No sign the ice is going out any day soon - today has not been a "melting day," but neither was it an "ice making day."  We have had temperatures mostly in the 40s all day with a really chill north wind.  The wind tends to move the ice around if there is sufficient open water around the edges of the pond, but there really doesn't seem to be much wiggle room yet on the big pond.  The two smaller sections do have some open water.  We'll be checking tomorrow to see how much.

Diane Rossi reported tonight that Molly's Pond is still frozen over, and that generally goes out about a week before Joe's Pond opens up.  We have a while to go - it may be a May date after all.

Some of the people who have property on Joe's Pond (and other Vermont ponds and lakes) are concerned about the Shoreland Protection Bill H.526.  Kate Chatot sent me a "Frequently Asked Questions" release written by Vermont Agency of Natural Resources on March 14, 1914.  I found an almost identical piece on line, and this link will take you to it.  My thanks to Kate for bringing this information to us.  

There isn't much going on here right now - we're all waiting for warmer weather, but we may get snow showers tonight; we'd like to be able to announce an Ice-Out Contest winner, but the clock is still ticking; we could complain about muddy roads, but mud season hasn't been as bad (so far) as we'd feared; so we can count our blessings.  My biggest complaint today is that Woody (our cat) was being a royal pest about going outside, trying first one door and then the other, and returning each time within minutes.  I believe he thinks he somehow misplaced warm weather and expected to keep us opening doors for him until he found it again.  It didn't work; after about the sixth try, we grounded him.  There are three doors and two of us, and he managed to get each of us to make the rounds for him, but now his options have stopped.  We'd like to think we're smarter than he is, but sometimes we realize he knows us better than we know ourselves.  This is him, for the moment resigned to looking outdoors from the window instead of being there.  It's a tough life, Woody.