We hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and St. Patrick's Day, wherever you are.

We are basking in bright sunshine today - the temperature has been in the 20s and there's still a cold wind, but the only snow in the air is what blows off the trees or sifts across a snowbank.  And there are plenty of snowbanks around!  We got a total of about 26 inches of snow from this storm - not as much as some areas west of us and in the mountains, but more than we really needed this late in March.  There is no big warmup in our immediate future, so we'll be stuck with this snow for a while.

We're heading into the last two weeks of the Ice-Out Contest, so be sure you get your tickets in.  The contest closes at 11:59 p.m. on April 1st, and if your ticket isn't here by then or doesn't have a postmark on or before that date, it will not be considered.  Our outlets will sell and accept your tickets until close of business on Saturday, April 1st.  The web site printable and pay-on-line tickets will no longer be available after 11:59 p.m. April 1.  From then on  we wait for the sun to warm things up, melt the ice and let the block fall!  We'll announce the date and time the clock stops here on the blog, on the website Ice-Out Page, and through local media as soon as it happens.  We will announce the winner(s) as soon as we have verified all the information.  That usually takes at least a few days.  Good luck!