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	February 4th through 10th, 2014

February second has come and gone and we were told there would be six more weeks of Winter. Punxsutawney Phil, you just made the list. Let's review the list so far:<br><br>1) Basement Badgers<br>2) Roof Wrecking Raccoons<br>3) Maple Tree Eating Porcupines<br>4) All Squirrels<br>5) Punxsutawney Phil

Yes, it's been extremely cold since mid-November and yes it's been windy and snowy too, but snow can be a good insulator. With the cold having a hard time penetrating the snow on the lake, an active spring seems to have pushed a hole up through the ice near the Northwestern side of the lake. Cool. If lake walkers are not careful, another hole may be found and an accidental swimming could happen. Cool too, but not in a good way.

The maple syrup season has not started.

The deer shaped suet feeders hung up on Knott Lane since late November continue to impress the small and feathered among us.

Not everything is sick of the cold conditions at Lake Lucerne. The North fort clearly is enjoying the weather. It's in amazingly good condition.

The Southern fort is in even better shape.

It's been a bit cold to entertain the idea of downhill skiing. On Thursday, the highs were to get close, but not above zero. We took advantage of the heat wave to get a few runs in at Brule.

There was new concrete! Very nice.

The balmy temperature must have taken the other skiers by surprise. The lifts were largely empty all day.

From the top of the hill to the nonexistent lift lines, the runs were well groomed and depopulated.

Sunday was the day picked to check the ice thickness on Lake Lucerne. Huzzah!

There's 18+ strange inches of ice on the lake in 3 layers. The first 3 inches are airy, compressed snow ice. The second layer is an inch of slush. The rest is solid ice-ice.

Six more weeks of Winter? First, let us reiterate that it would be wrong to seek revenge on Punxsutawney Phil no matter how high the reward on his pelt. That being said, the free drinks, pickled eggs and no questions asked policy for fresh groundhog pelts is still being honored on the North end of Lucerne. It has not snowed for the last week or so and the snow cover on the lake is starting to compress. It's only about 9 inches deep. It's hoped that this thinning of the insulating layer will allow spring induced thinner spots to firm up, thus avoiding the rare and unwonderful accidental swim. Still, it would be wise to use extra caution when hiking on the lake. Burrrr.<br><br><br>-Nemo, not explictly putting a price on Phil's furry little head

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