Seasonal Weather is Back! We know the Ice-Out Winner!!!!

 We now know that the winning ticket (4:59 p.m. on April 10) was one of 60 tickets purchased on line by Galina Mesko of Newport! She told Diane Rossi that she has been purchasing tickets since she was at UVM (she graduated in 2013!) when she became interested in the contest after a classmate did some kind of project about our contest. I don't recall that, but we've had lots of people engaged in stories or research projects involving our Ice-Out over the years. Galina said she will use the money to pay down her student debt. This year's split is well over $5,000, so I 'm sure she will be delighted when she gets that check!

 Most of the snow has melted and we are almost back to "normal," or at least back to more seasonal weather. It has remained chilly today, in the low 50s, but there has been continuous, slow melting of all that snow (probably 10 to 12 inches) we got this past week. Because of the slow melting and because we didn't have any downpours or rain, the precipitation has slowly seeped into the ground and should help a great deal to bring the water table back. I'm sure it has given the grass and other vegetation a big boost. We are still very brown, while even in Danville the laws are showing a lot of green.

I haven't been out on our road over the weekend, but the town put several loads of gravel in the mud holes and the grader worked to smooth some of the worst spots out. There are still a number of spots that still have frost and will probably break down into mud bogs before the road is completely ready for a deep honing and smoothing. We'll get there!

			It's getting close to the time that a lot of summer Joe's Ponders will be coming back - some briefly to "open camp" and others moving back for the duration of the summer. It's pretty quiet here now, and we look forward to a fun summer since everyone will (hopefully) be vaccinated. I suspect lots of us will be reluctant to put away our masks, and the usual hand shakes and hugs will not be forthcoming as we greet each other after the many months of seclusion, but that's okay. We'll all do whatever is personally comfortable. Our pavilion is normally very open, so there's good circulation - except sometimes for social gatherings if it happens to be cold or raining - then the side curtains are up, but there's still plenty of "fresh air" circulating, I expect. However, it does get crowded at those, and I haven't heard whether the JPA Board has discussed if seating should be limited at dinners and other social events. I'm sure they will weigh the facts and make an informed decision when the time comes. All this is new territory for us. Some of us may never be as comfortable in crowds as we once were. Still, Joe's Pond is a great place to be - to sit out a pandemic or whatever the rest of the world is up to. It's like a retreat for many of us - we can turn off all our radios and televisions, turn off our cell phones and just listen to the water splashing on the beach, the loons calling, and the reassuring hum of an occasional motorboat. Happy Days Ahead!