We are fortunate to have had a beautiful day today. At 3:30 it was only about 18 degrees, but earlier in the day it was in the 30s in the sunshine. And how good it has been to see the sun!!

Even Woody could enjoy being outside in the sunshine today. He sat in the sun for a while and then took a walk down the driveway, but he didn't stay out very long, His paws get cold, and besides - it's no fun when all the critters he normally hunts, like mice and voles, are holed up under the deep snow.

In West Danville, the snow is pretty high, even though we got only about 12 inches in this storm. That is Bert Frye in the big backhoe rig. I think he's been cleaning up around the village and stopped at Hastings for a cup of coffee.

Today was our day to do our bi-weekly grocery shopping and do other errands, so we were in St. Johnsbury all morning. We distributed Ice-Out tickets and posters and gassed up the car on the way home. Shopping took a little longer than normal - it was one of those days we met lots of people we knew and some others who seemed happy to be out an around again after the snow storm and just started up a conversation with us. One very nice lady from North Concord who runs a day-care center chatted with us for several minutes at Price Chopper. Turned out her daughter is about the same age as our granddaughter, Jo-Ann and played in the recent games against Waterford.

We saw a good friend, Ginny Reed, in White Market. We often see Ginny there. She and Russ used to have a cottage here at the pond, but sold it many years ago, but her daughter and husband, Beth and Bob Wechsler, have a cottage on Barre Avenue, so Ginny still keeps in touch. She's one of the most upbeat people I know. It's always fun to chat with both Ginny and Russ, but he wasn't with her today. We saw Jane Milne (North Shore Rd.) briefly - she was entering and we were leaving Price Chopper.

St. Johnsbury was pretty buried in snow. Streets were narrower than usual because of the snow banks, and some parking lots had not been cleared, but there seemed to be more than the usual number of people in stores. I think they were all stocking up for the next round of snow. Even with about a foot of new snow here, we don't have anything like what they've had to deal with south of us. I talked with Tom Dente this morning before we left - he's in Florida - but he was telling us about the roofs that had caved in due to snow in Connecticut.

We don't have nearly as much snow as that area, but we have enough, and crews as well as individuals have been busy keeping up with it and getting ready for the next storm heading our way this weekend. With clear skies, the temperature is going to be dropping tonight and tomorrow, then a little snow. Here's a slide show of our trip this morning. After the Groundhog Day Snow Storm

We are hearing a lot on the news about Vermont's "safe roads policy" as opposed to the "bare roads policy" of some previous years. Driving on snow-covered roads is no big challenge for most of us who deal with back roads all the time, but for some it's sometimes a learning experience with disastrous results because they don't slow down. A friend's son was visiting recently from Alaska and told us they don't use salt on the roads up there. He didn't say if they use sand at all, but I expect that would be all that's needed in extreme conditions. On the scanner each day I'm hearing road crews reporting laying down salt in the middle of roads, and they keep the interstate ramps well salted. Packed snow is going to be slippery and people need to drive accordingly. Not using so much salt saves a good deal of money and probably is very good for the environment; however, if people don't learn to slow down, there will be more accidents. The problem is, people always seem to be in a rush to get someplace.

Some states have experimented using salt brine on dry roads before an expected ice or snow storm. They report it seems to work well to keep ice from forming and saves on the regular salt. It's a simple mixture of salt and water, and it dries as salt crystals on road surfaces so as soon as freezing rain or snow hits it, it melts instead of icing over. Sounds good to me.

Drive carefully, keep warm, and be safe.