This just came from George Parizo:
Pat was using her computer last night when all of a sudden a pop up came up with a notice that her AVG protection was corrupt and the pop up was an ad to buy some off brand protection plan for $79.99. She could not close the pop up and could not do a thing. The AVG said there was a worm! Pat shut the computer off, tried it again this morning - same problem. Two hours latter I turned her computer on and it worked as if nothing happened. The lock up lasted 12 hrs. Pat did a scan and indeed there were three programs with problems that the security system cleaned up and everything seams to be OK now.

If the same thing happens to you, give the computer a long rest and try it again before heading to the repair shop. (We were ready to drive to Springfield to a computer expert there to get it looked at ASAP,) It seams like the scam was timed to turn it's self off. My computer was not effected.

George Parizo

Thanks, George, this may help others who find themselves in the same predicament as Pat. If you have computer problems, there are several very good technicians in our area, too. There is Yankee Electronic Solutions (Tom Warren) in St. Johnsbury; The Hard Drive Doctor (Jesse Larocque) -
www.harddrivedoctor.us/ and in Barre there's BK's Computing, 802-479-5009. There's also Tim Considine in Cabot - you'll find his business card on our web site in "Local Services" under "Other" on home page.

This cold weather makes for a really bored cat at our house. Woody begs to go out, so we let him into the garage but stays only a matter of minutes before he's knocking to come back in. (He bats a sap spout attached to the door by a long string. That raps the door so we know to let him back in.) We close off his swinging kitty door downstairs in the basement when it's really cold weather. We would be afraid he'd go outside and something would happen he couldn't get back in his door and that would be disastrous. Letting him in and out works for a while, but then he needs to run, climb, jump - anything to get some exercise. We put a board from the top of one set of cupboards to another in the kitchen and he sometimes sleeps on top of the cupboards, but he also likes to use the board to sharpen his claws, and sometimes lies there waiting for one of us to pass underneath so he can make a pass at us with his paw. When he isn't sleeping in front of the fire, he hunts for new places to nap. He liked an empty drawer in Fred's office for a while; and often stretches out on my desk, or sometimes he curls up on or under our bed or hides in a closet, and most recently he snoozes in the bathtub when he's done playing in the water. We'll find him sitting patiently by the faucet waiting until one of us comes into the bathroom and turns on the faucet for him. It's going to be a long winter . . .

Sad news from Joe's Pond.

Many of you knew Robert "Bobby" Reagan from his many years owning Point Comfort. Bob died on Tuesday, Dec. 15, at age 80. He had grown up in West Danville, served in the army during the Korean conflict, and operated Point Comfort first with his mother, Margaret Woodring, and later his wife, Ernestine, who survives him. Our condolences to Ernestine and to their children. Obituary: Robert Reagan

Leona Davidson, familiar to many area people has died. She was 88. Leona and her husband, Albert "Cub" Davidson, owned the now closed Walden Store and filling station on Rt. 15 at one time; Leona also worked at Point Comfort, and was cook for Walden school until 1990. Leona was a nice lady. She went to school in Cabot and was a great resource for historical connections. She was also artistic and did lovely paintings, loved crafting, and wrote poetry. For the full obituary: Leona M. Davidson

Lovely day, bright sunshine, and it's actually warmed up to five above zero. We had a call from Bill and Diane Rossi this morning to tell us they were watching someone skating on the ice at the lower end of the pond - about where the Richard Dente cottage is. It seems to us they might be rushing things a bit, but with temperatures well below zero the last few nights (and most of the daytime, too), the ice is probably pretty thick. We haven't seen any fishermen out behind the island yet, or sometimes we've seen them off Smith's Point early in the season, but haven't noticed anything there yet, either. Perhaps it's been too cold and windy for them. They'll be appearing soon.

