Ice-In

At the start of last week it got cold. The kind of cold that drains propane from tanks. kills camera batteries, and makes heading outdoors less of an event and more of an ordeal. It came as no surprise that the last of the open water on Lucerne froze.

To make sure the last water had transmogrified into ice, we sojourned to Water's Edge to be sure the last water was ice and not just a trick of distance, light, and shadow. It was ice. Congratulations to this year's Ice-In Contest winners!

The cold did not end with ice-in. Most lows were in the single digits (°F) and most highs in the teens (again °F). Most highs. The high on Saturday was -3°F.

As the week crept on, the ice got thicker with more snow cover.

It snowed most days, but didn't add up too much.

It was warmer inside the new Mays (pronounced "Wolf River Rendezvous") just east of the old Mays (pronounced "Mays", as an aside, in deference to native american language and homophones, we'd call it "Corn") where we were lucky enough to be invited to a party hosted by friends (pronounced "Mark and Patty" in this case).

The snow is getting deep enough to carve a path to the propane tank to ensure the propane guy easy access to fill the tank.

It's was also deemed a good idea to check on the level of heat juice during the more horrifically cold days.

All around the greater Lucerne area, Christmas decorations are pretty much up.

So far, our favorite is the "Face Plant Angel" at the Forest County Potawatomi Community Center. It has since been covered with snow, but the soft, cold glow of the mound reminds all to keep your tips up.

The last task of the week was to check the thickness of the ice on the north end of the lake.

It has been slighly less than a week since the ice formed. We expected enough to cautiously tread on, but not much more. There was over 6.5 inches of very clear ice cover. We could have done the heavy dance without any danger of an unexpected swim.

Last week, local residents could be best described as shoveling, shivering, and sane. Because of that last quality, nobody swam. More accurately, nobody chipped a hole in the lake and jumped in. I miss swimming. In all likelyhood, swimming will be missed for about half a year longer. In between then and now, there'll be squirrels, storms, and the 34th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War scheduled for January 17th at 6:30 PM or thereabouts.

-Nemo has the mass to do the heavy dance, just not the desire.

Ice-In

December 8th through 14th, 2025