Cleaning Up Old Business

Here's something you may want to follow up on. The State of Vermont, and probably other states as well, maintains a list of "unclaimed property." You might want to check it out. Even though your name may not show up, if you check by town, like Danville, Cabot, Walden, St. Johnsbury, etc., you may see names you'll recognize and then you can perhaps alert a friend or acquaintance who may not realize there is some forgotten bank account or other property out there waiting to be claimed by the rightful owner. Here's the link: Unclaimed Property

Also, for those of you who like photos of Vermont, you'll find a link under the photo by Robert Lyons on our Home Page. Click on that and then "Northeast Kingdom" and from there you'll see lots of possibilities.

Then, go to "Links" on our Home Page and under "Local Artists and Authors" you'll find our own Gallery on Loon Cove for beautiful photos and art work by Ray and Evelyn Richer on Sandy Beach Road here at Joe's Pond. All are worth checking out.

Happy New Year! Have a good time on New Year's Eve, and drive carefully so you'll live to enjoy the New Year. Please do not drink and drive. See you next year.

I had to go into W. Danville this afternoon and I took the camera - without Fred this time, he was busy working on the web site, so I took a few pictures on my own. As promised, these are of the fresh new snow we had yesterday afternoon and evening. We only got three or four inches, but things look a lot nicer now. I drove up to see what the recreation area looks like, and went down N. Shore Road. You'll see some building and renovating going on; and I took a few pictures of the other side of the pond, so some of the views are cottages on W. Shore Road and Sandy Beach Road as seen from the lake side for a change. Lots of snow everywhere. Take a look.

Slides of North Shore

Count-down to Ice-Out begins!

Last year at this time, if I remember correctly, the pond hadn't frozen over completely yet. It's well frozen this year and the ice fishermen have been out on the big pond this past week - I don't think many fish the smaller two sections of the pond. I don't have an ice depth for you yet, but I'm working on that.

The requests for Ice-Out tickets are coming in very regularly now - more each week. Diane and I will be monitoring sales in the W.Danville, Cabot, Walden, Danville and St. Johnsbury area, keeping our outlets supplied and picking up completed tickets. I check the mailbox at least once a week, and later on we'll check it more often.

Yesterday I had a ticket returned from a man in Massachusetts. The date of his pick had been filled in and then scribbled out and rewritten over where "Please Print Clearly" appears at the bottom of the ticket, just barely legible. At the top of the ticket he wrote "I can't think I'm Married." Now I ask you, what has being married got to do with thinking? Was the wife talking while he made out the ticket? Surely he had lots going on in his head while trying to negotiate setting down a winning pick. You gotta hope this guy has some luck here! He must have been frustrated in other ways as well, because he wrote plainly on the outside of the envelope, "Please do not ship me any ice."

Now you know how much fun it is to be involved in our Ice-Out Contest. This was just the "ticket" to add a chuckle to our day - Garey's, Mary's, Fred's and mine, and now, I hope, to yours, too.

New slide show for you. The rain of a few days ago left lots of dirty snow, but this afternoon, after we took these pictures, we had a couple inches of nice fresh snow that covered everything nicely. We look much better now! We'll try to get more photos for you perhaps over the weekend.

Slide Show of 12-27-07

Really good news from George and Judy Anderson in Texas!

Good Morning Everyone, Just wanted to let you know that George is progressing day by day. He has been walking outdoors several times. He will be seeing his cardiologist on January 10th and at that time we are hoping for the go ahead to return to Florida.

We thank you for your thoughts, prayers and cards. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish all of you a Happy New Year!!!!

See you in the spring.

George and Judy

Thanks for the update, George & Judy - and right back at ya - Happy New Year to you, too!

No snow today! Reasonable temperatures!
We stopped to talk with a couple of ice fishermen parked near Meadow Lane mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve. We inquired about the depth of ice on the pond, but it was their first time out this year and they hadn't a clue. One of them declared that it needed to be at least four inches thick or he wouldn't go out. They were going to drill some test holes close to shore. There had been some fishermen off the state fishing access on Rt. 2 that day, too, but they didn't stay out long. This morning we saw someone fishing in back of the big island (see photo), so we guess there is sufficient ice, in spite of the warmer weather and rain we had earlier in the week.

