Sunday, January 28, 2007

Turns out it wasn't such a bad weekend - lots of sunshine, even if the temperatures weren't much above zero. Things are pretty much normal for January - lots of ice fishermen out on the pond, a few snowmobiles cruising around, cold and windy weather. There have been the usual reports of stalled cars, frozen water pipes and chimney fires that always occur when the weather gets severe.

Fred and I were in Burlington on Friday and I believe it was actually colder there than it was here. The wind was howling and we were relieved to get back to Joe's Pond. Yesterday we were outside piling wood and even that activity didn't keep us warm and we came in with toes and fingers aching with cold. The wood pile has been growing in size daily. It represents a heap of hard labor, and I really think we should be very conservative about using it; but once it's dry and in the woodshed next year we'll probably keep the fire going as usual. It's wonderful to sit in our cozy living room on a cold winter night and watch the flames in our little Hearthstone stove.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I want to introduce you to "Cooper," a young yellow lab that lives just up the road from us. Cooper came to live with our youngest son Jamie, and his wife Marie about three years ago, when he was still very much a puppy at about a year old. Right from the start, we suspected Cooper had some problems, but since he'd been confined to a crate much of his life, we all thought with exercise and patience, he'd begin to have better coordination and wouldn't be frightened of stairs or even one step. He seemed so happy to have a loving family, a "cousin Casey" to play with, and freedom to roam, he captured our hearts and it was love at first sight for all of us. We tried to guide him down flights of stairs - invariably he'd leap after the first few steps, and he would leap clumsily over logs or rocks or imagined obstacles and often crash, but never complained.

Sadly, Cooper didn't learn, though he tried, but instead became more and more debilitated. Jamie and Marie took him to specialists and got as many opinions as there were doctors. Nothing worked for long, and by this fall, in spite of medications and acupuncture treatments, herbs and loving care, Cooper had lost much of the use of his hind quarters. He tried hard, but we all knew he was probably hurting and he seemed as depressed as the humans who loved him.

Jamie and Marie are not ones to give up easily. Jamie got busy and, with the help of his older brother, Bill, parts purchased or recycled from some other "project," and some sheepskin I had in my store of "useless junk," Jamie designed and built a cart to support Cooper's faulty rear end.

When he was first strapped into the harness between the big wheels and shiny metal bars, everyone expected there would be a learning period for a few days, but Cooper never missed a beat. It was as if he knew immediately what to do. He was finally able to run with
out staggering, travel in a straight line again, and get to most of the places he loved but were out of reach when he could only walk a short distance - always in circles. Within days he perked up and now seems to even be gaining some strength in his back legs now they don't have to support the full weight of his body.

Tonight Jamie brought him down to see us. He may not be able to do everything he used to, but we think he's got a new lease on life, thanks to a very caring family. Way to go, Cooper!

Monday, January 22, 2007

Sunday, January 21, 2007

It has been a beautiful day here. Bright sunshine, sparkling snow, and the wind has died down some. Temperatures have remained close to zero, but without the wind, it's not bad at all as long as you're dressed for it.

I walked down to camp and back this afternoon. Judy Lewis from Sandy Beach Road was walking, too. We were both bundled up and it took us a minute to recognize each other. Fred didn't go with me today because he wanted to continue splitting the wood he'd sawed up. He's made a big hole in that huge pile of logs in just these few days. I was mistaken when I said he wouldn't work in the severe cold - I guess when you're wielding a heavy splitting mall you don't worry about the cold. It's hard work.

I didn't see son, Bill, at camp. But I let myself in so I could take some pictures of the "village" that sprang up overnight on Friday. Saturday was the first day of trout fishing, and Bill said when he got home Friday night there was a lot of activity on the pond and he could see a couple of ice fishing shanties in the cove. During the evening he heard what he thought was snowmobiles, and Saturday morning he was amazed that there were at least ten fishing shacks and several ATV's there, and the fishermen had apparently set up their equipment and spent the night on the ice so they would be ready at "first light" to begin fishing. The fishing shacks this year seem to be unusually colorful, and late this afternoon there was still quite a bit of activity around them. Further up the lake I spotted another fisherman - no shelter, all alone, quietly tending his tip-ups. Ice fishermen are a dedicated bunch of enthusiasts. And it's not just a guy thing - women and kids get out there, too. They ride snowmobiles, or skate, chit-chat with their neighbors, take turns minding the tip-ups, or sit in the sun and just enjoy.
This is a Joe's Pond some people never see. It isn't for everyone, but when the fish are biting, it's worth the effort, for sure.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Hi to Everyone from cold, windy Vermont. We are really getting our winter weather now - just as all of us old-timers knew we must. It's in the single numbers above zero today and the wind is howling. Lots of blowing snow in the air and we can hear the gusts bumping the house and tearing at anything loose. We're very well battened down, but I can't help wanting to be close to the fire. Instead, I'm here at the computer catching up a little.

