Arctic Golf At The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival

At last, the weekend arrived when I could attend the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. It's a 50 mile drive from my house, but a yearly event which I enjoy. I found parking on a side street and walked down to Lake Flower. My first stop was Arctic Golf:

I didn't golf, but asked if I could walk around and look. Basically, this was miniature golf, built of ice and snow. The first hole was an ice castle through which one had to putt the ball:

The second hole was a big mound of snow. One had to putt the ball up a ramp of snow and through a pipe to the other side:

The theme of the 2015 Winter Carnival was "The Groovy 60s" and peace signs and hippie music were everywhere. The third hole was a peace sign made of ice:

The fourth hole was a big, fat snowman. One had to putt the ball down the snowy alley and through the pipe to the other side. By the way, that's frozen Lake Flower in the background:

I'm not sure what these ice sculptures were, but I'm guessing they were either snowflakes or flowers, reminiscent of the 60's Flower Power:

The fifth hole required golfers to hit the ball down a snowy alley and between the two ice sculptures:

The sixth hole was a - well, I'm not sure what it was. Perhaps an alligator? A Polar Bear, lying on its belly? Whatever it was, someone's ball had become stuck halfway through its alimentary tract and the officials were working to extricate it:

The seventh hole was a snowy ramp up and over a barrier. Apparently the colors did not last, because children were running around the course with spray bottles, recoloring the golf course obstacles:

The eighth hole looked to me like a snow ghost, a ghost which did not intimidate this little girl:

She made it through the ghost and to the hole on the other side. Did she cheat? I don't know, I didn't notice, but it looked like a difficult shot to me - and she does appear to be checking to see if anyone is looking:

The final hole was a series of mounds which I supposed might represent the high peaks of the Adirondacks. This was, after all, Saranac Lake. But it was time for me to amble over to the ice palace. I'll post about that tomorrow:

A Visit To The Neighbors' Livestock

I returned home from my driving tours (previous posts) and shopping in Massena. I took care of the dogs and then decided to pay my neighbors a visit. I walked across the county road directly toward their barn:

And then veered off to the right to enter their driveway. The kids had built a snowman next to the horse fence. I went inside the house, said hello and asked if I could pay a visit to their horses and calves on my way home. They said that would be just fine:

I entered the barn, which got the two horses and two calves stirring. The horses moved outdoors. The calves, which had been lounging in clean shavings, oomphed up onto their feet, stretched and followed the horses out into the cold:

Are you really going to disturb my comfortable nap?:

I followed the horses out to the hay feeder and introduced myself:

They were wary, but not alarmed. They had, after all, met lots of humans in their lifetimes and most had been friendly. By the way, that's my house and barn across the road in the background:

The first calf toddled groggily out the barn door and stared at me. The other, you can just barely see, lingered in the doorway a bit:

One of the horses let me scratch his neck. In fact, he apparently decided I was OK. Again, that's my place in the background:

The calves did not want to get too chummy with some silly biped. I mean, it was fine for their owners to feed them and all, but some stranger putting his hands on them? That would be crossing the line. Actually, the one on the left was calmer and friendlier, an indication in my mind of the large extent to which temperament is hereditary:

I talked to the four of them a bit:

And then said goodbye, carefully locking the stall door as I exited:

And walked back to my own place where I had all those dogs waiting for me and lots of work yet to be done: