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	February 16th through 19th, 2012

Just before sunrise on Friday morning, a low thick mist covered the north end of the lake. It was about 10°F with very little wind.

The grooming tractors were busy with the final touches to the slopes of Brule when we got our lift tickets.

Friday was some of the best skiing of the year. The hills were, for the most part, not very full.

The old mill in Long Lake is smaller than the last time we passed by. There seems to be a new one sprouting up on the other side of the road! The bar with the Hamm's Beer sign is still for sale.

It started to snow Friday evening. It looked like it was going to be a bad one, but we got less than two inches.

There is now just over 13 inches of snow on the bar's deck. The snow line is Hwy 64. Below the highway there is practically none. As you head north of the road, the piles grow. Snowmobile traffic around the lake area is plentiful.

Under the 4 inches of snow on the lake, the ice is about 16 inches thick.

We attached a dive camera to a long stick, set it to a 10 second delay, pressed the shutter release and plunged it down the hole. The water under the ice is as clear as crystal. The camera was also set to movie mode and lowered to the bottom and back. I'll post those movies on the front page later in the week.

The sky cleared at sunset on Saturday and it got colder.

It looked like a weak aurora borealis around 10 PM. The greenish glow from a 1 minute exposure confirmed it. It's been awhile since we witnessed the northern lights. While the display was pretty feeble, it was a pleasent surprise.

In addition to skiing, a microwave ethernet bridge was installed resulting in a new Wi-Fi bubble in the northeastern corner with Art's old bar as its center. Huzzah! We are still deep in the season that can effortlessly crack water pipes and build lake ice, but there is a subtle feeling of seasonal change around Lake Lucerne. The air was less cold and the sunlight was warmer and longer lasting. On the way home, rather than turning off onto the snowline that is 64, we stayed on 32. The sugarbush off Hwy M just west of Suring started their maple syrup season. Instead of using traditional buckets, a tubing system was setup to collect sap. Last I checked, it will be 3 weeks until taps will be joined with trees in the local sugarbush.<br><br><br>-Nemo noted some green peeking from the snow on the NCC's 5th tee.

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