Zombie Winter!

March 14th through 20th
Last week started as expected after the demise of Winter. The air was mild, lawns were greening up, and Lake Lucerne was continuing to melt And there was golf! Before St. Patrick's Day! In Northern Wisconsin! Huzzah! Items of note at the Nicolet Country Club include a tree ravaged by a pileated woodpecker. An eagle looking for something to eat. Something for an eagle to eat resting on the back of the second tee. And the rare snow hazard. The greens were slow and the fairways were flat. Best March golf ever. Around midweek it rained and the creeks flowing into the lake turned into torrents. While the lake level rose, a small furry was spotted diving into and popping out of old ice fishing holes. The rain gauge was put out. The plan was, if the weather turned colder, to bring it back in before it froze. Ask me how that worked out for us. We did get 1.25 inches of rain before the dreaded return of the Third Horseman of the Snowpocalypse. Zombie Winter forced sap collectors from tennis shoes and hatlessness back to boots and mittens. There would be no more golf for awhile. All that collected sap was eventually filtered and bottled before the end of the week. Lake Metonga remains frozen. Lakes South of Lucerne (Bradley, Roberts, others) also remain frozen. Lake Lucerne is mostly frozen. There are a few spots near the islands that look like they are beginning to open up. It's gonna be an early ice-out. The best news last week came from the first lake level measurement of the year. Six and three quarter inches below the nail is the highest the lake has been since September of 2006. Yay! Just when thoughts of ice-out, golf, and trillium start to come out of hiding, they get chased to the back of the brain by the snowy, shuffling mass of Zombie Winter. The delay of Spring was not without its silver lining. The Third Horseman of the Snowpocalypse brought with him lots of rain, sleet, and snow that pushed the lake up to levels we have not seen for over a decade. Two or three more of these precipitation events and the lake will be ABOVE the nail. Who'da thunk?<br><br><br>-Nemo suggests the pancakes and sausage.