Did you know Hastings Store has a different take-out lunch menu every day? Yesterday it was chipped beef on potato; today it's chili - Jenny said "because it's chilly outside today." It's nice to have a home-cooked lunch special every day - along with the baked goods they always have on hand, and I'm sure lots of folks appreciate being able to stop there to pick up something hot and delicious. Local folks can plan to pick up their mail and a hot lunch at the same time.

No further word on our on-going baggage problem. We have been told (again) the bags are being delivered, but so far we haven't had any confirmation.

What does one do on a really, really cold day in Vermont? Take a road trip to a mall.

That's what Bill Rossi and Fred did this morning. Bill needed to go to Optical Expressions, and Fred needed to go to White Market to check out the bakery counter. He came home with a nice raspberry pie for his stash. Bill's on a diet, so he was good and passed up the Ring-Dings and Devil Dogs although he did offer to split a box of Devil Dogs with Fred. I'm surprised that didn't work . . .

Here are some pictures taken along the way. It was very cold when they left, about 5 below zero, I think, and it hadn't warmed up at all when they got back and stopped at the post office in West Danville. They went to the Green Mountain Mall in St. Johnsbury Center for Optical Expressions, and Fred meandered among the usual kiosks that sprout there this time of year. After they went to White's, they stopped at Boxcar and Caboose bookstore. That's a nice place, and they have coffee, sodas and snacks available. They also have that wizard of a book printing machine, but Fred and Bill forgot to ask about it while they were there.

Back in West Danville, it was cold and windy, as expected. There was some mail for Joe's Pond Association - a request for Ice-Out tickets and some checks of tickets purchased. They were home just before lunch time and it was still below zero. So much for warming up much during the daylight hours today. Tonight is going to be even colder than last night, I think. Here are the pictures: Slides

I made vegetable soup for lunch, cooking it on the wood stove. I don't know what it is about cooking on a wood stove that seems to make things taste so much better than when they're cooked on the electric stove, but that seems to be the case. It was steaming hot and really hit the spot for both of us. Tonight will be a "close all the curtains" night, and we'll be snug as can be. The thermometer outside my office window hasn't moved off the -10 degrees mark all day, and it's still 4 below on the other side of the house. I don't think we got above zero today. Winter is here with a vengence.

Bitterly cold this morning. The temperature is still around zero - actually reading -4 degrees on the front of the house where there's some weak sun, and 10 below outside my office at the back side of the house. There's also a gusty wind. I checked it as 1 m.p.h. while I was outside reading the snow gauge, but I'm watching gusts off the roof that seem to be much stronger. I still haven't ventured down to the mail boxes to take a wind reading there, although I suspect it's cold enough now so even the ice isn't slippery. I'm not going to test it, though. It's cozy here by the fire and being outside just for a few minutes earlier was plenty for me. We got an inch of new snow bringing the total depth on the ground to 13 in.

I won't bore you with a lot more of the nightmare inducing Delta Airline fiasco, but the latest is that the bags never left JFK. Yep. Still there. We were apparently fed a lot of garbage by people who either didn't know what they were doing or who didn't want to deal with the problem. Now we're told they'll be on a flight to Johannesburg this morning. Yeah, sure. A friend of Diane Rossi's had a very similar experience with Delta and her bags were actually returned home - never reached the destination. We are foolishly still hoping, but the prospect of them ever reaching Namibia gets dimmer by the hour.

Bill and Monika are happily on their way north to Oshakati. It sounds as if a host of Monika's relatives will be congregating at her mother's for the holidays and to greet Monika, Jo-Ann and Bill. Monika said it would be a big party with not only relatives showing up but friends and neighbors and their friends and people she doesn't even know, but everyone will be happy to celebrate with them. For days.

It'll be a very Merry Christmas, I'm sure.

Well, it's been another one of those frustrating days. Around 11:30 this morning I got a call from Bill in Namibia saying they'd been trying without success to find their luggage that didn't arrive at the hotel yesterday as promised, but it was one of those situations where you can't reach anyone who knows anything or is at all helpful; even Monika, knowing the language, couldn't get through to anyone in Johannesburg, so they asked us to try from this end.

