Catching Up in the Cold

Our stretch of cold, windy weather is beginning to show signs of lessening its grip on our Joe's Pond region. Today we have bright sunshine, but started the day off with -4 degrees and winds still gusting to 20 mph or so.That puts the "feels like" temperature at almost 30 below. Fortunately, the wind isn't as brutal today, but the air temperature is only 6 above zero at high noon!

I'm not sure what prompted me to go out and shovel the walk this morning -- I have studiously avoided any outdoor activity since Saturday. However, as I sat in my recliner enjoying the sun streaming through the big picture window on the southeastern side of my house, I got a sudden urge to get out there. Jamie's words echoed in my mind - he told me yesterday as he was snow-blowing my driveway yet one more time to keep the drifts from making it UN-negotiable,  "I just dress for the weather and go for it!"

So I "dressed for the weather" and went outside, hoping the wind wasn't going to pick up. That turned out to be wishful thinking. The wind whipped at my jeans and loosened wisps of hair from under my fleece hat. In no time at all, my legs were cold and my fingers, in grossly inadequate fleece gloves, were numb. I should have worn my leather mittens with the woolen liners, but I didn't want to bother digging them out of the box on the closet shelf. I haven't needed them all winter since I made the rule not to leave the house on really cold days. However, shoveling kept the blood flowing and I was actually feeling overheated except for my hands and legs. Denim really isn't sufficient against winter wind and cold, and neither is a single layer of fleece.

However, I persisted and actually got the path and steps cleared pretty quickly - and then decided I'd do what I could to clear the deck.The snow is deep all around the deck now so I have to actually lift shovels full and toss the snow over the railing. That works okay as long as I work with the wind, but this morning the wind was more out of the north than the west and hard as I tried, some of almost every shovel full sifted back over me. I worked until my hands were too cold to hold the shovel. I'm sure the wind will make more drifts along the deck before the day is over. 

I left the snow around my measuring tube with the intention of getting my measuring equipment and doing it while I was still dressed for the weather - but once inside, I lost interest. I'll do a multi-day report tomorrow -- maybe.

Here's a fairly ancient photo of one of the early pontoon boats here on Joe's Pond. We think it might have belonged to the Carons, but aren't sure. I'm hoping someone will recognize it and let me know. There were a couple of large "party barges" on the pond back in the 1960s and early 1970s - before pontoon boats were very common here. I think at least one was "hand crafted" using steel drums for pontoons. What they lacked in style they made up for in enjoyment. Seating was folding lawn chairs - as many as space would allow, and as long as there were friends aboard and beverages in hand, everyone was happy. Sometimes someone brought their boombox along and we would hear a Chubby Checker tune or the bouncy notes of  "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" mingling with the hum of an Evinrude outboard motor as a party barge passed by. It's surprising how well sound travels over water! Now, almost every cottage on the pond has a pontoon boat. Jack LaGue did a rough count a couple years ago and although I don't remember the number he ended up with, I do remember I was amazed.

A reminder:  If you plan to vote absentee, this is about your last chance to get your ballot and get it back in time for the March 4th meeting. Call your town clerk and ask for one to be sent to you. I got mine last week and will be putting it in the mail within the next day of so. The Cabot post office is back in operation and mail seems to be getting through a lot better than it has for all these months the office was closed. There still apparently aren't enough people to cover the rural routes, so there are some days (often Saturday) when we don't get mail. Most people understand and allow extra time.

Mail has not been on my priority list these past cold, windy days. I was out for groceries yesterday, so I stopped by my mailbox on my way home. There were several pieces of mail, but to fine them I had to clear away the snow that had drifted over the letters in the box, blown through any and every small opening in my old metal mailbox. With the sun so nice, I intend to go down to get my mail today, and I'm going to dress for the weather! 

Stay warm and safe.

