The ice on my lil pond in Mass. is safe i was out there with a buddy and we shoveled a nice area to play hockey and some areas we plan on ice fishing later this week.

be careful the ice around my house in ma isnt safe enough yet it must be a real small pond

Been a lot of folks ice fishing around the Oxbow area here in western MA. Not my cup of tea; I don't fish hard water.

winters better for hard liquor then hard water imo

Haha yeah, we checked if with sticks and rocks and stomped and it was good, its one of the first to freeze over around here

stomping on the ice is not a fool-proof method of checking the safety/thickness of ice.  spend a few extra minutes drilling, chopping or chipping a few holes to make sure you have at least 3 or 4 inches before heading out on the ice and double check near underwater springs to make sure ice is safe over them too.

Looking back now we shouldve done that!

I just went and checked 6 inches in the thinnest we found

Yeah....I'm with Tugsandpulls...1"squares and I'll fish for the olive....