Some of you may know that Diane Rossi, Sherry LaPrade and I are auditors for the Town of Cabot. Sherry has recently resigned, and we have asked Liz Harvey to help us out in Sherry's place. Liz and her husband, Doug, live just off Cabot Plains Rd on the way to the village. Right now we auditors have been pretty busy getting reports in, gathering and updating information, balancing accounts and running off reams of adding machine tape. We have a deadline to meet so the printed reports will be out before March Meeting, as directed by the State of Vermont. So we've been at least moderately busy lately, and looking at a more hectic schedule beginning next week.

Consequently, I haven't paid much attention to the blog. However, I know some folks have been wondering how we're doing with that load of logs we had delivered, so I took some pictures. Fred has a good start, but on a day like today he has other things to keep him busy. He's already been out clearing the driveway, but will no doubt need to go again to take care of the drifts.

So here are a couple of pictures. That's Fred hard at work sawing up the logs yesterday when the weather was a bit milder. Today it's too cold and too much snow in the air, as you can see. We have plenty of dry, split wood for this year, so there's no big hurry to get that pile of logs cut up - except Fred says he doesn't want to be working at it all winter. Looks like a full winter's work to me!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Hi, Everyone.
A really cold day today - didn't get much above zero and there was a pretty steady breeze that made it seem much colder. The sun was nice, though, and Fred got more done on his wood pile.

I want to let you know I've just received some newspaper clippings about Joe's Pond from Liz Sargent. I already have one or two of them in our newsclip file, but there are more that I don't believe we have. I'll be putting some of what she sent on the web site soon, but I'll let you know when to look for it. If we have room, I may put some in the spring newsletter, but the way the newsletter has grown, I may not have room.

It is always a happy event when someone sends me bits of Joe's Pond history. Anyone who has an interest in JPA history is welcome to look at the file any time. Just let me know. And thanks, Liz, for thinking of JPA.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

We all knew it would happen - winter, that is. Our prolonged spring-like fall is history. Tonight there is not only about six inches of snow hereabouts, the temperature has dropped below the zero mark and there's quite a wind out there tonight, too. This should thicken up the ice a bit and not only make lots of ice fishermen happy, but skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers, too. There still isn't quite enough on the snowmobile trails, I expect, but at least it's a start and gives everyone hope there's more to come.

We were busy here today. As you all know, the view from our deck is constantly changing. We now have a view we've never had before. We had a truck load of hardwood logs
delivered, and because there were power lines in the way of where we wanted the logs to be piled, we now have them on our front lawn. I'm sure they won't be there too long, though - Fred already has a good start sawing them up. Of course, once he's blocked the logs, he still has to split the blocks and stack it all to dry. In about a year it'll be ready to burn in our soapstone stove. Years ago when we were living at camp, we spent all our free time one fall cutting wood with another couple who were neighbors at the time. They had the truck and the know-how; we had strong backs and were willing to learn. At that time the State of Vermont allowed people to cut selectively in the state forests. I don't know if that's still true, but we hauled a lot of wood out of Groton State Forest that fall, and had great fun doing it. Doris and Harry told us that fall, "Putting up a wood pile warms you three times - when you cut it, when you pile it and when you burn it." After that year I think we had wood delivered - dried and perhaps even split. Now, 25 years later, Fred is an old pro in the woods and does it all. Well, I help some - I like to stack it.




Sunday, January 14, 2007

There was a glitch with Nahanni's post yesterday, but we think we've corrected the problem. Let me know if you aren't seeing seven photos, or if some empty "blocks" show up.

Fred and I walked up to the Plain yesterday. Going to the school house on the Plain is about the same distance as when we walk from our house to our camp at Barre Avenue.

