Now that April is almost here, we're finally getting some March weather.  We had a little rain late yesterday, then it turned to snow.  I measured one inch of really soppy snow on the deck this morning.  Today has been a little of everything - misty rain, fog, almost sunshine, and finally this afternoon, lovely lazy snowflakes drifting down to cover the mud and dirty snowbanks with a clean white frosting.  The wet snow clung to the tree branches momentarily, and it seemed as though some fiendish plot was afoot to release wet gobs of slush as soon as I walked underneath.  I got my usual hill climb in; the air was warm and smelled a lot like spring, but I got pretty wet between the trees unloading on me and the mix of misty rain and snowflakes, so I didn't linger.  There were breaks when the sun seemed ready to shine through, but it didn't happen.  I think there is a fair amount of melting going on, in spite of the new snow, and even though we're going to have some cooler weather this weekend, the sugar makers may get some good runs of sap with warm days and cool nights.

We are about out of Ice-Out tickets - that is, they are nearly all distributed to outlets.  We've been surprised that ticket sales seemed to pick up earlier than usual, and we've had to replenish supplies at a number of the outlets.  That usually doesn't happen until the last few days before the April 1st deadline, and we thought that the weather being so cold nobody would even think of the ice going out.  I'm guessing people have been looking for some sign spring will get here, and perhaps getting into the Ice-Out Contest is one way to believe winter weather will really end, eventually.  We still have printable tickets on line and also the option to pay on-line if you purchase 10 tickets.  On-line tickets will be available until 11:59:59 p.m. on April 1st.  Regular tickets at outlets are available until close of business on April 1st.   Please remember if you have tickets that need to be mailed, be sure they are postmarked no later than April 1st, otherwise they will not be entered in the contest.  The address is on the tickets - P. O. Box 111, West Danville VT 05873.

We took this picture as we were leaving St. Johnsbury on Wednesday - the ledges by the Route 2 ramps for the interstate.  Fred was driving and I had managed to buckle the strap of the camera into my seat belt, so missed the best shot of the ledges, but still the ice formations were brilliant white against the dark, wet rocks.  Wednesday was a pretty day with lots of sun and got the melting started.  At least we have some mud showing up a little more each day, and that's a good thing - sort of.