Like all other good things, maple syrup season is coming to an end. By the weekend all but about 85 buckets and spiles were pulled, washed, dried and put away for next year.
The snow is melting. We had a lot of snow. I've never seen the streams and creeks flowing into the lake this swollen. On still nights, the sound of rushing water fills the quiet.
All that inflow is pushing the lake up! It was about 45.5 inches below the nail just before ice-in. Now we have 39.5 inches below. With the currently saturated ground and a wet rest of the Spring we could very well add to that 6 inch gain before Memorial Day. Huzzah!
The ice covering that rising lake was 21.5 inches thick early in the week. By mid-week, it was down to 19.5 inches with the top 7 inches being very "rotten". The rotten layer didn't last the weekend. The current ice estimate is about 11 inches. The lake could be open by opening weekend giving a delightful double meaning to the term, but the smart money is on the week after the fishing season starts.
Spring has arrived. We golfed on a closed yet open NCC course on Sunday. Extra excitement was added to the top of the round when, while we were on one, a truck tried to get away from the local constabulary by turning from Hwy 8 down the road to the parking lot and hiding behind the cart buildings. At first we thought the truck person was a golfer checking on their cart. A sheriff's car in full lights and siren found the hiding truck and that was that. Backup squads arrived as we walked to our drives on 2 and there were lots of guys running around and shouting as we tee'd off on 3. It was sort of like a live episode of "Cops" but with bogeys. And double bogeys. And worse. The first round of the year is seldom pretty. Another thing growing more ugly is hauling hundreds of gallons of sap from the woods. It's not the weight, it's the reps. The last collection is only a few hours away and should be trouble free as long as trucks fleeing from the law don't turn off West Shore Drive and try to hide behind the ATV. The lake, the NCC golf course and fishing season will be more open next week.
-Nemo shamed but not shot on two.
