JOE'S POND ICE-OUT ON WCAX-TV TONIGHT
FRIDAY, MARCH 31

HOMER REPORTS KATE DUFFY AND A CAMERA GIRL WERE AT THE POND FOR ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF TODAY. THEIR REPORT WILL BE ON THE 11 O'CLOCK NEWS, BUT HOMER SAID HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT PARTS THEY WOULD USE. HE SAYS THERE ARE STILL ABOUT 20 INCHES OF ICE, IN SPITE OF THE REALLY WARM DAY WE HAD TODAY.

ANOTHER BIT OF NEWS IS THAT THEY POURED CEMENT TO START SUE AND ERIC MARTIN'S HOUSE NEXT DOOR TO HOMER. IT WILL BE NICE FOR HOMER TO HAVE HIS DAUGHTER AND FAMILY NEXT DOOR IN A NICE NEW PLACE. IT'S GOING TO BE A POST AND BEAM CONSTRUCTION AND TRENT FENOFF IN DANVILLE IS THE BUILDER.

THANKS FOR THE UPDATE, HOMER, AND TAKE CARE OF THAT SUNBURN!

BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY

I just had a message from Homer Fitts saying he was out on the ice at around 2 o'clock this afternoon. Here's what he said:

I JUST CAME IN FROM WALKING ON THE ICE AND IT IS STILL 18 TO 19 INCHES THICK OUT BY THE CINDER BLOCK.

PEOPLE FISHING YESTERDAY AND TODAY. EASY WALKING AND DID NOT EVEN SINK INTO ANYTHING AT ALL. JUST LIKE WALKING ON A SIDEWALK.

It surely has been a great day - lots of sunshine and quite warm, in the 50's. There are signs the ice is beginning to pull away from shore a little in some places. There is no point in urging everyone to buy Ice-Out tickets because there are no more. A few have trickled in from Association members who didn't use theirs, and we thank you for getting them to us; however, lots of folks didn't get a ticket, and we are sorry about that. After slow sales early in the month, in the last two weeks tickets have suddenly become non-existant. Who knew?! Good luck to all who did get to join in the fun of the game.

THE FLAG IS UP!

This great picture arrived in my e-mail this morning, courtesy of Evelyn and Ray Richer. Even with their very busy life there on Sandy Beach Road, they are always ready to help out. Can't ask for better friends or more cooperation.

Now that everything is in place we can all sit back and wait for the ice to go out and the winner to be revealed. It's a beautiful spring day today - there's going to be some melting going on for sure. Evelyn told me the ice is 20 inches thick behind the islands, about a foot less than last year at this time. That's a bit more than we measured by Hamilton's (16 inches), but the fishing hole was not far from the mouth of the brook and that would probably have made a difference.

If you don't have your Ice-Out ticket, you may be out of luck for this year. I had a call this morning from Don Walker that he's bringing the last 100 tickets over to West Danville and will distribute them to the outlets here, but that's it for this year. We'll have the 2007 tickets ready to go sometime in May or June. Stay tuned! (Picture by Ray Richer)

WHERE HAVE ALL THE TICKETS GONE?

Joe's Pond Ice-Out tickets are scarce as hen's teeth now. We know there are still un-used tickets out there, and we hope if you have some you don't intend to use you'll get them to Marty's 1st Stop in Danville, the Joe's Pond Country Store or Hasting's Store in W. Danville, Dente's Market or Barre Optical in Barre, or send them to PO Box 111 in West Danville VT 05873 so we can get them out there for those people who've waited too long to buy one. Diane Rossi has been trying to juggle the few remaining tickets to cover our outlets, but unless we come up with a bunch more, her job is about over. Chairman Dave Parker says we won't be printing any more this year, so if you don't have yours by now you won't be in the game this year. Chico is busily entering ticket data onto his computer, the sun is high in the sky and this week promises to be warm and melty, so the final countdown is not far off. We are all watching for the flag to go up marking the location of the block - Kevin or Ray will be attaching that any day now. So get those tickets in - you have only four more days!!

Fred and I went for a walk today and took a picture of the Ice-Out Contest block and pallet - I don't know where the flag is, maybe they just haven't put it out yet. There seems to be plenty of time, though. We talked to Victor Baldwin from St. Johnsbury who was fishing with a buddy, and he measured the depth of ice for us in one of his fishing holes. It measured 16 inches. He said it's pretty consistant on Joe's Pond, but on other lakes the ice depth varies dangerously. He also told us fishing has been pretty slow but commented with a grin, "A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work."

We took both pictures from Bob and Beth Wechsler's deck on Barre Avenue. Click on the pictures to enlarge the view. The picture of the fishermen was taken from the same vantage point but looking west towards West Shore Road. The sky was ominous, as you can see; we had snow this morning, and when we were at the pond the temperature was in the 40's and it sure looked as if a storm of some sort was brewing - perhaps rain. The speck at the left of the second picture is the block and pallet for the Ice-Out Contest, and you can see just the corner of Homer Fitts's house at the far right.

