Winter's Eulogy

April 1st through 7th

The snow cover had grown thin at the beginning of last week. Before the weekend, large chunks of lawn were uncovered, highs better than 40°F were the rule, and the sound of running water could be heard everywhere. Winter, it seems, is over.

With the demise of Winter, flora around the lake have started to awaken. No leaves yet, but plenty of buds.

The LLAA voted to replace the old Tupperware-esque boat landing hut with a real building. That Joe Guy, Builder and Board Member, fabricated elements of the new shack on the North end of the lake and assembled it at the landing on the South end. We'll try to get a picture of the new shelter next week.

The death of Winter often coincides with the peak of maple syrup season. This year was not an exception. The trees were extraordinarily prolific last week.

Collecting all those drops has been made more troublesome this year by the snow. The feet are normally off the ATV by the start of real Spring. This year, the deep, white corpse of Winter needs to decompose for a few more weeks to allow the use of wheels again.

Winter's passing also coincides with the rapidly shrinking piles of sap wood.

So far, all those drops and fire have combined to form a batch of sweetness 5 times this year.

It has taken over a decade to work out all the undocumented and previously unknown tips and techniques to get the plate filter to run well. We're thinking of writing a brochure. Or maybe a book.

After a syrup canning, the pan is scrubbed and the next batch is started. Four hundred gallons of sap later, the process starts again.

Around mid-week, a cadaveric spasm of Winter was experienced in the form an inch of snow.

A day later, rain washed the lane clean of the white and replaced it with more Springy puddles of water and mud.

The rain melted some surface snow in the woods, uncovering more snow topped with some delightful ground fog.

Residents around the lake report improved functionality of windows. You can see more out of them than just a wall of white! We still need to drop a few more feet before the same boast of functionally can be made for doors.

Winter is dead, long live Spring! If the trend holds the feet will come off the ATV next week. and spiles will be pulled from maples shortly after that. We'll be more closely watching the lake ice over the next few weeks. With the syruping, rain, and fog, a lake ice measurement was not made last week. We'll get one soon, but would guess it's over 18 inches thick.<br><br>-Nemo plans to summerize snowmobiles soon.