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.