Message from Chico Carcoba, our logger-man. Chico puts all the Ice-Out ticket information into the computer so we can find the winner when the clock stops:

I HAVE JUST FINISHED ENTERING ALL THE 2008 TICKETS. WHAT JOB.! THIS WILL BE BANNER YEAR IN TICKET SALES.FINAL TOTAL SOLD HAS BEEN CONVEYED TO MR. DAVE PARKER.I WILL LET THE NUMBERS BE TOLD BY ICE MAN DAVE. WHAT A JOB HE DID.!!!!
LET THE ICE GO SOON ,SO I CAN OPEN UP MY CAMP ON NOT SO FAMOUS WOODBURY POND. AS ALWAYS,NORTH MONTPELIER GOES OUT AND 10 DAYS LATER WOODBURY GOES OUT AND 13 MORE DAYS JOE'S GOES. MY PREDICTION IS THE SAME FOR LAST 14 YEARS I HAVE BEEN TALLYING THE JOE'S POND ICE OUT.CHICO

There you have it - the formula for figuring out when the ice will go out. We just need to wait for North Montpelier's ice to go and begin the countdown.

Dave reported just over 12,000 tickets were sold this year. This kept Chico pretty busy - I guess he knows now his April Fool's Day prank on me backfired! I have POWERS, Chico!! Actually, I think our contest this year benefitted from all the straange weather we had. People everywhere were tired of winter and our Ice-Out game was a fun way to ease the tension. As Dave said last night, "now all we have to do is wait." We're going to have very warm weather for the next three days, and then on Sunday perhaps some rain, so things should be melting big time by the end of this week.