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	March 15th through 18th, 2012

Steam poured from the central vent and a cone of flame shot from the stack as sap boiled closer and closer to syrup on this sweet, warm and dry Thursday night.

The stream in the northeastern corner of the lake is not dry. It's not the roaring torrent that was hoped for either. Huh. With such an abrupt end of Winter, I would have thought that it would have flowed faster. The ground around the lake is very saturated.

Going onto the ice and drilling a hole was deemed too creepy, instead we stomped an edge off. The ice was this thick.

Despite the record warm temperatures, the maple sap ran all weekend.

There were many signs that Winter had been overthrown in a seasonal coup. The air was as warm as a Summer day, robins were everywhere, ferns have started to poke up and pumpkins that were battened down for Winter were unsecured.

Campfires, cocktails and cigars were enjoyed as the townspeople celebrated the overthrow of the cold, despotic Winter and welcomed our new warm and welcoming Spring overlord.

Sap was promoted to syrup in 2 observances held on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. At the ceremonies, attendees included 10 filter papers, 12 scoops of diatomaceous earth, and 118 pint sized snapple bottles. No pancakes or waffles were harmed during the entire time filtering and canning honors were bestowed.

As the snow piles disappeared, evidence of snowplows bullying local mailboxes was made plain. Some say the plows are just covering up some deep insecurities, others say it's just peer pressure with gangs of basically good plows daring each other to push around the weaker roadside friends, still others say the plows in the area are just mean.

The Nicolet Country Club golf course was

The front 9 was in the best shape ever for mid-March. Usually around this week it's covered with a few feet of snow. The greens were slow (which is good) and lacked flags (which is bad). The water hazards were still hard, not very hazardous.

Warm. Hot even. It was like a summer weekend, but with no biting bugs. The ice is going fast, faster than I can ever remember for this time of year. Wabikon still had ice on Sunday but was just starting to open up. Lake Lucerne usually goes out about 2 weeks after Wabikon, so it looks like a March ice-out is a real possibility. Wow. Yea. I don't think anyone has ever water skied on Lake Lucerne in March. This could be your big chance to make history! The water level looks just a tad higher than during ice-in back in December, though aLf has it a bit lower. We'll check it next weekend in between rounds of golf. Golf! In March! In mid-March! Life is good here in the northwoods.<br><br><br>-Nemo, not a fan of March water skiing, hypothermia.

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