We've got a rainy, kind of slushy mix sort of day today. There was a skimming of snow overnight, and then misty rain this morning. We don't have to go anywhere, but those who do have to travel may find roads a little wet and slippery in places. It's warm enough (34 degrees right now) so the roads are probably just wet - except some driveways and back roads may be a little icy.

Our friend, Kate, in Rhode Island sent me a link to this story that appeared on the Providence Rhode Island Journal site under the heading of "Odd New England stories for 2019. She was surprised that Joe's Pond made the list! Here's the portion about our contest, but if you want to read the other "odd" stories, click the link above.

WINTER’S OVER — WANNA BET?
Apparently trying to guess when the ice will melt is such a thing in northern Vermont, some people even place bets on it. In West Danville, locals bought tickets for a $5,000 jackpot to see who could predict when a cinder block would fall through pond ice. Organizers say the annual Joe’s Pond Ice Out Contest began in the 1980s as a response to cabin fever. In Newport, near the border with Canada, there’s a similar contest with a twist. Residents bet on when “Vanilla Ice,” a large plywood cutout of a bottle of vanilla extract, will drop into Lake Memphremagog.

We may be odd for putting on the Ice-Out Contest every year, but it is great fun and a great fund-raiser. The author of that piece noted the contest at Memphremagog - but there are similar contests all over United States - many of them copied from our Joe's Pond contest, but as far as I know only the Nenana Classic in Alaska that has been running since 1917 is larger than ours. We used to be in touch with one of the organizers of the Nenana contest, but we haven't heard from him in the last ten years or so - he was a friend of Homer's and they used to exchange tickets each year, each sending the other ten or so paid tickets. Nobody from here ever came close to winning their contest, nor did anyone from Alaska ever win ours.

If you are interested in purchasing tickets for our "odd" Joe's Pond Ice-Out Contest, you can print tickets on line (CLICK HERE).  Fill them out on line, print and send to JPA, PO Box 111, West Danville, VT 05873 with $1 for each ticket. You'll find lots more information under Joe's Pond Assn. on the Ice-Out page on our website, www.joespondvermont.com.