Summer's End

Last week had the feel of late May, only with an earlier sunset. Then came the weekend. In a normal year, there's a level of ambiguity at the end of one season and the start of another. Elements of both seasons overlap until one fades. Little sun, rain, and high temperatures that struggled to get in the 60s°F...there were no signs of Summer over the weekend.

The Lake Lucerne Advancement Association had their golf outing last Tuesday. It went quite well, with a sunny sky and Summer-ish temperatures.

While the weather was Summery enough before the weekend, plants around the lake showed more and more Autumnalism.

Before the weekend, there were still plenty of bugs and friends feasting on fading flowers.

In a few spots, trees are getting their color on.

Most trees are still sporting green. Autumn colors are at less than 5%.

Mrs Nemo's late planted sunflowers look like they will make it to flower before the first frost.

The lake temperature is holding just above 70°F. Time to get that last minute swim in unless you're a fan of smurf-ism.

While diving for chipped golf balls that failed to fall into the bucket on the raft, it was noted that there were a lot of fish under the raft's pontoons.

It was further noted that many golf balls missed the bucket.

Then came the weekend. The cold morning air had the lake "sea smoking" as it gave up its heat.

While walking along West Shore Drive on the weekend, an eagle was on the shore munching on something, resting, or just eagle-ing. I didn't notice it until it popped up and took off to the South. It was more than a little startling in a "well, that was pretty cool" kind of way.

The weekend's cold also came with a heaping helping of rain.

Almost an inch of rain is enough to transmogrify sand traps into water hazards.

Other than that though, the NCC golf course remains in good shape.

Lawns around the lake seemed to love the cool and wet autumnal pace of the weekend.

The sunset after all the rain was a good one.

Back in Crandon, Yeti's is still open. This was welcome news for those that wanted to get their Mushroom and Swiss or Turtle Sunday on after golf.

The added rain water along with the cool air should do much to de-pier/de-lift Lucerne. A higher lake level makes getting boats off lifts less of a project and the cool air motivates the men to act. Depending on how long they have been in the water, some swimmers and de-itemers may show signs of Smurf-ism (shivering, blue skin). Fortunately firewood is plentiful. If this rain ever stops, a good campfire will pink up those blues away. If the rain does not stop, maybe a sweater or some sort of un-rain dance will help.

-Nemo's currently doing an un-rain dance.

Summer's End

September 5th through 11th, 2022