Another spring-like day!

We are getting some really nice weather and the snow is melting away rapidly where the afternoon sun hits. From our house, as we look across the pond to the fields along Rt. 15, there are many patches of bare ground, and Davidson Road is a black ribbon, often glinting with wetness (that's spelled M-U-D) in the afternoon sun. On the west side of the lake, we still have 18-20 inches of snow in most places. In the woods, it's deeper than that, and not much melting is taking place. There is water on the ice, but nowhere near breaking up yet. The channel is open in some places, and that means there will be open water in Loon Cove fairly soon. This nice weather is going to be in place for the next few days, with freezing nights, so maple sap should be running nicely. (The photo is West Shore Road, and it's pretty typical of all back roads right now. So far it's been better than some years, but it will probably be worse in another week or two.)

I've had an inquiry by John Curran, an Associated Press reporter out of Montpelier who recently did an article about the possible effects of global warming here in the Northeast Kingdom. John will be doing an article on our Ice-Out contest and would like to contact people from distant places who are entered in the contest. He's interested in how these people heard about it - that sort of thing. If any of you would like to be included, let me know and I'll have him contact you. I'll keep you posted about when the article comes out.

Time is running out for the Ice-Out Contest. If you still haven't filled in your ticket, or if you need tickets to buy or sell, there's still time if you do it right away. I can still get tickets to most of you so you can turn your guesses in before the deadline of April 1, so let me know if you need tickets. We've sent out dozens this past week, and next week will be even busier, I'm sure. If you are within listening distance of radio station WSTJ in St. Johnsbury, don't forget to listen in on Tuesday morning between 8:30 and 9 when chairman Dave Parker and Don Walker will be on the air being interviewed by Linda Mullallay. And for those who are out of range of WSTJ, I'll let you know how "The Dave and Don Show" goes!