Fred was out this afternoon covering the last of his wood pile. You can see the layers of snow, and even though we had some rain, it sure didn't wash away much. It is compacted, though, and a bit crusty - good base for skiing. We've had a couple inches since the rain, and more is expected tomorrow.

The banks along West Shore Road have diminished some, but are still high enough so if you happen to slip off the road you probably won't land in a deep ditch. This picture is looking west, late this afternoon. Fred also took a picture of me, through the window, working at my computer. I had planned on going outside, but I wanted to finish a book I've been reading in between holiday activities. Once I'd come to the last page, I was sorry it had ended. I haven't met the author, Lucille (Maurice) Maistros except via e-mails, but I hope to if she returns to visit Joe's Pond next summer. I got in touch with Lucille when I was researching the story about the nuns who drowned here in 1961. Lucille spent time at Joe's Pond as a child and is related to some of the families who were here at the time of that tragic accident. Her book, Growing Up Cold: A memoir of growing up cold, but longing to be cool, in 1950s Vermont, is a charming, funny, totally engaging story about herself, a "chubby, klutzy, un-cool Catholic girl," growing up in "St. Froid" (St. Johnsbury). A quote from the book: "You would think that the first thing a Vermonter with a new driver's license would do is head south."

The book is sprinkled with wisdom, recipes for traditional French dishes, and rules to live by to get through a rugged Vermont winter, all presented with wit and the keen insight of having been there and done that. Lucille struggled through those years in the 50s but obviously looks back fondly on those "un-cool" days growing up cold. Her book is available at Boxcar and Caboose bookstore in St. Johnsbury, and on line at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

You'll find more about Lucille's book on our web site, www.joespondvermont.com, under "Links" and "Local Authors and Artists."

HAPPY DAY-AFTER-CHRISTMAS!

As the tinsel settles amid heaps of wrapping paper, bows and boxes, life begins to get back to a normal beat - except for de-decorating, which some of us leave until New Year's Day. But for other folks, tossing out the tree with it's needles leaving behind a prickly green trail the day after Christmas is better than heading to the mall to exchange gifts and shop for bargains; better than yesterday's Christmas dinner; better than Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." Packing up the baubles and lights is closure. It's signals a new beginning. The rooms are yours again. The clutter you can't dust is gone and there are shining wood surfaces where miniature sleighs and reindeer stood. No twinkling lights, no little drummer boys or toy soldiers on the mantle, the fake snow is gone like the Christmas ads that have filled the airways since before Thanksgiving.

For those who wait until New Year's Day to de-decorate, it's probably even more of a new beginning what with the new year and all, but that week in between Christmas and New Year's leaves one in limbo, doesn't it? You're neither here nor there. You're letting go of the beautiful season celebrating the holidays and anticipating the celebration of the New Year. What doe's one do in that period? Shouldn't there be some sort of ritual planned for that week between? If it were the other way around, and New Year's came first, folks could use that period of time in between to recover from celebrating.

One thing I know for sure is that the holidays can be stressful, especially when you're young. Anticipating getting a special gift from someone, or picking out gifts that will be meaningful (and that you can afford), and then the required family and/or office parties leave you feeling lower than a snake in a wagon rut. And how about what to do for New Year's? If you weren't invited to a party you felt even more depressed and dorky. Fortunately, as one grows older, none of this stuff is as important, and it's just very nice to be with family or friends - no unreasonable expectations, no pressures, and if you don't get invited to a New Year's party, that's a GOOD thing. If you are fortunate enough to have good health and at least a few folks you like and who like you, that's enough. Of course, a good bottle of wine and some popcorn and peanut brittle help, too . . .

Now I have to go take down my Christmas decorations.

We're getting a little snow to freshen things up for Christmas. This morning started off with sunshine, but now snow is falling softly - perfect for Christmas Eve. Left, this morning from our back yard, and below, the pond showing a little ice, now covered again with snow. We're hoping to find out how thick the ice is now, after the rain yesterday.

