The One With The Hungry Squirrel

October 11th through 17th, 2021

Lake Lucerne
Last week had a little rain, some sun, a few clouds, and no frost. The cold will eventually arrive, but until then we count every frozen dew free morning as a win.
Lake Lucerne
The rain at the start of the week added up to just under half an inch. That's enough to slow the lake level decline, but not arrest it. Unless we get a horrific rain storm, the lake level will go down for the fourth month in a row.
Lake Lucerne
The lake's temperature started the week off at 62°F. It's lower now. No one swam.
Lake Lucerne
The lake had a bit of chop on several days last week. No one skied.
Lake Lucerne
All that cool and lumpy lake attracted a few fisherman. Some used boats and bobbers, others just beaks.
Lake Lucerne
There are still a few leaves clinging to a few trees.
Lake Lucerne
Most trees however are in their late Fall finery (bark and branches).
Lake Lucerne
Some view them as an effective non-pharmaceutical measure for mitigating pandemic influenza. Others see them as a societal trope invented as a gambit to make politicians look proactive. Which ever side of the fence you fall on, we can all agree that they make some ugly lakeside litter. Boo.
Lake Lucerne
At first we thought a cabin had caught fire. It turned out to be just a big campfire. Not sure if any basketball sized marshmallows were involved, but they should have been.
Lake Lucerne
During much of the week it seemed that every time you looked up, there was an eagle or two hovering over the North end of Lucerne.
Lake Lucerne
This little red guy is back. Somehow it managed to eat the bar's bird feeder empty. It amazed us in that the feeder's volume is at least 10 times that of the little red. Where did it put it? Our guess is that it waddled off and exploded somewhere.
Lake Lucerne
On Saturday at the bar, a small group carved some really heavy (35 pounds!) pumpkins.
Lake Lucerne
The slightly choppy water coupled with breaks in the clouds made for a really sparkly lake during much of last week. It also would have made for some good, albeit numbingly cold, skiing. The wise cabin owner has pulled their rafts and piers from the increasingly frigid lake. The shouts and cries of the foolish will echo off the hills from now until ice-in.


-Nemo now attributes sharp bangs and rumbles not to hunters or thunderstorms, but to detonating squirrels.