It's spring in Philly

Andy Rudin sent this picture of his daffies in Philadelphia.  It won't be long before they are up around here, too, but it's always nice to see them wherever they are!  Thank you, Andy.

We've had a very nice day here, in the 50s most of the day - may have even reach higher during the afternoon when the sun was out.  It's clouding over now and the temperature will be dropping, I suppose, but no bitterly cold or snowy weather in the near future for us.  The two inches of snow we got earlier this week was pretty much gone the next day, and except for some upsets on highways, didn't cause any concern - in fact, it was really nice to look out at a completely white world - but then it was gone and we're brown again.

We're still urging people to get their ice-out tickets in as soon as possible.  While we believe the ice will hold until after April 1st, if we should get some very warm days, that could change, and any tickets that aren't in are invalid after the clock stops - whatever the date and time - the contest will be officially over as of then.  We're getting lots of tickets in every day, so we know people are paying attention to our messages.  You can always pick up another ticket or two later on if things hold together - just be sure to get them in by midnight April 1st, when the contest is definitely over.

The folks at Harvey's Lake didn't get their block out on the ice in time before it was too dangerous to be on the ice, so they have had to modify their contest.  This year they will have "spotters" around the lake who will report when there is open water and they will be 
declaring an official date and time according to those spotter's reports.  We had to get our block and flag out much earlier than usual, but it's there, sitting pretty, and our contest will proceed pretty much as any other year.  This picture was taken yesterday (Tuesday) from Rossi's boathouse deck while Fred and I were there for the interview with LSC's Tyler Cadorette, Channel 7 News.  Not all the snow had melted yesterday morning, so it looked pretty wintery; but today there is some water on the ice, but the block and flag are still secure.  We all know this contest is a real guessing game - there is no formula and no substantial scientific reasoning that can predict when the block will sink and the clock will stop.  It's purely a game of chance and completely up to the turns of the weather that can change without notice, altering the odds every day.  So good luck - your guess is as good as anyone else's!!