We've been thrust into reality again today - the ground is white, the temperature a mere 30 degrees, and there is no sun shining through the cold gray clouds. We're seeing some snowflakes from time to time, but nothing significant. I can still see open water in the channel (see far left in the picture), but there's also lots of white indicating that the shallows at the head of the pond froze over during the night. We had a low of 22 degrees, but the water must have been cold after not much warming yesterday.

Our road was frozen, so in much better condition this morning, although Fred said it was very slippery. The mud holes have been filled and except for the Danville end, which still has not been worked on, we can reach Route 2 without difficulty.

Fred checked the pallet and clock and there was little change at 7 a.m. The pictures he took show some of the open water from yesterday was frozen over again this morning. The pallet looks to be well locked into the ice.

I had an e-mail from Homer Fitts this morning. Homer is watching our Ice-Out from his home in Barre this year. Having watched the ice go out many years right from his deck when he lived here at the pond, Homer has seen it all and usually has a pretty good idea of what to expect. Here's what he wrote today:

HI FRED AND JANE,

THIS IS THE BEST YEAR EVER FOR ICE OUT INFORMATION FOR THOSE CHECKING THE BLOG. WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU ARE DOING WITH THE PICTURES AND THE INFORMATION. MARGARET AND I CHECK IT REAL OFTEN DAILY. NEVER DREAMT THAT THIS MUCH INFORMATION WOULD BE AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE.

YESTERDAY MORNINGS PICTURES WITH THE JUGS IN THE AIR HAD ME THINKING SOMETHING MIGHT BE MOVING. I WAS HAPPY AT NIGHT IT HAD NOT STOPPED THE CLOCK. WE ARE PRAYING THAT IT LASTS UNTIL APRIL 1st TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU THAT ARE INVOLVED.

HAVE SPENT MOST OF MY TIME RECENTLY WORRYING AND WONDERING ABOUT MELISSA JENKINS. SHE SURELY WAS A SPECIAL FRIENDLY PERSON. I KNEW HER FROM THE CREAMERY, NORTH DANVILLE ON THE 4th OF JULY EVENTS AND THE LAST TIME I SAW HER WAS AT THE ACADEMY GYM AT GIRL'S BASKETBALL.

NOW I CAN ONLY WISH YOU THE BEST RESULTS FROM THE 2012 ICE OUT.

THANKS AGAIN,

HOMER

Thanks, Homer - we do enjoy watching the process Mother Nature puts us through each year, and each year seems to be a little different, although I now find myself saying to Fred, "remember the year that . . . " since we've been involved for a while now. Even before we got involved with the Ice Out, we were living right across from Homer's place, so we had a front-seat view of the pallet. Come to think of it, that may have been why we got involved - because Homer used to take off sometimes for Florida and we were available to help watch the clock.

We want everyone to know the police that are investigating the Melissa Jenkens murder are doing a press conference at 10 a.m. this morning. WSTJ radio in St. Johnsbury will cover it live. I expect the TV stations may also cover it, but we didn't hear any announcement on WCAX this morning. There is some breaking news reported by Don Mulallay on WSTJ - a home in Waterford was searched either yesterday or last night and evidence was found. I expect there will be more on that. Waterford is in the vicinity of where her body was found at Comerford Dam. We hope there will be a speedy resolve to this case.

I'll post any new information here on the blog after the press conference.