Winterizing the lake house

The older I get, the closer I watch the weather. Which is a good thing since we own a lake house on LBJ and it gets colder up there than here in the big city. I was checking out the forecast a couple days ago and realized an Arctic snap would arrive mid-week. Cold as a well digger's backside, as my granny always said. So the husband and I toodled up to the lake house today to insulate outside faucets with those foam covers, plus turn off the water to the house at the street and empty the pipes. You just never know when the electricity might go out, which would put the pipes at risk for a break or leak if they freeze. We know several folks on the lake who had that happen about a year ago when we had snow and ice. Thankfully for us, we had the forethought to turn off the water. So all we had to do was purge contents of the fridge and freezer after losing power for almost four days. That was a smelly task.

Our favorite restaurant at the lake in nearby Kingsland was temporarily closed last weekend for some remodeling they've started. We were happy to see them reopened today so we could get a chicken fried chicken cutlet fix. It's all made from scratch and really tasty. My mother always enjoyed their home cooking, as well as chatting with the older ladies who waitress there.

We hadn't taken the boat out since late October. We don't keep a trickle charger on our boat or jet skis in the off season, so we were thinking the battery might have died. While I was finding a place for the vintage goose decoy I bought at a new-to-me antique shop I stumbled across recently, the husband lowered our boat out of the lift at our dock and uncovered it. We spent about an hour cruising around the lake enjoying the sunshine, checking out changes since the fall while enjoying the lack of jet skis and wake boats. It's a treat to be on the lake when it's mostly deserted and the water is calm.

IF I had a beach house and could tolerate folks tracking sand all over the floors without losing my mind, I'd absolutely need to purchase one of these whales below to add hooks and use as a towel rack. I was snooping through Etsy this week and ran across them in one of my favorite shops. Aren't they fun!