We've had a mostly sunny day today but the temperature has remained in the vicinity of 20 degrees. There was also a bit of wind and that made it seem a lot colder. The sunshine was so nice around noon time I decided to take a break and hike up Jamie and Marie's driveway, but when I turned the corner by our mailbox, the wind hit me and I nearly turned back. I made it up the hill ok - their driveway is protected by big trees and the hill itself, but when I reached the top, the wind was soooo cold I just turned around and headed right back down the hill. I usually take a few minutes at the top to catch my breath, but not today.
     I hadn't seen the trees that came down across their driveway in the wind storm a week ago Sunday, so I did stop for a minute on the way down to look them over. There were two of them, right in the same spot - perhaps one took the other down, or maybe they came down separately, we don't know. At least one of them snapped off at about eight or ten feet from the ground. No surprise there - that wind was ferocious last week. Those two trees must have at least brushed the power line on the opposite side of the road - but luckily didn't do them any damage. Jamie had to chainsaw them - two good sized trees about 10-12 in. diameter, it seemed to me - so he and Marie could get to work that Monday morning. The hazards of living in the woods.

     At least we didn't have much new snow in the last couple of days. There was only a trace this morning - not enough for me to measure either on the deck or caught  in the measuring container. This morning I had an email from our cousin Ora in Rhode Island and she sent this photo of her condo - plenty of snow from this weekend's storm - the one that didn't dump a lot on us! The snow in her yard will be gone in a few short weeks, I expect, but I imagine we're stuck with our snow here in Vermont for at least a month, six weeks, or maybe longer.  The near zero temperatures at night are not allowing much warming even though the sun is getting higher in the sky every day and warming the earth. It just isn't happening quickly. I heard some announcer on WCAX talking today about it being maple sugaring time. Not here, but probably in other sections of the state it is getting time.
     We will be anxious to learn how things went at town meeting today. The results will be out tomorrow morning, or maybe on the 11 o'clock news tonight. Then we'll know if the school is closing in Cabot. That was the big item on the agenda this year.
     Another question locally is how thick the ice is on Joe's Pond. It's getting close to the end of the Ice-Out Contest, so the pressure is building. With temperatures near zero every night, nothing much is happening except perhaps we could gain an inch or two of ice. I have promised to try to find out how thick it is and when I do, I'll post it here. I know people like to know before they make their guess about  when it's going to go out. One thing is for sure, it is just guesswork. Nobody can predict the weather. We could continue with this cold weather or when it switches again by the weekend, we could get a really big warming trend and things would really begin to melt. Only time will tell. But come 11:59 p.m. on April 1, the contest closes, so get your tickets while you can! On line or at your favorite outlet. If you need some mailed to you, contact Diane Rossi - dmbrossi@aol.com or Michelle Walker at walkermecats@charter.net. There's still time to get them in the mail, and you can get them on line literally until the last second.