4/23/08 – I missed measuring the ice for a couple of days. It is busy around Sawbill right now as we race to get the pre-season chores done. It was a beautiful 65 degrees and sunny here today, but the forecast is pretty dire. We are under a flood watch with 1 to 3 inches of rain expected tomorrow and the next day, followed by snow – possibly heavy – the following night. With the ground saturated, still mostly frozen, and no vegetation yet, the runoff could be epic. The streams around Sawbill are already nearly at flood level. Here at Sawbill, flooding doesn’t normally do much damage, except a few washouts in the road.
The eagles are back in force and I saw a beautiful red tailed hawk yesterday. – Bill

Lee pulls the auger out of a new hole. The ice “floated up” yesterday, which means that it has separated its connection with the shore and is now floating in a giant cake on the lake. Floating up is a major milestone, usually indicating ice-out in a week or two. We had to use the canoe to bridge across the ice near shore which is weak and covered with two feet of standing water.

15.5 inches of pretty dense ice still remains. It would bear the weight of a car, but I wouldn’t recommend driving on it.

Always fun to strand the unsuspecting out on the floating ice. I relented after taking the picture and sent the canoe back out to him.