Thursday, March 29 - we're in "count-down mode" here at the pond. Diane and I were out picking up and distributing Ice-Out tickets this morning and they are beginning to come in faster now. Anyone planning on waiting until the last minute of April 1 to have a better chance at guessing when the ice will go out will still not have much of an edge on those who mailed in their guesses in July. The weather has been cold and windy - we may be making more ice than there is melting going on. Nights are still cold, and the whole pond has a beautiful clear, glass-like coating of ice where all that snow was (I suspect much of the snow is under this icy crust). Looks pretty solid, still. I took a picture this morning - pretty new red JPA flag is straight out in the wind.

I also took a picture of the Alonso cottage. You can see they are making pretty good progress now. Within a few days there should be a big change. We'll post pictures as progress continues.

I had to stop at Marty's 1st Stop in Danville to put up a silly poster to squelch a silly rumor that the ice had gone out of Joe's Pond. It all started when someone heard a newscast about the snowmobile that went through the ice in the narrows between the big pond an the middle pond. Appaarently in the same newscast there was a mention of the Joe's Pond Ice-Out Contest, and we think that's the way the whole thing got started. The clerks at Marty's said ticket sales dropped considerably after that, so we did up a poster, had Linda Mullallay announce on WSTJ that there's still at least two feet of ice where the pallet is, and we think things will get back to normal now.

While at Marty's, I took a picture - notice the big sign with the animals on it, just to the right of the "porch"? That's announcing they now sell Blue Seal feed for all sorts of animals. Marty is taking up the slack now that Howard's Home and Garden in St. Johnsbury is closed - we don't know for how long.

Bev and Steve Allen were here yesterday to inspect their cottage. They found the drive down to their place still has a foot or two of snow, but they got in ok with snowshoes. When they got home to Ryegate, they sent back a picture of the view from their house - much "springy-er" than Joe's Pond, and notice the "herd" of deer in the distance. They have a little water showing at the edge of their pond, too. Ryegate is south of us, so perhaps that makes a bit of difference, but the elevation is lower, too, which usually makes a difference in snow cover. Thanks to Steve and Bev for a glimpse of spring!