It's always nostalgic for me to go there and see the farm where I grew up, the house we lived in and the school I spent my first years in. Some of the neighboring houses are gone, replaced with new, or decaying, but the memories are still vivid as I look across the fields on either side of "the flat". The hills don't seem as steep behind the farm, and even "Pinkham Hill," the steep incline from Brickett's Crossing Road to the school seems less intimidating than when we went roaring down on a big traverse sled. On good nights (we always went at night because there was no traffic then) when we were able to make the corner without the sled swiping the snowbank or going off the road completely and dumping us, screaming, into the snow, we would go as far as the big field were the horses pastured now. It was a long haul back up Pinkham Hill and it seemed very steep even though there were six or eight of us to share pulling the sled back up. We would take only two or three runs before it would be time to head home in the crisp, cold moonlighted night. It was magical, and we never tired of it. Back then the roads weren't sanded as they are now. Drivers put on their chains when it got too icy, and other than that, everyone knew where they had to step on it to make the hills, just how much speed would be tolerated going around the curves before sliding off the road, and nobody left home without their chains a shovel and often a pail of sand in the car, just in case. So very often sliding conditions were perfect for us kids, and since there were few cars on the road even in the daytime, we weren't in much danger on those nights.

There would be a big gang of us, sometimes more than the traverse sled would hold so there would be individual sleds for kids to go "belly-bump" on, or sometimes fit two on if the sled was big enough. There would be the Gambles, the Maynards, sometimes the Stone kids would come over, always the Barnett kids who lived at the bottom of the hill, the Desmarais kids who lived in the stone house that used to be next door to the school, once in a while our teacher would join us, and sometimes older kids no longer in school. We got lots of exercise and had tons of fun.

The pictures above were taken yesterday on our walk. The Plain, the horses in the big field, and the brook that runs beside Pinkham Hill. Today it's snowing steadily. Everything is beginning to look normal for mid-January. Perhaps I'll go sliding tonight.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Nahanni's Story...
Hi!! I'm an Alaskan Klee Kai!! (Miniature Husky)... My breed has only been around for a very few years... and there are not too many of us in the world... but here I am...I just arrived at Joe's Pond!!
I stayed up late just so I could come home to Vermont!! ... I'm only 10 weeks old and flew all the way from North Dakota by myself!!! Thanks to the nice folks at Northwest Airlines :)
This is my Mommy!! This was our first meeting in the car at the airport!! Love at first sight!!! Mommy held me all the way home!! I fell asleep 8 miles from home!!
The next day I just hung out... napping alot and meeting the rest of the family...
(my new brothers and sisters) These are not bags under my eyes, but part of my beautiful mask!!!
(This is not my big sister's best angle! Butt I'm cute!!)
Then I found the loveseat... and I love it!!!
We took our first walk today!! (Mommy carried me most of the way... while Daddy chuckled about me being a "sled dog"!!!) Daddy needs to make me a very tiny sled if he wants ME to pull!!
Need a step ladder to eat from this dish!!!



Be seeing ya on the pond!!!
signed... Wiebelhusky's Nahanni... (big name little girl!!)

This story comes to you from Evelyn and Ray Richer on Sandy Beach Road, Joe's Pond, VT.
Welcome to Vermont, Nahanni!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007


It's with great pleasure I post this picture, taken this morning, showing everyone that we are finally getting snow. We had flurries nearly all day, some wind, and in the afternoon, temperatures began to fall sharply from the 20's and are now in the single numbers - my thermometer is reading five above.

The roads are treacherous and there were at least a couple of accidents, one on Rt. 15 involving a tractor trailer, I was told, and we heard on the scanner that a woman was "in the water and pretty cold, but okay". This came over the scanner, but then we didn't hear anything more. We saw lots of rescue vehicles going by from Cabot and Walden. They go by our house when there are accidents on Rt. 2, quite often in the curves from Brookside Statuary near Molly's Pond through to West Danville. So that is the bad news. The good news is that we're finally getting some snow and cold weather so both the snow and the ice should stay in place now until spring. Some people were beginning to wonder if we'd be able to get the block out for the contest. I think it's safe to say things are getting back to normal around here.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Today I'm posting some of the pictures Fred and I took this morning. If I didn't know better I'd say it was April. West Shore Road is wet and slightly muddy with only a few icy patches - mostly gravel showing. Hardly any snow, even in the woods. The ice near our dock is pulling away with water showing here and there and the ice looked to be about four inches thick. Looking up the pond from our dock we could almost believe spring is here. The patterns on the ice are beautiful and it's very quiet - not like mid-winter when the air under the ice creates loud booms and rumbles. We enjoyed the walk - saw lots of birds that seemed to be happy about the weather, too, and really, really enjoyed the sunshine. I hope you like the pictures.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

The rains came last night. Almost all our snow washed away and there's "green grass growin' all around, all around."

