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	March 4th through 10th, 2014

Winter was wounded this week. The snowy season started strong, raining icy blows on a seemingly punch drunk Spring. Just when it seemed that another addition to The List was inevitable, Spring rallied and snuck one in under Winter's guard. The temperature went above freezing, hope and a little fog filled the air. It's best not to get one's hopes up too much this early in the year though. Winter is weakened, but still dangerous.

Lent started on Wednesday. Fat Tuesday started the day before, there was steak.

On the top of cabins, mailboxes and anything else that has not moved much since November, are layers of snow. Each strata marks the many small snowfalls the lake has suffered this Winter. Over time this snowy sedimentation will build up and form sandstone, feldspar and mica. Or it will melt or something. It's been noted that blogging is not an exact science.

On Tuesday, before steak, there was riding the lifts among the Pines and leafless deciduous trees at Brule. There were sandwiches.

Hottentots! We had foolishly left the finely crafted bottle rocket war forts unwatched. Sometime during this period of un-vigilance, bands of hundreds of Hottentots looted and pillaged the South fort. Well, at least one hottentot. He knocked over the West wall too.

Like a starter calling runners to their mark, the plastic wrapping of the main sap shack is the warning to tappers to find their hammers. Spiles will be joined to trees in just over a week and pancakes will be made moist shortly there after.

After noon on Sunday, a check of the local lake ice was done. Lake Lucerne has 23 inches of very good ice. That's an inch less than last week but there is less air in the upper layers. Ice-out will be a while.

On top of all that ice was about 10 inches of snow. Again, ice-out not gonna happen tomorrow.

Six inches of very packed snow has made Knott Lane higher and less traction-y.

The snow is not six inches deep on West Shore Drive, but the patches of thinner snow and ice are just as slick.

There will not be any more sub-zero <s>mournings</s> mornings this Winter. That may be more a statement of faith than science, but local forecasts are sub-zero free as far as they go out and the lake area has a warmer, damper feel to the ever present cold. Then there's the whole calendar thing. With every passing day, extreme cold becomes less likely. The warmer weather has added a 5+ foot high wall to the bar after the roof avalanches were over. Some snow piles will last well into May. Some may make it to June. All should be gone by July, so if you're coming up for the 4th, you need not bring boots and a snow shovel.<br><br><br>-Nemo: steak and sandwich eater, not a geologist.

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