We're busy here at the pond today. At Hastings Store people are buying Ice-Out tickets and turning in their picks;at Cabot's True-Value Hardware they ran out of tickets today, so Fred made a quick trip there with 50 more. That was about all I dared give them because I don't have many left - perhaps 35 or so - and I like to have a few in case someone else runs out. Of course, now that they are available on the web site, it's easy to print more, but we also want to use up all our regular tickets, too.

I had a call this morning from Fox News 44 TV in Colchester, and because I couldn't reach either Homer or Dave Parker, Fred and I went to meet her and did the interview. It was cold. The wind was whipping down the pond right out of the north. Fred took pictures as Courtney Davis, Chief Photojournalist for Fox News and I talked, and here we are, wind blown and cold. Courtney did a great job, and having no one with her, had to manage the camera as well as ash me questions.

We left the pond as soon as we could and took her to Hastings Store where she wanted to film picking up tickets. The tickets had been picked up earlier by Bill and Diane Rossi, but by noon when we were there, there were already more, so she wasan't disappointed. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos in the store - we were busy talking with some customers and with Diane. When Fred and I left the parking lot, Courtney was taking pictures of the water under the bridge. The picture on the right was as we were leaving - you can tell it's cold!

Those of you who are in the area can watch the interview tonight on Channel 22 news at 7 o'clock, or on Channel 44 news at 10 o'clock.

I spoke with Tara Rogerson, Cabot's town clerk today. I wanted to find out if she had found an assistant clerk to take Velma White's place. Tara told me they got about 25 applications and they are still going through the selection process. She thinks by the end of next week a decision should be made. I'll check back with her then.

Although we've had some rain and warmish weather over the weekend, the roads are very good. There are some dips where culverts run under the road, and some pot holes on the flat coming off Rt. 2. The culverts always thaw out first and that leaves humps on either side where the road is still heaved up with frost. It's also a little muddy right at the end of Chatot Road where that ledge is - it's bad there every year. I think one of the road crew once told me it's a combination of a ledge and underground springs, so there isn't much they can do.

With all the snow that's around to melt, I expect the water table is pretty high and near the pond that can be a problem. I remember several years when the road from Chatot Road to Barre Avenue and even up the hill to Rt. 2 was virtually impassable. We were living at camp then and would leave the car either at the farm as you come off Rt. 2, or sometimes at the fishing access. Fred would drop me off at the top of W. Shore Road so I could get supper started and he'd take the car over and then walk home. It was one of those years that did a couple of our neighbors in. One gal from Arkansas was living with her husband on Brickett's Crossing Rd. and she got stuck repeatedly. First snow and ice, and then mud. She left him, they got a divorce, and finally he moved away, too. Another case was Dr. Bassett who lived where the Pupinos now live. Doc Bassett was on call at the hospital in St. Johnsbury and often had to go out in the middle of the night. The first year he was here he got a four-wheel drive vehicle, but the next year even that got stuck a couple times. He moved his family to St. Johnsbury. They come back to visit, but only in the summer . . .

We had some bad spots last year, too. It was really bad in front of Mason's on West Shore Road and on the hill by Gardner's. On the other side of the pond, North Shore Road was a sea of mud. Since last year was a pretty bad mud year it would be really nice if we could expect a little mercy this year, but I guess it really doesn't work that way. Sorry.