No swimming lessons needed until it's 32F

As evidenced by this photograph, it turns out that the pond has a fall-thru-resistant 10 inches of ice on its surface.

It's only because of the happy face captured in this image that i am willing to forget the 5 minutes of agony i endured yesterday when i was beyond certain that my husband had fallen into the icy water and left me a widow.

I wont go into how he's prone to go on dangerous adventures without telling me.

I'll leave out the part about how, from my view out the kitchen window, i thought i saw a hole in the ice.

I'm even willing to delete the fact that, after running out onto the deck in sheer panic, my fears were confirmed as i saw one-way foot tracks leading out to the center of the deep end of the pond... and that i STILL thought i saw the hole in the ice.

I will, however, share with you that the husband agreed to never again venture onto the pond without first tipping me off about the endeavor. That, and i get a box of chocolates every day from now until Ash Wednesday to help me cope with the residual nerves brought on by this whole fiasco.