I'm sure you are all wondering if our streak of nice weather is still with us - and I have to tell you, it is! Right now we're almost hoping we could get back to more seasonal weather. I said "almost." Here's the thing: we really enjoy the nice warm weather and all the snow going, but . . . our Ice-Out Contest could get really messed up IF the clock should stop BEFORE the close of the contest, April 1st.

We will just have to wait and see what happens. There is much colder weather in the forecast, and that will slow things down a bit. Here's a tip, though: when we went to Thurston Auto to see Bill (Dimick) and pick up Ice-Out tickets, he told us Stiles Pond, just east of St. Johnsbury, looks about ready to open up, and the ice there usually goes out two weeks before Joe's. That's cutting it awfully close.

We enjoyed our interview at radio station WSTJ, but right off the bat Don Mullallay started our interview by saying a lot of folks are wondering if the ice will go out early. Heck, it's still anybody's guess. All this early out talk just makes things more interesting. We didn't get to talk with Josh on the FM sister station. There was a conflict there, so Don had us come on his program a little early. I was glad Fred was there to field some of the questions and fill in the gaps. We had a good time, though and it's always fun to chat with Don. I won't tell you how many years I've known him, but it's been a while. He and I did a remote for an auto show at the armory in St. Johnsbury, I remember, and maybe some other events. It was so long ago it's hard to recall. I was hired at the station as a bookkeeper, wrote scripts for ads when needed, and for a while was Dean Finney's secretary; but now and then they needed someone to help out on the air and I got to do that, too. Great fun. That was when it was WTWN, with sister stations in Newport (WIKE) and Springfield, VT. (WNIX). Long time ago, but Don still sounds the same, and I'm sure loves his job, and the community loves him.

The outlets in St. Johnsbury reported today they are beginning to see an increase in ticket sales. Mail returns have are increasing, too, and this is only the beginning of the rush. We still have two weeks left before the contest closes. This picture was at St. Jay Hardware where I'd just picked up tickets and left off more for them. I did the same at Caplan's, Thurston Auto, and Natural Provisions. All these people are doing a great job of selling tickets. Kathy Fenoff said today she thinks there were a lot more tickets given out at the Kiwanis Auction this year than in years past. They give Ice-Out tickets to anyone who wins a bid at or over the listed value of an item.

Diane (Rossi) and I (we're co-chairs of the Ice Out) compared notes over a glass of wine at her house this afternoon. We think sales are about normal. It's interesting that tickets have come in from as far away as Switzerland, Taiwan and New Zealand. Word does get around.

By the way, yesterday Fred got a really good picture of that ice fishing group at the north end of the pond. I don't know if they were out again today, but it seems as if they may wait for school to be out so the kids can go because we have only seen them late in the afternoon.