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	March 23rd through 29th, 2020

Just before last week, Winter was feeling feisty. In a display of late season bullying, there was a polar sucker punch to the area and a general arctic malaise soaked the shoreline. There was an increasing feeling that Spring was not going to come out of its shell and express itself. Ever. Then Winter died. Suddenly. It might have been a calendar related coronary event or, more likely, Winter did not socially distance itself far enough from Spring and was waylaid by the Wuhan Flu. Whatever. Now one thing is for certain: there is no stopping Spring; the Trillium will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new seasonal overlord. I'd like to remind Spring that as a trusted internet thingy we can be helpful in rounding up snowboarders and sledders to toil in its tapping fields and golf courses.

The squirrels seem to be more excited and jumpy. It could be the death of Winter, the arrival of Spring, or something else.

Something else has been making low passes over the North end of the lake.

With Spring's coronation usually comes the peak of sapping season. Many journeys were made last week to the high hardwoods to check the taps and, if running, fill jugs.

They were running though not as hard as we had hoped. This could be a function of the large amount of snow still in the woods keeping the trunks of the trees from getting very warm. The snow has caused another issue. The packed trails from tree to tree were easy to see and follow. With some of the snow melting, they are getting hard to find. It can be a challenge to choose where to plant your next step.

Que the Knight Templar stating, "He chose...poorly.". An unwise or unlucky step will not melt your face, but as your leg sinks past the top of the boot, snow will fall into your Sorel. Snow that melts on contact with foot. Cold, wet socks: Fear them.

Eventually, all the sap was gathered and poured into jugs.

All those jugs were then motored to the cookers on Knott Lane.

The fires under the cookers burned almost all week.

Eventually the boiled sap made it to syrup. The final pilgrimage was through a plate filter and into bottles

Just after mid-week, we had a long, hard overnight rain.

The rapidly melting streams flowing into the lake got more torrent-y.

Another rain event on the weekend pushed the creeks up even higher..

As you might expect, the lake ice is taking a beating. At 16.5 inches it's down 3.5 inches from last week, but that's not all. The top 6.5 inches are very soft, leaving only 10 inches of good ice. In the past, we've seen 9 inches of good ice melt in about a week. Will the ice make it to Easter. Maybe, but we don't think so.

Winter is done. That's almost as fun to type as it is to say and it's even more fun to experience. The air up here has taken on an ultra fresh, watery clean smell that usually precedes the pulling of the taps and the arrival of the trillium. There's been no golf yet, but it'll be soon. The first swimming will take a bit more time.<br><br><br>-Nemo prefers his syrup bottled, his socks dry, and Winter dead.

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