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April 10th through 12th, 2009

On Friday at around 4:30 PM, the lake was still covered with ice, the golf course was still closed, and we had entered the northwoods. The sugarmen were boiling maple sap harder than I had ever witnessed. The boil continued all night. 23.25 gallons were close to canning by the late morning on Saturday. Earlier in the week, some sap went past syrup to carbon. Saturday's large batch was carefully monitored to avoid a repeat of the "The Buring of '09" and the "Accidental Candyman of '09" the week before. 23 gallons and 1 quart were all sealed in jars by 2:00 in the afternoon. So far, it's been a very good year for syrup After carefully making our way about 100 feet from shore, a hole was made in the ice. There was just shy of 15 inches with the top 6 inches consisting of the not-so-good kind. The north edge of the lake is pulling away fast. Lake Anderson, on Hwy 32 just south of Mountian, is ice free. Lake Wabikon has only about half its ice left. Lucerne usually goes out about 2 weeks after Anderson and 1 week after Wabikon. Watch for ice-out around April twenty something +/- a few days. In the past, fish could be counted on being under the tip of the log reflected here from left to right. That was 3 years and 3 feet of lake ago. The first lake level measurement with respect to the nail should be next weekend. We really need rain. No rain fell on Saturday. The sky was clear and blue all day. The sun slipped under the horizon just after 7:05 PM. The wind after 10:00 PM was slight and the sky was clear. This is the end of <a href='https://www.instructables.com/Fire-kite/' class ='defaultlink2' target='_blank'>Cincinnati Fire Kite season</a>. We tried flying 2 from the north end of the lake but lighting problems thwarted all of us and slightly scorched one of us (me). On Sunday morning, a ginormous formation of geese flew over the lake, trailed by 2 lesser flocks. They all were heading north in a noisy manner. Sap poured from the maples all weekend. Despite the pans being fired 24 hours a day, the sap surplus grew to several hundred gallons. We'll be back next weekend to check the ice, pull some taps, clean some buckets, help can some syrup, enjoy the first golf of the season, and perhaps find enough time to get out on the lake to launch that final Cinncinatti fire kite this season.<br><br><br>-Nemo

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