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	January 2nd through 8th, 2023

Last week started off cloudy and seasonably warm. The absence of mood boosting sunshine was more than made up for by the lack of any sub-zero (°F) cold. There was talk of mid-week snow, mid-week rain, and even the worst of all, a mid-week rain/snow mix. This led to a rare occurrence of hoping for a little more cold in January. Brushing off a light dusting of snow is so much better than scraping off a thick coating of ice.

All eyes were watching the weather as the forecasts bopped back and forth between up to 6 inches of snow to an annoying amount of rain.

Well...not all eyes. Some were focused on the ground looking for a free meal.

And others were walking around not really looking at anything like the generally wild lunatics that they are.

And still others were not taking their new job of bird feeder bouncer very seriously and dozing on the job. This was perhaps for the best in that while the new hire did vex the squirrels, he's kinda mean to the birds, too.

Of course it has long been known that, in the end, no bouncer is a match for a hungry squirrel.

For whatever reason, the squirrels seem to mostly avoid the deer shaped suet feeder on Knott Lane.

It started as a snow event on Tuesday evening.

It continued on and off through Wednesday.

The accumulation was not near the worst amounts predicted. An occasional bit of rain in between the flakes had the snow total close to 2 inches.

The bit of rain coated the trees.

When the sun eventually came out, the tree's crystal coating seemed to glow.

The condition of Knott Lane after the snow/rain/snow wasn't as bad as expected. The snow on top of the frozen slush is much less slippery than the packed snow/ice that covers much of West Shore Drive and Potawatomi Trail.

The last task of the week was to check the lake ice.

Drilling a hole goes much more quickly than later in the year when the ice is a few feet thick.

Huzzah!

We have 8 solid inches in the northeastern corner of the lake.

That's plenty for playing around and fort building.

Winter is so much better when the sky is clear-ish and the sun is up or the stars are out. The Orion-Taurus-Pleiades combination is one of those great sky objects you miss if you're not here in Winter. Another object you'd miss in the Summer is the Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War. In less than 2 weeks, the forts will be built, almost 4000 rockets will be fired, and the after party at the bar will be enjoyed by both the combatants and spectators alike. The location of this 32nd annual event has been moved to the northeastern corner of Lucerne this year to help with parking and to assure that watching can be done from the bar.<br><br><br>-Nemo's going to enjoy the 32nd from behind an ablative snow wall on the ice.

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