Almost ready to float boat

The weather continues to trend towards warming, and the snow is steadily losing its hold on the landscape. The major hole in the millpond ice is growing, and there are other open places beginning to show. One spot I was particularly interested in was the area upstream from the upper falls of Spaulding Pond. The falls and the stream always make for pretty photos, and I was wondering whether the old boat that had spent much of the winter frozen in place was about ready to resume its pond-worthy status. I've heard that in Minnesota and other places in the upper Midwest, folks haul an old car onto the ice and put together a betting pool based on who can guess the date on which the ice can no longer support the vehicle's weight and it falls in. I suppose, if I were a betting guy, that I could have done the same thing with the boat. But freelancing is gambling enough for me, so I was content to just document the process. The mini-yacht is not yet free-at-last, but clearly, it's close.