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Well, it's Saturday and I'm gonna do what I normally do alot of these days on Saturdays....go to the pond project. I'm sanding out the drywall in our little shed, preparing for primer and paint. This past week has been solid with temps well below freezing during the night and in the low 20's during the day. This might be my last opportunity to sneak out on the ice and clean out the Wood Duck houses before the spring thaw. After completing my sanding job, I head for the pond.
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This pic is the target area for house-cleaning, taken 2 weeks ago. There are 4 gray nesting boxes on poles, and a somewhat shallow draw running in from the left that separates them. The building site and my entrance to this area is on the far end, right of frame.
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I strap into my insulated boots, sweats, and down jacket. It's sunny today and the temps are in the upper 20's with a steady breeze. This weather gear combo is very comfortable. There's a blanket of about 6" of snow over everything, so I start to thinkin' thickness matters. I kick some snow away from the ice in the shallows next to the boat launch. It seems sturdy enough. I start to walk along in front of the building site, heading to the other side of the pond and the Duck boxes. The ice is creaking and popping. Uh...I don't like this. I'm the only one back here and I still don't own a cell phone (there; I said it). I'm dumb, but I ain't totally stupid. I want to get this done, but not at a life risk. I already know that I won't go into any area that would be over 4 or 5' deep. I have my little blue nylon tool bag with a drill (and some screwdrivers in case I need to pull myself out of an fargin icehole). The bag of clean cedar chips are in the other hand. I head back up onto the building site and walk thru the snow to the area where I'm gonna have to go out on the ice. There are some little 2" diameter holes where water had come up and wasn't totally frozen solid, so this concerns me. OK, here we go...
I walk out on the ice to the first WD house. I can feel the ice below me give about an inch, maybe less, but stop. Hmmm...I'm not diggin' this, but I work thru the first 2 boxes without issue. Now, the scarier step. I have to go across the draw and it looks like it's sloppier with slush. I grab my blue bag and bag of clean cedar chips and head out. Not good....not good...but I make it across. OK, I think I'm gonna make it, so out to the 3rd WD box. Before I get there, there's one of those 2" holes with slushy water. I push my finger into it and inspect. There's about 1" of ice, then 1/2" of water, then another 1-1/2" of ice. This explains why my footsteps are popping down 1/2" and stopping. Oooo boy, just wait....2 more steps and KER-SPLOOSH! Up to my crotch, with the tool bag in one hand and the wood chips in the other. At this poignant moment, a half dozen things rush thru my mind. First, this is horrible...and cold. I can get out, though...right? Should I just ditch the tools and wood chips, or try to save everything? I doubt that I'm gonna want to put on the primer when I'm done. Wow...this is a very good taste of the ice-death potential. I can see how critters and people could die from this. All this runs thru my brain in one second. OK, I can get one knee up on the ice and raise myself up. God, my boots weigh a frickin ton. OK...up...up...KER-SPLOOSH! . Aw jeez; my knuckles are scraped and bleeding from the ice and I don't even give a damn! OK, one more time...up....up....KER-SPLOOSH! I don't remember how many times I went back thru; maybe 8 times. I did keep reaching back and moving both the tool bag and the wood chips one hole forward every time I fell back thru. Finally, as I got into about 2 feet of water, I was able to stand up, grab my tool bag and wood chips, and head back....to the draw. Come on, give me a break...please? I got across the first time. I think I went across about here, and now I am really starting to get numb. Easy...easy...KER-SPLOOSH! In up to my waist. Aw jeez....I can't go out like this! Up on one knee, lean forward...yep, you guessed. Another 6 or 8 times back into the frozen drink. Yep, you guessed that one too. I kept pulling my tool bag and wood chips along with each new dunk hole. At this point, I stand up in the briars at the woods and decide that I don't care; some of the survival instict stuff starts to kick in and I just plow right thru the stickers. I'm so numb that I can't even feel the pain, but I can feel them holding me back as I try to move forward, the little barbs popping off and hanging from my frozen wet sweatpants. My feet weigh a ton cuz my boots are filled with water, but I don't care...taking them off isn't an option if I can just get back to the warm shed. By the time I'm 1/2 way back, trudging across the building site thru the snow, I start to feel warm and the sense of urgency begins to subside. I know better. I kept hoofing and made it back to the change of clothes that I always bring on these trips...just in case something stupid happens.
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There's a moral here, but I doubt that I need to point it out. At least, now I know how deep the draw is.

