We are sad to report the death of Frank DeForge, long-time Joe's Ponder.  Frank was an avid fisherman and before his wife, Elsie, passed away, the two of them were first out in the spring and last to pack up their gear in the fall. We extend our sincere sympathy to Frank's family.  He will be sadly missed by them as well as his many friends.

We want to remind Ice-Out web cam watchers that you must use Internet Explorer as your browser.  Using IE, go to www.joespondvermont.com, click on webcam, and follow directions.  Following the link above won't work as my blog is in Google.  These are not your regular web cams, but actually security cameras at Bill and Diane Rossi's home where the Ice-Out apparatus is set up.  They were kind enough to provide them for use during the Ice-Out Contest.  From time to time you may find they are not operating.  They have been finicky this spring, and Diane has been in touch with on-line technicians trying to figure out the problem, but so far not much luck.  So keep trying.  They are up and down.  

Fortunately, Bill and Diane are on hand pretty much 24/7 to monitor the clock and setup, and if they are away, Fred and I will be on hand, so when the clock stops, we will post the information immediately, whether the cameras are operating or not.  For years we functioned very well by visually checking the clock twice each day, so the contest is not compromised in any way by the cameras being temperamental.  We acknowledge it's fun to be able to check the flag, temperature and weather here at the pond by going to the webcams, and we are doing everything possible to keep them operating.  It is no doubt frustrating for you, but it's equally or perhaps more frustrating for us.  Please be patient.

Our weather today is not as bright or as warm as the past few days have been, but that's a good thing.  It will slow down the melting and let the frost come out of the ground more gradually so perhaps there will be less mud in the roads, and it lets the ground absorb much needed moisture rather than having water flowing off the hillsides into the pond and down the rivers, causing flooding.  I don't believe it got below freezing last night.  That would have been good for sugar makers, but I suspect sugaring season is fairly well finished for many.  It was short this year - we hope also sweet.