We went to the pancake breakfast at the Maple Fest in Cabot this morning. It was good, but there was a long line of people waiting to get their food - which wasn't all bad, we got to chat with some neighbors and townspeople we don't often see, but several folks expressed surprise the line didn't move faster. It was a perfect setup for the politicians to schmooze with their constituents, though, kind of a captive audience. The Democrats were well represented with Sen. Leahy, our state representative, Kitty Toll (a member of JPA), and Caleb Pitkin, chairman of the Cabot Select Board. We were told Bernie Sanders would be visiting in the afternoon . . .

Senator Leahy had his photographer with him and posed for several photo ops - I'm sure we'll see him with some of our locals on TV tonight and in the newspapers in the next few days. Will Walters was there from the Hardwick Gazette, and of course the Joe's Pond website's official photographer, Fred Brown, was on the scene, too. Here's a short slide show: Maple Fest 2012

It was no surprise to find that there were a couple of mud holes on Brickett's Crossing Road when we went that way this morning. So far our West Shore Road is still pretty good - potholes and some washboard, but no deep mud yet. Today is very warm with bright sunshine - everything is melting and water is running in the ditches, down the hillside in back of our house, and I just noticed the channel at the north end of the pond has opened up - perhaps not all the way, but what I can see from our house is showing open water. There are few signs of melting around the shoreline on the east shore, but with more warm weather coming, the ice will melt next to the shore and then begin to move with the wind and that will do it in pretty fast.

The top picture on the right is of the channel, and below shows the east shore with a bit of water showing here and there.

We went to our Ice-Out ticket outlets in Cabot and Walden to be sure they have a good supply of tickets. Sales are beginning to pick up in West Danville, and we're urging people to get their picks in early, just in case the ice goes out before the contest closes on April 1. We sat with Homer and Margaret Fitts at breakfast and asked Homer what he thought, but again, he wouldn't comment. I guess it's safer that way. Lots of people have told me they are getting theirs in - some have picked up tickets but are waiting a little bit longer to choose a date and time, which is fine, but when the ice gets really dark out there, anything could happen. The block could just sink in the middle of blue-gray slush.

Fred helped me get some pussy-willow branches this afternoon. They are very near full size, but I put them in water so they'd puff out a little more. They were very high on the tree and I wasn't tall enough to get a good grip on the branch to bring it down where I could clip - besides, I doubt that I could have held it down and clipped, too - they are pretty big trees. Woody went with us, and was very interested as I was arranging them in a vase when we got back. It sure feels (and looks) a lot like spring is here to stay. Temperatures got to 59.9 according to our thermometer. Last night it was just about freezing - 31.9. If the nights stay cold, the sugaring season may be prolonged, but I talked to a couple of sugar makers today and they aren't optimistic. One said he's made about 1/3 of what he normally does, and thinks next week will end the season for him.