Fred and I and our family, Bill, Bob and Theresa, Jamie and Marie, and best friends, Casey and Otto Pilot, wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

In case you missed this greeting earlier in the week -
Click Here and Merry Christmas

From Andy Rudin -

Joyce and I had a treat looking and listening to the Santa skit on your website. I just sent it to our six grandkids.

It is hard for me to believe, but we have about 70 days until spring breaks through down here. And only five months until I am back in JP paradise. I look forward to being with you all again.

Happy Santa!

Andy

First morning in a while we haven't had a fresh coating of at least two or three inches new snow! Instead, the eaves are dripping in 35-degree temperatures, the snow is settling nicely and getting heavier as the warm, misty air overtakes us. I've been listening to the scanner and so far the roads seem to be good. I can see the tops of our trees swaying as the wind picks up, so things will be changing!

I made some candy last night - while the weather was still fairly crisp. I've heard that certain kinds of candy-making fails when the weather is damp. I suppose all that sugar melts the wrong way or something. I'm not very good at that kind of thing, but I have a favorite peanut brittle recipe I do in the microwave, and that hasn't failed yet. Trouble is, I can't resist it, even though I know that except for the peanuts, it's 100% sugar. Whenever I make peanut brittle, I always remember when I was in high school and there was an elderly lady living with the family I boarded with during the winter months when I couldn't ride my bike the four miles to school. Her name was Annie - I can't recall her last name, maybe it was McAllister, I'm not sure. But she was a lovely little lady and I used to enjoy sitting with her and hearing her stories. I brought her some peanut brittle I'd bought at Roger's Store one afternoon, and she was so pleased. She told me it was her favorite, even though she didn't dare chew it because of her teeth, but she let it dissolve in her mouth and enjoyed the taste so much. I never knew what she did with the peanuts - that wasn't important. I was happy to share with her. Since then I've known several other old timers who particularly like peanut brittle. Maybe because it's a challenge to eat without breaking a tooth, I can't figure it out. I never made it for my kids - I guess I was always afraid the sugar would dissolve their teeth on the spot or something. Or maybe they just didn't like it. I'll find out when I take some to our family Christmas Eve party!

We used to pull taffy when I was a kid. That had to be done on a cold, crisp day or it wouldn't come out right. We cooked the molasses and sugar on the wood stove until it was just the right consistency and then it was cooled until we could work it with our buttered hands. I remember how beautiful it was as we kneaded and stretched the golden ropes, twisting and looping it into wonderful shapes, and then how good it tasted after it was cooled and cut into manageable chunks. When I was a little older, I visited my aunt at the beach in Maine, and watched in amazement at taffy being made by big machines at the Goldenrod, a candy store on York Beach. They still make all kinds of flavors there, only they call it "salt water taffy" - and I've tried them all, but none of them taste as good as what my mom, dad and I stirred up and pulled to perfection on those cold, bright Sunday afternoons.

We awoke to snow-covered everything (so what else is new?) and moderate temperatures today and there has been no wind to sweep the snow off the trees so it's still Christmas card pretty. We went into town to do last-minute errands and to visit our friends, Inda and Millie, who reside at the St. Johnsbury Health and Rehab. Their room was nicely decorated, and they seemed content. Both are in the 9th decade of their lives, and for all of having not known each other until Inda was assigned to be Millie's roommate late last summer, they seem to get along very well together, and because both are still very sharp even though one cannot hear well and the other doesn't see well, it is great fun to visit them. The snow was up to the sill of the windows of their ground level room, and Millie commented that it seemed to her the convalescent center was quite a bit warmer than it had been last year when we didn't have any snow until mid-January. That launched some discussion of how, back on the farm (I think they each grew up on farms, Inda in Danville and Millie perhaps in New Hampshire), they always piled snow against the house to keep it warm.

Speaking of piles of snow, when we got home Fred delivered a package the mailman had left with us for our neighbor, Henretta. A few days ago Henretta had Rod Sholan (see his card under "services" on the home page) shovel the roofs of her garage and house. As if that wasn't big enough job, he then had to come back and make a path to get to the bottled gas tank at the back of her house. He didn't know the tank was in back of the house. What a heck of a lot of work!

