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Green, Hot, and Wet

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June 15th through 21st

Last week included the last few days of Spring and the first few of Summer, but the weather was pure, uncut Summer. The air temperature soared past 80°F, the lake temperature pushed over 70°F, and sunburn overtook mosquito bites as the number one red-ener of skin. Sunscreen (SPF > 30): Learn it, use it, love it. If not, Aloe vera: Learn it, use it, love it. The lake temperature peaked at 71°F, then pulled back to 69°F. It'll get warmer in the coming weeks, but not much. Water sport activity picked up last week. When it was not raining (more on that later), there seemed to always be a boat or boats on the water pulling a spectrum of water warriors from the amazingly talented to tubers. The sugarmen mined wood all week for next year's syrup season. The end of the week started with a little rain and a very red, humid sunset. Then the real rain came. From before sunrise to well after sunset, Saturday was washed out. By Sunday morning, the lake was 2 inches deeper. It's still an inch under its peak on May 1st, but the inflows may push it over that high early next week. The lawn puddles are back. Part of the southeastern stretch of Lake Lucerne Drive is going underwater. Just 6 or 7 years ago, the small ponds that dot the South end were nothing more than a damp grassland. Now they have grown past the roadside and consumed about a quarter of the pavement. The result of the hot and wet is an excellent crop of grass, a great crop of flowers, a fine crop of frogs, and an outstanding crop of chipmunk. Above it all, an eagle was hunting up the North end of the lake all week. Some day we've got to compile a slideshow of our favorite lake signage. Back during the record low lake levels, there was a real problem with boats being trapped on lifts as the water level plummeted. That's not a problem this year. The lake level is currently at 33 inches above the nail. That's just an inch under the record high recorded earlier on May 1st. Remember back when we were praying for rain and even asking people to do a rain dance? Is there such a thing as a drought dance? There should be. And we should be doing it.<br><br>-Nemo worries that the chipmunks are starting to think they're people .

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