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	December 26th through 32nd, 2022

The last week of 2022 started off cold and clear-ish. Highs under the patchy blue sky were in the teens and lows in the single digits (°F). That all changed as the weekend got closer. Highs pushed into the upper 30s°F and lows jumped into the 20s°F.

There was not much new snow last week, but some wind before the warm grew some drifts into roads.

Usually the squirrels go dormant for a week or three around this time, but this year they have thus far remained all active, round-ish, and squirrel-ly.

The squirrel bouncer was absent many days last week. The bar's bird feeder has become a sort of playground monkey bars with squirrels playing the part of the fearless, and permanently hungry 8 year olds.

When the warmer air hit, so did the fog.

The fog hit the trees and froze (it was warmer, but not all that warm).

Sunsets early in the week beat the warmer, but gray cloud filled ones that followed.

Downtown Crandon continued to be lit with holiday cheer through New Year's eve.

On Sunday, it was time to check the lake ice thickness.

There's currently 9.5 inches of much better ice than the lake had last week. The insulating snow layer mostly melted and then refroze making the top 5 inches much more solid than the airy slushy stuff we had a week before.

With the warm came the gray. The sun has been obscured by clouds since pretty much mid-week. In addition to smothering the sun, the warm has thinned the snow a bit and paradoxically thickened the lake ice. And really thickened the road ice. Walking outdoors has become less of a prelude to adventure and more of a gymnastic event in itself. Unless you attach big honking spikes to the bottom of your boots. Then it's safe (and fun!) to openly taunt the thick, smooth, and contusion-y road ice. In the next two weeks, to build forts for this year's Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War, we could use a little more snow. About 4 inches would be nice. If past historic weather trends mean anything, I'm pretty sure we'll get it and more.<br><br><br>-Nemo is starting the site survey, munition accumulation, and rampart design.

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