How not not to be found

via Karl Hakkarainen's Phillipston Blog

Normally, I don't like bothering guys who are ice fishing for just the reason that Sandra had suggested. A guy who goes out into the middle of a lake in the winter is usually someone who enjoys his own company and his own thoughts.
But, ice fishermen have a public service to perform. Actually, a couple. One is to let the civilians know how thick the ice is. We need to know these things because it's a gauge of the winter so far. The other service, of course, is to let any passer-by know how the fishing is.
He was fine with it. He reported that he'd thrown back quite a few small perch, but he had a couple of edible-size fish on the ice, fish that Marley thought were very interesting, indeed. This was the fisherman's first visit to the lake, so he'd just picked a spot that looked promising. He asked about the location of the deeper water. This selection had good depth, but I also pointed to a couple of other areas to try.
On the first point, two guys and one gal confirmed that the ice in the north middle part of Queen Lake is, at most, 10 inches thick. Given the long stretches of cold we've had so far, I'd expected more, but that's what we have.
After a few minutes, we returned to shore, leaving the fisherman to his quiet. Walking was easiest where there was a little bit of snow. You couldn't, however, always trust what you were seeing. An old fishing hole 10 or 20 feet away let water seep underneath, turning what looks like hard-packed snow into a slushy mess.
None of the fishing holes were too close to one another, so the surface hadn't been weakened. Later in the evening, I talked with son Adam and mentioned that my father used to say that you could drive a truck across six inches of ice and that I'd only known my father to fall through the ice once. Adam asked if my father came up with the six inches per truck rule before or after he'd fallen in.
All was in good order in and around the camp. As we reached the parking lot by the boat house, Sandra received a call on her cell phone. It was from the National Organization for Marriage, asking if she supported Scott Brown for Senate and if she supported nationwide gay marriage. After giving answers that should reduce the likelihood of future such calls, Sandra and I walked back to the car. If you interrupt someone else's quiet time, karma says that you should be prepared to have a dose of the same.