We had a nice break in weather yesterday - bright sunshine, but there was a biting wind that kept most of us rosy cheeked and rushing for shelter.  I had a meeting at the Danville Historical Society in the afternoon, and as I drove through West Danville, the "Open" flag at Hastings Store was flying straight-out horizontal.  Later, when I saw Jane Larrabee at the meeting, I mentioned that to her and she said, "Well, that's West Danville.  If the wind isn't blowing, we think something is wrong."

This picture is of Lyford Pond's West Shore Road - often confusing for drivers like UPS who aren't familiar with the area.  This is the intersection with Brickett's Crossing Road which continues from Joe's Pond's West Shore Road to Route 215.  Lots of snow beginning to pile up along roadsides now.
I figure we got pretty close to 24 inches of snow total from this last storm.  Then, after a half-hearted attempt at sunshine this morning, the weather turned to snow again and dumped another four inches or so on us. There was a not at all warm south wind, too.  We are expecting a gradual warming trend after tonight.  Last night we were in the single numbers below zero, but tonight won't be quite that cold, and then later this week we can expect temps in the 40's and possible rain.  Wouldn't you know?!


Diane Rossi and I are getting Ice-Out tickets to our outlets now.  By the end of next week they should all have good supplies of tickets and the pay on-line option will be available on March 1st.  The 2014 Ice-Out season is now upon us in a big way.  I checked our records and found out Larry Rossi put the flag out last year on March 6th.  Diane and I were recalling that after the flag was out we had some rain and the rope froze solidly into the ice - which was in a way a good thing because we also had some snowmobile traffic that might have cut the rope had it not been under ice.  Unpredictable weather is all part of the fun of the game.

Here's a news flash - we've been seeing ads on television that Buck's Furniture in Wolcott is closing their doors, and at first we doubted the message.  Buck's has been there for what seems like forever - but I'm guessing 40-50 years, at least; and along the way, they've had some fairly unusual ads announcing sales for all sorts of reasons, sometimes making one think they might be going out of business as they were "selling everything to the bare walls," or "everything must go," but this is apparently for real.  There are several buildings in Wolcott associated with the business, and once the place is closed, Wolcott will have some really big vacant buildings unless some other business locates there.  Lots of folks will miss Buck's Furniture - it was a real experience to go there and explore the miles of rooms on various levels, with literally tons of furniture of every price range, shape, size and type - and a sales staff not about to let you out the door without making a deal.  We wish staff and owners well.  Wolcott will not be the same without Bucks.