Regardless of the lingering winter weather - no new snow today, but not much melting going on, either! - the Ice-Out Committee still has work to do. Henretta is busily inputting ticket information and her last report was that all the blue tickets are in and there are just a pile of paper tickets, the ones people print from their

computer and send in the mail, to finish. The ones that are paid for by credit card are already organized on a giant spreadsheet, so no need to worry about them. Henretta sent this picture this morning. There are about 2000 tickets in each of those trays.
     Once everything has been recorded and the spreadsheets merged, they will have a total ticket count. There may be some additional expenses to consider because Larry Rossi has to make sure the rope is new and strong and all the components of the set-up are working, so each year some items are replaced. Last thing they want is a malfunction because something was worn or broken. So when Larry's expenses, if any, are in and all other expenses accounted for, they will have the numbers to work out what the split will be. It should be very good this year - at least $5,000, I'm thinking.
     In the meantime, last week we had someone ask an obvious question we hadn't thought to explain before. Where is the pallet and flag set up now? Everyone knew it used to be near the fishing access, but then we had to move it because Homer was no longer there during the time we needed someone to oversee things. So we moved it to a spot about half way up the west shore about in front of the Rossi and Rouleau homes. Diane Rossi is co-chair of the Ice-Out and lives there year around, so it made perfect sense to have it where she can monitor it. So to be perfectly clear, it is in the third pond, half way up the west shore, about 200 feet off shore.
     Some people had it on the east shore, some thought it was in the middle pond, but now you know. The flag can be seen from West Shore Road, but I warn you - the road is not great. There isn't mud like some years - yet! - but there are serious potholes. Those big winter moles have been at work and left their mark all along the road so it fairly shakes your vehicle to bits if you try to go too fast, and dodging them is just plain silly most of the time because when you dodge one, you just slip into another, sometimes deeper one. Honing it doesn't accomplish much this time of year because the road is still frozen underneath and while those holes may get filled with mud temporarily, it only takes a day or two for them to reappear. So it's really a waste of time until the road has sufficiently thawed out. In the meantime, take it slow, dodge what you think you can, and hold onto your temper for a few more weeks. It will be a warm, smooth, dusty road soon!