Today has felt like spring outside. Our temperatures have been above freezing since about 9 a.m. and stayed in the 30's, even with no sun. What little snow we have is settling - I measured 6 inches at the stake at 9 a.m. and now it's showing 5 inches.

Joe's Ponders will be sorry to hear that Diane Sherwood took a tumble while skiing at Burke a couple days ago and dislocated her clavicle (collar bone). I expect it's a pretty painful injury. Fred fell on the ice a number of years ago and I believe that was what happened to him - now he has a little bump on that shoulder, but the doctors told him there really isn't much they can do, and to just let it heal. We're hoping Diane's will heal quickly. I guess the skiing hasn't been great so far this year, but with warm weather nearly every day, it's probably very nice being out on the slopes.

We knew that the ice was pretty thick - 7 inches when Everett Drew was out around Christmas - and now we've seen the first of the fishing shacks out on the pond in front of Don Walker's and Ned Hamilton's. We haven't seen any snow machines on the pond, but I'm sure there will be some soon. Hopefully the ice is uniformly thick so there won't be any accidents. Authorities have been warning that most lakes and ponds don't have ice thick enough to be out on, but apparently we've been enough colder here at Joe's Pond that the ice is ok.

We heard that Jeff Downs, owner of Joe's Pond Country Store, underwent an operation at Dartmouth Hitchcock this week. We don't have details, but we certainly wish him well. I don't know if you knew this, but Jeff loves to ski. That was one of the reasons he came here, he told us. I'm not sure how much time he's had to ski - I think the store keeps him pretty busy.

I was shocked and saddened to see notice in today's paper that Harry "Nookie" Foster, former owner of Harry's Hardware in Cabot back in the 1970's, died unexpectedly this week. He was 73. Nookie and his wife, Martha, have been long-time and faithful workers for our historical society. Their "Old Crow Craft Shop" off Route 215 is a wonderful place to visit. We will miss him, and our deepest sympathy goes to Martha and their family.

Did you notice the article Fred posted this morning titled, "Mr. St. Johnsbury?" It is about Don Mullallay, our friend at WSTJ radio. I've mentioned Don many times here - we go way back to when I worked at the station in the 1950's. The article is very good - touched on many highlights of Don's long-time association with local radio. It didn't mention that in his comparative youth, when he first started working at the radio station, he was known for his singing voice which was very much like Frank Sinatra, we thought at the time; he was also quite a dancer. Of course, back then jitter-bug was the popular dance, and he certainly knew how to "cut a rug."

Every year at Ice-Out time, we get in touch with Don and he graciously invites us to come to the station to promote our contest. As many years as he's done those interviews, he still manages to interject something fresh to talk about that makes them great fun. It was always fun, too, when his daughter, Linda, was working with him. They made a great pair on the air.

There isn't much live radio going on these days, but St. Johnsbury can be proud to have Don on the job every morning at WSTJ. You will find the interview on home page, or click here to read it: Mr. St. Johnsbury

I'm out of news for now, I think.