When he finished, this is what it looked like. Fred couldn't resist taking pictures, so came back to the house for the camera. I think the gas truck made the delivery just fine - but we all know what's going to happen the first time the wind blows. When the banks get just a little higher, Rod may just put a few boards across and let it be a tunnel.

On our way out this morning, this is what West Shore Road looked like. That's Diane Rossi just coming out of a driveway with her snow blower. She was kind enough to cut the stream of snow as we passed. Already it's difficult to find a place to blow the snow that won't be in the way of someone else. Banks are getting high enough so the town came with the grader a couple days ago and winged back the banks ready for more snow. In West Danville, Garey called in the heavy equipment to tackle the snow around the store that was blocking their garage and made parking and walking difficult.

In the spirit of the season, I thought you'd get a kick out of this.
Just turn on your speakers and click.
Merry Christmas Sing-Along


I had an e-mail from Bryce Montgomery today. He's watching the blog and feeling lucky, I think. Here's what he says:

Spent last Monday with Rob Denny in Key West for a tour. We were on a cruise when you got all your snow. Looks pretty but I don't miss it and all the service calls. When my phone rings at night I don't cringe. Have a great Holiday Season. A Very Merry Christmas and the best to you in the New Year. Bryce

Merry Christmas to you, too, Bryce!

I have a question for you. Tell me what you think.

A couple of people who have been reading the blog have asked how all the snow we got so early this year will impact the ice depth on the pond.

I suppose they are trying to calculate whether the ice is likely to go out sooner - or later - than usual because of all the snow.

A couple of things I'll throw into the mix: We had pretty cold temperatures earlier than last year, but about on schedule for other years - so I'm thinking it could go either way. Then there is the snow depth - it could insulate the ice so it won't freeze as deeply this year as some years when we haven't had much snow cover.

Soooooo - since we've got lots of weather ahead, and it could continue to dump snow on us daily, or we could have a really big "January thaw" that would dump lots of warmish water into the pond from runoff on the hillsides. Then again, March is usually a big snow month and sometimes pretty darned cold, too. If you look at the dates we've recorded throughout the history of the Ice-Out Contest, it's hard to find a pattern. So for this year, my guess is it's anybody's guess. That's what makes the Ice-Out Contest so much fun!!

I'm sure some weather-gurus or scientist types may be able to make clearer assumptions, so I hope we hear from them.

We woke up to more snow this morning. It isn't snowing heavily, but everything is kind of "shades of gray." It's quite a bit warmer - reading 30 degrees outside my window right now. We should have a nearly perfect, picturesque Christmas as far as sparkling snow and gently falling snow flakes are concerned.

As I looked out my kitchen window a few minutes ago it occurred to me that had I strung lights on my clump of birch trees next to the driveway as usual, I wouldn't be able to see them! The trees are on a slope and it's hard to get the lights very high in the branches without a ladder, so I've strung them on the branches I could reach and that's been fine until at least mid-January most years. This year it would have been lost effort. (See picture at upper right).

While I was taking that picture, I noticed how still the flag is. It is a beautiful splash of color in the otherwise gray landscape, so I snapped a shot of that, too. There's a path around the deck between the snowbanks that we keep for the gas man when he needs to fill the tank on the other end of the house. If we keep getting snow every day we may need to resort to tunnels. Using the snow blower is an advantage in that it gets the snow away from the house - mostly. But a lot goes into that corner over my flower beds. Not only the snow from the driveway, but also from the deck when we shovel it off. I don't expect to see my flower gardens again until about Memorial Day.

We walked today in a flurry of snowflakes - again! It was warmer and hardly any wind, so we really enjoyed being outside. Here is a slide show of the pictures Fred took along the way. Just click and the show should come up for you. Let me know if you have any problem with this.

A Walk on West Shore Rd. December 19, 2007

I had a note from Don Sherwood today along with a couple of photos. This is a HUGE switch from all these snow pictures, so I'm not sure if Don is feeling sorry for us up here in the cold or if he wants to rib us a bit for hanging out here instead of enjoying a warmer climate like he and Diane are - however, here's what he wrote:

Hi Jane......