After a brief shortage of tickets, we've rounded up some from folks who weren't going to use them, so we hope to have enough to last until the end of the contest on April 1. There is still time to buy a ticket for $1 and get into the game; but if you have tickets you aren't going to use, please let us know or get them to one of the local stores, Joe's Pond Country Store, Marty's 1st Stop or Hastings, or send them to JPA, PO Box 111, W. Danville VT 05873.

An Interview with Linda Mullallay at station WSTJ

What fun today! Almost at the crack of dawn - well, it was 8 a.m., but the wind was blowing the snow so hard in West Danville it blocked out the daylight and seemed earlier - I met Don Walker at Hasting's Store and we went to St. Johnsbury to the local radio station to talk about the Ice-Out Contest. Linda is good fun, and Don was feeling great and in high spirits, even after having to leave Montpelier so early in the morning. We spent about 40 minutes on the air and Don, "Dr. of Iceology", was in rare form. It was especially good to see that he is recovering so well from his recent heart surgery. He said the doctors are pleased he's making such good progress and he mentioned several times how well he's feeling. Except for having to do physical therapy several times a week, he said he's very much back to normal - maybe has even more energy than before. He'll be ready for tennis with Ned and the guys as soon as the court is clear of snow.

We had some laughs on the air with Linda and we hope at least a few people will join the fun and buy a ticket or two. With the wind howling and temperatures in the teens today, we decided the ice wouldn't be going out any time soon.

On Saturday there was a nice article in the Caledonian about the contest, and a picture of Ray and Kevin putting the pallet and block out on Friday. You'll probably find it on the Caledonian Record's web site. The way they were well bundled up, I'm betting the wind was blowing then, too. Dave should be home from Florida tomorrow, but I haven't heard when Chico is expected back to enter all the tickets onto the computer. Everything is in place now and all we need is some warmer weather to start the melting process again. I think everyone is ready for this strange winter to be over and the ice to go out so we can get started on summer at Joe's Pond.

Above: Sugaring Season on Cabot Plain, the Bolton family heading home after a long day gathering sap and boiling at the sugarhouse. Photos from late 1920's or early 1930's.

CABIN FEVER RELIEF.

I got my e-mailed newsletter, "News From Vermont" from Burr Morse in East Montpelier today. Burr's ramblings are always an antidote for what ails you, and this newsletter made me chuckle. Having navigated our West Shore Road and Route 2 frost heaves two days in a row this week, and having recently experienced Cabot's town meeting, I truly know what Burr was talking about. It was good to know they are boiling over at the Morse Farm, too. I've wondered how the maple producers are doing this year. Apparently all is well in spite of the strange weather. If you haven't check out the Morse Farm web site, go to www.morsefarm.com You'll find where you can read back issues of Burr's newsletter and I guarrantee you'll feel a whole heap better when you're done.

There's a moose following that canoe!

Here's a story about what happened a year ago on about April 19th, 2005. Jason Randall, a student at Lyndon State College and our neighbor, was heading home up West Shore Road when he spotted a good sized moose. The moose went out onto the ice so Jason just kept going. The following morning, he said he looked out where the moose had been standing, looking back at him the day before, and he could see a "hump" quite a distance from shore and realized the moose had gone through the ice. Jason contacted Vermont Fish and Game and a warden came out to look the situation over. There seemed to be no way to retrieve the moose until the ice was gone, and the warden said he'd come back then and see what could be done.

Not wanting the animal to go to waste by rotting in the water, Jason asked if he could have it. The warden agreed, and Jason got in touch with a friend, also a student at LSC, and the two of them brought Jason's canoe to the scene and carefully made their way by breaking the ice for 30 or 40 feet to get to the moose. They got a rope tied onto the carcas and hauled it back to shore, paddling backwards as you can see in the photo taken by neighbor Homer Fitts.

Jason and his friend butchered the animal themselves and split up the meat. According to Jason, he still has a little moose meat left in his freezer, and he said it was real good eating. He said the cold water probably cooled the animal quickly and because he and his buddy were able to retrieve it right away, no harm was done to the meat at all.

Bad ending for the moose, but a happy ending for everyone else. Probably if the two young men hadn't taken the initiative to get the moose out, our local bobcat and other animals would have found it eventually and feasted on it like the two deer that went down on the ice last year. I like that there were no moose remains left to polute the waters of Joe's Pond.

The weather at Joe's Pond
Our spring weather has gone and we're back into winter again with snow, wind and temperatures in the 20's. Pretty typical March weather, and good news for those of us who live on back roads. We had serious mud for a few days. I think it may be good news for the maple sugar makers, too.

Above is a view of the block in front of the Fitts cottage. The rope seen leading to it is attached to the clock on the deck. When the block goes through the ice, the clock disconnects, establishing the official time the ice went out. High tech stuff! Click on the picture to enlarge the image.

The Ice Out Contest
Ray Richer reports the ice on the pond is about 10 inches thick. Not as thick as usual for this time of the year, but there could be some really cold weather to hold the melting process off for a while, it's anybody's guess how the Ice Out Contet will go this year. There is still time to buy your ticket. You have until April 1. (See March 1 entry for where to find tickets.)

