We have finally reached our Ice-Out Contest winner. The winner is Bill Barber, St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and he will receive $5,000. He was the only one who guessed the exact day and time the clock would stop: April 5, at 2:46 p.m.

We tried unsuccessfully yesterday to reach Mr. Barber, but this morning I was able to reach him on his cell phone (which he told me he doesn't check on a regular basis!) in Tallahassee, Florida, where he's helping out his father-in-law. He will return to St. Johnsbury late in April, and we plan an awards ceremony sometime in May.

Turns out Bill Barber has a degree in polar science! Not that that gave him an edge, he said, and he is now semi-retired, doing carpentry work. That's why he was in Florida. He was leaving there in a few days for Kentucky to help his mother-in-law, so we were really glad to be able to talk with him today. He told me he bought five tickets at Hastings Store about the time we were having the warm spell, thinking the ice would go out sooner than usual. He spread them over a five day period, and the winner was right in the middle. Good guess!!

I'm still fielding calls and e-mails this morning, but Fred is adding information to the Ice-Out pages, so any additional information will appear there.

It's a dreary day, barely 50 degrees and rainy. The good news is that the grass is greening up nicely and by the time most of our snow birds get back to the pond their lawns will be waiting to get mowed. I have daffodils just about out, and a crocus or two, with lots of signs of life where the peonies and lilies are. Some trees are showing swollen buds, and the pussy willows are long gone by (see picture). The poplars are showing just a tint of yellow - I haven't inspected them close up, but it appears they'll be sporting catkins soon. My lilacs have big fat buds. Things are beginning to come alive.