There has been no real significant change since last night in the situation at the site of the pallet.  It is still hanging precariously, held only by the rope that is apparently still fairly well frozen into the ice.

These pictures were taken at about 8 o'clock this morning.  We wanted to be sure everything was still intact and operating the way it's supposed to, so Fred went and checked.  All was perfect, no real change after a cold night.  We had a low of about 21 again last night.  You can see in the first picture that there is a skimming of ice on the open water and some of the ice crystals look whiter.  That will change as the sun begins to work on it again today.



We've had some calls and e-mails wondering how the clock has not stopped when the flag is almost out of sight.  All we can say is the contest isn't over until the clock stops.   At some point, probably today, the weight of the pallet will break the rope free from the ice and that will allow it to disconnect the clock.  We think the flag leaning against the ice is another factor that is preventing the whole thing from sinking.  It will happen.

The temperature hasn't risen much yet, and there's light SSE wind that will no doubt keep the surface of the ice colder than if there was no wind.  As the sun gets higher in the sky, things will begin to warm up and then we'll see.  Right now we're checking the clock about every hour, and in the meantime, I'm getting out my call/e-mail list ready to let our outlets and the media know as soon as possible when the clock stops.  As I said before - we'll have a time to announce, but may not have the winner's name immediately.  Certain steps have to be taken to verify before we make that public.


Larry Rossi is checking in regularly with us, as is our data technician, Henretta Splain, and both Don Walker and Homer Fitts checked in with us yesterday.  I've promised them all we'll give them a call as soon as something happens.  

Yesterday Fred and I were reminiscing about past Ice-Outs.  Twice we had Easter Sunday dinner guests when the clock stopped; we couldn't remember exactly, but it seemed as if meals were interrupted pretty often.  We'll see how this year works out.