Dreary day outside.  We awoke to trees white with rime and a temperature barely above freezing and fog obscuring the hilltops.  The air gradually warmed and around noon the fog had mostly lifted but there was a misty off-an-on rain.  The day brightened and got a little warmer in the afternoon, but the sun never really broke through the clouds.

That didn't matter because when we went to the village about mid-morning, Cabot road crew had fixed the mud holes in front of Decker's and the washboard on the flat at Hamilton's.   When we came back, they were working on the flat near Rossi's and Mason's.  That was enough to make us very happy.  However, Danville still hasn't done anything about their end of West Shore Road.  It gets worse every day - but I know they are having a hard time keeping up with the muddy roads in their town.

Fred stopped in at Three Ponds when we were in the village.  We wanted to find out if they have a firm opening date, and Lynda told him they are opening on - April 14th.  The plan is to be open Thursday through Monday, but I'm thinking they wanted to avoid opening on April 13th.  Just a guess - I know some folks are wary of 13 anything.  We'll be glad to have the place open.  Diane Rossi and I are going to check out breakfast there soon.

Tomorrow we're expecting some serious rain in the afternoon and colder temperatures during the weekend, but the following week looks like one of those heat wave cycles, so that should get some serious spring going around here.  Right now it doesn't look very promising with all the snow.  There are 101 inches of snow at the stake on Mt. Mansfield; last year there were only 28 on this date.
Imagine what a week's worth of very warm weather is going to do to all that snow.  There is bound to be high water everywhere in the valleys.  We still have about 18 inches on the ground here, and that will be running into Joe's Pond before it cascades down Joe's Brook heading for the Connecticut.  Molly's Pond will be emptying mostly into the Winooski and eventually Lake Champlain.  I say "mostly" because the water at the south end of the pond flows into Molly's Falls Dam and the Winooski River.  Water in the marshes at the north end of Molly's Pond ends up in Joe's Pond.  There's a little brook that one can follow through the wetlands in back of Ned and Carolyn Hamilton's tennis court that is fed from that marsh area at Molly's.  

In the meantime, all tickets have been collected from the Ice-Out Contest and Henretta is busy transferring all the information to a spread sheet.  Henretta had the misfortune of getting a bad cold bug a while back - one that has kept her coughing and feeling miserable for a matter of several weeks.  But she is busy at her computer now and will have all the tickets input long before the block sinks and the clock stops, I'm sure.  We also have to be sure all expenses are accounted for before we calculate the split.  We'll let everyone know how many tickets were sold and what the split will be as soon as we can.