First of all, it's 10 degrees and snowing in spite of weak sunshine. No change there.

So let's start the day off right with this from Steve and Bev Allen down in Ryegate, Vermont:

Inclement Day

An observant chap died one day and was waiting in a very long line for judgment. He noticed that some people, after they went through the line, were able to go through Heaven's Gates. Others were lining up behind Satan who was throwing most of them into the eternal fires of hell.
Every once in while, though, instead of tossing a poor soul into the fire, he would toss him/her to one side. After watching for hours, the fellow could not resist. He gave up his place in line and went over and tapped Satan on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, sir," he said. "I'm supposed to be in line for judgment, (he didn't want Satan to mistake him for someone who had already been condemned to hell) but I couldn't help but wonder why some of these people are being tossed aside instead of into the fires of hell?"
"Oh," Satan said with a snicker. "Those are people from Vermont Maine, and New Hampshire. These days they're too cold and wet to burn….. "

That just goes to prove, there's some good in everything. Even miserable Vermont weather . . . !

*****

Over the weekend, I had some questions about the Ice-Out Contest. Most of you know it's in the final weeks now - the Contest officially closes on April 1, 2008. That leaves just three weeks to get your tickets. There is complete information on the web site, www.joespondvermont.com, if you go to "Ice-Out Info" on the menu at the left side of home page, all the information is there, including where to get tickets locally as well as from the web site. You'll also find the history of the contest in "The Ice-Out Contest and How it Grew" and a list of dates and times the ice went out each year of the contest and who the winners were. If you still have questions, contact me.

We've had great cooperation from our JPA members - more of you than ever are distributing tickets for us. We really appreciate that so many of you who are waiting out the winter in warm climes take the time to involve friends and strangers by giving them tickets.

We've also had a good response to Dave Parker's interview on Sirius Radio on the Jay Thomas Show. Nearly every day I get one or two contacts either by surface mail or e-mail mentioning the show. I'm guessing the show is big in Canada - I've had some requests for tickets from there. If any of you know radio personalities in your area who might give our contest a plug, give them a call and tell them about us, or have them contact me. I will put them in touch with someone to interview or will provide copy for them to use on the air. Same thing with newspapers. You are our best advertising, so talk it up!

Now I'm off to make contact with some of our ticket outlets to see if they have plenty of tickets. I have Cabot, Walden and St. Johnsbury; Diane Rossi covers Danville and West Danville; Dave Parker keeps the Barre-Montpelier area supplied. We make a good team. When Chico Carcoba gets back from Florida, he'll have his work cut out for him entering all the ticket stubs that have been returned. I heard from him last week - he's enjoying the warm weather while he can. He won't come back to Barre for a few more weeks.

I also had this information from Evelyn Richer. Some of you know that it's Ray and Evelyn who put the apparatus out on the ice, but the way things are going weatherwise, it won't be right away. Here's what Evelyn says -

Just a mini note on the ice-out pallet set-up... Ray won't have a specific date set for that, but the goal is to wait until the ice shanties are gone (for the safety factor regarding the rope; so it doesn't get severed by the snow machines while
pulling the shanties off the ice...) and he will try to pick the best
weather day... (Not like last year...)  He would love to have it in without
fanfare if possible... but anyway... that's the plan...Hard to believe the ice could be out in 7 weeks or so....

In case you aren't aware of how things went last year when Ray and Evelyn put out the pallet, the weather was terrible (see the slide show for pictures of the event) and Ray had "help" from a young reporter. Imagine trying to work and being recorded and photographed all at the same time? I think that was also the year their truck wouldn't start, so cold, wet and discouraged, they walked home. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if they could have just walked up the lake, but due to the warmish weather we'd had, they didn't trust the ice so had to go down Rt. 2 and then up W. Shore Rd. - that's at least a couple miles. I think Ray traded in that truck within days. We'll hope things go MUCH better for them this year. Every year is an adventure . . .