

My dad told me about the river ice being cut to store for summer. He mentioned using straw as the insulator (as well as saw dust.) What a way to live - and those folks thought they had it good compared to their parents. How things have changed.

 

[Sunset]

We have 2 iceboxes and still have our ice-house , which we use as a second wood shed now for the not yet chopped wood.

The ice-house had a very low doorway about 4 ft tall, and extra thick wood walls for insulation, plus built under trees to keep the sun off, and of course lots of sawdust inside to scatter between the blocks so they don't freeze together.

 

[MarieIG]

Wow! Totally cool! That has to be a video of a lifetime for that fellow.

As far as ice boxes, I don't recall seeing one. I do recall my parents and grandparents, speaking deliveries of by the iceman (and his horses) being made to their homes in Brooklyn.

 

[kcowan]

The Muskoka Lakes north of Toronto are filled with luxury homes built on the water. Here is a picture of the apparent devastation:
Flooding in Muskoka after ice damage
Boats were left in boat house lifted from the water, but the water reached them and floated them against the rafters. All the docks are underwater.
Lake Simcoe
More Lake Simcoe

 

[MarieIG]

Amazing. I had no idea of how much damage was done by ice.

 

[kcowan]

It is the combination of lots of rain/snow and especially cold that causes the damage. A perfect storm. And most insurance policies do not cover the damage:
https://barrie.ctvnews.ca/flooding-...nce-companies-busy-in-muskoka-lakes-1.2854844