Pretty day today, bright sunshine, but it didn't get very warm and there was a brisk wind that seemed to cut right through you. It might have helped dry out the muddy roads a bit, although I don't believe much melting went on.

On the WCAX news tonight the weather man said that last year on this date in Burlington, a record of 82 degrees was set. No wonder the ice went out on April 5th last year! That's a far cry from what we had today - except for when my office thermometer was in the sun for a couple hours and registered in the 50s, we haven't reached much more than 40 degrees today. Tomorrow is going to be different, though. We're going to have snow in the "higher elevations." Just what we need. There's a silver snowflake in there someplace, because they went on to say the snow is going to turn to rain. And then there's more rain forecast for Tuesday. We'll have to wait to see what the effect will be on the pond's ice.

The rest of this week looks like pretty good sugaring weather, though. Cold nights and warmer days - if we're lucky and the forecast is right. The weekend will find us having snow flurries - again. This is actually pretty normal for early April. Like someone said the other day, "This has been a real old fashioned winter." Indeed.

When we were at Harry's Hardware in Cabot picking up Ice-Out tickets on Saturday, we were asking Walt Ackermann about the pelts he has hanging on the wall. There were some beaver pelts and a very nice coyote pelt. Walt said they send the pelts out west someplace to have them tanned. I didn't ask the price of the pelt, but mittens, hats, and bags made of coyote fur are very pricey. I found a coyote fur blanket on line, 60 x 72 in. for $1,895.95. A fur hat will go for $200, a pair of mittens about the same. It is pretty fur, though.

I'm sure some people think it's cruel to kill any animal, but around here, coyotes are more than a nuisance because they will kill farm animals such as sheep and lambs, even cattle. When these animals are a farmer's livelihood or pet, predators like coyotes have to be dealt with. They regularly kill deer, raccoons, and many smaller wild animals, and their population is growing steadily. Twenty years ago it was fairly unusual to hear or see them, but now their howls and yipping are commonplace as they race through the woods in packs, usually at night.

Walt's son, Scott, is a professional trapper. In fact, Scott got in touch with me a while back when we were looking for snow shovelers, which he does, and he also will trap nuisance animals such as beavers, skunks, porcupines, etc., that may bother around your camp. Beavers can be especially troublesome because they will take down trees we really don't want to lose. They were very active at Ricker's on Sandy Beach Road this fall. If you need an animal like that taken care of, give Scott a call at his brother's, 563-2061.