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	March 31st through April 6th, 2025

Last week started with a thick layer of ice covering pretty much everything. This was garnished with a massive power outage. Though the lack of mosquitoes was nice, no heat or running water was interesting in a shivery, unwashed sort of way.

It turns out birch are among the bendiest of trees. White birch bowed down under the thick ice, but most did not break.

The basswood are not as pliable. There are lots of basswood branches and whole trees down.

At the start of the week, driving around was best done with a gassed and ready to go chainsaw.

Some of the trees escaped with only a quarter inch of ice.

For whatever reason, the maples seemed to attract the thickest ice with accumulations approaching 2 inches.

After 36 hours of powerlessness, it was decided to trot onto the lake, drill a hole, and collect a few buckets of water to flush toilets.

The ice was about a foot thick. After getting 2 good buckets full, we hiked back to the bar with our watery burden only to find the power restored. Huzzah!

Around mid-week it snowed. We got about 3 inches.

All the new snow contrasted nicely with all the downed trees in the sugarbush.

High winds swept most of it from the lake.

There was talk not too long ago of a first lawn mowing. That's not gonna happen for quite a while.

And then the maples went crazy. In 4 days we collected almost 2000 gallons of sap. That's like half of an entire season compressed into 96 hours.

More men were added to the collecting crew on the weekend in a vain effort to keep up.

What the woods lacked in footing, it made up for in sap.

The RO machine and round the clock boiling were the only things that kept us from drowning in the stuff.

The final product continues to impress. Both with its light color and amazing taste.

The area thawed on the weekend. The trails through the fields got a little muddy.

There is a weather proverb that describes March's unpredictable weather, suggesting that if March starts with harsh, stormy weather (like a lion), it will end with milder, calmer weather (like a lamb). This year, if anyone is caught mumbling this platitude, they will be pelted with snowballs and forced to collect maple sap. March certainly came "In like a lion" with a blizzard, but "Out like a lamb", HA! More like out like a gargoyle (or some other grotesque, decorative creature). The eventful weather has given us all a deeper appreciation for electricity and its applicative benefits, specifically heat and indoor plumbing. While those that had wished for an early ice-out are disappointed, the sugarmen of Knott Lane are ecstatic, if not exhausted, by the ultra productive maples. It will be interesting if all the ice, snow, and rain this spring will arrest the declining lake level or maybe have it go back up. We'll know at ice-out, which looks like it should occur shortly before the first ski show (June 4th at 6:30 PM in front of Water's Edge) this year.<br><br><br>-Nemo loves having electricity again.

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