The flag is out!  Everything went relatively smoothly.  Larry Rossi and his helper, John, were on hand at the prescribed time and got things all set, ready to hitch up after Ray Richer has had a chance to check out their work.  Ray couldn't be there this morning, but will look at things later.  We got some pictures, and I made a slide show.  We also stopped at the fishing access to see if people will be able to see the flag - a large red stationary flag this year - on the pallet, and we think they will be able to see it ok.  Of course, all anyone needs to do is go on the website and follow instructions to view the flag and the clock on their computer - any time, day or night.  Saves lots of travel through mud, snow and weather.  As you can see, the clock is large and round, and is easily visible by the camera - or from Diane and Bill's dining room!

When we were at the fishing access, I asked a fisherman how thick the ice is and he said two feet. I doubt it will get much thicker this year, but we could have another stretch of below zero weather that would add an inch or two, I guess.

There are lots of shanties on the ice - this is the view from the fishing access.  There seem to be quite a number of snow machines on the pond, too.  We're hoping snowmobilers will stay away from the flag setup and treat it like a buoy - not go between it and the shore.  It's hard to put markers out there to keep people off the rope, but we may put some reflector tape on the flag just so any night drivers will see and avoid it.

We thought you'd like to see that our roads are still pretty good - no deep mud yet, but there's definitely the possibility they will get pretty slimy this weekend.  This was how it looked when we left our house around 9 a.m. today.  We've had lots of sunshine and warm temps all day and I think tomorrow is going to be warm and possibly some rain by Monday, so no doubt the back roads will begin to show signs of spring. 

You will notice there aren't any high snow banks along W. Shore Road.  In West Danville, there's a fair amount of snow piled up from plowing the parking area across from the stores (see above), but it's nowhere near as big as most years.  I don't know how much that will affect the thawing of the ice - that's anybody's guess.

We went out on snowshoes this afternoon.  Fred was finishing up something on his computer, so I started ahead of him.  He caught up to me when I was back at the house.  It wasn't that I was going so fast - it was that he was held up longer than he thought.  He followed my tracks and I bet it took him less than half the time it took me.  I had the camera and stopped to take pictures, admire the view, and try to figure out where our old walking paths were.  The whole look of our woods has changed drastically.  We can see our house from almost anywhere on our property, and that is completely different.  There are several spots where the view of the pond is wonderful - and not far from the house.  The other thing we both noticed is that with the trees gone, the lot seems a lot smaller and although we probably traveled the same distance we always have when we have taken walks, it seemed much shorter.   It will all look different after the snow is gone and the foliage comes out, too.  We may have some cleaning up to do, and hopefully we will be able to make better walking trails.  I'll try to post some photos tomorrow.  Right now I'm tired and hungry.