Messy Weather

 After a couple of sunny days to spoil us completely, we are now "paying the fiddler" as we endure a  messy rain-sleet-snow-wind event. As I was clearing off my deck and measuring the new snow we got overnight. I at about 9 o'clock I began to feel rain on my head. The temperature was 25F so I was wearing no hat, only earmuffs, and in no time I began feeling cold rivulets on my scalp, then running down the back of my neck, warming a bit but no less wet and uncomfortable. I was pushing 3.5 inches of pretty heavy snow across the deck to the one corner that still had room for snow to drop off the edge. The north and front side the snow has built up so I can no longer just shove it under the deck railing and let it fall four feet to the ground. It is tough on my back to actually pick it up and toss it over the railing, so I use the push and scoop method whenever I can. This morning I needed to get it done a.s.a.p. so I used a combination of methods to dispose of it and reminded myself that this morning was easy compared to what's coming at us this weekend. That may be a job for Jamie and Marie.

Yesterday was pretty much a lost day for me. I went for my eye shots in the morning. Everything went well, as expected, but with my eyes dilated and irritated from the shots and strong antiseptics, I had to wear dark sunglasses on the way home and kept the window shades  lowered when I got home. Consequently, I missed most of the pretty sunshine. However, that is a small price to pay for keeping my vision. Today I will be catching up on emails and TV shows I couldn't watch yesterday.

I had a call from Michelle Walker on Tuesday asking me if I knew about some sort of social group forming on West Shore Road. She said she had an email inviting her to join and asking for names of her friends who might also like to join - but she was suspicious and we decided it was another scam of some sort. Like Shelly said, it sounded like a fun thing to do, but it came from someone she didn't know, so the alarms went off. I haven't had anything like that, but I'll be on guard.

Middle son, Bob and I went on a short road trip Tuesday afternoon to enjoy the pretty day. We picked up coffee at Maplefield's in Plainfield and took Route 14 through Woodbury to Hardwick and down Route 15 to home. We were impressed with the snow on Cabot Plain - and how much more snow there is in the Cabot/Walden area than other places. The town road crew pushed the snow well into the open field by the Plains Cemetery and that serves as a "snow fence" to catch snow before it drifts into the road. That is a big trouble spot every winter for drifting. The wind Comes right out of Canada and never seems to quit.

There used to be snow fence along  that stretch, but I don't think the town uses that now. Instead, they plow snow into breakers well away from the road and that is better than snow fence. This winter is proving to be pretty close to those "old time" winters some of us love to reminisce about. Years ago, before automobiles, roads were rolled which was about the same principle used for snowmobile trails today. A well-rolled path worked fine for horses pulling sleds and sleighs. Also, the course of roads changed during winter months. On the Plain, the winter road kept to the wooded area to stay out of the wind, so instead of passing by the cemetery where the road is today, travelers were routed through the maple woods below the covered bridge. Instead of trying to keep the hillside road that is now Route 2 open in winter, as soon as the ice was safe, travelers used the level stretch of Molly's Pond to get from Joe's Pond to East Cabot area. Young Henry Durgin (24), and a nine year old boy named O. W. Gorham drowned in Molly's Pond in late April, 1864, having gone through the ice on the "winter road."

 And that leads me to the ice thickness at Joe's Pond this year. I don't have a recent measurement, but my source reports that around the first of February there were 14 inches. Since then we've had a stretch of pretty cold weather, so I expect there may be more than that now; however, we also have had small amounts of snow almost daily, and that works as insulation, so the measurement might not have changed much. That doesn't seem like a lot of depth for this time of the year. I'll post an update as soon as I get one.

In the meantime, be safe, warm, and stay healthy. This changeable weather is great for all sorts of "bugs" and lots of people are suffering through colds, flu, Covid, and other mean stuff, so beware! 

 

Pond Snow

 We actually had a pretty nice day today, at least after noontime. This morning we awoke to lots of snow (I measured almost 8 inches of new snow) and wind. There were a few pretty heavy snow squalls moving through in until about 9 a.m., but they passed quickly. However, the wind persisted, so even though the sun made it out finally, it was pretty chilly and plenty of snow clouds across fields and open spaces.

