Winsted-Lester Prairie Journal, April 10, 2000

An iceberg appears on Lake Ida


Well, boys and girls, how do like the warmer weather?

Now, you can get out your inline skates and have a great time. Before you know it, school will be out for summer vacation.

One of the things that happens when spring comes and the weather warms up is that the ice melts on the lake. This year, on Lake Ida, the ice went off of the lake in a somewhat unusual way.

Lake Ida is a big lake, and all of the ice had melted along the shoreline, leaving a big chunk of ice still floating in the middle of the lake.

It was a very windy day, and the wind was pushing that chunk of ice around like it was a ball. For at least three hours, it was pushed from one side of the lake to the other.

The ice chunk was quite large, similar in size to that of a sidewalk block. All of a sudden, the wind blew across the lake so strongly that the ice block tipped up on its side.

It was a very thick chunk of ice, and when it turned up on its side, it looked like a gigantic ice- berg. The people on the lake said that they hadn't seen anything like it for more than 50 years.

Then, the ice chunk started to sink and it went straight to the bottom. For a moment, it seemed like we were watching the icebergs seen from the decks of the Titanic. It was a great ice show.

I remembered that only one week before, my granddaughter had been walking on the ice near the shoreline. It's amazing how one day you can have ice, and the next day it is gone. At this time of year, the ice is never safe to walk on.

But, you only have to wait for another month or two and then, it will be warm enough for you to go swimming in the lake.

While you are waiting for those hot summer days, you can play ball and other games on dry land where it's safe. Spring and summer are great times of year.

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