By Joe Crain
A duck wades in the receding ice
We were treated to a complete weather sampler in the month of April up here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. At the start of the month it almost seemed like spring was upon us as the first week of the month served up a good helping of temperatures in a seasonal range of highs in the 40s and low-50s and lows in the upper-20s to lower-30s. The remaining snow pack started to melt at a nice steady pace and the lake started to show signs of thaw with the shore-line ice opening up out about 30 feet or so. Just as we were starting to really believe that the corner had been turned and that this year’s April was actually going to be spring like the past few years… April shocked us with major snow storms! Things turned cold and the temps dropped down to highs in the mid-30s and lows in the mid-teens. The open water along the shore refroze every morning and stayed that way for several days. Our hearts really sank mid-month when a big “winter” storm appeared on the forecast radar at almost the same date that we received 14 inches last year! Fortunately for us up north, the storm pushed to the south and our neighbors down there got six inches of snow. We only had to put up with a couple inches. Thankfully, things turned warmer again and though we have still been waking up to cold mornings in the upper-20’s, the highs have been consistently reaching into the mid-40’s with an occasional serving of the mid-50’s. Although we have reached the end of the month and are now starting to see the temps bump into the low-60’s on a few days, we still have persistent piles of snow in the shady areas of the north side of buildings. And finally, a few helpings of rain were served up near the end of the month in our weather sampler, with the past few days bringing us almost two inches. With next week forecasted to be in the mid-60s for highs and mid-40s for lows all of that rain should green things up nicely and bring us all into that wonderful spring mindset of renewal and growth.
A new view from LJ-2!
We caretakers have been staying busy around the grounds of camp getting things ready for the coming season. I spent a good chunk of the month replacing the, in some cases ancient, and in most cases rusted and heavily patched window screens in the water front cabins of the Lumberjack Village. I replaced EVERY screen in LJ-1, -2, -3, and Weyerhaeuser with the same system I had developed several years ago in the Axeman Village that allows for the screens to be serviced without the need to remove all of the window blind tracks to get at the screen edge. This makes future repairs about 10 times easier! Caretaker Andy spent his time this month doing some much needed repairs and painting in the caretakers house (his camp home) a spot that always seems to get pushed to the bottom of (and often off) the priorities list. And for the last week he has been readying all of camp for the annual “return of the water” to camps plumbing system. He has to go into and often under every building in camp and reconnect all of the joints he undid last fall to drain and winterize the system. And in the surest sign that spring is really here, Caretaker Jack (the seasonal Caretaker) has come back on board and has been hard at work going cabin to cabin assuring that the whole facility is up to date with a few new fire prevention codes that the state has mandated.
Happy to see that the daffodils are almost ready to bloom, bringing a much needed spark of color to the Northwoods, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.