Spring is here; Ice-out is near

Some die-hard ice goblins cling tenaciously to the banks of the brook.

The Father of Waters flows untroubled to the sea.  (O.K., maybe not the Father of Waters but at least a 4th cousin twice removed, and my apologies to Lincoln.)

Still some serious snow pack on the far side of the river.

No ice-out on the pond yet.

The glacier blocking the front door as it appeared two weeks ago.

There's a small community north of us called Joe's Pond and every year it runs an "ice-out" contest.  The point is to guess when a cinder block placed in the middle of Joe's Pond will fall through the ice as the Spring thaw warms things up.  If you're interested in buying tickets you have until 1 April to do so.  You can go to the Joe's Pond website at http://joespondvermont.com for all the information you might need.  Of course we have a little "ice-out" process here at the house as well although I haven't started putting cinder blocks out on the pond yet.  We'd love to see some open water on the pond and start feeding the fish of course, but our real ice-out event will be when the glacier in front of the front door has melted.  Right now it feels like a short hike in Greenland's back country any time you try and walk to the front door.  I'm guessing that the front path will be clear by 30 April and that all vestiges of snow and ice on the that side of the house will have melted by 15 May.  Things could go faster if we keep having crazy hot weather like we've been having.  I mean, it got up to 42 F (5 Celsius) today and at night the temperatures are only going down to about 15 F (-9 Celsius) or so.  With intense heat like that the ice doesn't stand a chance.