We've had rain off and on today - mostly this afternoon, and sometimes fairly hard. The thermometer outside my window is reading 40 degrees, and it's been hazy with fog all day. This morning I measured the snow depth in our back yard, and it was a strong 11 inches in some spots, 10 in others, so I called it 10.5 inches on my report.

We went to Hanover and Lebanon, NH yesterday - checkup for me (all is well!) and since I had two appointments, we left early in the morning and got back at supper time. We didn't mind spending time there as there's always something to do. We met our friend, Linda, for lunch at Molly's Restaurant and Bar, and that was very nice. We've eaten at Molly's before and really enjoy it, and it's always fun to catch up on things with our friend.

We also spent some time browsing the Food Co-Op - it's just down from the Dartmouth Field House, and we often pick up snacks and coffee for our trip home. They have lots of interesting products and a great variety of fresh produce, plus the coffee and bakery good are always good. There are a lot of small bakeries that supply them with specialty breads, cookies, muffins, etc.

The morning here yesterday was kind of foggy and dreary, but not awfully cold - in the low 40's, I guess, about like today. It was a little warmer as we progressed south, and there was no snow at all except an occasional patch in the woods. Lake Morey (right) looked pretty dark, but it didn't seem to be anywhere near opening up.

People everywhere were out doing spring cleanup and other chores. We didn't see any flowers blooming or anything like that, but it wouldn't have surprised me. Even here my daffodils are poking through the mulch I laid over them last fall.

In Hanover, the Hanover Inn is having construction work done on the front of it. A Morrisville man was killed on Tuesday working on that project. It was a most unfortunate accident. The Inn has been closed since early December and it is expected renovations will be complete some time this spring. It's a beautiful old building, and we'll be interested to see what changes have been made when it is unveiled.

Speaking of spring and construction, I posted a notice this morning about a planning meeting coming right up to update residents and businesses in Danville about the continuation of their big road project. They should be able to begin work earlier than expected, if the weather continues to be warm.

By the time we were on our way home yesterday, there was bright sunshine and we really enjoyed the drive. We could see that the Connecticut River was not particularly high, and with not much snow except perhaps north of Moore Dam, the risk of high water and flooding this spring seems unlikely. That's good news after all the water we had in Vermont last spring. My 10.5 inches of snow isn't going to amount to much runoff - most of it will probably be absorbed. I suppose we could even have a shortage of water this year since we've had so little snow.

I heard from Homer Fitts this afternoon, and he and Margaret are going to try to go to the Maple Fest breakfast tomorrow, and perhaps take in some of the activities. Homer has been part of our Ice-Out Contest from the beginning, so I asked him if he thinks the ice will go out before April 1st, but I couldn't get him to say one way or the other. I know there are some people who are warning we could still have a mega snowstorm and/or really cold weather, but if you believe the weather forecasters, it seems unlikely. Not out of the question, but unlikely. Therefore, we Ice-Out Contest organizers have a "plan" in place for how it will go if the clock stops before the contest is officially over on April 1st.

For right now, I'm just going to tell people to get your tickets to us. I know it's tempting to wait until the last minute, but in a year like this when nothing is normal, all we can do is expect something whacky to happen and be prepared. We'll try to keep everyone posted on ice conditions, both here and on home page of the website, and if it holds until after April 1st, we're good because everyone's tickets will be in our hands or in the mail dated March 31st. (April 1st is a Sunday, so you'll need to be sure to mail your tickets in on March 31st.) But - if the clock stops before April 1st, anybody who is still holding onto a ticket will be out of luck as of the moment the clock stops. We're keeping our fingers crossed the ice holds on through our "summer" weather this weekend and during next week so everyone will be entered into the contest by the end of the day, April 1st. In the end, though, it's going to be Mother Nature's call, and I really think she enjoys creating chaos.

Life at Joe's Pond is sometimes frantic and sometimes pretty laid back. Right now Fred's taking regular breaks from his computer to watch the games on "March Madness." He's up to date posting to the various websites he works on, and while I'm still nervous about getting everything ready for the newsletter, contemplating a hectic Ice-Out, and have piles of stuff that normally commands my attention, I'm happy that we're going to "get away from it all" and go to the Pancake Breakfast at the school gym in Cabot tomorrow morning. Maybe we'll see some of you there.

People keep asking me about our roads - is it mud season yet? and is it going to be a bad mud season? All I can tell them is that the back roads around here seem to be ok today, although it is getting to look a little more like mud season every day, and I'm sure in a week or so we'll have a much better take on how mud season is going to be this year. With nothing else about the weather performing normally, it's hard to guess about mud season, too.