Today my kitchen window thermometer has reached a high of 71 degrees. And yes, it is in the sun. 🙂 Here’s a few photos taken this morning. 
Also, I am pleased to report that the Manchaug Pond Association Proposal for the s.319 Nonpoint Source Competitive Grants Program for the “Manchaug Pond NPS Improvement Project” is a go! Our start up meeting with the project managers – CEI’s civil engineer (he made the presentation at the MPA annual meeting 2 years ago) and environmental engineer – has been scheduled for April. The paperwork process is complete: forms submitted, letters for affirmative action and to establish the MPA as a vendor have been sent, project scope and sequence approved, and the contracts signed. Total cost of the project is $219,370 with the U.S. EPA funding 58.9% with $129,250 and the MPA and towns of Douglas and Sutton matching with 41.1% with $90,120 worth of services. Specifically the EPA pays for the engineers, the designs of the bioretention and leaching catch basins, vegetated swales, and plunge pools construction materials, educational material, and supplies. The matching contribution is the use of the towns highway department’s construction equipment and the salaries of the highway super, foreman, operator and staff and the volunteer time of MPA.
