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January 23rd through 29th, 2023

Last week started off just as the weeks before. It was a little cloudy, but seasonably mild and not very windy. As the week progressed, the temperatures grew colder. On the weekend, the bottom fell out. Sub-zero lows and single digit highs (°F) are now upon us. The good news is that Deep Winter came a few weeks late. This should cut down its duration. The bad news is that sub-zero lows and single digit highs (°F) are now upon us. For reasons that remain a mystery to us, the super cold seems to make the wild turkeys more active. I've been tossing them a handful of seeds when filling the bird feeder. Now, as soon as anyone steps out onto the bar's deck, a gang of 'em come a clucking. Some of the more gymnastic big birds have started to use railings as a balance beam. The turkeys hang around for longer than you would expect, until being run off by the fierce and fuzzy. After chasing away the competition, the fierce, fuzzy, and felonious make themselves at home next to the largest pile of seeds. That fat little sucker* <a href='/WeeklySummaryPages/2022/1106/SquirrelFacts.html' class ='defaultlink2' target='_blank'>ate for so long</a> that we almost had a "Winnie the Pooh stuck in the rabbit hole" type event<br><br>*was going to go with a more alliterative word, but thought better of it (we'll' save that word for golf). In the end, the fat little lump (see the last * note) managed to extricate itself with no help from us, Rabbit, or Christopher Robin. By the weekend, even the trees looked cold. For those of us that are striving to not end the Winter looking like a fat squirrel, thank goodness for the Potawatomi Community Center. Rounding the track for an hour or so above the green "grass" makes Spring, or at least Thaw, feel a little closer. The silver lining of the cold was the reappearance of the sun. Bright sunshine lifts the spirit and makes picking up the sticks from the 32nd Annual Bottle Rocket War more festive There are many stick picking techniques. I like to pick them up with the left, un-burnt finger hand and pass them to the right. After getting 100 they are dumped into the collection bucket. Huzzah! Some of the walls of the south fort are getting a little tippy Its icicle spikes however, are still pointy. The north fort is scarred, but not tippy. Its "Knobs of Color" are still festive, but not so pointy. Lake Lucerne and the surrounding areas have yet to get a really big, over 12 inch snow storm, but we've had a few small and moderate snow events. Now we've entered that part of the Winter when we realize that, despite no huge storm, we've got pretty much snow on the ground. By Sunday evening, the southern fort's bendy-ness impressed all. In the bleak mid-winter<br>Frosty wind made moan<br>Earth stood hard as iron,<br>Water like a stone<br><br>-Christina Rossetti<br><br>Put on a hat, throw another log on the fire, and bring in the brass monkeys. Deep Winter, the second sub-season of the cold time, is upon us. During a normal Deep Winter, I'd not dial your misery level to 11 by including poetry in the weekly update, but when I came across the Christina Rossetti word pile, it just fit. There were some other events last week, some joyous, others not so much. Long time lake resident Carol (aka Mom) was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma last August. She went through chemo from September through December, tolerating it amazingly well with just some hair loss. On Wednesday we got the results from Tuesday's PET scan. She was cancer free. Huzzah! On Saturday, less than 72 hours later, we found her on the floor, passed away from a probable heart attack. She'll be deeply missed. I'd like to thank the wonderful staff at the Volm Cancer Center in Antigo for their amazing kindness and care, the Forest County Sheriff's department, and Crandon area rescue squad for their efforts.<br><br><br>-Nemo

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