Thaw

March 4th through 10th
We had some sub-zero temperatures and snow last week, but the few inches of new snow seemed not even worth mentioning and many of the high temperatures soared into the 20s (°F). By the weekend, icicles were dripping, main roads lost their ice coating, and tapping talk turned into action. The bar was also opened on Saturday night, you should have stopped in. The snow may be off much of the main roads, but there's still plenty on the roadside. Knott Lane is not a main road. At the start of last week, it was narrow and treacherous. It was cleaned up a bit by the weekend. It's slightly wider than a truck. It'll be a while before the 6 to 8 inch base melts down to road. The light snow made keeping service trenches open and clear easier than ever. Snow loads on roofs are still a subject of much indigestion. The snow loads on the hills at Ski Brule are also impressive and well groomed. The calendar claims we are running out of Winter. Sub-zero mornings are best spent cutting down the still snowy slopes 55 minutes North of the lake. It's getting to be that time of year when tree is joined to spile. The piles of snow on the side of West Shore drive are not as long as some of the runs at Brule but every bit as steep. Snow on top of items in the woods whispered to the experienced tapper that snowshoes were not optional. Tracked equipment packed the main trail all weekend as the men moved buckets and lids into the sugarbush. You can walk the main path without snowshoes, but if you step a little bit too hard you'll suddenly break through the packed surface and sink past your knee. There also may be some cursing involved. The trails snowshoed from maple to maple (along with a bucket and lid later dropped at each tree) should make the actual tapping event next week a more trivial task. As the sun set on the weekend, paths to 360 trees looped through the maples just off the West shore of the lake. Back on the lake, the bottle rocket forts are starting to show their age. January usually ends on February 1st. January 2019 ended on March 8th. The delay has made the thaw that much sweeter. There's still time to get in the last good runs at Brule before the scars of Winter heal, but it'll be better to do that sooner rather than later. Downhill skiing in the rain and fog is unfun. With the spiling of the maples imminent, it's time to get the Lake Lucerne Ice-Out Contest posted. The code monkeys were told to do a complete redesign of the page and it's looking great but is currently just shy of beta testing. It'll be up by next weekend, so start seriously thinking of your date. <br><br>-Nemo prefers a 31 day January.