The Sweet Spot of Spring

March 27th through April 2nd
It warmed up last week. Some nights went below freezing, but the sun was out, the days soared into the 50s (℉), and lawns threw off their snow blankets and were last seen stretching and yawning awake. The ice covering Lake Lucerne was about 15 inches thick at the start of the week. It's thinner now. We think it's about a foot thick, but that's just an estimate. No one wanted to cross the ice water that extended a few meters from the shore to get a measurement late in the week. The fingers of ice that had been reaching for piers with bad intent are receding back into the water. The snow was off the lawns, but there was plenty of the white stuff back in the woods. The warmer days and still cool nights caused the maples to run. On the weekend, collecting all that sap was made much easier by an army of help. Thanks guys! The sap cookers were boiling the stuff down all day and night. Our favorite is the night time "Cone of Flame" from a well fired cooker. In due course, the magic mark was hit on the hydrometer and the syrup made its way through the plate filter and eventually into bottles. All the syrup produced this year has been Light Amber, considered by professional sugar-men to be the finest grade. The sun is warm even when filtered by clouds. Lesser trees (poplar, birch, basswood) are getting buddy. A week or two after these trees bud, the maples will follow marking the start of the greening and the end of the sapping. Until then, it's collect, boil, filter, bottle, repeat. The ice is pulling away from the shore! Barring any last minute sub-zero cold (don't dismiss it, it's happened before) ice-out should occur within a week or two. Subsequently, the alert status of the College of Loons has been raised from Looncon 5 to Looncon 4. Before ice-in, the lake level was an inch above the nail. Currently, it looks like it'll be a bit higher after ice-out. Huzzah! <br><br>-Nemo's holding at Looncon 4, but thinking Looncon 3.