ANOTHER WINTERY BLAST ABOUT TO HIT JOE'S POND.

That's what the forecasters are telling us today. The temperatures dropped last night into the low teens. The good news is that the muddy roads are all solid again - I didn't say they are smooth, just solid - no mud holes! There was a bit of flooding this week in some communities in the valleys near brooks and rivers, but we've been ok here at the pond.

The not-so-good news is that we're due about a foot of wet snow, beginning late this afternoon or tonight. Unless it warms up quite a lot, we may not have such wet stuff, and that might prevent power outages from snow-laden limbs downing electric lines, but a foot of anything right now is going to add to the misery of just about everyone except the skiers. At least the road ruts will be temporarily filled!

Oh, yes, the photos. That gigantic log pile Fred has been working at is now mostly all blocked ready for splitting. Today he began splitting - and the way I see it, the pile only seems to get bigger! He's satisfied that progress has been made, though, and he's looking forward to having lots of good hard wood on hand to heat our house with next winter. Is it all worth the work? You'll have to ask him after the job is done.

We had a nice front-page article in the Caledonian Record today about the Ice-Out Contest. There should be articles in the other newspapers any day, too. Diane says ticket sales are really picking up and we expect the next couple of weeks to be kind of hectic. Remember that the deadline to have your ticket(s) in is April 1.

Have a great St. Patrick's Day, and watch out for those little green leprechauns!!

P.S. - I nearly forgot to mention that Evelyn Richer has found out the "lost" cat in their garage belongs to Jeff Downs, the new owner of the log cabin at the head of Sandy Beach Road (where the Bodach-Turners lived). I guess having moved to the north country may have befuddled the poor cat; but hopefully she will be reunited with her owner now.