Last week started with a few hunks of ice separating Lucerne from ice-out. The separation didn't last long. This year, the ice was hurt by the sun and the warm, but wind was the primary perpetrator in opening Lucerne.
During the afternoon on Monday, the remaining ice sheets were wind swept to the north where they broke up on the shore.
One of the last events of the week was floating in a small lift. Using two barrels strapped to the bottom of the thing makes the job easy, barely an inconvenience.
It's important to be careful when detaching the floats. With the push of a release, there's about 100 lbs of potential energy that can be turned into 100lbs of fast moving kinetic trauma if an arm, leg, or face is in between a barrel and where it wants to go.
Currently, there's no ice, plenty of water, and a few piers. If you did not get your pier, dock, or lift in yet, relax. There's gonna be some time before the water gets warm enough to comfortably dip toes. During the weekend, we did meet one brave soul that chose to briefly dip into the 50°F lake. He did not describe it as comfortable.
-Nemo's mashed thumb is almost at 100%.
