Endless Summer

August 1st through 7th
August can be a strange month. The hot and balmy can spill over from July or the Autumnal cool can well up from September. It might as well have been July last week. Sure, the daylight was a little shorter and there was only one ski show (Wednesday, 6:30 PM at Water's Edge), but it was hot. And Sunny. And overall wonderful. The lake temperature pushed past 80 F last week. Eighty three degrees Fahrenheit is about as warm as it gets. The lake hasn't been this comfortable in years. Thanks to some mid-week rain, the level of all that warm water is holding around 3.5 inches below the nail. You would think that the warm, wet weather would be synonymous with swarms of bite-y bugs, but with the exception of one big one that has affected skiing runs on the North end of the lake, they are not annoying campers at the blood sucking rate you would expect. The warm water made clean up after many, many "Chip the Golf Ball into the Bucket on the Raft" fails fun. The week ended with one big dive bag full of fail. As mentioned before, the Crandon Water Shows ski club continues to put on quality shows Wednesdays at Water's Edge. There are three more shows before Footstock. The cabin was lowered and steel has been removed on the North end of Knott Lane. The new foundation reminded us of another new foundation (and new location) of the old Timber Shore's cabin 5 (or 4, not sure which). It looks like it got a new metal roof, too! Late last week, we pulled ourselves from the warm water to float around in the warm air. The plan was to go up at Sugarbush Hill and try to get a side view of Lake Lucerne. The twin towers, fire and radio, are gone. The scars of their removal are slowly healing under the tires of a fleet of cable and data company vehicles. We should have pushed it up a bit higher, but here you are: Lake Lucerne, side view. Also Devils Lake, Lake Metonga, and the "Sponge Forest". The view of Lakes Wabikon and Riley was better. The bar was opened on Friday and Saturday. Things were pretty calm until the dice cup came out. It's still too close to the solstice to declare this a Summer Bonus Period. It sure feels like it though. The heat and rain continue to push the grass up at a rate of more than one mowing a week. The Rafto! season got a late start and featured some new players, fantastic finishes, and more than two lost balls. ESPN foolishly chose not to report on the sport and instead is covering something going on in Brazil.<br><br>-Nemo, occupant of cabin 4 back in August of '82.