We're in a stretch of really nice early spring weather. Yesterday was nice; today was nicer. Tomorrow may top that, but Thursday things may change a little or at least slow down. We walked towards Rt. 2 on West Shore Rd. yesterday, and today we went the opposite direction and down Deeper Ruts Road - and they are! Deeper ruts, that is. It wasn't too bad on the first part of the road, but as we got to Wagner's and near Metcalf's, things got pretty slimy. That road hasn't been built up with gravel and crushed rock the way West Shore Road has been, and I think that has something to do with it. It has only two year around homes and one summer place on it, and not a lot of traffic, so is probably not a priority to spend town funds on it.

We took pictures both days and I've combined them into one slide show. There didn't seem to be much water in the brooks along W. Shore Road yesterday, but by the time we were out this afternoon we realized there's quite a rush of water going into the pond from off the Plain. We didn't see many signs of spring other than water running in brooks and ditches, the mud on Deeper Ruts Road, and when we got back to our house, pussy willows by the mailbox. Fred was able to snag one of the branches, but the snow was sagging underfoot and we couldn't break off the branch easily, so he left me holding onto the tree while he ran to the house to get clippers. We weren't poaching - the willow is actually on our land, or maybe on the town's right-of-way; either way, I got a couple branches that will be perfect with daffodils for my Easter dinner table. Here are the slides: Spring Walk

After our walk, I took a core of snow from the back lawn and will report water content to CoCoRaHS tomorrow with my daily report. Today I reported 14 inches of snow from out there - this afternoon I averaged out several measurements at 12 inches. The snow was very grainy and crystallized and melted quite rapidly, unlike the core sample I took a week ago that was much drier and took a long time melting. As I was coming in from taking the sample, I noticed my daffodils are up about 2 inches in the raised bed on the south east side of the house. Another sign of spring, but other years they've come up early like this and then were covered in a foot of snow again, so who knows!?

Ice-Out tickets are beginning to come in, finally. We know the last couple of weeks are always when we get socked with lots of tickets, but we worried this year was a tough one economy-wise as well as really strange weather-wise, and both Diane and I wondered what effect those factors might have on ticket sales. We still don't know for sure, but it's good to see lots of them coming in.

I'll be talking with Josh on Thursday morning at 8:15 a.m. over WKXH KIX 105.5, the FM station, and at 8:30 with Don on WSTJ 1340 AM. Over in the Barre-Montpelier area, Don Walker spreads the word over WDEV, so we kind of blanket the area. It's always fun to do these interviews. Maybe Fred will take a picture . . .