i have to admit: i love checking ice. what a great way to blow a morning, when, in all probability, there’s nothing happening. Just sitting on the edge of grassy pond, looking out on a whole pond with 1″ of newly-minted ice. Can’t i invent some machine with long, triple runners, a weed-wacker engine and spiked drive-wheel to blast across this virginity?

for the locals, here’s what i saw:

howe hill swamp: old ice=1.3″ new ice =.75 (estimate since i couldn’t cross the old ice) hobbs pond, near fish pond connector: =1.2″ lovely ice
whitetail reflecting pools: shaded ice=2″ (could be skated) open ice =1″ toleman pond: =1.7 (could be skated by midgets with 3′ nordic skates) grassy pond: =1″ very nice ice about to be kyboshed by warm dastardly weather megunticook, bog bay: old ice =2″ could be skated) open ice=.8′ megunticook lake main body= open water
plymouth pond, as reported by your pie-in-the-sky plymouth store: open water

so, shall i go out in the weak yellow 1PM sun and skate those paltry slivers of ice? or, loaded with thanksgiving leftovers, drift off into la-la land. you guessed it…..ZZZZZZ