ALL GASSED UP WITH NO PLACE TO GO

BAYFIELD COASDT GUARD'S BIG BOAT STILL NOT IN THE WATER

Wednesday, 9:00 AM.  42 degrees F, wind NE, variable with occasional strong gusts.  The sky is still mostly overcast but it is clearing and should be a nice day.  There was a trace of rain earlier that freshened things up.  The humidity is down to 77% and the barometer is still trending down, and now stands at 29.98".  It is a quiet morning except for a totally raucous pileated woodpecker who is demanding attention in the woods across the road.
   I am still cleaning up the yard from the winter's depredations.  The weather has remained cold and wet and the work is difficult.  Even just raking the grass, which is full of wet leaves, sand and general debris, takes considerable effort.  I have not been in a cheerful mood, but things are looking up this morning.
   The lingering ice pack is really curtailing any kind of water sport activity; usually the Seagull Bay Motel parking lot would be full of sport fishing boats on trailers, and sailboaters would be in town working on their boats.  Bigger commercial fishing tugs can get through to open water beyond the Apostle Islands, but there's zero chance of smaller boats negotiating the lingering ice.
   When we travelled to Rhinelander on Monday we saw that most of the inland lakes along the route were still ice bound as well, and we encountered more than one pickup truck towing a fishing boat, the  disconsolate  driver looking in vain for open water.  Bill Peterson of the Bayfield Marina says business is lousy, just when it should be picking up.  That said, area hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, taverns and restaurants had one of the best winters on record due to the phenomenal visitation to the ice caves.  The ice giveth and the ice taketh away.
  And with no sport fishing going on in the Islands the Bayfield Coast Guard boats are still ashore, all gassed up with no place to go.