Just when you think the weather might be turning better, it gets really nasty. We got more snow last night - only an inch or so - on top of frozen everything, and then the temperature rose a bit today so everything got really mushy. We had to go to St. Johnsbury again today and when we went out a little after ten o'clock, the road was pretty good. It had some snow, but the Cabot road crew had plowed with the truck and sanded. Most of the potholes and washboard areas were filled in nicely - still frozen, I suppose underneath. There was a little snow in the air, but seemed to be turning to rain. When we came back, early afternoon, everything had deteriorated and for the first time this winter, we couldn't make it all the way up our driveway. The two or three inches of snow that was on the driveway had turned to heavy slush with ice underneath. We left the car in the turnaround, but Fred was determined, and went back and backed the car the rest of the way into the garage! I could not have done that, I'm sure - I hate backing up anyway. Jamie used to do that routinely all the way up his driveway, but hasn't had to do it for a couple years now, I believe. 

     Anyway, we are tucked in for the night now, it has been raining quite hard and there is a strong, gusty wind out of the south, supposedly bringing warmer weather, but who knows! It's 35 degrees here now, but with the wind chill, feels much colder.

     Nancy Buttura sent these pictures of a cute red fox on the ice in front of their home yesterday. Nancy's daughter, Jenna, took the pictures. Nancy said the fox was out there for quite a while before being startled by something nearby and taking off. He may have been scavenging for leftover food like discarded fish or anything left by the fishermen. The recent rain and crust on the snow may have made it difficult for them to find food in the wild, and I think this is about the time pups are born, so perhaps this was one of the parents foraging for food for the new babies. Nice pictures - thank you Jenna and Nancy.
     Here's something many of you may be interested in seeing. Homer Fitts made a graph for us showing the trend in Ice Out dates over the years. Click on the image to make it larger. Thanks, Homer, for taking time to do this and for sharing it with us. As many of you know, Homer is one of the founders of the contest and hosted the clock on his deck for many years.