Now it really starts

Frost on the pumpkins, and lawns and ground. Nights with temps down to freezing, days where it doesn't make it to 50F. Cold weather is here and will be for a while. All the stuff we talk about that relates to cold weather now becomes serious. Mother Nature doesn't suffer fools.

The cotton T-shirt crowd beware, you can't survive out there. The weekend fair-weather paddler beware, you will soon be paddling with ice covering your deck lines. The I-never- practiced-in-rough-water-paddler, stay ashore. Getting back into an ice-covered boat after immersing in freezing water with three foot waves is not as simple as doing it in a swimming pool. More than ever...

Paddle safe...

DS