This week’s Chappy Community Center potluck has been postponed to Wednesday, Jan. 22. It is too chilly in the great room of the center due to a heating issue. Hopefully that will be solved in time for the next gathering. Bring a dish to serve eight. The time is still the usual 6 to 8 p.m.

Brine’s Pond froze over last week. Folks posted photos of bundled up babies being towed around on the snowy surface on sleds. It looks like the forecast is favorable for thickening ice for quite a while.

Island-wide, all fresh water bodies are iced over. The salt ponds are mostly frozen over. Katama Bay and Cape Pogue Bay are slowly sheeting over. The recent north winds have helped to keep the ice confined to the southern halves of those tidal salt water bodies. But a few windless nights will allow Katama Bay to become sheeted over as far as the ferry, and Cape Pogue Bay will only be open where the currents are strong at the gut.

Remember that salt water ice is very different from fresh water ice. The biggest problem with salt water ice is that there is often water flowing beneath it. If a dog or person breaks through, they might get pulled sideways under the ice sheet. Salt ice is much, much weaker than fresh ice. It doesn’t freeze uniformly and it often cracks apart with the change in tides. Dogs love to run out on the ice. Better to restrict their adventuring to the fresh water ponds.

There is country store up in Plainfield, Vt. that backs up on a mill pond. A big sign on the back porch reads: “No one may go out on the ice until the jeep has been out on it”. In Vermont, the snow usually needs to be plowed off the ice anyway. So be cautious on any ice, especially when the temperatures get back to above freezing.