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The Last Crumbs of Autumn

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November 21st through 27th, 2022

Last week started off cold. Mornings were in the low teens (°F) and the highs were below freezing. That changed around mid-week. The highs went into the 40s°F and the lows soared into the upper 20s°F. Huzzah! Thanksgiving went from a White Christmas type affair to a patchy green event. The week finished off with the snow in full retreat and talk of golf among the men. At the start of the week the lake ice was growing. Every morning the ice was pushing farther from the shoreline. The morning ice would be taken out by waves during the day, but the splashes of the waves would freeze and coat shore debris. The calm and very cold mornings had the lake giving up the last of its pre-Ice-In heat. Had the cold continued, there was little doubt we would have had the first November Ice-In in 8 years.. After mid-week, the days pushed into the 40s°F, but the mornings were in the frost filled 20s°F. The warmer weather, calm evenings, and a few clouds made for some good weekend sunsets. Lucerne's open water has attracted large groups of water fowl. We expect them to continue bobbing on the waves for a week or three until moving south. Many took advantage of November's open water and enjoyed a few short footin' runs. The bar's Pileated bouncer continued to unbalance the feeder and annoy the squirrels. The bar's more tubby patrons politely complained to the management demanding more seeds and less ginormous woodpeckers. The ice and snow had melted off roads by the weekend. This made walking around the north end of he lake much easier. Knott Lane was in too much shade to fully melt. The slush by day became solid ice overnight. This lead to much spontaneous, unsteady dancing and, if said dance did not please the gods of friction, bruising. Lake Lucerne is still wide open. Two weeks ago it looked like Thanksgiving would be shrouded in ice. Now it looks like we might be able to get one more skiing run in on Christmas day. Whatever the case, the ice will be thick enough to support a few forts and combatants for the 32nd Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War scheduled for January 21st, 2023. It should really be webcast live. I'll get the code monkeys right on that.<br><br><br>-Nemo prefers contusion-less hiking

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