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Peak Color Week

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September 30th through October 6th

At the start of last week, there was much green in the trees, but with each passing day a little less. By the weekend, most of the green was confined to the conifers and anyone that took a big shot of Malort. It also rained. The good news was that the rain came in one event. The bad news was that the rain event seemingly lasted from Monday to Sunday. The yard ponds are back. The lake level is not going down. Small breaks in the rain and cloud deck made for some short opportunities to fly up and check the color of the hills around Lake Lucerne. To the East, we had good color. Good color to the West, too (and lake Metonga). Over the years, the quality of the knottlane webcam image has deteriorated. This was exclusively due to the declining state of the camera's dome. During Thursday's hard rain, it was determined that that dome and its gasket were to be replaced with new ones generously supplied by aLf. Getting the camera apart to replace the bubble was a little tricky. Getting it back together a little more so. The operation was a success. We could not be more pleased with the results. Rain saturated pretty much all of Saturday, but that did not dampen the mood of the annual pumpkin carving party at the bar. It did dampen the deck and carved pumpkins though. Some got so excited by the squash sculpting that they ended up dancing on the bar. Despite the rowdyism, a good time was had by all. Saturday's rain ended by Sunday. Then came the wind. It was gusting just under 20 mph on the ground, a little more a few hundred feet up. I had promised a friend some autumnal aerials of Roberts Lake. We launched the drone from the Wild Rose's parking lot and, after climbing it a little, learned that the wind above the trees was quite a bit stronger than the ground breeze. Stronger in fact than the drone's ability to hold position. Heart rates became elevated as the craft tried to move West at full power only to drift East. Ironically, quickly shutting down a few safety systems allowed some extra current to the rotors and it was limped back to a safe landing. Peak color is more of an analog event rather than a binary one. Currently, there's green is a few trees and others are leafless. As peak shades into post peak, more and more will join the latter. Some snow in the forecast and some webcam assembly based PTSD is making us twitch. This year's Knottlane Board Meeting and Pool Party could not come at a better time. Held in the extreme southwestern corner of the lake across county highway W, this year's conference is suspending Robert's Rules and getting right down to the tanning, cocktails, and sports betting. Thanks to a network of contributors, we'll keep you updated with current lake doings between buffets and betting against the Miami Dolphins. That, and the Annual Lake Lucerne ice-in contest is coming soon.<br><br>-Nemo's asking them to come down off the bar and checking IDs.

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