Ice out Weekend

Just after ice-out on Friday, a bunch of loons silently fished the north end of the lake.

Fishermen were also around but less quiet.

Perched over Mrs Nemo's car, this red guy didn't fish as far as I know, but was louder than the fishermen (and probably more regular!).

The forecast for Friday night was cloudy. A crescent moon hung in the cold, clear sky at sunset and seemed to be laughing at that prediction

A pool thermometer was tossed into the de-iced lake later in the weekend. Just over 50°F is pretty refreshing for any potential swimmers. The lake water was not the only refreshing liquid in the area.

Late last year, aLf had given us a bottle of sake he brought in from Japan. We had planned to use it to toast ice-out on the first ice free Saturday and even learned to shout "The ice is out!" in Japanese (Phonetically: Ho de la de-cae-de!). Well, ice-out arrived, I was alone, and we did not get those heat 'em up, porcelain cuppy things yet. It seemed like a better idea to sip a beer while listening to the haunting sound of the loons rather than adding to the night another loon, full of sake, shouting "Ho de la de-cae-de!". Didn't get arrested either.

If you look closely, snow can still be found in some well protected areas. Don't expect much to make next weekend.

You don't have to look too closely at the forest floor to see that it's coming to life. No trillium yet, but soon.

We got about one tenth of an inch of rain last week. Better than nothing, but not by much.

On Sunday, clouds seemed to exploding just over the hill to the east. We got no rain.