We're buttoning up another mild spring day here.  This picture was taken yesterday morning before we had some rain that left us with spotty snow in some places and at our house about an inch on the ground - just enough to make it white, but there are tufts of grass showing and no snow around the base of trees or rocks. We've had more snow on the ground in April most years.  Yesterday West Shore Road was coated with ice, but we had a very warm night and some rain that took care of most of the ice and left the ice on the pond covered with water.  So far no troublesome mud on our roads, but that could happen.


It's been a little crazy around our house because we have been getting inquiries like, "Is there ice on the pond?" and "Will there be an Ice-Out Contest this year?"

Well, yes, and yes!!  We have ice - shanties are in place and fishermen have been drilling holes for fishing.  We have good information that there's "plenty of ice," and most of us are pretty confident there is still some winter weather waiting for us in the near future regardless of temperatures in the 40s and 50s daytimes.  There's hardly any snow on the ground and water covering the ice on the pond.  But tonight it's already below freezing and the forecast is for colder weather and perhaps even some measurable snow!!  That will be interesting.  The Ice-Out committee did a quick assessment of the situation today to decide if we should put the block out early, just in case; however, Larry Rossi, who is in charge of the block, says let's wait a bit, and we agreed that's a good plan.  There must be more winter waiting for us soon.  We don't like to get things set up too soon because there's a good chance the ropes could be cut by a snowmobile.  And we'd feel a little foolish if we got a couple feet of snow and the flag was buried!  So we're counting on Mother Nature to not pull any nasty tricks on us.


The web cams are operating!  Diane got everything lined up today and Fred has a link on the website.  Remember that you need to log on using your Internet Explorer browser as that's the only way you will be able to access the web cams.  People are looking for tickets, so we're getting them to our outlets a little earlier than usual this year.  Diane is getting them to some of the outlets in Barre tomorrow and I will be distributing in the St. Johnsbury area next Thursday.  I will plan to have them available in Cabot and Walden perhaps this weekend.  It seems to us there's an unusual amount of interest this year, so it could be even bigger than last year.   We'll keep you posted, both here and on home page.  Printable tickets are available on line (joespondvermont.com) and pay on-line tickets will be available on March 1st.  The contest is definitely going to happen.  This will be our 29th year that there has been a Joe's Pond Ice-Out Contest, and looks like it's going to be a doozie.