Another sunny day, but not as warm. We had a strong north wind that keep things cooler than it's been earlier in the week. It was nice for working outside, though, and I got a few things accomplished - turned some water, uncovered part of my garden area, and picked up some of the winter debris. Have more to do, but need to wait for the ground to dry out a bit. We have quite a bit of water sheeting down our lawns from springs up in the woods.

Fred is checking the flag twice each day - this picture was taken this morning. He got several pictures of the progress of the ice melting, so I've put a slide show together.

The roads are deteriorating along with the ice, as is normal. Some spots are pretty bad, but the road is still very passable, not like some years.

I signed up for Burr Morse's newsletter a long time ago, and very often get a real chuckle out of what he writes. This last one struck a chord because Fred and I have had quite a bit of experience with our wood burning efforts; and I'm very familiar with the merits (and drawbacks) of wheelbarrows, from the wonderful home-made ones we had when I was growing up to the trusty steel one I use now.

You don't see the old wooden barrows much any more. There are decorative ones to display in one's garden, but not the utility sort we had, with a plain iron wheel, wooden shafts that extended for handles, worn glass smooth by callused hands over the years, and side boards that were easily removed for wide loads or easy load dumping. I fell off one of those old wheelbarrows and broke my arm when I was about three years old. I don't know what my Uncle Bob was doing - maybe just giving his niece a ride - he was about 13 and I loved being wherever he was, and I'm sure it was tough on him to have that happen. I don't remember that I minded all that much, probably loved all the attention. I don't have much memory of being three, actually.

I had a lovely letter from an 87 year-old lady whose grandparents had a farm in Walden. Later they moved to St. Johnsbury, and she comes with her daughter to Joe's Pond and visits the cemeteries where her family are buried, and drives by the Walden farm. Then, she told me, they stop at Hastings Store for doughnuts, coffee and Ice-Out tickets. She said her mother danced at Point Comfort, she thought, sometime before 1922. I'll need to go back in my notes to find out when Mr. Woodring built the dance hall. I found an early postcard picture (below) of Point Comfort taken before the restaurant and apartment were built near the road. This would have been well before 1922, I believe, as I think the restaurant was built in the early 1920's. This picture was before the road which is now Route 2, was paved. It's always interesting to see how hillsides that now are forested were bare farm land in those early years.

We need to get ready for colder weather within the next few days. Now that lots of us are thinking "summer fun," we may have our hopes dashed and find ourselves shoveling snow again - or at least we'll swap our shorts and short sleeves for something warmer as we get back to the reality that this is, after all, still March. The damage has been done to the maple sugaring season, and quite possibly the ice on Joe's Pond. The cold snap could prolong the ice breaking up for a few days, but old timers say a bit of snow helps to melt the old snow and bring the frost out of the ground quicker. We'll see.

This stretch of great weather is altogether too weird. Who would think we would be almost entirely without snow in the third week of March, with soaring temperatures ending skiing, boarding and sugaring season? But with the unusual weather comes slimy, muddy roads, winter's collection of trash revealed along roadsides, and lawns and fields tinder dry. It's not without delight for some people, though - like die-hard skiers loving the best spring skiing they've had in years, and early gardeners who are taking advantage of the warmth to get some crops and flowers going early.

In case you wonder what your friends here at Joe's Pond are doing these nice spring days, these pictures from Bob Dimick say it all. He writes:

Hi Mom,

Here's something I thought you might like for the blog. Joes Ponders Jack & Sue Lague, John Gebbie and yours truly spring skiing on Smugglers Notch today. What a great day!

In the top picture are, left to right, John, Bob, Sue and Jack; in the bottom picture, Jack, Bob, Sue and John. Bob and John have skied nearly every week this winter, along with several other buddies. They hit the slopes at Jay, Mad River, Stowe, Burke - depending on time and conditions.

I think Bill and Diane Rossi went to Burke to turn in their skis today, and most areas are will be closed up for this year by the weekend.

