Another beautiful warm day, just right for working outside.  We got quite a bit done and although it would be nice to have another day or two to finish up cleaning away the debris of winter from the flower beds, my back is happy we're going to have a rainy day tomorrow which means time off from outside yard work.  Woody enjoyed being outside today, too.  He spent an hour or so "hunting" up near the woods.


We were down at Bill and Diane Rossi's this afternoon for a few minutes and Fred got some pictures of the ice.  There was a chilly wind blowing down the pond, but it wasn't as strong or as cold as it had been yesterday, and we enjoyed a few minutes on the Rossi's boathouse deck - a welcome break in our yard work. There is a crack that reaches all the way across the pond - pretty amazing the way it zig-zags.  The photo above shows the crack that starts in front of Rossi's, and you can also see the mark in the ice where the rope to the pallet was originally.  Diane said the very strong winds yesterday moved it down the ice.  However there was no indication the pallet is in any danger of going through the ice yet.  The next picture with lots of zoom shows the continuation of the crack towards the eastern shore.


 It is hard to tell the thickness of the ice by looking at the crack or from the appearance either side of it.  Down the pond seems solid as ever, and up the pond there is no sign of breaking up. This view is looking towards Toll's Island.

As you can see, there isn't any green grass showing up yet, and although some perennials are poking through the ground, even the earliest spring flowers haven't bloomed yet.  And that's probably a good thing - we may have some snow showers tomorrow in between the rain drops.  I know it's normal for this time of year, but it does seem as if spring has been a long time coming and is particularly finicky this year. 

Here's a closeup of the pallet and flag - riding on the ice high and steady.   We had a call from son, Bill Dimick, late this afternoon as he was heading home from work.  He said Stiles Pond was nearly free of ice as he went by on Route 18, and estimated all the ice would be gone tomorrow with the rain.  Bill always lets us know when Stiles is out because generally Joe's Pond goes out about two weeks after that.  We'll see if that's the case this year.  Molly's Pond usually goes out a week before Joe's and that is still solid with ice.  Hmmm.

It doesn't matter how many predictions there are, it will happen in good time.  I'm still thinking it could be May before it goes out this year; however, I would be surprised if it sets a new record for being the latest date ever, which stands at May 6, 1992.