Jamie stayed home today to clear driveways and push snowbanks back ready for more snow that is certain to hit us in the coming week. After lunch he called and said, "Let's take a short road trip!" I was
delighted to get out of the house and especially to have a conversation with someone other than myself. It's been a pretty long week of brutal cold temperatures that forced me to keep the insulated window blinds down all day long, raising the one by my chair only long enough to replenish the bird feeder from time to time. I talk to Jamie every morning, but most of the rest of the day my conversations are by email or text, so I sometimes find myself "thinking out loud."

Jamie picked me up and we drove around the pond and down most of the roads to see how "the other side of the pond" looked. The roads are very well kept - whoever plows for the people living there year around does a really good job. Anyone who is familiar with Joe's Pond knows that the roads leading to the shoreline cottages and homes are narrow so there is not much room to put snow. And of course, the town does not plow these roads. Keeping them open is up to the folks who live on them. Over all, I'd say folks around the pond have mastered the art!

We took a few pictures just to give you an idea of what our world is like - on a good day. We certainly don't have as much snow as some years, but after this last storm, the banks are getting pretty high. We went up Route 15 with the intention of exploring Lyford Pond roads off of Brickett's Crossing Road. However, as we started to pitch down towards the pond through the open field, the otherwise well-plowed road was seriously drifted and Jamie decided it was best not to take chances on getting stuck, so he backed out. 

We saw only one other person on our trip - our neighbor and good friend, Luke Persons was on Sandy Beach Road with his plow truck and we got to chat with him for a minute. Only a few years ago almost nobody lived here year around and the only way to access most of the camps on the pond was on snowshoes. People had to wait until about Memorial Day before the narrow dirt roads were snow and mud free enough to safely drive a car to camp. Not that everyone waited that long - nearby farmers were often called upon to pull folks

out of snowbanks or mud holes. There are still times when pond-side folks have to leave their cars near the highway and walk home, especially in the spring. Mud season can still be pretty tough, but with so many people having permanent residences here now, the roads are being kept open.

I'll let you figure out where we were when I took these pictures.

Stay warm and safe!

More Winter!

I'm not sure what time of day that woodchuck looked for his shadow, but I'm pretty sure he saw it on Sunday and we are definitely in for at least another six weeks of winter! Today proved winter is in full force! We have had a little of everything today - a few glimpses of sunshine, mostly weak and struggling, snow flurries, gusty west wind, and at times blizzard conditions as the snow fell and the wind blew a gale. I watched from my window as clouds of snow blew off trees and swirled off my roof. The chickadees and nuthatches were busy all day at the feeder and kicked out snow that occasionally began to cover their banquet. Even on the protected southeast side of the house there was a lot of snow swirling off the porch roof and collecting in their feeder. I scooped the snow out for them a few times when it got a bit deep, but whenever I opened the window to do that, there was a swirl of cold air and sometimes snowflakes coming in on me. The temperature was in the low teens above zero all day. This evening I see it is 9.5 - going to be a cold night again. I almost forgot to mention that I measured another almost 5 inches of new snow this morning. Every little bit counts!

There is an obituary for Geoffrey Penar in the Caledonian Record today. 

Yesterday I delivered a copy of a book, "Cabot, Vermont, Transcriptions of Memories Past," which the Cabot Oral History Committee recently decided to reprint. It is the unedited transcripts of the  interviews with older Cabot residents done in the 1980s and 90s and which provided the content for  "Cabot, Vermont, A Collection of Memories From the Century Past" published in 1999. Barbara Carpenter, Amanda Legare, and I sifted through those transcripts to pick out what we needed for our chapters and Caleb Pitkin was our editor. We were careful not to include some of the material that might offend anyone, and of course there were similar stories but different perspectives, all of which are in these original transcripts. 

