Fred checked the pallet early this morning. It's going to be another beautiful and WARM day. He took a pile of tickets to Bill Rossi to deliver to our statistician in Barre, and went on to check the flag and pallet. The top picture was taken from the Rossi's as the sun was getting higher in the sky and burning off the mist that forms each night over the ice. Temperatures were in the 40's last night, so there was no freeze-up. The roads are no worse today than they were a couple of days ago, so that's a good thing. Fred said they are quite passable. Not good if you don't want to get your car muddy, but no deep sink-holes or anything.

At Homer Fitts's where the pallet is, the ice looked solid all the way up the lake. We know at the very north end where the channel leads into it there is open water and that stream will gradually cut down the length of the pond. In the meantime, there will be more open water showing at the narrows between each of the three sections of the pond until, finally, the stretches will meet. As the ice pulls away from the shore, there will be more movement of the ice, and that will allow the wind to move it around, breaking it into chunks and accelerating the melting process - sort of like stirring a drink with ice cubes in it.

In the bottom picture, you'll see the pallet is on solid ice. The debris around it was left by the ice fishermen - bits of wood frozen into the ice so they couldn't take it with them. It happens every year, to some degree. Last year was the worst, with tarps and large pieces of wood solidly frozen into the ice.