Tuesday, April 14, 2020




Cool day here, only 44 degrees, but we had a lot of rain yesterday - I measured .70 inches. this morning there were a few snowflakes in the air, even as the temperature was around 40 degrees, so the air is still cold. We had lots of wind yesterday, but didn't lose power.

The block and flag are listing considerably, but still haven't gone through the ice to stop the clock. Diane Rossi sent this photo this morning as the sun was coming up over West Danville. Michelle Walker said that Molly's Falls Dam is looking very dark and she's thinking the ice will be out soon. I think Joe's Pond usually goes about a week after Molly's Pond isout, but it is all very unpredictable. I'm not sure how long after the dam is free of ice. We aren't getting much really warm weather this week, but warm enough to continue melting very gradually. It looks like the split this year will be very good again, in spite of it being a slow year due to people not being out and about as they normally would be. There are still some tickets to be logged in (see photo at right) and expenses to be considered, so it will be a while before the exact amount will be known.

Henretta has done a great job getting all those tickets entered. She has input thousands of the regular tickets, and then has to deal with the printed tickets that people have filled out, printed and sent in the mail. There were a lot of them this year, probably because people couldn't get to the usual outlets to get their tickets. There are also the on-line tickets that are purchased in groups of ten that have to be assimilated into the overall log so when the clock stops, Henretta can search easily and locate the winning ticket(s). Then the winner has to be contacted and the ticket verified, and that can take time. There can be extenuating circumstances - contact information may be wrong; the winner one year was called away unexpectedly and it was a couple of weeks before the Ice-Out Committee was able to reach him - and then his phone went dead so he wasn't getting messages. Another time a grandfather had purchased tickets for his grandchildren but forgot to mention that to them or their parents, so when the call came for a pre-teenage child, the parents were understandably suspicious. It all turned out ok, but these are the kinds of things the committee has to navigate.

In the spirit of "every creature deserves an equal chance to be recognized," here is a photo of a less than handsome bird, a turkey vulture. Mary Whitcomb took this picture this morning near her home in Randolph, Vermont. Mary said this guy may not be pretty, but at least he eats only carrion - he doesn't prey on other live animals. I hadn't realized that there are quite a lot of these birds in Vermont. I've seen them in Florida, but was a little surprised to learn they hang out at the National Life Building in Montpelier - due to the warmth of the roof, it is thought. I guess they help to keep things clean by taking care of road kill, etc. Thanks to Mary for another great photo.

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