Would you believe, the ice is still holding onto the pallet and the clock hasn't stopped yet. We thought it would surely happen today because of the wind we had, but as of 7 p.m. the clock was still ticking. Fred got some nice pictures tonight. The pond looked calm and even inviting where there is open water. The ice is looking pretty black - you can get a good look in this closeup. Also, you can tell there is a great deal more open water along the Barre Ave. shore. I think this is one of those years when the pallet is just going to sink quietly through the mushy ice. It doesn't seem to have moved much at all, unlike some years when it shifts from one side of the cove to the other as the wind moves the ice floe around. We just need to wait it out.

We'll have more to report tomorrow, I'm pretty sure.

Today I heard about another break in at a camp on Route 2 - one of the cottages that had been broken into before. This time the owners were there, but had retired for the night. It's pretty scary that burglars are that bold. I haven't heard of any other breakins, but I'll keep you posted. With more people coming back, there won't be as much opportunity for thieves to break in without someone seeing them, but everyone should be careful to keep their doors locked and keep a watchful eye on strangers in the neighborhood.

I'm reminded about what my grandfather used to tell us kids - especially the ones who came to the farm from the city and were skittish about going into the woods to get the cows. He would tell them, "It's not the wild animals you have to worry about, it's the humans."

This is what the sunset looked like tonight. That looks like a lot of ice still on the pond, but actually, there's more open water than you'd suppose around the shoreline and the whole upper end of the pond is nearly free of ice.

Sorry I didn't get the information out as early as usual this morning, but it's been a busy one. Not much to report, but Fred makes it more interesting with lots of photos. As of 7 a.m., the pallet was still out there and when Fred was there it was a gray, cold morning with a few snowflakes in the air. Some of the open water was frozen in the quieter bays, but not at the boat access near the pallet and flag. We expect the clock will stop very soon, though, and will keep close tabs on it.

I had an e-mail this morning from Louise Lufkin, one of the organizers of the ice-out contest at Maidstone Lake, quite a bit north of us and near the New Hampshire border. The clock stopped there on April 4, at 8:24 p.m. Louise said Joe's Pond has historically gone out 1-2 days after Maidstone. It's time, folks!

I checked, and Maidstone is more than double the acreage of Joe's Pond (796A. vs. 396A.) but the elevation is lower. It's at 1303' and we are at 1575'. They are closer to the Connecticut River than we are, I think. Louise didn't say how many tickets they sold or how large the winnings were.

You'll notice in the slide show the Town of Cabot has worked the roads. We were pleased and surprised yesterday when they began hauling in material and then the grader came. Very nice road, and this morning they are hauling beyond us, apparently working their way towards the Walden line and Cabot Plain. This is early for them to work the roads, but none of us who travel them would dispute the need. The mud has been pretty bad this year. There are still spots where the frost hasn't come out yet, but they are becoming fewer, and Cabot seems to be right on top of things.

We learned this morning of the death of Janice M. Cody, mother of Robin Nicholson (Old Homestead Rd.). Mrs. Cody was 86, and died on April 5. You may send condolences to Robin at 76 Sugarwoods Rd., Barre VT 05641.

I believe this is a picture of Francine Perkins who gives us these regular updates. Very pretty lady.

Work Update

Danville Route 2 Project

Project: Danville FEGC 028-3(32)

WEEK OF 4/9/12

The work plan for this week will have crews concentrating on the West end of the project between the Danville School and the end of the project.

Crews will be installing drainage pipe between the school and the end of the project. This work will require alternating one-way traffic around the work zone.

Crews will also be building slopes off of Route 2 near the school. Although the work will occur off Route 2, trucks entering and exiting the off road work site will have a minor impact on Route 2 traffic.

The Village Green will have light construction activity throughout the week. Trucks will be entering and exiting the area to stockpile material for the upcoming road work.

Work hours will be daylight hours until further notice.

Contact Francine Perkins, Public Relations Officer, FRP Enterprises, LLC with any questions or concerns with regard to this project at 802-479-6994 or for a more up to date schedule visit www.roadworkupdates.com.

The clock has not stopped yet, but from the appearance of the ice tonight, the contest could be over any time. Tomorrow (Friday) I believe we are going to have some high winds, and that should be enough to finish off the ice. There is a very large hole in the ice not far from the pallet, and another some distance up the pond. Fred got pictures of them tonight. This is the one that's close, the one below is further up the pond and a bit to the right. They were apparently thin spots in the ice. The one near the pallet has been open for a while, but we just spotted the second one.

You will notice in the third picture there is quite a bit more water showing along the shoreline now, and that will give the ice floe a chance to move more. Also, there is more water showing at the north end of the pond - it is open about to Hebert's now, and will connect with the narrows soon. There is also a stretch of open water working down the west shore. Definitely more is happening now even though it has been pretty cold all day.

I'll be on hand in the morning to let you know if we're still waiting for the clock to stop.

Just when you think nothing exciting is happening around here, something does. The clock hasn't stopped, and the ice looks very much the same as it has, but on the way home this morning from checking the clock at 7 a.m., Fred saw a visitor coming down the road just beyond our house. He was headed into the woods, but when he saw the car, he stopped and started walking down the road, but after he'd had his picture taken, he lost interest and went along into the woods.

