Our next storm (dare we hope it will be our last for this year?) is presently in progress. Fred has just come in from clearing our driveway and reports about six inches since it began around 9 a.m.

It's fairly wet and heavy and we could likely be without power at some point. The forecast is for the snow to change to rain in most places (perhaps not here at Joe's Pond, at least not as soon as lower elevations). The rain will help melt away our snow pack but could mean some flooding in the valleys; or here at Joe's Pond, we could just get more snow. By Sunday it looks as if we'll be getting warmer weather, so we're all thinking there may be an end in sight.

In the meantime, here are some pictures Fred and I took yesterday when we walked on W. Shore Road. We agreed, however, we probably won't be walking there for a while because of the mud. The road is very rough, lots of potholes and there have been muddy spots, but overall, they haven't been all that bad - so far. The additional snow may keep the frost from coming out of the roads too quickly, but will add to the runoff and moisture and then warm weather and rain could wreak havoc. We could be facing serious mud - not fun to walk or drive in - but we're hoping this long, drawn out spring may have the advantage that our roads won't get much worse than they have been. Every town here in the north country is faced with the same problems this time of the year. While some of the roads aren't bad, others are nearly impassable. It seems to depend on how deep the frost has gone, where the underground springs are, the weather, amount of travel on them, etc. Best to stay off them if you possibly can.

By the way - I'm not going to take any pictures of this storm. I'm tired of pictures of snow - I know you all must be, too. I'll try to keep you posted on how much we get here, and later on how fast it's disappearing, but unless there's something very unusual happening - no more snow pictures until October!