We are watching the ice in Joe's Pond turning blue-gray as it pulls away from the shoreline, the open water in the both narrows lengthening in a matter of hours, carving a ribbon of sparkling blue from the upper narrows to the dam in West Danville, and we begin the twice-daily "watch" to check the Ice-Out Contest clock. This picture was taken late Thursday morning.

Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire expects the an early ice-out. Bob Labrie in Goshen, Massachusetts, runs the annual Meltdown there, and the flag went down on March 19th. We reported Lake Dunmore's contest finished on the 20th. Can we be far behind?

Fred and I were on WSTJ radio and WKIX-FM this morning. The top picture is Jessica at KIX, and when we finished talking with her, we went next door and did an interview with Don Mullallay. It's always fun to do these interviews.

When we left the radio station, we went to all our ticket outlets and picked up the tickets they had sold and gave them a supply that we hope will take us through the remainder of the contest.

Ticket sales seem to be good so far, and people are listening to us and getting their picks in early, just in case the ice goes out before the April 1st deadline.

We are nearly out of printed tickets, but people can still get on line tickets, make them out, print them and send them to us in the mail. We don't want anyone to be left out of this fun contest where the winner could get around $5,000. Tickets are still only $1. Just be sure you get them in the mail right away because we don't know how long it will be before the flag goes down, and if it's before the close of the contest on April 1st., the game will have to stop. We won't sell more tickets and tickets that aren't already in our hands will not be accepted. If the ice holds until the April 1st. deadline, you will have until close of business April 1st to get your tickets, and tickets mailed on March 31 will be allowed. Any mailed after that date will not be accepted into the contest.

Here's an update on Sue Fitts Martin, who recently had an operation:
WE JUST GOT IN AND HAVE A MESSAGE FROM ERIC THAT CAME ABOUT 7:00. SUE IS DOING GREAT AND HAD AN EXCELLENT TURN AROUND AND WILL BE GOING HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL TOMORROW. SURELY GREAT NEWS ! HOMER

*****

An Evening About Vermont Yankee

Wednesday, March 28 at 7 p.m.

Hear about Entergy and Vermont Yankee from Marshfield area residents who are involved in and knowledgeable about the issue.

At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield, VT, 122 School St. For information call 426-3581 or e-mail: jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Fred checked the pallet early this morning. It's going to be another beautiful and WARM day. He took a pile of tickets to Bill Rossi to deliver to our statistician in Barre, and went on to check the flag and pallet. The top picture was taken from the Rossi's as the sun was getting higher in the sky and burning off the mist that forms each night over the ice. Temperatures were in the 40's last night, so there was no freeze-up. The roads are no worse today than they were a couple of days ago, so that's a good thing. Fred said they are quite passable. Not good if you don't want to get your car muddy, but no deep sink-holes or anything.

At Homer Fitts's where the pallet is, the ice looked solid all the way up the lake. We know at the very north end where the channel leads into it there is open water and that stream will gradually cut down the length of the pond. In the meantime, there will be more open water showing at the narrows between each of the three sections of the pond until, finally, the stretches will meet. As the ice pulls away from the shore, there will be more movement of the ice, and that will allow the wind to move it around, breaking it into chunks and accelerating the melting process - sort of like stirring a drink with ice cubes in it.

In the bottom picture, you'll see the pallet is on solid ice. The debris around it was left by the ice fishermen - bits of wood frozen into the ice so they couldn't take it with them. It happens every year, to some degree. Last year was the worst, with tarps and large pieces of wood solidly frozen into the ice.

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This came tonight from Homer about his daughter, Sue:

JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH ERIC. EVERYTHING MENDING SLOWLY. EATING A LITTLE JELLO. ALSO WALKING A LITTLE.

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR CARES.