The old tape recordings that the paper transcripts came from were eventually recorded to MP3 format when we realized that nobody had reel-to-reel or cassette players anymore and the originals were deteriorating. Then even the paper transcripts began to yellow and fade. We decided the only way to preserve that valuable information was in book form. I took on that project and a hard-cover volume was published in 2014. We had copies printed for members of the oral history committee and a complimentary copy for the Cabot Historical Society.

We lost Barbara a few years ago and all but one of the people originally interviewed have passed on.  There has been some interest recently in reading some of those interviews.and Amanda, Caleb, and I

decided to have a few more copies printed. There are no photos in this book, just transcriptions of all those conversations between interviewers and Cabot residents, uncut and unedited.

Our librarian, Kathleen Hoyne, was amazed at the size of the book -  almost 800 pages - and she was pleased to add it to the reference/history section at the Cabot library.

Stay warm and safe.

Sad News

 So sorry to be conveying more sad news this morning. This notice came yesterday from Paige Crosby:

The pickleball community should know that Paul and Dorothea Penar lost their son Geoff on Monday night.  He passed in his sleep, likely from a seizure.  Geoff had suffered a TBI about a year ago and he has struggled with seizures.  I knew him well in high school.  He was a star, a musical prodigy.  He went to Eastman School of Music and was an opera singer.  He had struggled with life in the past few years but was on a new trajectory.  This was a beautiful life cut short.  I saw Geoff at First Night and we shared a few emails afterward.  Paul and Dorothea always worried and did everything they could to support him.  They are crushed.  Their faith and friends will carry them.  They are awaiting the results of the autopsy and will celebrate his life in the coming weeks--the 15? perhaps.  Their church is the catholic church in Shelburne.  

Send warm support and share this.  

Sending love to you all.

Paige

 

The Joe's Pond community is shocked and saddened by this news. My heart aches for Dorothea and Paul,  their family, and Geoff's many friends. Geoff was a beautiful young man, talented and full of promise. Friends who wish to reach out to Dorothea and Paul may do so at: 79 Sommerfield Ave., South Burlington VT 05403. 

For anyone who is not familiar with Geoffrey, Seven Days did a very nice article about him in 2012,  and here is more recent information about him at Middle C Music.

 ________________________________

 

We have sunshine this morning, but it is somewhat dimmed by snow showers and a few lingering clouds. The temperature ventured as high as 10 above, but then slipped downward again about the time I went out to measure snow and clear off my deck around 9 a.m. The thermometer seems to be struggling to rise again. Now that we are into February, the sun gets a little higher in the sky each day and the earth beneath our feet is beginning to warm. Spring cannot be far behind!

We got another three inches of show yesterday, but it is light and fluffy, and with not much wind it hasn't packed together and is easy to move. If the wind picks up later today, there may be brief periods of white-outs with snow blowing across roads or off of trees, but mostly it seems like it will be a fairly normal winter day. Even though we have had a little snow almost each day, we don't have a lot on the ground. I tried to read the measurement on my snow pole on the back lawn, but the sun is behind it and even with my binoculars, I can't quite make out the numbers, but I'm guessing there are probably 14-16 inches on the ground. I may be able to get a clearer view later in the day when the sun it higher in the sky.

 

Scam Report: I've had two emails recently showing they were from people I didn't know - which isn't uncommon, but these have an attachment which is a statement presumably from Ebay charging my account with $499.99. I haven't had an Ebay account for decades and I never go to that site, so I immediately reported the email as spam and blocked the sender. Which apparently doesn't help much  because even after blocking the first, I still got another. I will keep blocking and reporting!

 

I had some really good news this week. Cousin Ora called to tell me that our mutual friend, Kate who has been battling lung cancer for months, is now doing much better! As Ora said, "medicine works!" Kate is relatively young compared to Ora and me, had lots of energy and I think was one of the healthiest people I've ever met when she was diagnosed. Having a relatively healthy body no doubt helped her through this, and I am so happy for her. We are now all looking forward to getting together this next spring if their plans to come to Vermont materialize.  

