Drinking Winter From A Firehose

February 4th through 10th

It warmed up at the start of last week. Then it rained. Then we had the predicted second heaping helping of Deep Winter. The rain combined with the rapidly falling temperatures made for a good ice storm. The power was out for a while along with the internet. Power and connectivity was eventually restored. A few days later it snowed.

The ice before the snow coated the conifers.

It daubed the deciduous.

It blanketed bushes.

And it encrusted the weeds.

The brief warm transformed one of the bottle rocket war forts into a Dali-esque work sans the melting clocks.

Then came the snow. We have not had a lot of the white stuff this year. That changed last week.

It hit with two 8 inch storms which were accompanied by a few inches in between.

Knott Lane is not in good driving shape. Under the all that unplowed snow, is a thick layer of ice. It's recommended to get a running start when exiting lest ye suffer a backsliding/hopelessly stuck event.

Plows on Potawatomi Trail and the county highways did the best they could as they fought a losing battle to keep the roads clear. Snow and ice will be part of the northwoods driving experience for the next several weeks.

Freezing rain, a few feet of snow, and sub-zero cold; last week was Winter on steroids. This new beach body Winter looks like it will continue to kick snow in our face and blue our skin for the next several weeks. Four or five weeks from now is the start of Maple Syrup season. Yeah, right.<br><br>-Nemo remains mostly ice free.