Ok, Folks!
The Ice-Out Contest is officially "over" - except for those of us left to collect, sort, and record all those tickets. We don't have a count yet, so I can't tell you how much money the winner will get this year, but Dave Parker estimated a while back $4,500.

There was a big rush of e-mails on Saturday as a result of the article on our Ice-Out Contest and others, written by the Montepelier Associated Press Bureau's John Curran. Tucky Sancibrian contacted me and said she Googled and found the article (some with Homer's picture, some with a shot of the new flag) in papers all over the country. I had e-mails from Texas, Washington DC, Washington state, the Carolinas, New England states, Illinois - and a bunch I have no idea where they were located. You know how it is with e-mails. I was busy all day Saturday, and spent quite a bit of time on the computer Sunday, too. I now have a bunch of e-mail addresses to add to my "Ice Out Contest" address book, plus we managed to get most of those folks into the contest, and sent our regrets to those who were too late.

Dave will have a count for you later this week. Today, Diane and I will be picking up at our "ice outlets", and for the next few days we will be getting returns in the mail. Dave told me yesterday that Chico is hard at work entering all the ticket information into his data base. As soon as we have at least a ball park count of tickets, I'll let you know.

Right now I need to get on my horse and go collect some tickets.