Open, 26º at 7:00 am and cloudy. Forecast high 40º, cloudy, light rain and snow this afternoon. Good spring skiing, variable conditions. Hard and fast morning and late afternoon. Slower in the warmer part of the day. Loon is closed.

Boiling sap to syrup in the sugar house today, 9 to about 5.

Life is slowing down and getting ready to slip into spring, Ian changed the oil in his truck yesterday, I made an appointment to have the snow tires taken off the Prius. I vacuumed the upstairs and wrote ‘go to the dump’ on my list. The other spring thing that made the list was take Ruby to the groomer. She hates it! But a bathed, shaved, Ruby is a good lab looking golden retriever.

The picture on top was taken during the 2004 Craftsbury Marathon. Dick didn’t know he was part of the ad campaign until he saw the Cross Country Skier magazine. And later John Broadhead asked him to please  not sue. Dick brought in this magazine and the front page of the Ottawa Star newspaper. After skiing the Keskinada Loppet he shared the front cover of the Ottawa Star with Becky Scott, a medal winning Canadian Olympic skier.