Here's proof positive things are pretty cool here at Joe's Pond this morning, and I don't mean just groovy, awesome or rockin (that's more about Joe's Pond in the summer!) - I mean freezing cold, literally.  See that grayish tinge bordering the water on the left of the photo?  Cat ice.  It clearly means the water in the pond is getting at or close to the freezing point.  I believe the ice we're seeing will melt this weekend when the weather warms a little, but the temperature of the water is not going to warm up much.  We've seen the whole pond frozen over shortly after Thanksgiving a few times; we've also seen it still open at Christmas!  Just like guessing when the pond is going to open up in the spring, when it will freeze over completely is anybody's guess.  Old timers say it will usually freeze over three times before it stays frozen, and that has happened pretty often.  It might take two or three or even more times freezing and melting before we get the below-zero weather that will lock it up for the winter.

We had a low of 15 degrees last night, and right now (11 o'clock) we're only up to 26 degrees.  There's no sunshine.  We had a few breaks in the clouds early this morning, but it didn't last.  The sky was very clear last night, but that messy storm is making its way north, so we won't expect anything to improve until probably Friday.  And that's the news from here so far today.