Stay warm and safe.

Alba's Obituary

 Here is Alba Rossi's obituary. 

Today has been really very nice. We had sunshine for most of the day and warmish temperatures in the 20s. One would think it would be hard to find something to complain about, but the wind was still darned unpleasant. It lessened as the day went on, but when I was outside early this morning, it felt really cold.

My turkey friends came by this afternoon. They have not been around at all during the cold, windy weather we've had recently, but today they meandered across my lawn and spent quite a bit of time under the spruce trees at the front of the house and then investigated the apple trees. They scratch and dig in the snow to find seeds and grubs, leaving the area well roughed up. Until today, I had only one set of animal tracks within sight of my house - a deer, I suspect. Now there are tracks are all over the place! I think the turkeys pick up fallen seeds that the chickadees and nuthatches leave. They always take their seeds to a nearby tree to crack it open and often bits or sometimes the whole thing falls to the ground. They do a good job of picking them up, but I'm sure they miss some that the turkeys find. Still no evidence of squirrels at my bird feeder!

Today I did more file purging. I'm finding papers, clippings, cards and letters I had forgotten, and of course these often bring back memories. I've shed an occasional tear and had some laughs as well. Late this afternoon I tugged the big plastic tub full of discarded paper out of my small office space and scooted it out the back door into the garage ready for recycling. I have another batch ready for shredding, and still have one more file drawer to clean out.

Jamie reminded me that some of the paper might be useful for starting a fire in my backyard fire pit at some point. I like that idea, but the conditions have to be just right: I want to do it when there's snow on the ground so there's no danger of starting a grass or forest fire, but it has to be warm enough to be comfortable to sit out there and roast marshmallows or make s'mores, and the wind has to be just right so it doesn't blow smoke towards the house or my nearby neighbors. There is a fair amount of brush piled up there so it will be a pretty big deal, at least until it gets burned down a bit. 

When Fred and I first came here to live, we took out a lot of the very large soft wood trees. At the time we were advised to leave the limbs and junk wood that remained after the logs were skidded away in place to nourish the land. That seemed like a fine idea except they were left  helter-skelter, blocking our walking paths and it really looked awful. So that summer we both worked hard making large piles  where there were openings, and as soon as we had snow on the ground, we systematically set fire to them. It  was a chore, but we were able to reclaim our paths and open spaces so it was possible to walk through our property without climbing over heaps of brush. I've found that a lot of those limbs, especially the ones laid down to make a roadway to keep machinery from sinking into the earth when the logs were being hauled out, last literally for years. I bet some of them are still preserved in mud up there on the hillside. 

We'll see. In the meantime, it's still winter and we are expecting more snow tomorrow and much colder temperatures later in the week. I measured almost 3 inches of light, fluffy snow this morning. There were clouds of that dry snow blowing off the trees as the sun was rising. And so it goes. That's winter for you!

Sad News

 I have sad news to report today. Alba Rossi passed away yesterday. She was 108 years old! Alba was well known here at Joe's Pond. She and her late husband, Ted had a cottage here for many years where Diane Rossi's home is now.

Alba loved people, parties, entertaining, and music. She and Ted always had lots of people around whenever they were at camp, and continued to visit Joe's Pond in the years after Ted passed away and her son Bill and Diane were living here. I'm sure the Joe's Pond community provided lots of wonderful memories for Alba and certainly many people here will be saddened to learn of her passing as will her many friends in her home town of Barre.

My thoughts are with Alba's son Ted and his wife, Nancy, and her daughter-in-law Diane who has been so kind and caring, making sure Alba was comfortable, well cared for, and loved through all these years. They have lost a treasure and will miss her humor, quick wit, and presence.

This photo was taken this past October at Alba's 108th birthday celebration when family gathered to wish her another happy year. I will post her obituary as soon as it is available.