Last week's weather continued in a seasonable fashion, and then it didn't. It was as if January was hiding behind a running maple, waiting for Spring to let down its guard. Just after mid-week, January jumped out and punched Spring and any unsuspecting sugarmen roaming the hills around Lucerne. Ironically, there was plenty of ice to keep the swelling down.
Before the punch, most of the maples had "Broken Loose". Hundreds of gallons of unusually sweet sap was gathered and hauled back from the woods. Cookers were fired from before sunrise through midnight. The smell of wood fires with a hint of maple sweetness filled the North end of the lake.
Then came the punch. The wind picked up, rain turned into snow, and taps froze in mid drip. The entire sugarbush was collected before the rain turned to snow and was a soggy and shivery experience that we hope to never repeat.
It wasn't an ice storm, the temperature fell too fast, but drips on the trees did freeze.
With the maples frozen to a stop, many took the week's earlier bounty and boiled it down to syrup.
Early syrup tends to be lighter than mid or late season syrup. It has the same sugar content, but a lighter color and more delicate taste. Some prize it above all other pancake toppings, others contend they're all good.
One of the last tasks of the week was to get an ice thickness check. Most of the snow on top of the ice has been blown off making any lake golf a club damaging, slippery stroll with great roll.
There's just over 20 inches of ice currently covering the lake. That's up about an inch from last week. At this rate, we'll have about a yard of ice on the lake by July. Get those "After May 10th" dates in this year's ice-out contest before they're all snapped up.
Well that stung. Just before the weekend, the giant puddle that extended over most of the lake froze hard and was garnished with some blown snow and frost flowers. Along with the polar cold came blue sky, stopped maples, and canceled tee times. The long term forecast calls for thinning ice, a clearer Knott Lane, and more sap dripping. The long term forecast missed this one, so we are not taking off our hats just yet.
-Nemo was soaked and shivery long after the sun when down.
