The lake is getting “buttoned up” for winter. The docks are mostly in, the water drained in summer-only cottages, and the Chautauqua Belle has finished its season.

The pleasure boats have disappeared but the fishermen remain as they always do. Now, it is a matter of mulching up the leaves, putting away the lawn mower, moving the porch furniture into the shed, cutting back the garden and then waiting for the inevitable snow to come.

Speaking of snow, an old friend, John Luensman, once Chautauqua County Planner and observer of all things on the lake–used to comment that “the weather changes at Stow.” What he meant, I think, is that the concentration of snow that you see around Mayville and along the Chautauqua Ridge stretches down as far as the Stow-Bemus area. Having lived around here now for nearly thirty years, I tend to agree with him. You folks down in Jamestown and Lakewood don’t get quite as much snow as we do.

A public piece of transportation infrastructure at Stow that is getting “buttoned up” for winter is the Chautauqua Lake Bridge. This is the first year of a three-year reconstruction job on the bridge, and the contractor has been very active already preparing the various cut-offs and diversion roads that will be needed to reduce traffic to two lanes when the job really moves into high gear in the Spring.

Yet, I have been a bit perplexed by the amount of concrete patching that has been going on, on the bridge. Why patch something that is going to be torn down? The answer seems to be that the state wants to keep all four lanes of the bridge open this winter and so doesn’t want any problems which could be caused by potholes or bumps in the road. The patches will be temporary. The good news coming from this is that we should continue to have four-lane traffic over the bridge this winter.

Speaking of transportation issues, a benefit that comes with winter is the decreased traffic on local roads. I would say that traffic along Rt. 394 probably doubles in the summer. It will be interesting to see how summer traffic will affect congestion at the I-86 interchanges next year when two-lane restrictions begin on the bridge and that collides with increased summer traffic on the local roads.

One sure sign of winter is the shortening of days and lengthening of nights. Now, it is pitch dark when the school bus comes around here in the morning. Drivers need to be wary of this and take it slow in the morning.

Morning light will improve a bit on November 5th when daylight savings time ends. Yet, the shrinking length of days won’t actually end until the winter solstice on December 21st. Why this day is called the “start of winter” has always been a mystery to me. Winter, for me, always begins with the first big snowfall which usually comes way before that.

One other thing you need to do in getting ready for winter is to have a little snow-melt around. You are never sure when that black ice will appear, and falling down or spinning-out with your car is not a good idea. A little salt goes a long way…you don’t need much of it. But, there also is no good substitute for it.

It’s time to get “buttoned-up” for winter. Don’t let it catch you napping!

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.