Washing & Watching

Last week kicked off the same as many of the last few weeks. The ice sheet that covers Lucerne pulled away from the shore by day and froze back tight to the shore at night. And there were ducks.

There was also a little hail. The sugarman who was riding back from the tapping field described it as being a little over two tenths of in inch wide, white, and painful.

The reports early in the week from the sugarbush were not good. The colder than normal Spring had frozen the sap mid drip.

Most of the hail melted in less than a day. The ice sheet started to pull from the North shore of the lake a bit more than the previously.

By mid-week, small parades of water foul marched from puddle to puddle across greening lawns.

Historically, the South end of the lake opens first. This year was no exception. The area around the islands was largely ice free going into the weekend.

Around this time, Lake Metonga had only about a third of its ice separating it from its ice-out.

Just before the weekend, the ice on the North end melted enough for swimming, but not nearly enough for boating.

The taps thawed and began to drip again. The amount collected was not very impressive.

With the trees drying up, it was time to end the 2020 maple syrup season. On Saturday, sugarmen roamed the woods for hours pulling spiles, buckets, and lids.

It took a little longer to clean all the buckets, lids, and spiles.

By Saturday evening, an impressive pile of buckets were clean and drying in the setting sun.

A clear sky on Sunday made the 60°F feel like 70°F. With the Buckets cleaned, the last syrup canned, and the lake still frozen, it was time to golf.

With the plague came new rules. No carts, wider spacing between groups, and your ball doesn't have to fall into the cup, but rather hit the blue water noodle filling the cup.

The early golf snow hazards were present, but small enough not to matter much.

Water hazards were very thawed and very full.

As the sun set on Sunday, Metonga had just a puddle of ice in the southwest corner and a boat zooming around the North end.

Just before sunset on Sunday, the ice on the North end of Lucerne finally began to break up.

The ice around mid-lake kept us from having a boat in to ski up all the flat.

There's still some ice on Lake Lucerne. With heavy rain predicted and no Snowpocalyptic Horsemen on the horizon, it should not make it to next weekend. The ice may not make it to Tuesday. Now is the time to get the boat cleaned up, inflate the water wings, and celebrate if you have a late April date in this year's ice-out contest.

-Nemo putting away the hat and digging out the water skis.

Washing & Watching

April 20th through 26th, 2020