Here's a photo of your Joe's Pond VP going down the water slide into the pool.

Diane and I are with our friends (John and Carol Mitchell) from our church on a half day sailing trip. We had a great visit with them to Aruba.
Don

Thank you for sending the pictures. Looks like a lot of fun, Don - are you sure you want to come back to Vermont to ski?

We hope you have a lovely Christmas. Travel safely.

Good Morning!

Our weather has moderated today - thermometer is climbing and is reading 24 degrees outside my window. The forecast is for more snow, three to seven inches, beginning late today and continuing through Thursday. Then we're supposed to get a warming trend and possibly some rain during the weekend.

That's good news and bad news. Good news that it won't be so cold, but bad news if you're traveling or if you haven't cleared any already heavily loaded roofs, especially flat or nearly flat ones. With this much snow on them and then the rain, the weight could be more than the building can sustain. Fred took care of the roofs at our house, and a student, the son of a friend of ours, is lined up to do the flat roofs at camp sometime in the next day or two.

We've been reading about the comeback of the Canada lynx in northeast Vermont. One was recently shot in a farmer's chicken coop in Derby. They are on the endangered species list, and there have been only a few confirmed sightings in Vermont. You can learn more about how to identify this animal by going to Fish and Wildlife

The lynx looks a lot like the bobcat Ray Richer photographed last year on Joe's Pond (see picture lower right), but there are important differences when you compare them. Over the years we have heard about people seeing a lynx in our area, but I don't know that any of those sightings were actually confirmed.
According to a web site I found, the bobcat may actually outweigh the lynx even though the lynx appears larger due to longer legs and more fur. Both prey on rabbits, squirrels, and other small animals, or on larger animals that have died or been left by other predators.

This will show you what lots of people here, including Fred, as you can see, are doing not the storm is out of here. Henretta, our next-door neighbor, had Rod Sholan (his business card is under "services" on the home page) do her house and garage yesterday. She was very pleased with the job. Fred went out this afternoon and did ours. I took the first picture through my office window without holding down the flash to prevent it from going off, and I got some reflection. The second picture had no flash, but Fred is nearly buried in the cascading snow. It's a good thing to get done, though. I expect we'll continue to get more snow this week. Our nice day today petered out and we began to see some snowflakes drifting down on us again.

I hope you went to the slide show of the pictures we took yesterday. If not, you'll find it just below this post. All you need to do is click on it to see the photos.

Here's a slide show of the photos we took yesterday, Dec. 17, 2007. Click and enjoy.


SLIDESHOW

We're happy to bring you a "George Update" this morning! Got this note from Tom Dente:

Good Morning Jane,

Good News, George was released from the hospital yesterday and likely will stay in Texas for a couple of weeks before going back to Florida.

We picked up about 5 inches of snow from the "Nor easter" then rain, which froze. Now we have "white ice". Great for the neighborhood kids but slippery for adults. Temperature should rise this week which will help. Camilla and I are packing up for our trip to Florida for a couple of months. We've been doing this for the past 6 years and it is a good break. We'll have Christmas with son Tom and his family in New Rochelle, NY. Our daughter Erin will be there also. Then we'll drive south to warm weather. Son Paul and his family is stationed in Washington state, but we hope to see them this spring.

Merry Christmas to you and Fred.

We're Digging Out!

I can't be sure how other folks felt about this storm, but it seems to me it wasn't as bad as predicted. Perhaps because most of us up here in the north country are used to this kind of weather and were prepared for it.

That's Fred clearing the driveway last this morning and coming into the kitchen when he'd finished. He was cold and snowy. He thought he'd be able to stay in for a while, but here's the thing:

Last night while having my evening "cuppa" I was peacefully enjoying an oreo cookie and some walnuts with my tea, and a piece of one of my molars broke off. This has happened to me before - once while eating bread - and it wasn't even a hard bread. I think I did it in a restaurant once, too. Can't remember what I was eating that time, but each time I put in a call to Dr. Kathy Silloway at St. Johnsbury Dental Associates and she or one of her associates fixes me up. So I called this morning and, because they had several cancellations due to the weather, they had an appointment but it gave us only about an hour to get there. We figure half an hour for the trip, so I took the appointment.

