Summer!

June 28th through July 4th, 2021

Lake Lucerne
Last week started off continuing the warming trend of the week before and culminated in a hot, humid 4th of July weekend that will be the stuff of legend and lore for the next hundreds of years.
Lake Lucerne
Early in the week, it rained.
Lake Lucerne
In the one day of rain, the lake got 2.5 inches deeper.
Lake Lucerne
The heavier than expected deluge has delayed the mowing of many lawns until they get less lakey.
Lake Lucerne
After the rain, the sun, unencumbered by any precipitation or clouds, made for some hot days and warm sunsets.
Lake Lucerne
The birds of the northwoods seemed to love the wet and then hot weather.
Lake Lucerne
Up to and including those strange fuzzy red birds that infest the feeders at the bar.
Lake Lucerne
We have a bumper crop of bunnies on the North end of the lake. I don't recall ever seeing so many hopping around the grass and brush.
Lake Lucerne
The best place to be during the hot was in, on, or (as seen here) under the lake. We'd pull ourselves from the cool water, 74°F last we checked, for frequent fits of tennis, hiking, biking, and bunny chasing. Late in the week, energy levels were running low. Many of the men complained of exhaustion.
Lake Lucerne
Fortunately, they make something for that. Now with three times the caffeine! As an added bonus, the pain in the left arm and the hallucinations it may induce eventually go away.
Lake Lucerne
The ski show on Wednesday was the crown jewel in the middle of the week.
Lake Lucerne
The ski show on Sunday lent some asymmetry that enhanced the sparkle of Summer's scepter.
Lake Lucerne
On the third, there was a parade!
Lake Lucerne
It was patriotic, well attended, and stretched from one end of Crandon to the other
Lake Lucerne
On the fourth, there was another parade!
Lake Lucerne
The boat procession subject matters included towable, mythical water creatures,
Lake Lucerne
Jimmy Buffet tributes,
Lake Lucerne
Pirates! (our personnel favorite. The crews "Arrr!s" could be heard up and down the shoreline),
Lake Lucerne
Most boats and pontoons had some sort of a subtle patriotic theme.
Lake Lucerne
It took just under 15 minutes for all of them to pass by the North end of Lucerne.
Lake Lucerne
They eventually headed South and conquered the islands or something. It would be hard to pick the best (Pirates!). They all were good (Pirates!) and floaty (Pirates!).
Lake Lucerne
Last week was hot, fun, and exhausting. Gone are the days where we had to wear hats, search for things to do, and struggle to get our 10,000 steps. If not for the mandatory tanning breaks, we would have lost more men to fatigue and spending-too-much-time-in-the-water pruney-ness. As long as the energy drinks and ibuprofen hold out, we'd have it no other way.


--Nemo, "If you're not limping a little, you're not trying hard enough"