Spring?

March 19th through 25th

There was sun last week. There was also cold. During some of the days, temperatures went above freezing. The nights, on the other hand, put on a really good January impression.

During the warmer days, snow melt clogged creeks, streams, and other inflows. Some ditches became navigable waterways.

Early last week, with the warmer daytime, came enough sap to make the first batch of syrup. There was talk of more sap later in the week, but later in the week there was none to be found.

The woods around the lake are blanketed with what we are beginning to call perma-snow. It's deep, hard, icy, and everywhere for as long as we can remember.

Many of the trees were hit by the cold during mid-drip. They should be all thawed out by Memorial Day.

The bucketed sap also got all cold and hard.

The cold made cutting a hole in the ice puck covering the lake a more aerobic exercise than it was just a week ago.

The lake gained over 2 inches for the week.

The growing lake ice and perma-snow was celebrated with a well garnished bar night that featured Whiskey Old Fashions (Sweet and unsweet, not seen here) and last year's ski show videos.

It's cold, but if you look closely, there are signs of Spring poking up from the perma-snow. The days are getting noticeably longer, the first syrup has been bottled, and we have rain predicted for early next week. Currently though, there is no swimming.<br><br>-Nemo, not swimming last week.