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Thaw Encased In Ice

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March 7th through 13th, 2022

It's poetic to think of last week as a quiescent Spring pupa surrounded by an ice chrysalis. To those living through, it's just cold, hard, and annoying. The calendar would suggest that such Winter weather should be expected, but there's a palpable feeling in the northwoods that Winter has overstayed its welcome. At the start of last week, remnants of the ice storm that coated the outdoors continued to encase pretty much everything.. When multiplied by all the trees, roads, and drifts it made for a stunningly memorable sight. Driving or walking on the ice covered roads can also be stunningly memorable in a more bruise-y kind of way. The condition of knottlane is passable, but beware the one to two inches of ice that lurk beneath the soft looking snow. The storm created ice sheets that covered the bar's roof. When they started to slide off, it got cold. The frozen extendo roof is one of those transitory architectural features on many dwellings this time of year. Some even come with a second row of icicles! Later in the week, there was a little snow, too. Following the snow was some wind with gusts that exceeded 30 mph. The resulting snow devils that danced on the lake and pummeled the tired bottle rocket war forts made for some impressive drifting on the North end of the lake. Many local woodland creatures frolicked and flew over the huge snow piles. Special mention (or a slap on the head) must given to the late week snow and wind that created extra deep and well sculpted drifts on the bar's driveway. On the weekend, it got warmer. As temperatures crept above freezing, small patches of road emerged from the ice. As the ice kind of melted in Spring, feet were joined to the primary sapping ATV. The sugarmen have spoken. It was time to trudge the hills west of the lake and put holes in maples. Three sugarpeople started to pick trees and stage the buckets. The crew lost one to a rescue call, then gained 2, then lost one as a pair of snowshoes failed. The white in the woods is exceedingly deep in spots. By the end of Sunday, 360 trees were staged and 5 had holes, spiles, lids, and buckets. The lack of any sap run from those 5 ended tapping for the day There's over a foot of very well packed snow under those feet. The snow off trail is not packed and a non-snowshoed step can sink past a knee. The warmer weekend has increased the activity of the feeder raiding squirrels. The wild turkeys seem more lively, too. The forts on the North end of Lucerne look less frisky. The walls are getting thinner and more tippy. Clearly, it's time to get the knottlane annual ice-out contest up. On the weekend, we drilled a hold in Lucerne to get an ice thickness check. There's just over 2 feet of ice covering the lake. The top 3 inches is snow that froze into an airy, ice like state. During the weekend, it finally started to look more like early Spring rather than January. It suddenly was time to celebrate, tap, and post the annual Knottlane Ice-Out contest. Like the song says, two out of three ain't bad. I'll get the contest up sometime this week between holing maples and collecting sap. In the meantime think about your date and check back daily to enter it. Good luck and happy Spring! <br><br><br>-Nemo's gonna repair his snowshoes right after posting this page.

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