It's March 1st, time to get serious about the Ice-Out Contest. As most of you know, the deadline to get your tickets in is April 1, so if you haven't thought about those tickets in a while, it's time to dig them out and pick some dates and times. If you need tickets, contact me or send a note to JPA, PO Box 111, W.Danville VT 05873. Diane Rossi and I promise to keep you and the following outlets supplied:

Caplan's Army Store, Peter Glenn Ski Shop, and St. Jay Hardware in St. Johnsbury; Thurston and Dimick, near Howard's in St. Johnsbury Center; Marty's First Stop, Danville; Hasting's Store, W. Danville; Harry's TruValue in Cabot; Walker Ford and Walker Volkswagon in Montpelier; Dente's Market, Hope Cemetery, Barre Optical, Berg, Carmolli & Kent Ins., and Yankee Clipper Barber Shop in Barre.

To recap some of the history of this rather strange winter, the pond froze over about one month later than usual. It was after Christmas before the whole of the pond was frozen in. Soon afterwards, though, we began to get really cold weather. I mean, that well-below-zero kind of sticks-your-nostrils-together, finger numbing, toe freezing serious cold and unrelenting winds that chill you to the bone. We began to see trucks and cars out on the ice as the ice fishermen set up their shacks and tents, and personally, I worried whether the ice was thick enough to hold them, (but who would know better than those guys who are drilling holes through the ice how thick it is and if it's safe?) and wondered why in the world anyone would want to be out there anyway in the bitter cold. But all has gone well and now there's a really deep snow cover after the Valentine's Day storm dumped a couple of feet on us.

I've been meaning to go out and ask how thick the ice is, but I hesitated to leave the comfort of my car or son Bill's cozy living room at camp, so I was particularly gratified to learn from Doug Button at Hasting's Store today that the official report from the fishermen is the ice is (now pay attention!!) thirty-six inches thick. That's right, 36 inches! I don't know how that compares to other years, but it's gotta be right up there with most of them. We're presently expecting a sloppy mix of sleet, snow and who knows what else beginning tonight. Reports are up to a foot of heavy, wet stuff before it's over, perhaps Saturday. So winter is still with us here at Joe's Pond, and it's anybody's guess how this next storm will influence the ice covering the pond.

I hope this has been helpful to you for whatever calculations you do to pick a winning date and time for the ice to go out. By the way, it's too soon to put the block out, but we're thinking about it . . . and remember that you can check the winning dates for all previous years by clicking on "Ice-Out Contest (Including Ticket Information)" on the home page. GOOD LUCK!

P.S. - The photo isn't of the pond, but I thought the snow patters were interesting. It was taken of the big field beyond our house where the horses are, and you'll be happy to know the horses are weathering winter very well.