LOVE AND BLESSINGS,

HOMER AND MARGARET

We're glad Sue is progressing well. Another of our Joe's Ponders is under the weather right now. Ray Richer has been ill with some sort of "bug" that's been going around. Evelyn is holding the fort and very busy, but she very kindly took time to send me this photo showing that the channel is open past their house - here's what she wrote:

Wanted to send you a shot of the cove taken this morning... the ducks and geese have found us now too...  As you might remember the first week in April I usually send you a shot of the channel as it is just beginning to open up... well this year is totally different!  Wanted you to know, too, that Kevin [Johnson] called me last night and has graciously volunteered to come pick up the clock and hook it up... I expect he will be doing that this evening... (not certain)  He told me the ice is still about 18" thick... Ray is still very ill, sorry to say... but at least the pallet got out on the ice in time... 

Ray is our skilled "technician" - the one who puts the pallet out and makes all the intricate connections to the clock on Homer's deck. He put the pallet out as soon as the fishing shanties were off the ice, but didn't get the clock hitched up right away. Then he got sick and couldn't do it, so many thanks to Kevin for jumping in to finish the installation. Now we're all set to clock-watch as the ice continues to melt furiously under the hot sun the next few days.

Butch Bouchard brought up some Ice-Out tickets today - he's spending some time at camp getting things ready for the summer and enjoying our summer-like weather. He said Jack LaGue is ill, too. Sue brought tickets up yesterday and was planning to go skiing (it's her birthday), but I guess the plans fell through since Jack was under the weather. Butch said a day or so ago Jack drilled a hole in the ice in front of their home and said the ice is still 18 inches thick.

You've heard that two heads are better than one. I'm not sure in this case that's so, but whenever we do anything the least bit unusual, indoors or out, Woody is on hand to "help." Fred had his help this morning, and later when we went outside to work, we had Woody's help there, too, although he spent most of the time stretched out on the grass near where we were working. He's interested in being outside at night during the warm weather, so he's getting a lot of practice using his new swinging door into the garage.

I brought some pussywillows in the other day and they are doing nicely. I'll drain the water out of the vase tomorrow, I think, so they will stay nice and not go by. They are just about right now - nice and puffy and still white. Or, I could leave them and see if the twigs get leaves. I have an idea there will be leaves on lots of our trees early this year. However, sometimes when we have an early spring like this, we get a late frost that injures the budding fruit trees. We could still have some very cold weather, and if so, there could be some damage to crops.

Our governor "tapped" a tree today - it's an annual photo-op thing to tap a tree at the opening of maple sugaring season, but apparently his publicity people set the date according to past years, not taking into consideration this unusual weather. So the pundits are saying the governor tapped a tree to close the season. The days have been too warm and nights go only to about freezing, and that's probably only here in the hill country. Most places haven't seen many below-freezing nights for the past two weeks, and that will put an end to the sugar making.

Several people have asked if it's ok to select a March date on their Ice-Out tickets. Because the Contest closes on April 1st, it would seem logical we don't expect the ice to go out before that date. That has been true in the past, but in 2010 we had unusual weather and came really close to having to end the contest before April 1st; and here we are again this year, wondering if the ice will hold until the normal closing date. Now it's increasingly apparent the ice could go out in March. It hasn't done so in the 25 years we've had the contest, and it may never have gone out in March, but we're learning to never say "never." Therefore, folks can pick any date they think is a possibility. We've had picks that range from January to June, and all I can tell you is that we log 'em all in, no matter how unlikely they may seem.

Now I need to package up all the Ice-Out tickets that have come in to me today so they can go to log-in central. Diane or Bill picks up the mail each day and takes care of those tickets, and we each have certain outlets to keep supplied with tickets and to pick up from, and Bill delivers the tickets to Barre where they are entered on a giant spread sheet. We'll all be very busy from now on - we hope until after April 1st. WSTJ and WKIX in St. Johnsbury have been in contact with me about being on the air Thursday morning about Ice-Out. I heard from the Times Argus today - they had been at Hastings Store and then stopped at the pond to get pictures. It's a spring ritual!

Unfortunately, the busy schedule we Ice-Out people experience coincides with mud season, so going back and forth to collect and deliver tickets, check the clock and meet the media can be a bit daunting sometimes, and some years darned near impossible when West Shore Road is a ribbon of deep mud between us and our objectives. But we muddle through . . . !!

