I would like to be able to give all of you who are holding Ice-Out tickets something to hold onto that might give you a clue as to whether your pick could be a winner, but I'm afraid the weather report this morning is full of conflict and no help whatsoever as far as figuring out when the clock might stop. Personally, I vote for sometime in July. Don Sherwood may have to worry about snow squalls and ice this year instead of rain and fog. Here's the thing. Diane Rossi sent this picture taken from her place early this morning, and here's what she said: In spite of snow and ice, it was a beautiful sunrise this morning....

By 9 a.m., the snow was swirling around our house, the wind tossing the treetops up in the woods, and we had whiteout conditions with a very strong gusting wind out of the south. The temperature was in the 30 degree range. Now, a couple hours later, we have wet snow falling, it's 32 degrees, and no sign of letup most of the week. Thursday is forecast to be sunny - the rest of the week mostly snow/rain showers and temperatures are predicted to drop again on the weekend. Any melting is going to be slow at best, at least for the time being, unless those rain showers are warm water.

I had intended - well, perhaps I should say I'd thought about - going out to get a total snow depth this morning, but looking outside I'm totally happy to stay inside at my computer. I'm not that much of a dedicated CoCoRaHS reporter. Maybe I can do it on Thursday . . . we may even gain a few inches of snow by then.

I wish I could be more optimistic about the ice situation here at Joe's Pond, but it really seems like it's just the same as it was in January, in February, and in March. Of course, there's no telling what is happening underneath as the water temperature gradually warms - or even if that is actually happening. The brooks feeding into the pond certainly aren't warmed up much, but my theory is that our patch of earth is warming as the days get longer and that will gradually warm us, in spite of the local weather.

Most of you have heard about the "Year Without a Summer," in 1816. Crops froze and withered in the fields, there was very little food, and much sickness. Here's more about it: wikipedia.org
I'm not saying this is like that year, but so far our weather contradicts any theories of global warming. Probably it's just Vermont being Vermont. Guessing when the ice will be out of the pond is close to impossible, especially this year. And that makes the game even more fun, right?

One sign of spring around here is that skunks are on the move. Saturday night we apparently had one in the garage (again), as there was a distinct odor Sunday morning. Fred left the door open and it got aired out right away, but when we were walking up Jamie and Marie's driveway later in the day, we caught a whiff of it again. Turns out Otto met Mr. Skunk and got sprayed. Otto is now Marie's dog, according to Jamie. They got him cleaned up, but the smell will linger for a while and Otto may not be as welcome in their living room as he once was, and I expect he may miss his usual day at the KATV office with Jamie this week. He's pretty smart, though and hopefully learned. Woody, our cat, got sprayed a few years back, and he is now wary of all thing's black and white.