22nd Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War Week

February 4th through 11th, 2013

Lake Lucerne
Earlier in the week, before the manly art of bottle rocket warring, some of us were dragged into the less-than-manly "Tricia's Treasures" store on Crandon's main street.
Lake Lucerne
You'd think with all the stuff packed into that store, some would be slightly interesting to men. You'd be wrong.
Lake Lucerne
Back at the lake, woodpeckers enjoyed the deer shaped suet feeder that has been hanging around Knott Lane since late November.
Lake Lucerne
A red squirrel also enjoyed some has-beenisen.
Lake Lucerne
By mid-week, supplies were procurred to make a new bottle rocket launch tube.
Lake Lucerne
It need not be noted that none of these items were obtained at "Tricia's Treasures". The very thought of a "War Tube Cozy" bothers and enrages us.
Lake Lucerne
Late in the week, a sub-set of the venerable snow forms were hauled out and made ready.
Lake Lucerne
The 22nd Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War had been pushed back due to a lack of snow in January. We had enough snow now. Much more snow than shown here.
Lake Lucerne
The North fort was put together on Saturday. It featured 4 launch tubes, an igloo anchoring the west side and a few aesthetic touches.
Lake Lucerne
The Southern fort was finished a day earlier. It also featured 4 launch tubes plus a polycarbonate window, an ablative snow armor shield wall, icicle spikes and Green Orbs of Power or something.
Lake Lucerne
Just before 7:00 PM, both sides cried havoc and let slip the puppies of bottle rocket war.
Lake Lucerne
An estimated 6,000 rockets were launched in about an hour. A new Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War record.
Lake Lucerne
Bursts of close to 100 rockets at a time made eye protection a must.
Lake Lucerne
The tubes eventually went silent. Both sides declared victory, collected their wounded and headed to the Bar.
Lake Lucerne
The first Bailey's comets of the year (Nemo-2013a through d) were spotted later in the evening.
Lake Lucerne
As was the ill-advised "Statue of Liberty" shot.
Lake Lucerne
Another Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War is in the books. Most agreed it was the best ever, both forts making bold architectural statements and many rockets chipping away at those icy declarations. Stick pickup went well enough. The cold felt good on burnt fingers (see Statue of Liberty shot). On another note, the third sub-season of winter is upon us!. Thaw is here. That is not to say that we won't see a few more tentacles of extreme cold wrapping around car batteries and limbs ever again this winter, but we'll see less of that and more hopeful signs of spring. With Thaw usually comes much snow. This Thaw did not disappoint. You can't swing a dead badger without hitting a snowmobiler up here. Speaking of which, it seems we may have a badger living under the bar. That eviction should make for an interesting afternoon.


-Nemo, his finger medium crispy.