The temperature has been around 52 degrees on my deck this morning - warmer than some days last summer. And the sun isn't shining. It's creepy having this kind of weather. WCAX reported some maple producers have been tapped since November and have made about 1/3 of what they normally would in the spring. No word on how long they will remain tapped, but it can't be good for the maple trees . . .

I took a couple of pictures from our deck this morning. Fred said there was someone ice fishing in back of the island earlier, but he's gone now and we only hope he got back to shore safely. The ice can't be very thick, and with the recent rain, I certainly wouldn't trust it. Lots of warm water on top and lots more running into the pond from the brooks that feed it.

I can't help worrying about what Mother Nature has in store for us later on. We all know it's probably not going to be pretty. While we wait, we'll take advantage of the mild weather, though.

Liz and John Randall arrived yesterday for the weekend. They brought Jason back with them. However, bad luck haunted them all the way - their truck broke down someplace in Mass. and they lost a couple of hours travel time, and when they arrived in their much smaller rental vehicle, there was no water at the house. John and Jason know about these things, so they will have everything running smoothly before the weekend is over, and they are undaunted - no hardship will prevent them from coming to their beloved Vermont home. Next week they will come again to drop off their other two college kids - Lauren at Keene, NH, and Matt to LSC, and by then they expect their truck to be ready for the road again.

Don and Diane Sherwood are here - to ski!! I think it has happened a few times before that they arrive and the snow leaves.

Fred has reorganized the Ice-Out Contest page on the web site. You'll notice the outlets for tickets are listed - we'll add more as they come to us - and instructions about how to get tickets and where to return them. We had a contact from Rob Cohen in LosAngeles yesterday saying he is interested in doing a documentary on the Ice-Out Contest. We don't know if he is the well known Rob Cohen film-maker/writer, but we'll keep you posted. I've alerted Tom and Dave.

As we enjoy our "January Thaw" the questions remain - What happened to real winter? Will the ice be gone before April 1? What do skiers and snowmobilers do to entertain themselves in this balmy weather? How are hardy Vermonters adapting to prolonged warmth? Are road crews throughout the area counting blessings or cursing? The list goes on.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Some of you may have known about the special vote held in Cabot on December 21, 2006 on three issues which were voted down in November. In November, there was one article presented to voters which covered three phases of improvements for the Cabot School. When the proposal was defeated, the Board of School Directors broke the proposal into three separate articles. Here is how the vote turned out on the second try:


ARTICLE I

Shall general obligation bonds or notes of Cabot Town School District in an amount not to exceed One million six hundred ten thousand seven hundred twelve Dollars ($1,610,712), subject to reduction from available state and/or federal construction grants-in-aid and appropriations (estimated to be $483,214), be issued for the purpose of financing the District's share of the cost of making certain public improvements, viz: gymnasium renovations and additions, the estimated cost of such improvements being $1,610,712, the District's bonded indebtedness for such purpose estimated being $1,127,489?

In favor of the above Article I - 187
Opposed to the above Article I- 189



ARTICLE II

Shall general obligation bonds or notes of Cabot Town School District in an amount not to exceed Seven hundred thirty thousand Dollars ($730,000), subject to reduction from available state and/or federal construction grants-in-aid and appropriations (estimated to be $219,000) be issued for the purpose of financing the District's share of the cost of making certain public improvements, viz: music education facility renovations and additions, the estimated cost of such improvements being $730,000, the District's bonded indebtedness for such purpose estimated being $511,000?

In favor of the above Article II - 169
Opposed to the above Article II - 207



ARTICLE III

Shall general obligation bonds or notes of Cabot Town School District in an amount not to exceed One million twenty three thousand one hundred eighty Dollars ($1,023,180), subject to reduction from available state and/or federal construction grants-in-purpose and appropriations (estimated to be $787,760), be issued for the purpose of financing the District's share of the cost of making certain public improvements, viz: the addition of a wood chip heating system, the estimated cost of such improvements being $1,023,180, the District's bonded indebtedness for such purpose estimated $235,420?

In favor of above Article III - 232
Opposed to above Article III - 144

Monday, January 01, 2007

New Year's Greetings from Joe's Ponders -

We wish all our friends a HAPPY NEW YEAR in health and happiness. Love Mimi & Walter (Ruf).


GOOD MORNING,
I WANT TO WISH YOU, YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR
FRIENDS A ....... " HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR " . WISH YOU THE BEST THROUGH 2007.
LOVE TO ALL,
HOMER (Fitts)

Snow & Ice Report

 W e're through another March snowstorm, and as far as I can tell, we aren't expecting more snow this month. We'll probably have...