We've had a really super day today - I'm not sure how high the temperature actually got, but pretty close to 80, even here at Joe's Pond.  Here's a note I had today from Barbara Pollock who's in Arizona right now - hopefully headed our way very soon:

Dear Jane,

I thought you might be interested in this fact: At 6:14 p.m on April 29th in Cabot, the time in Tucson, Arizona was 3:14 p.m.   It was 100 degrees, the first 100 degree day of the spring.

Then, this morning, at 8:00 a.m. Tucson time it was 61, and in Cabot at 11:00, it was 71.  How about that?  The climate is  changing! --Barbara

Just for fun, I just now checked the temperature in Tucson and at 8 p.m. there it is 68 degrees; at 7 p.m. in Anchorage, Alaska  (they are always on Standard Time), it is 54 degrees; here at 11 p.m. it is 61 degrees.  Really not that much variation.  When I went to Google Weather for West Danville, it gave 69 degrees at 11 p.m., so there's some allowance for elevation or something, I suppose.  We had a sprinkle of rain earlier in the evening, but it didn't amount to much.  We do really need a good wetting.  Everything is pretty dry in the woods until things begin to grow and green up.

Today I noticed what appears to be the very last of the ice having moved through the narrows headed for the dam.  This photo was taken from Route 2 just below the narrows on the middle pond.  All three sections of the pond are ice free and there have been boats out today.  Diane Rossi told me she and Ray Rouleau brought the Ice-Out stuff in because they were afraid a boat might run over the rope which floats but would be hard to see and an unsuspecting boater could have gotten tangled up in it.  Thanks to them for hauling the blocks, flag and rope safely to shore.  No easy task, I'm betting - the blocks are really heavy.  Everything is being put away for another year; we'll soon have 2016 Ice-Out tickets ready to go! 

We're concentrating on getting the newsletter out - it's at the printer's now and we should have it in the mail perhaps by the end of the week. Our summer season is about to begin in earnest!
Whoopee!