It's 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon and I'm sitting at my computer watching it rain.  We've had sprinkles and showers off and on all day, but now it's really coming down in good shape.    The temperature is still about 35 degrees, which is were it's been most of the day, so it isn't freezing on - yet.  As it winds down later tonight, the temperature is going to drop, according to the forecast.  I measured three inches of new snow this morning, but even then there was light rain falling, so our snow pack was diminishing, but the stake in our yard showed 26 inches. It's down to about 24 now, but this rain will probably take it down more; however, the weather folks are saying the snow will absorb a lot of the rain and that may save us from too severe flooding.  The good news is that it's going to get colder again, so that will slow the melting.

Road crews are busy trying to keep culverts open and preparing for icy conditions when the temperature drops later tonight.  I heard someone on a town crew who was apparently on a back road say, "Anybody who thinks we get paid too much ought to try driving one of these things!"  He went on to say the road was mostly slush.  Another reported there is a buildup of water on one of the state roads - I don't know where, and there was another report there is water flowing over a bridge on Route 302, near Route 25. And there's no sign the rain is letting up just yet.

I had a short e-mail from Homer Fitts this afternoon, and he said they are expecting rain there, too.  I'm sure that won't dampen his and Margaret's high spirits, though.

I had occasion to go through some of our Ice-Out records today, and was reminded this will be JPA's 27th year doing the contest. 
Diane Rossi and I got somewhat involved around 2007, and she and I became co-chairs for the 2008-9 season.  The contest remains very popular, defying economic swings, changing technology and unpredictable weather, and we have managed to keep the game uncomplicated while still allowing everyone a chance to be part of the fun, whether they are techies or not.  Like we say, it isn't rocket science, and everyone has an equal chance to win.

As I went through some of the memorabilia Homer gave us and that I've collected over the years, I came upon a letter received in 2003.  I'll never know if this person was serious or not, but those of us who were working the contest at that time got a real laugh out of it.  Take a look (click to make it larger).  I have no recollection of how we handled it, or if we did anything at all.  There wasn't a lot of time, since we probably didn't get the letter until March 28th or so.  We come upon some funny circumstances, and we also "meet" some very nice people as we navigate through the Ice-Out.  People seem to really enjoy being part of it all, and that makes our job a whole lot of fun, even though it gets pretty hectic near the end.

A while back, someone suggested the Rossi's place a thermometer where it can be seen on their web cam.  Diane thought that was a super idea, and now there is one.  I just had a look, and it shows up very well.  The temperature at present is slightly misleading as she just got it up a few minutes ago and it hadn't had a chance to adapt from the inside temperature to what's outdoors right now.  It's getting there, and we hope to keep it available after the clock is put in place - which won't happen until the flag for the Ice-Out Contest is in place.  Thanks to Diane for doing this.  She and Bill donated not only the thermometer, but also the web cams.  Please remember that you must use Internet Explorer as your browser in order to see the web cam images.  Using IE, log in to joespondvermont.com as you normally would and you'll find directions there.