I've had lots of very interesting mail recently, thanks mostly to the AP article that went nation wide. This contact is a result of the press release I sent out to the Hardwick Gazette. I think you'll find it interesting. Here's the message, and our thanks to Elizabeth Dow:

Hello,

Last January, my husband and I bought a house in Hardwick, and I've started reading the Hardwick Gazette. We were tickled by the story in the 3/21 issue about the ice-out, but it arrived too late for us to join the fun.

A colleague of mine spent 20 years in Alaska, and I thought she would appreciate the story. She, in turn, pointed me to this site, which I pass along: Alaska
May a good person win.

Elizabeth H. Dow
Associate Professor
School of Library and Information Science
Louisiana State University

*****

The weather here at Joe's Pond tonight is wintery. We've had "snow showers" all day, blanketing us with three or four inches of snow, making the paved highways mighty slippery, and causing our back roads to turn to ribbons of ruts filled with muddy slush. The snow masks the mud holes so it's no longer possible to pick any "best route" through the muck, and "riding the ridges" is impossible - drivers just have to take a leap of faith and risk bottoming out in a pool of disgusting slop. Looks like it isn't going to get better any time soon, either. The forecast is for this kind of weather through the weekend and into next week.

What is happening to the ice on the pond, you ask? Today there was a lot of open water showing in both narrows, and the ice has opened up under the bridge in West Danville. That is the first to go - a strip will open from the narrows to the bridge, then the "first" pond will open and shortly after, the middle pond. The big pond where the flag is hasn't shown any signs of breaking up as far as I can tell. The channel at the head of the pond is open, and where the brooks run into the pond there is open water. The ice otherwise seems to be generally pretty solid, (but I wouldn't want to venture out onto it!) and if spring is moving in our direction, it's coming slowly, so we'll appreciate nice weather all the more. Stay tuned.