"There's a moral here" -- walk around deep water or use a boat.

That is a good story, I might buy a lottery ticket if I were you.

Seems like everytime I let time become the primary factor for doing something it turns out bad.

Been there, done that (without as good a reason as cleaning out wood duck houses). Darn nice that the shed was warm, wasn't it?

Sorry, had to laugh.

BTW, what are the cedar chips for?

Being born and raised in so. Tx. it's hard to fathom what our northern Pond brothers experience! I've seen ice on ponds 3x in my life down here. Once it lasted 4 days!

the experts say to throw in a fresh layer of cedar shavings every annual clean-out.

What amazes me is the insulation snow provides and how you can have water under that snow even in subzero temps.

The moral may be that thickness does matter

Glad you are still with us Brettski.

Obviously you knew from moment one that you shouldn't be out on the ice.

You must have a horseshoe lodged somewhere up your butt.

You'll be needing small boat for your pond this year, so you might as well start looking.

I'm pretty sure there's no horseshoe up there. I would have surely seen it since my head was in the same location yesterday. Since coming back home, I have initiated a regimen of med's to ward off future occurrences of CRI (cranial rectal inversion).

GOOD. We kinda like you around here Bski!

I won't lecture you any Bski, I figure Dski did that already.

Oh and I need the name of the med's. I seem to suffer from CRI as well.

Brettski,
Thank God you didnt go over your head and had the ability to get out.
Never go out on ice cover alone, and never go out on the ice if there is any question of its safety.
I saw to many people drown in the last few years ice fishing and it isnt no fun telling a family member we found their loved one under the ice.

sounds like you need some neoprene.

Glad you survived Brettski, because otherwise we would have missed out on this great story. Wait...

Bill Cody has plans for a very practial work boat.

As my father would say - "what were you thinking boy!" Good story. I had chills up my spine reading it. Glad it turned out OK. Could have been ugly.

Are we brothers?

Brettski - Here is something for you to study before your next ice adventure.
Ice safety

A Canadian professor did a short video on ice saftey and purposely went through a hole in the ice to document how dangerous it can be, how long until you can't hold yourself up anymore, and what to do. Of course he had EMS personal right there to pull him out at the last minute. He actually purposely went into hypothermia and they timed how long it took. I may have posted it here a couple of years ago. It was quite fascinating. If I didn't post it here I'll see if I can find it.

Glad you O.K. Brettski. Your life is not worth some Wood Duck houses.

Edit: I had someone find it for me on the other website. I've posted it as a thread of it's own titled, "Those of you that Thread on Ice" it's so important. I don't want anyone that threads on ice to miss it.

MODERATOR'S NOTE: THIS IS AN EXCELLENT VIDEO AND SHOULD BE WATCHED BY ALL ICE WALKERS.

Wow, glad you still around Brettski, mighty scary isn't it?
My bet is that you did't even tell your wife exactly what happened.

Glad you made it through the ordeal O K.Might be a good idea to wait for ICEOUT and clean the boxes with a boat MAYBE.
You havent been at my house taking stupid lessons,have you?Wanna come over in the morning and watch me try to flip a bobcat off the backside of my dam?

CRI. I like that. My Dad used to tell me that every now and then I ought to pull my head out of my butt and look around.

It's a good thing that we never had ice for me to play with. I do recall, at aout 12 YOA, wanting to check the depth in my Uncles pond during the winter. I figured a horse would be an excellent way to check depth. So, I mounted a horse and went into the water. The horse and I parted company at about 3 or 4 ft. and I had to walk about 1/4 mile to the house in dang cold weather. Then they sent me back, along with a couple of equally stupid Cousins, to find the horse and bring it in for a good rubdown. You know, we may have a new way to test ice thickness and/or water depth. We can call it the Brettski method. This could replace the Texas "Hold my beer, I'm gonna try something" method of character building.

Glad you're OK Brett. BTW, just what were you thinking?

Been there done that!

Dski's known Bski for some time; my bet is anything he didn't tell her, she will correctly deduce.