Today has been very pretty - beautiful bright sunshine that prompted Woody to want out; however, the wind was cold and he was ready to come in within 3-4 minutes.  But he couldn't seem to get over the notion it must be spring outside, and has pestered off and on all day to go out, and each time I'd set the timer for about 3 minutes and when I'd go to the door, he was always waiting to get back in.  We are afraid we might forget he's outside when it's cold like this, so rather than make him stay in, we set a timer to remind us - it's no weather for him to be caught outside.  He could still use his kitty door into the garage, and would then knock on the kitchen door, but we worry that the kitty door might stick or there could be some other reason he couldn't get in, and that would be terrible.  So, we use the timer.  Here he is, warming up in the sun in the living room.  We think he appreciates having the plants around - reminds him of summer, perhaps.

Andy Rudin says he has a great way to beat the winter blahs - he

has seedlings growing happily in a sunny window.  He said they don't have "snow" in Philadelphia like we do - they have "snert."  I think they've had a larger than normal share of whatever this year, but I gotta say, his seedlings look healthy and happy.


Most folks are still upbeat around here - they may grumble a bit about the cold and the ice and the snow, but lots of them are enjoying winter sports in spite of it being a harsh winter.  I was talking to Nate at Leahy Press yesterday, and he said he was ice fishing on the Connecticut River recently - said the ice was two feet thick.  He was on a "setback," away from the strong flow of water, and drove his pickup out there.  He said the ice was strong enough "to hold up a Mack truck."

Diane Rossi found out today from neighbor, Sol Lakey, the ice here is two and one-half feet thick with eight inches of slush on top.  We heard someone seemed to be stuck out there today - probably due to the slush.  Could it be there has been some melting going on???
With below zero nights, I'd think everything would be pretty solid, but maybe the last snow we had makes slush even on cold days if the sun is strong enough, like today.

We lost our electricity a couple times today - just blips off at first, and then about an hour later, it went off again and stayed off.  When Fred called in the outage, he was told there was a tree on the line some place and that caused the brief blips; but then there was a fire somewhere in Walden that apparently took out a pole, and that was why our power was off for 2-3 hours this morning.  It came back on just before noon.  I don't know where the fire was - I hadn't had the scanner on at all this morning.

We learned today that Gene Ellingwood passed away in Englewood, Florida on Tuesday.  I'll have more information when the complete obituary is published.  He was 90.  Gene was an active Joe's Ponder for many years and a long-time resident of St. Johnsbury.   Condolences may be sent to his son: Mark Ellingwood, 82 Black Fly Blvd., Newark VT 05871.