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March 9th through 15th

Last week started off warm and slid down to cold by the weekend. The overcast turned to clear, the water and slush turned to ice. Such seasonal backsliding is not uncommon in the northwoods, it's just not hoped for, The snow forts of January were heavily damaged during the warm. By the end of the week, many drift remnants and snowmobile tracks had a higher relief than the former ramparts. The warm air and then the cold clear has absolved roads around the lake of their ice, leaving only a sand dusting. Knott Lane remains not so clear. There are a few patches of exposed road, but much of the lane is thick, tracked ice more suitable for a luge run than a cottage thoroughfare. The north part of Knott Lane is the worst. The ice shelf there has combined with the steep grade to bruise more than a few of even the most wary walkers. The lake area got over half an inch of cold rain midweek. The rain pushed the creeks trickling into the lake from flowing to rushing. After the rain, arctic-y temperatures froze everything solid. On the weekend, a hole was cut into the lake ice to determine its thickness. With the early week's warm, we thought the ice would be thinner, but instead Lake Lucerne has gained over an inch of hard, clear, solid water. Just over 19 inches now separates us from ice-out. The warm temperatures at the beginning of last week had the maples running hard. As is often the case, the early sap is running sweet. The ratio of sap to syrup is closer to 35 to 1 rather than the usual 42 to 1. As the temperature dropped, it was hoped that the snow under the tapping trails had frozen up enough to not use snowshoes. After breaking through up to the knee it was noted that it's still deep and snowshoes are still required. There also may have been some course language involved. The cold halted the run, but not before many of the spiles grew full Dumbledorien beards. As the weather slid from warm to cold, the sky went from overcast to clear. The in between time made for some interesting sunsets. <center>Squirrel!</center> With 19+ inches of ice covering the lake, it's becoming less likely that we'll enjoy a March ice-out. It's still possible, but we'll need a steep slide back to warm with some wind and rain added to the mix. The forecast for next week has some warm and some cold. And some snow and some rain. Last week's rain came while the men were out in the field collecting sap. On that day, many were wet long after the sun when down.<br><br>-Nemo prefers his trails packed and his taps beard free.

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