Not much change in the weather here.  We had a little sunshine today, but not enough to do any damage to the snow and ice.  The road between here and Route 2 remains darned good.  There are some dips where there are culverts, but none of the deep mud holes we usually have.  We still have doubts we'll get off this easy, but for the time being, we're all pretty happy and able to travel without losing any body parts from our vehicles.

We were in St. Johnsbury today - no snow, of course.  We saw Bo Keach in Price Chopper and she was remarking that she and Bill had been up to their spot on the pond where there new house will be set in the spring, and were surprised at how much snow there was, how bad the mud was, and how solid the ice seemed.  Actually, there is quite a bit of open water in the middle pond where their camp was and will be again.  The narrows there are open between the big pond and the middle one, and there's more open water in the second narrows between the middle and first ponds.

The top picture, taken from Route 2, shows open water stretching down the Route 2 side of the middle pond;  the next photo is the narrows between the first and middle ponds, with open water along the Route 15 shore.  There is open water under the Route 2 bridge, but it isn't reaching north of the bridge very much yet.  The next picture was taken as we crossed the bridge, looking towards the beach area.  Eventually there will be open water down the middle of the first pond, and then things begin to change fairly quickly.


Here's a short slide show that shows you how things are along West Shore Road.  I had a message from Homer and Margaret Fitts today - Homer wrote:

HI -

    ELLEN, CLIFF AND I RODE OVER TO THE POND TODAY.     IT IS LIKE WINTER WONDERLAND.      ICE COVERS ALL THREE PONDS AND IT SURE DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE LEAVING ANYTIME SOON.    MOLLYS POND AND MARSHFIELD DAM ARE COMPLETELY ICE COVERED ALSO.    I HOPE YOU WHO HAVE ICE OUT TICKETS AND TIMES WITHIN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS ARE NOT PLANNING TO SPEND YOUR WINNINGS.

I THINK IT WILL BE LATER THAN YOU EVER DREAMED.    MAYBE EVEN AFTER THE 25TH ?

    THIS WAS MY FIRST TRIP TO JOE'S SINCE LAST FALL.   THE COVERED PONTOON BOAT, RAFT, DOCKS  ETC. ALL LOOK LIKE THEY HAD A GOOD WINTER.    THE OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE TODAY IS 47 DEGREES HERE IN BARRE.  IT WAS COLDER AT JOE'S POND.

It's 26 degrees here tonight.  We're expecting some messy weather tomorrow, but perhaps there will be some rain later on.  Winter didn't seem so long, but spring is sure taking a while.

I nearly forgot - Fred got a picture of the mess in Danville where road work has begun again this week.  The wet weather won't slow them down much, I guess, but it's certainly not ideal working conditions - and will only get worse if the forecast is correct.