Another summer day at "Lake Joebegan." The snow is nearly gone even on our north facing hillside. There will be some in the wooded areas for a while longer, but mostly it's melted. There have been warnings about being extra careful not to start fires because everything is so dry. There have been brush and grass fires, but not in our immediate vicinity.

Fred went early to recycle in Wolcott this morning, hoping the road would perhaps be a little frozen. If it was, it wasn't much, and Brickett's Crossing Road was pretty bad, so when he came home, he went around to West Danville and then came up w. Shore Road. There are some messy spots on this end, but nothing too bad - yet.










The ice in the pond is holding pretty well so far. Above, there was some water on the ice leading out from the fishing access. This is where the snow had been plowed off so trucks and cars could drive onto the ice during fishing season. on the right you will see the pallet and not much sign of melting when Fred got these pictures this morning at around 8:30.

Even though the narrows are open, there is not open water connecting any of the three ponds (picture at top of page). Usually there is an opening all the way down the shore by the beach, and then the middle pond will break out. None of that has happened yet, and Molly's pond, which usually goes out just about a week before Joe's does, is still solid. The forecast is for temperatures again in the high 60's and possibly 70's tomorrow and Wednesday, and then cooling a bit towards the weekend. We might even have some freezing temperatures at night. In the meantime, the big pond is very solid (see above right).

Unfortunately, some of our maple sugar makers in the southern part of the state
have given up for this year. Around here, some have only had their taps in for a week or so. I guess the warm weather took some by surprise and they just weren't ready to get going. Some others did pretty well, having tapped back in February.

The winter took a toll on the fence at Ned and Carolyn Hamilton's tennis court this year. The Hamiltons have been here for a week or so and have made good progress taking down the old fence. Right now it looks pretty bare, but the new fence will be up soon, and if this weather keeps up, it will soon be back in use.

Bob Dimick has been selling Ice-Out tickets like hotcakes this year. He brought another 125 or so to us tonight and picked up another 50. He said he and Theresa decided to walk around their neighborhood in St. Johnsbury just to see if some might want tickets, and they ran out before they'd knocked on every door. Bob said the neighbors loved getting the tickets and he and Theresa really enjoyed chatting with neighbors they usually only see to wave to as they pass on the street.

It's pretty cool that a one-dollar ticket can be such a prize for people. I gave some to some workmen we had here a while back, and they seemed really pleased, took them home and made them out with their kids, and it was great fun for them. I now have a pretty red "PAID" stamp I use on those I buy to give away, and that somehow makes it even nicer. I've stamped literally hundreds this year for some of our regulars who buy large quantities each year to give away.

Jane Larrabee was on WCAX news talking about Ice-Out tonight. (Click WCAX to see video.)I was expecting to see Homer, but instead it was Jane. Homer probably pointed the TV crew to Hastings Store since he hasn't been here at the pond as much this year. He's busy flitting about with his new bride, Margaret - you saw the happy couple in the slide show about the Maple Fest I put on the blog Saturday. As the video continues, you'll see another neighbor, Glen Goodrich, talking about the maple sugar season.

Please see the corrected information in the Notice of Public Meeting below in RED....my apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: 3/16/12

Submitted by: Francine Perkins

Public Relations Officer

Re: DANVILLE FEGC 028-3(32) PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE

Attention Danville Residents and Businesses:

An informational public meeting to review the upcoming construction schedule for the Danville project has been scheduled for Monday, March 26, 2012 at 6:00 pm at the Danville Town Offices on the 2^nd Floor. Interested residents, property owners and businesses are welcome to attend to discuss this summer’s work schedule and upcoming project milestones.

Pike Industries (the contractor) will present and discuss their 2012 work schedule. Representatives from the Town of Danville, VT Agency of Transportation and Pike Industries (the contractor) will be available to address questions. For further information please contact Francine Perkins, Public Relations Officer, FRP Enterprises, LLC at (802) 479-6994.