Here's a picture to remind us of what's ahead for us here at Joe's Pond. We haven't seen many flowers here yet, so Andy Rudin is sharing his garden with us. Thank you, Andy - I can almost smell the daffies and tulips! Very nice.
     We noticed on our way home from St. J. this noon time there is open water the whole length of the first pond. Of course there is a tremendous amount of water going over the dam right now - the pond has tons of water flowing in - and out. We also spotted some loons in the first pond, and some ducks or geese - we couldn't tell exactly which as they were far off, but we were sure there was at least one loon.  Gretchen Farnsworth has already alerted us that one loon was back at their end of the pond - Sandy Beach Road area. Things are waking up around here!
     We've had a pretty changeable day today. There was a little sunshine, a little rain, and fairely warm temperature - in the 50s. Most of our snow is gone, but there is still some in the woods on the hillside behind our house and in pockets on the lawn - and of course the banks along the driveway and where the snow from the deck was shoveled off. It will take a while for all of that to melt. 
     There was a flood alert for the Connecticut River area south of us beginning tonight through the weekend. All the water coming off the hills is rushing into the Connecticut and pushing over the banks in low lying spots. More showers are forecast for the weekend, but then we're getting some warm, dry weather.
     Looks likely the Ice-Out Contest will extend into May this year. This hasn't happened for over a decade. The clock stopped on May 1 in 2007, and since then it has always been in April. The latest was May 6, 1992. I suppose it could go beyond May 6, but I wouldn't want to bet on it. Still . . . there isn't much dark ice yet . . . so anything could happen.