Thursday, April 01, 2021

Link Failure and Other Subjects

 Those of you who have signed up to get this blog on line will likely find that the link to the Cabot podcast project does not work. This is not my April Fool's Day joke. I'm not sure why it doesn't work - it works fine if you go either directly to the blog, Joe's Pond Reflections, or access the blog from the Joe's Pond Association website. So many mysteries that remain unsolved as I stumble along in the digital world. I'm still more at ease with land lines for conversations and typewriters fork written communications, I guess.

Our April Fool's Day snow has lasted, and lasted, and is still going on. I measured an inch of snow at 9 a.m. and it has snowed almost continuously all day here at the pond. Jamie told me tonight that it rained in St. Johnsbury. Certainly the weather folks got it wrong again! Even the prediction that this storm was going to "move out of the area more quickly than we thought" isn't the case - it's still snowing. The good news is that it has been warm enough so the buildup hasn't been all that much. It certainly has been a dreary day, and the checkerboard pattern of mud and snow on the roads presents a real challenge when trying to avoid the deep potholes and long sections of washboard. It's best not to be in a hurry traveling West Shore Road, or on any back roads right now. Tonight it will likely freeze up and that will slow melting a bit and perhaps dry up some of the puddles.

The Ice-Out Contest is officially over at midnight tonight - that is, when tickets will no longer be available. The we wait for the weather to warm and the block to sink. It's hard to predict, even this year when the erratic weather has kept the pond from freezing as deeply as it normally does. We have had years when spring was much further along than it is this year and we have been worried the block would sink in March. That has not happened, and as near as we can tell, the block isn't in danger of going down soon. Still, a few warm days could do a lot of damage to the ice. Now we just have to wait and see. 

It's always exciting when the block sinks, whether we have made a wager in the contest or not. Traditionally, the pond will be free of ice within a few days of the block going down, and it's always great to see sparkling blue water again. Also, we can expect our Joe's Ponders to begin returning for the summer, and that's always very exciting. It will be interesting to learn if there will be a return to regular meetings and social gatherings, and if so, just how it will be handled. I'm sure our JPA Board has been mulling over the possibilities and will come up with a viable plan. We look forward to at least some interactions this year, given that everyone who wants to be immunized should be taken care of by then.

I hope everyone can enjoy some sort of Easter celebration with family or friends. Be safe and healthy.




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