I got through to a nice lady, Vickie, at Delta. After a long search she was finally able to tell me the bags were probably being held up in customs. She said since there was no passenger with them they might have been set aside as low priority. She was not able to reach Johannesburg airport customs by phone, but she promised to send an e-mail asking that they expedite the two bags as priority items. She said there was a plane leaving early Thurs. a.m. for Windhoek and she'd ask that they be put on it. She said I should check back in two hours to see if there was any change.

I reported to Bill and Monika and they told me they had decided to leave the hotel and move on to Monika's mother's whether the bags got there or not. The hotel agreed to hold the luggage if/when it came and a family friend of Monika's would pick the bags up and take them north to Bill and Monika. It's a seven hour trip, so they'll leave by 9 o'clock or so in the morning. Bill said waiting a week was his limit.

When I called Delta this afternoon, there had been no change. Fred called Delta again tonight and the representative said the bags had left JFK, not Atlanta, as we had been told two days ago, but she was certain they are in Johannesburg, but she couldn't make international calls, so would send an e-mail. Geeze, what frustrations. This woman suggested we start a "lost luggage" claim. I'd have to say it doesn't look good for them ever getting those two bags.

And so it goes. No more headway at all, really. We're glad Bill, Monika and Jo-Ann are leaving Windhoek, though. This way they will be with Monika's family and get some of the things done they went there to do. Who needs luggage when it's Christmas and you're with family?

I talked a little with Jo-Ann today. She's very shy and I'm not very experienced at talking with little girls, so our conversation was short and kind of stiff. I guess I'm going to be "Grandma Jane"(!) Imagine that!

Very cold tonight - about 5 above now, and expected to be 5 below zero by morning. There's a brisk wind that makes it much colder; and tomorrow night is forecast to be even colder. I had an e-mail from our neighbors, John and Liz Randall, that they'll be here for the holidays and all their kids will be able to be here, too. No snow on Long Island, so they're looking forward to a White Christmas in Vermont. They're old hands at Vermont living, so they'll come prepared for the cold and the snow.

A very cold morning - 8 degrees at about 6 a.m. There's a wind out there, but I decided not to try to go down our icy driveway to take a measurement where the wind usually whips along W. Shore Rd. by our mailboxes. We've always thought that would be a perfect place for a windmill. I took my anemometer with me when I went out to get precipitation measurements (.5 in. new snow, 11.5 in. at the stake), but got a reading of only about 2.7 mph. I could see the treetops swaying in the woods in back of our house, but our back yard is fairly sheltered from the wind at ground level.

Fred was taking pictures as I did my CoCoRaHS routine. I didn't know until I got back inside. I was trying to get a reading on my anemometer in these shots. It's still pretty cold at 12 degrees, so I didn't linger out there long. It was one of those mornings when you go out and your nostrils stick together and the air feels like sandpaper when you breathe. I'm glad I have plenty to do inside today. I'll keep Woody, our cat, company while Fred is off to recycle our stuff in Hardwick.

We think Bill and Monika will have their delayed luggage sometime tomorrow. It is about 4:30 p.m. in Namibia now, but we talked to them earlier today. They were doing laundry at a mall in the city of Windhoek. Bill said they had a hard time finding a place to do laundry. Perhaps because the country is so arid there aren't laundromats like we have here. Apparently no facilities at their hotel. They'd bought new clothing to tide them over until the luggage shows up, but with temperatures in the 90's and 100's, people must perspire some even though the humidity ranges in the single numbers. I will have more news and perhaps some photos once Bill has his luggage and all their gadgets to work with.

As you can tell, there's isn't much going on here today. It's one of those days you can look out your window and tell immediately that it's cold. There's a frosty haze to the north over Walden. Here we're just beginning to see a little snow in the air.
The sun was out a little while ago, but there are clouds scudding out of the northwest and it isn't likely we'll see much sunshine today.