We just came back from a very nice walk along W. Shore Road heading north, and down Deeper Ruts Road. We hadn't been out that way for some time - besides, we wanted to stay out of the wind. We have a very brisk wind out of the west today. If the old adage is right that "sap runs the best when the wind's in the west," there should be a good run today.

There actually weren't any deep ruts on Deeper Ruts Road. Our roads haven't begun to break up yet, but when they do, that name is really appropriate. I suspect Cecil and Elaine Metcalf who live on that road had a say in what to name it a few years ago when the towns had to name all their roads for Emergency 9-1-1 mapping. It used to be known as Harrington Rd. or McCormick Rd., then after those two families left, Platt Rd. because the Platts lived there. Soon after that, the Metcalfs built there, also the Wagners have a summer home, and eventually the Platt place was sold to Israel and Cathie Helfand, so what it was called sort of depended on how old the person talking was.

You'll see in the slide show pictures of several brooks that are breaking out of the snow as we begin the spring melt. All of these brooks (at least five along our walk today) run into Joe's Pond from Cabot Plain and eventually flow south into the Connecticut. There are other brooks that run off Cabot Plain that flow into the Winooski and eventually into Lake Champlain. Cabot Plain is a continental divide. I was once told that Molly's Pond over on Rt. 2 has outlets going both directions - a small brook runs into Joe's Pond, and the larger one, called Molly's Brook, empties into the Winooski.

Here are some of the pictures we took today. You'll also notice the first picture is of the pond - Fred took that this morning when a couple of fishermen were out behind the big island. You can see water on the ice. I also noticed this afternoon there is a distinct definition of the channel showing at the north end of the pond. It hasn't opened up and there's no water showing, but it doesn't look quite the same as it has. It won't be long before it opens, though, and that will begin the real melting process for the pond.
Sunday Walk