The One With All The Football

Last week had mostly normal highs but a few unspeakably ugly lows. Friday morning's 4°F had the bitter taste of January that did not pair well with turkey, cranberries, or any other food item included in a well dressed Thanksgiving table. The other boundary crossed last week was the snow line. At the start of the week shores and lawns were green and brown. Sure, the ground was frozen, but the colors still held a whisper of Autumn. That changed. Before the change there was a little bit of ice seen on Lake Lucerne. The thin but growing crust was mostly on the South end of the lake in the shallows.

Lake Metonga also had a bit of ice in a few nooks and crannies.

Lake Wabikon is completely frozen over. We're not sure when ice-in occurred on Wabikon, but Metonga usually has its ice-in a week or two later and Lucerne a few days after that.

Lake Riley is also shrouded in ice.

While flying over Wabikon, we imaged a huge, black mass under the ice that led to much speculation. Biggest musky ever? Crack in the earth leading to caverns filled with Sleestak? A very lonely Plesiosaur? It's no wonder Wabikon lacks swimmers or as we call them "bait".

All week, flocks of waterfowl took brief respites on the cold, but mostly unfrozen Lake Lucerne before continuing South.

On Thursday, a flock of local footballers landed on the bar's lawn.

The crowd that gathered to watch the spectacle, quietly enjoyed the action and some suet.

The flyover was noted for its lack of noise and organic feel.

The footballers were noted for their gender diversity and lack of uniforms.

Less than two days after the final lawn pass, it started to snow.

By the time it ended, roads, lawns, and shores around the lake had a deeper than forecast covering of white.

After the snow, we packed up, headed 108 miles South, and stood in line to see another flock of local footballers.

The crowd seemed to prefer beer to suet. Many did not notice that carry-ins were not allowed past the metal detectors. Impressive hills of glass, plastic and aluminum formed in front of herding fences just before game time.

The sky was a little more clear and the crowd was bigger than the game on the North end of Lucerne.

It was noted that what the flyover lacked in any sort of organic feel, it made up for with a very loud rumble.

It was further noted that all the footballers wore uniforms but lacked in any gender diversity.

For whatever reason, we chose to shout our brains out whenever the blue guys had the ball. Thank goodness their time of possession was only around 20 minutes. Any longer and we would have risked permanent vocal cord damage.

There were also a few fireworks.

By 7:15 PM the game was over, we were out of the stadium, and on our way back to the lake; the first mile or so on foot, the rest by car. The annoyance of the three roundabouts on Mason Street was more than made up for by a stop at Popeye's. Chicken, a large red beans and rice, and mashed potatoes with cajun gravy for the same price as a thimble sized stadium beer. We truly live in wonderful times, unless you plan on drinking beer inside Lambeau Field and can't get a good rate on a beer loan or are a Rams fan.

The lake remains mostly ice free. A few still nights and cold mornings could change that real fast. A drier Fall this year should keep the spring activity down so we'll see less of the welling up of warm (ish) ground water that pushed ice-in back a few days last year. Will it go in this next week? Don't know, but it could. We'll be watching, reporting, and maybe even getting a final lake level measurement for the year.

-Nemo hopes to get his voice back by Spring.

The One With All The Football

November 22nd through 28th, 2021