As for the ice on the pond, that hasn't changed much overnight, but there does seem to be more open water showing this morning, and it hadn't frozen over during the night, even though it was below freezing. We've also had some snow showers this morning - enough to show some white in the grass and on cold surfaces. We usually can tell quite a lot by the color of the ice - it gets darker as it begins to melt. The new snow can fool us, at least for a while, into thinking the ice is firmer than it really is. These are the pictures Fred took this morning. Slide show.

We saw a segment on TV this morning about drones with surveillance cameras, and decided one of those would be great to have to check the clock and pallet, especially when the roads are muddy. They are very expensive, but perhaps like all our other technical gadgets, the cost will go down over time and one day it would be affordable. Or a web cam, which we've seriously considered. For now, we'll continue to monitor the clock and pallet twice daily until something happens to send the pallet through the ice and the clock stops. THAT will be more exciting than a moose.

We are still waiting for something to change at the site of the pallet and flag. It looks like we won't have a new record for earliest Ice-Out, and the record of 2:46 p.m. on April 5, 2010 will still stand - unless, of course the clock stops before that time tomorrow, which we doubt it will do. Take a look at the pictures Fred took tonight. We've had sunshine, wind, clouds and snow showers today, and still the ice looks about the same. The only change we can see is that there may be a little more open water showing, and the ice that had formed over the open water during the night had melted by the time Fred got there at 7 p.m. tonight. Otherwise, the pallet and flag seem to be at the same angle, frozen into the ice, and not moving up, down or sideways.

About the best I could come up with to make tonight's blog entry a bit more interesting was to switch sides to display the photos. We can plainly see the ice floe is getting smaller, and Fred said he thinks the ice looks a little darker - but it's going to be cold again tonight, so it may freeze up the open water temporarily again. In the meantime, the last of the entries are coming in the mail, and we appreciate having a few days to get everything in and tallied so when the clock does stop and we have a winner, we'll be ready to announce it within a very short period of time. We need to be sure all the tickets are in and postmarked no later than March 31.

Most of you have heard about the hard times that beset Vermont in 1816. I looked up a clipping that in the archives I've been working on for the Cabot Historical Society, and here's what it said: ". . . January was so mild that many Vermonters let their fires go out except when they had to cook . . . February was a very mild month and March came in like a very small lion and went out link and innocent sheep. Just about the time that most ov the hardy old Vermonters were beginning to pat themselves on the back for getting through a light winter, Dame Nature started a sharp toe at the seat of their homespun trousers. April brought colder weather and eventually snow and ice. In May the young buds froze and the ice was thick on the ponds. Corn froze as fast as it was planted until it was too late for a crop. June roses thought they had been transplanted in the Arctic circle and frost killed all of the fruit on the trees."

June brought 10 inches of snow throughout Vermont and many other states. On July 4th, ice as thick as window glass formed all over New England on the ponds. August was worse, with "every green thing in this country and in Europe blasted by frost. Snow fell near London . . . there was absolutely no summer that year. Thousands of persons in the country would have perished had it not been for the abundance of fish and wild game." Published by the Rutland Herald, taken from an old issue of the Vermont Standard. That year was known as "the year without a summer."

The Barre Daily Times reported in 1932 that the thermometer was well over 60 degrees above on January 14, and was ideal sugar weather. Men working in the woods said sap flowed freely from the maples they were cutting down, making it difficult for them to do their work. The roads were muddy, which made automobile travel "next to impossible." Douglass Inglis and Ralph Tobin played nine holes of golf at the old Barre Golf club course on the Montpelier road, and said they were certain they'd made golfing history by playing golf in Vermont on January 14th.

If the weather continued to be strange that year, we don't have a record of it, but at least we know there have been other strange weather years. Our main problem now is that the weather is back to near normal and we're not liking it much. That 70 degree stretch in March spoiled us for cold weather and prolonged mud season. And it threw our Ice-Out contestants a curve, proving this game is definitely not predictable, try as you will.

Green Mountain Youth Symphony

“the music is just the beginning . . . ”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Leah Wilhjelm

April 2, 2012 (802) 888-4470

leah@gmys-vt.org

Green Mountain Youth Symphony

Spring Concerts & Auditions

The Green Mountain Youth Symphony (GMYS) is celebrating the start of its second decade with a concert series in Barre, Vermont and Lebanon, New Hampshire. These concerts will feature three young soloists: Sky Baumgardner Sandoval of Montpelier on xylophone, J. Lynne McConnell of Middlesex on violin, and David Morgan of Stowe on trumpet.

On Saturday, April 14 at 3 pm, the three ensembles of the GMYS, consisting of more than 100 young musicians from throughout Central and Northern Vermont and New Hampshire, will perform at the Barre Opera House. The program will include selections from the motion picture “Titanic,” Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain. The orchestras will also play music by Borodin, Brahms, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky. For the final portion of the concert, the Senior Orchestra will be joined by GMYS@UVMC, an ensemble of young musicians based at the Upper Valley Music Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The following day on Sunday, April 15 at 3:00 pm, the Senior Orchestra of the GMYS will perform at the Lebanon Opera House in New Hampshire in a joint concert with two young orchestras based at the Upper Valley Music Center. GMYS Artistic Director, Robert Blais, conducts both groups. This joint performance has become a popular tradition for GMYS.

Tickets to the concerts on April 14^th in Barre and April 15^th in Lebanon are by $5 suggested donation, available at the door; students and seniors are free.