It's snowing lightly here tonight and we're expecting a fair amount by morning, but we've heard that before and been disappointed - or relieved, depending on whether you're having to deal with it plowing, driving, snow blowing, etc., or enjoying it under your skis or snowmobile. Since lots of kids are on school vacation this week, there will probably be more cheers than groans as the white stuff increases.

We got the new handle for the wood stove yesterday and Fred installed it late this afternoon. Woody helped. It's funny how whenever we bring something new into the house he shows up to inspect it thoroughly and has to be in the middle of whatever is going on. He can be sound asleep when we come into the house and we think he isn't even aware we're there, but as soon as we unwrap a package or even quietly begin to do something unusual, he's wide awake and nosey.

I had a message from Bob Labrie in Goshen, MA, who six years ago contacted us for direction on setting up an Ice-Out Contest. Their contest closes on April 1, like ours; but because their weather at Hammond Pond is different from ours at Joe's Pond, the flag drops earlier, in fact in 2006 it went out the evening of April 1.
I would worry the flag would go down before the contest was officially over . . . and that could be a problem, I'd guess.

Someone said today they think because the ice is about 5 inches less than it was at about this time last year our contest may be over earlier than usual. Well, that depends. If we get lots of snow and then warm weather so there's lots of runoff from the surrounding hills, it might melt sooner; or if we get lots of snow it may insulate the ice; or we could get some really cold weather in the next few weeks and add to the ice. It's really hard to tell. That's what makes the contest such fun. There really isn't any such thing as an "educated guess" in this contest. There are too many variables. Vermont weather is not predictable except that each year is always different than the ones before.

I talked to our grand daughter, Jo-Ann this afternoon. She's home on vacation and has most days pretty much filled with activities with friends. She and her folks went to visit friends in Norwich, Vermont over the weekend and went skiing. She's been going skiing with her classmates at Waterford School and Bill said she's already getting to be a pretty good little skier. Bill hasn't been on skis for years, so this was an especially fun time for him - now he has a daughter to ski with! The friends in Norwich have a daughter about Jo-Ann's age, and a younger son, and their father is an enthusiastic skier. I'm not sure if the moms are that excited about it - perhaps they just enjoy having "girl time" and don't ski.

We'll be getting out the shovels and plows tomorrow, so all of you down south who have been pounded with tons of snow these past weeks can picture us finally getting some of the action. I'm sure the skiers, boarders and snowmobilers will follow the snow and be happily engaged here this weekend, if not before. Snow is good!