Another beautiful spring day here at Joe's Pond! I went to Danville to do some errands this morning and found West Shore Road from our house to Rt. 2 is showing signs of mud season. There aren't deep mud-ruts yet, but it's very wet and the shoulders are softening so it's not a good idea to get too far off the beaten track. There isn't as much traffic now the road is getting muddy, and that's a good thing. I met Kate Chatot and her sister from Marshfield as they were walking up towards our turn, and just above Barre Avenue there was another walker coming down the hill. It's lovely weather for walking, but personally, I hate walking in the mud. Best time to go this time of year is very early in the morning . . . but I'm not up for that right away.

At Bill and Diane Rossi's, there were workmen tearing out their walkway, getting ready to redo it. It had some low spots that collect water and ice up in the winter. Other than that, West Shore Road was quiet this morning.

Now there's only one fishing shanty on the ice. While the main pond isn't showing a lot of melting, the temperature is in the high 40's today and when I looked out at the channel at the north end of the pond just now, I realized it is opening up. Just a day or so ago there was hardly any water showing. (See photos above.) The picture on the left was taken on Sunday and the other today.

At right is a picture I took at the fishing access this morning, looking out at the Ice-Out flag. Ray hasn't attached the ropes to the pallet yet; he's waiting for that last shanty to be removed to avoid the possibility of our ropes to the pallet being cut up. I can't imagine how the owners of that shanty way up the lake will get it off - every day it's going to sink further into slush and be harder to move, I would think.

Evelyn (Richer) put a lot of time into designing really nice flags in the past, but after several years experiencing damaged and lost flags as the pallet was being retrieved, she and Ray have simplified the flag - which seems to survive well, and still serves the purpose.

We became curious about last year's Ice-Out Contest winner, Ash Desmond. Fred Googled for him and found this on YouTube: Ash Desmond on YouTube
Click to activate. Fred talked to him today and found out he used a combination of a friend's birth date and some other meaningful numbers for the time. It worked, and he won nearly $5,000! He wouldn't disclose his technique for this year's pick. You never know, some imagination with a little luck can work!

We've been letting our wood stove go out during the last couple of days and during the night, it's been so warm. A quick fire in the morning takes off the chill and as soon as the sun is up and beating in the big windows, we're comfortable until late afternoon. Fred then builds a small fire for the evening. We haven't used nearly as much wood this year - a combination of having done weatherization a year ago last December and the mild winter weather this year.

Things are popping out of the snow around the house - shrubs and high spots or rocks. My garden is still under a blanket of at least a foot of snow, but a few more days like today and that will change, too. It would be nice if some of these clear, warm sunny days could be saved up to use in June and July . . . !

Happy St. Patrick's Day!