Joe's Pond Cook Book Update
For those of you eagerly awaiting the Joe's Pond cook book that workers have been busy putting together for you this winter, the good news is that it's now ready for the printer. It will be available by the Spring Meeting of the Joe's Pond Association. There will be more information in the upcoming newsletter.

Not much is changing here in the north country. Spring is definitely here, bringing us a real variety of weather including even some snow on Thursday. Friday brought snow flurries and some rain later in the day, so it was pretty much a "wash out". Today is beautifully sunny, warmer than normal, and quite windy.
We took the above pictures while on a walk on W. Shore Rd. today. Mud season is here!

When I was a kid we always looked forward to the March winds to help melt the snow and move spring forward. Seems like it brought out my freckles, too. We are thinking the winds and weather we're having now may signal the end of sugaring season. If so, it will have been a pretty short season and you know that means the price of maple syrup will be high this year. You might want to grab some of last year's if you can find it - it'll be just as good now as it was when it was first put into the can - and did you know you can freeze it? I have that on good authority, Glen Goodrich, our neighbor. Glen's family have been making excellent maple products for something like seven generations, so I think they know what they're talking about. Glen says after you open your gallon of syrup, pour what you'll use up in a few weeks into a clean container and store that in your refrigerator. Close the gallon can back up and deposit it in your freezer. It'll keep perfectly even though it's been opened, and when you need to replinish the refrigerator container, the syrup will still pour (it won't freeze solid). This is much easier than the way I used to do it. Once I'd opened my can of syrup for the first time, I would sterilize pint or quart glass jars, bring the syrup to boiling point and pour the hot syrup into the hot jars and seal. That way I could store the individual jars without worrying about mold or fermentation happening. It worked just fine, but it was a lot more work than popping the can into our freezer.

So, happy spring from Joe's Pond. The ice is a-meltin' and the birds are a-singin'. Haven't spotted a robin yet, but I'll bet they fly over every once in a while to see if there's much bare ground at Joe's Pond yet. Once we have enough bare spots for them to find food, they'll be here.
In the meantime, we have lots of other species keeping company in the north country.

This picture shows how ice was harvested in Joe's Pond years ago. Courtesy Jane Larrabee.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Happy March!

This is just a reminder that spring is just around the corner (hard to imagine this morning as the thermometer hovers barely above zero and the wind chill is well below zero), but there are only four weeks and a few days until April 1 when the Ice-Out Contest at Joe's Pond will close. If you don't have Ice-Out tickets yet, or if you have them but simply haven't turned them in (with $1.00 for each, please), it's definitely time to start your selection process. Tickets are available now, but they are beginning to go fast, so be sure not to wait until the last minute. Ask any Joe's Pond Association member and they'll tell you tickets can become scarce as hen's teeth along about the last week of March.

Tips on how to choose a date and time: During these last weeks before the contest closes, serious contestants take into account factors such as recent weather patterns, daily temperature readings, snowmobile traffic, ice-fishing activity, snow depth (hardly any!), wind velocity, global positioning and alignment of the stars, or sometimes personal birthdays or anniversaries. Another aid in your choice of day and time is on the Joe's Pond web site where you'll find a complete list of official dates the ice went out from the beginning of the contest in 1988. Click on "Ice-Out Contest" on the bar at the top of the home page and scroll down for that list. You may discover there's a pattern beginning to show after all these years. Caution: Some of you folks who aren't familiar with Vermont winters may have chosen a date that's already gone by, like March 1st or February 28. In that case, you'll want to fill out another ticket right away and send it with your $1.00 to: JPA, PO Box 111, West Danville VT 05873. Or better yet, cover more possibilities and submit a bunch of tickets for different times and dates. Remember, the more tickets sold, the bigger your check will be if you're the winner!

Ice-Out Contest tickets are available at Hasting's Store (see link on our web site) or Joe's Pond Country Store in West Danville, Marty's 1st Stop in Danville, Barre Optical or Dente's Market in Barre, any member of the Joe's Pond Association, or contact me, janebrown@pivot.net and I'll see that you get however many you need.

Tickets must be in by April 1, so it's time to get serious!

P.S. - If you are interested in how the contest in Goshen, MA is progressing, go to their web site, www.egoshen.com. I've just received an interesting newsletter from Bob Labrie about their "2006 Meltdown", and if you'd like to see it, contact him at bslabrie@msn.com.

Here's an interesting web site to try out: www.realage.com

Do the personal assessment by clicking on the red "Real Age Test" button at the top of the page. Be as truthful and precise as possible. It'll take a few minutes, but it's fun to do. After I took the test (and I'm not telling what my "real age" turned out to be), I signed up for the health tips which come daily to my e-mail and are pertinent to my personal profile. We know most of this stuff because we've heard it from our health care professionals, but it's interesting to have a slightly different approach. I really like being alerted to new studies regarding my specific health concerns. The really fun part is to watch the years drop off when you modify your habits. Good luck, be healthy, and get younger every day!