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	February 18th through 20th, 2011

The sun is hanging in the sky a bit longer these days, enabling those who come up for the weekend to enjoy a great Lake Lucerne sunset on Friday if arrival in the northwoods is before 5:00 PM.

Earlier in the week there was a huge cornial mass ejection on the surface of the sun that was headed toward Earth. Predictions of a great Aurora peppered the news and, with unexpectedly clear skies on Friday night, the stars seemed to be in alignment for a spectacular show. But alas, no northern lights were seen. We did see Jupiter slip under the horzion, but it's not the same.

Skiing was scheduled for Saturday. When Saturday morn arrived we had second thoughts about hurling our bodies down Brule's icy slopes. Lift tickets were given to two skiers that had the skills to survive the plunge (ie. not me) and the time allocated to the hills was transfered to time spent on the lake.

Turns out that time spent on the lake drilling holes is not without a large amount of peril. The surface is simply, for all practical purposes, without friction. And hard. After VERY CAREFULLY making a hole, the ice was measured to be 23 super slippery inches thick.

It looked just as slippery on the underside of the hole as it was on the top.

The sap shack and the auxiliary cooker patiently waited for the first firing of the tapping season. Two or 3 (or 4) weeks to go.

Friday's sunset was great and all, but Saturday's was greater.

The first deck fire of the year (with cigars!) was held on Saturday night to celebrate the lake ice measurement sans contusions and the passing of Friday's 25+ mph wind..

It was depressing to see how little winter's snow seemed to bring the lake level back up. Looks like it may be slightly lower than late last Fall. I was told that much of the winter's water is still frozen on the watershed. Maybe. We really need a wet Spring (Summer, Fall, Winter). Be sure to check off the "Rain for the Northwoods" box on your taxes this year. We saw over a dozen cars spun out (and one in the act of spinning out) on I43 on our way back. Remember, winter is sane driving season (well, all seasons should be sane driving seasons but especially winter).<br><br><br>-Nemo noticed that the 5th tee was snow free.

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