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We have rainy weather back this morning. The temperature is in the mid to high 30's, but there could still be some freezing rain in certain areas, so there's a need to be cautious when driving or even walking. The Cabot road crew was out earlier this morning with
the salt/sand truck, but even though so far it hasn't been raining very hard, there's still some places in the road that will be washed clear of sand or salt and could be very slippery. On the main highways, crews are keeping track of conditions and so far I haven't heard on the scanner of any 
trouble spots - either icing or flooding. This will be turning to snow tonight, according to the weather folks. I took these photos just minutes ago - the top one is the hillside in back of our house that faces northeast, the view I see from my office. The rocks, stumps and hummocks are all showing through, and in most places there is at most 3-4 inches of snow left on the ground. My measuring stick showed 3 inches this morning, but that is in the open and on level ground. The bottom photo is a familiar view, the northwest slope along the east side of the pond where Route 15 is, as seen from our living room window. That area gets the sun longer than our side of the pond this time of year, so there is usually less snow cover, thus more bare ground in a warm spell like this. I haven't seen any fishing activity on the pond here today - it would be mighty wet, even if it isn't awfully cold.
the salt/sand truck, but even though so far it hasn't been raining very hard, there's still some places in the road that will be washed clear of sand or salt and could be very slippery. On the main highways, crews are keeping track of conditions and so far I haven't heard on the scanner of any 
trouble spots - either icing or flooding. This will be turning to snow tonight, according to the weather folks. I took these photos just minutes ago - the top one is the hillside in back of our house that faces northeast, the view I see from my office. The rocks, stumps and hummocks are all showing through, and in most places there is at most 3-4 inches of snow left on the ground. My measuring stick showed 3 inches this morning, but that is in the open and on level ground. The bottom photo is a familiar view, the northwest slope along the east side of the pond where Route 15 is, as seen from our living room window. That area gets the sun longer than our side of the pond this time of year, so there is usually less snow cover, thus more bare ground in a warm spell like this. I haven't seen any fishing activity on the pond here today - it would be mighty wet, even if it isn't awfully cold.
I checked the Rossi's web cam this morning, and there's absolutely no activity going on down at their section of the pond, either. If you want to view the web cam, remember you need to access our website using Internet Explorer as your browser. Once you get on joespondvermont.com, you'll find a link for the webcams.
Right now, the ice is covered with water, which means if there are shanties on the ice, they will freeze in solidly, and of course it will be very difficult to get them free in the spring without leaving a good portion of their underpinning behind. Some years we've seen an dismaying array of wood scraps, tarps and other debris in/on the ice where the shanties have been chopped, sawed or split loose when it was time to get them off the ice. None of this can be easily avoided when we have alternating melting and freezing going on throughout the winter, like this year. The fishermen try, but short of hauling them off the ice whenever we have a warm spell, there isn't much they can do to prevent freeze-ins. The best solution would be to use only portable, temporary shelters like folding tents, that would be erected and then taken down each time they fish. That is more work, of course, but might be worth it come time to get the heck off the ice at the end of fishing season. Some fishermen don't use shanties - they just haul their gear on a sled, so they don't have the problem; they also don't have the shelter on nasty days. It must be those guys really, really love the sport of ice fishing - it isn't easy, and lots of time it isn't comfortable - but one way or another, it must be rewarding. For them, at least. It wouldn't be for me.
Whenever I think about ice fishing, I think of Blanche Lamore, our oldest Cabot citizen, who will be 104 in May, if my calculations are correct. Blanche loves to ice fish, and I believe some kind neighbors took her as recently as a year or two ago. She's a trooper, lives on her own and until a couple years ago, had a good size garden, picked berries whenever she could arrange for someone to take her to a favorite picking spot, and was always on hand in the church kitchen helping put on suppers, etc. I haven't been in touch with her for a while, but last time I talked with her, she was still very sharp about most things. She's always been an outdoor
person, she'll tell you. When she was a young girl, she and her father had trap lines, and she regularly snowshoed miles tending to the traps. Then, she's skin the beavers or foxes and sell the pelts. She loves to tell about using skunk oil to cure or prevent all sorts of ailments. And how she kept jars of dead fish in the sunshine so she'd have bait for her traps. She told me not many of her girl friends at school ever wanted to go with her to tend the traps; I suspect not many of the boys did, either. The picture above was Blanche on her 80th birthday, holding a brand new fishing pole.
Right now, the ice is covered with water, which means if there are shanties on the ice, they will freeze in solidly, and of course it will be very difficult to get them free in the spring without leaving a good portion of their underpinning behind. Some years we've seen an dismaying array of wood scraps, tarps and other debris in/on the ice where the shanties have been chopped, sawed or split loose when it was time to get them off the ice. None of this can be easily avoided when we have alternating melting and freezing going on throughout the winter, like this year. The fishermen try, but short of hauling them off the ice whenever we have a warm spell, there isn't much they can do to prevent freeze-ins. The best solution would be to use only portable, temporary shelters like folding tents, that would be erected and then taken down each time they fish. That is more work, of course, but might be worth it come time to get the heck off the ice at the end of fishing season. Some fishermen don't use shanties - they just haul their gear on a sled, so they don't have the problem; they also don't have the shelter on nasty days. It must be those guys really, really love the sport of ice fishing - it isn't easy, and lots of time it isn't comfortable - but one way or another, it must be rewarding. For them, at least. It wouldn't be for me.
Whenever I think about ice fishing, I think of Blanche Lamore, our oldest Cabot citizen, who will be 104 in May, if my calculations are correct. Blanche loves to ice fish, and I believe some kind neighbors took her as recently as a year or two ago. She's a trooper, lives on her own and until a couple years ago, had a good size garden, picked berries whenever she could arrange for someone to take her to a favorite picking spot, and was always on hand in the church kitchen helping put on suppers, etc. I haven't been in touch with her for a while, but last time I talked with her, she was still very sharp about most things. She's always been an outdoor
person, she'll tell you. When she was a young girl, she and her father had trap lines, and she regularly snowshoed miles tending to the traps. Then, she's skin the beavers or foxes and sell the pelts. She loves to tell about using skunk oil to cure or prevent all sorts of ailments. And how she kept jars of dead fish in the sunshine so she'd have bait for her traps. She told me not many of her girl friends at school ever wanted to go with her to tend the traps; I suspect not many of the boys did, either. The picture above was Blanche on her 80th birthday, holding a brand new fishing pole.
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