Well, it looks as if we've had our One Day of Spring and we're back into winter. When I looked out this morning and saw everything covered with snow again, I was honestly surprised. I know I shouldn't have been - this is still March, right? But yesterday was so nice, we could even see melting going on! I really thought we'd broken the back of old man winter. That's a pretty violent expression, isn't it? I don't feel violent - I'm just disappointed when I look out my window and it's still snowing, the pile of snow obstructing my view of our back yard is growing, not shrinking, snow is still two thirds of the way up the back door of the garage, and every time I look out at our clump of birches by the driveway I wonder how many branches will survive the heavy load of ice and snow piled around them.

However, we're thankful for a really nice day yesterday. We went to town to pick up mail, shop, and also redistributed Ice-Out tickets. These are the last days of the contest and tickets are scarce as hen's teeth. It happens every year. Some outlets sell more than others, so Dave, Diane and I try to take from the don't-sell-many outlets and give tickets to the ones that sell huge numbers. This year with the printable tickets on the web site, we're in far better shape than we might be. Yesterday marked a week since Fred put them on the site, and we've had more than we've expected come in already. I counted over 100 in the mail yesterday. We visited most of the outlets in this area yesterday, and Fred took pictures along the way. He spent quite a bit of time scouting out all the neat stuff at Diamond Hill - took lots of pictures; we picked up some tickets left over from Kiwanis from son Bob at AG Edwards, and then dropped in at St. Jay Hardware and Caplans. On our way back, Fred took pictures of the construction site at Marty's 1st Stop. Here's our trip in a slide show. You can see it really looked like spring . . .Our One Day of Spring

We have been busy this morning. WCAX called and will be doing a segment on Tuesday morning about our Ice-Out Contest. Fred went down to take pictures of them interviewing at Hastings Store and, hopefully, Homer. We may be able to link you to that after it has played. Also, John Curran from the AP in Montpelier called - we may get a mention in another article he's doing, although it may not come out right away and the story line is about our unusual winter, not the contest. He asked me if we are making ice or melting it. I guess you know what I told him.

I'm sure spring is just around the corner and we'll lose all this white stuff eventually - and probably in a big hurry. In an e-mail today, Bev and Steve Allen were wondering if the town could perhaps break through the snowbank at the entrance of Meadow Lane so folks would be able to use the road sooner. I think it's going to be a problem, getting into roads around the pond, but once things start melting, the ice and snow will go fast.

Don't forget that you can print tickets from the web site, www.joespondvermont.com - just click on the little red flag and you're there.