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	August 12th through 18th, 2024

Last week saw the return and then exit of warm weather, some rain, and lots and lots of skiing and footing.

This is the time of year that we can get a little color change in some of the more stressed maples. There are hints of gold and yellow here and there, but for the most part, green is still by far the dominant color for the hills around Lucerne.

Early last week we dove to confirm or disprove reports that eurasian milfoil was in the lake. It was confirmed.

Milfoil likes warm, shallow, nutrient rich lakes that get a lot of nitrogen and phosphorous runoff. Given Lake Lucerne is not that, controlling the weed should be that much easier.

The summer heat returned through Wednesday. The 72°F lake water made for a great escape from the hotter parts of the day.

Under the lake was an even better way to escape being cooked by the sun.

The last of the week's 80s°F coincided with Lucerne's last ski show of the year.

The show was a good one. The team does a really great job. We can't wait until next June when it starts all over again.

It rained hard before the weekend. Somehow the men got the Footstock dock set up on Lake Peshtigo Lake just to the north of Crandon.

It was overcast with a few sprinkles during the entire world championship event.

Despite the weather, the double elimination tournament moved along smoothly.

One of the best parts of Footstock is the sportsmanship and camaraderie among the athletes. It's really unlike any other sport we've seen.

After Footstock, it's become a tradition for us to head to Rhinelander to attend the last ski show of the season by the Hodag Ski team.

The weather changed after Footstock ended. The Rhinelander show was held under a clear sky with not a drop of rain. It was well attended for a late August event.

The show was different from the one held on Lucerne, but we liked it just the same.

This time of year around the edges of Lucerne there are dense patches of ragweed. It has its fans. My nose is not one of them.

This year's Footstock saw Jon Debelak (Wisconsin) defeat Marc Donahue (Florida) to win the open. Travis Lepak (Wisconsin) won the Seniors divison, Wayne King (Canada) won the Masters, Owen Schattschneider (Wisconsin) won the Juniors, and Curtis Rebeck (Wisconsin) won the "Best of the Worst". I was in the boat as one of judges when Sophie Miljevich beat her sister Ella Miljevich to take first place in the women's division. It should also be noted that Ben Groen (New Zealand), 14th in the open, does the best, most entertaining impression of a midwest accent ever. With Footstock and the formal ski shows over, now is the part of the season when we try to cram in as much lake related fun before the trees turn red and the lake turns cold. Well, colder. For the next several weeks in addition to spending as much time at the end of a tow rope as prudent, you'll find us swimming, diving, tanning, and digging out relatively small patches of milfoil to fuel campfires.<br><br><br>-Nemo saw enough skiing, footing, and milfoil to last him until next June.

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