Blue and White and Shivery

January 30th through February 5th

Last week, the lake had its fair share of sub-zero mornings. There was also some snow and a few blue sky evenings. The sun is up longer, but there still isn't that "This will soon be ending" vibe that is at the core of Thaw (Thaw: The third sub-season of Winter, see the archive sections for more.)

The snow last week wasn't heavy or plentiful, but it did require removing.

Some of us have given up the shovel and are opting for a more natural, slower way to clear driveways. This drive should be open by July.

Strong winds combined with the snow to grow some impressive drifts around the shore.

Under the snow that is Knott Lane, there is an ice layer. Yay. It should also be better come July.

Sub-zero mornings means it's the time of year to ride the mostly empty lifts at Ski Brule. The air temperature rose well into the teens by the afternoon and the population of skiers on the hill grew from two to dozens.

The snow on the hill wasn't icy, but it was fast. Not "was that you screaming like a girl?" fast. More like "20 beats per minute added to your normal heart rate" fast. The added circulation helped keep us warm.

The forts from last week's Annual Bottle Rocket War are showing no signs of age. Man fears time, but time fears the Bottle Rocket War forts!

The sticks from a number of shots have become sundials.

Late last week, it was time to check on the thickness of the ice. It took a while to get through to the juicier part of the lake.

Huzzah!

The ice is 15 inches thick. That's good for this time of year. If we continue to get snow and a few more thaw/freeze combinations, we could have a yard of ice before it begins to retreat.

Knottlane's drone got firmware upgrades for its controller, aircraft, camera, and, believe it or not, its batteries. I've heard of UAVs doing a great imitation of a brick or flying off never to be seen again after such invasive patching, but it behaved itself quite well afterward.

The images from last week lie. The sunny nature of the pictures suggest warmth. Clearly this was not the case. While we have had colder this season, last week's frigid combined with the thaw the week before on top of the icy past months before that caused some of the most hardy to shiver. Underneath all that frosty freezy there were a few signs of Spring. A few patches of some roads are snow free, there seems to be more birds frittering about, January is crossed off the calendar, and Fat Tuesday is just over three weeks away. We'll do our part by getting the ice-out contest up sooner rather than later.<br><br>-Nemo fears gravity and fast snow.