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	January 87th through 93rd, 2022

During all of last week, Zombie Winter continued to shuffle its way through the pines of the northwoods. Roads were icy, golf courses were closed under a cover of white, and lakes remained deeply frozen. At the start of the week the low temperature fell below 0°F touching off a debate among the men whether this is Zombie Winter or Deep Zombie Winter. Around mid-week, the discourse abruptly ended when we were hit with another ice storm and nobody wanted to talk about it anymore..

This time of year we have a tradition of checking the ice-out status of many of the lakes around Lucerne. Devils Lake, just over the hill East of the lake, is still frozen.

Lakes Wabikon and Riley are both still covered with ice.

Metonga is also still frozen.

Lake Lucerne usually starts to open up at the South end around the islands. Every part of Lucerne remained ice locked all week.

The third ice storm of the year was not so much as unexpected as unwelcome.

Afterward, as the temperatures and wind picked up, tiny tubes of ice fell from the trees on to the roads, paths, and those checking the tapping field to see if the trees were running.

I've never been pelted with waves of ice tubes before. I don't recommend it.

The bar's wild turkeys did not seem really happy at these turn of events.

Even before the little ice tubes, the roads were in horrible shape.

By the end of the week, Knott Lane had a few spots that were pretty good, but mostly not.

The cold at the start of the week first bearded the taps and then turned the maples off.

By the weekend, the trees began to drip again.

Shortly after that, the sugarmen collected all those drips.

In the woods, the snow on the paths is packed down enough to allow wheeled vehicles up, but feeted vehicles are still recommended deep in the bush.

The trees ran so hard at the end of the week that we ran out of jug space and 55 gallon "Big Boys" were filled to keep the buckets from overflowing.

And the good news is that there appears to be no damage.

One of our last tasks was to check on the lake ice.

It's still pretty thick.

Just under 22 inches. It'll be out by June for sure!

The top 6 inches is the airy, frozen snow type of ice. The remainder is the clear, hard stuff.

Despite the ice and the cold, in a few spots, there are some signs of Spring.

Zombie Winter usually just shambles around the shore for a day or three and then totters off. This year it decided to stay awhile. Boo! Unless it gets warmer fast, we could see the return of the May ice-out on Lucerne. Boo! Boo! We'll know much more about a May ice-out next week. With 22 inches of ice currently on the lake, you'd think that an ice thickness check would be easy next week, but it gets thinner around the edges. Getting 10 or 20 feet out onto the lake requires a wet or dry suit for safety and that may take more ambition than a sugarman has left at the end of the tapping season.<br><br><br>-Nemo prefers his Spring warmer and his lake open.

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