We had no problems with the roads - Cabot had plowed, Fred had blown away the snow in our driveway. The wind was blowing a gale and it was only about 12 above, but Fred had a couple of errands to do, so it worked out fine that we needed to go into town. While he was waiting for me he took some pictures of the snow in St. Johnsbury. I'll be posting those a little later on, but for now I want to let you know there's a new business card on the web site - a neighbor who lives on Brickett's Crossing Road just beyond us, is offering to shovel roofs and do other work some of you might be interested in having done. I have to tell you, there's a lot of snow, and while it isn't terribly heavy right now because it's been so cold, if things warm up or if we get a lot more snow, it could be serious. There are warnings out for people to keep their barn roofs clear of snow because we lost several barns last spring when we had a big snowfall.

The other thing I wanted to tell you is that I took a picture of that really, really perfect tree we can see as we're coming out of St. Johnsbury heading west, just before the ramp that takes you north on the interstate. It is actually one of those cell towers, but sure blends into the landscape nicely. You can see it on the ridge in the very middle of the picture. This other picture is of West Danville when we got back around noon. Folks were going about their business as usual, but the wind was sure whipping - also as usual.

Stay warm and safe, wherever you are.

A Snowy Morning

Everything has turned shades of gray over white. The snow is intensifying and there are swirls of wind sifting snow off the roof of the house. Fred was out early and took some pictures as he began his first round of clearing the snow from our driveway and Henretta's. Jamie is at home so he'll take care of his later with "The Peach" - the Jeep he constructed from two wrecks and put a plow on.

The photo of our little shed where Fred keeps the snow blower was taken very early this morning, as was the one looking down West Shore Road. Later, while he was plowing, the snow began coming down more heavily with big, fluffy flakes and he took the one of Henretta's house and the trees below. Yep, those are real snowflakes - not super-imposed over the photo.

I had a note from Steve Allen this morning.

Jane,

Re your recent posts on cell towers... Cell tower reception is generally "line of sight", as well as fairly low power, meaning if you can't see it or your not somewhat nearby you won't get a signal. Unfortunately for folks that use cell phones the tower on the east side of Joe's Pond was never built - until we all have satellite phones (don't hold your breath waiting!) cell phone reception will still be spotty at best. Many times folks that would benefit from a cell tower still suffer from a classic case of NIMBY. A good example would be the ubiquitous power or phone pole - a blight on the landscape to be sure, but they are so necessary and have been around foe so long we scarcely notice them.

Happy Holidays!

Steve
This is what we'd suspected, but then someone told us the tower would cover a 70 mile radius no matter about hills, etc. Steve's explanation goes along with what we've always thought. So I guess it'll take one or more much placed closer to us than the Bothfeld's. But it's a start!

There seems to be another lull in the storm right now. There is still snow falling, but it's very fine. The thermometer outside my window reads 12 degrees. So far we haven't had a lot of wind, but that could still be on the agenda. Not much is stirring. The Town of Cabot has been keeping the road plowed out - I heard them at least once during the night and saw the truck again about 9 this morning. I have my scanner going, but not much activity. One of the problems the road crews are having is that people are plowing their driveways across the highway - or in some cases, into the highway. The road crews have to then take time to wing that extra snow out of the highway. It's against the law to plow across a highway, but folks everywhere do it.

Road crews seem to be bracing for the rest of the storm - some are heading home to take a break and will be back on the job tonight; the scanner crackles with the chatter of those still out on the highways. I'm always impressed with the dedication of those men and women who are on the job day and night to keep our highways safe.

Expecting A Blizzard

We're all waiting for the nor'easter to hit us tonight around midnight. I think everyone around here is prepared. This afternoon we walked up to see Jamie and Marie who live on the hill above us. Jamie was getting his tractor dug out of the snow where it has been parked. It took a little time to get it started, but as we left it was chugging nicely. Jamie said he wanted to get it ready just in case he needs it to push the already high snowbanks out of the way to make room for the snow from this new storm. It's good most folks on our road don't have to go to work tomorrow. Of course, Rev. Cobb, the minister at the Cabot church lives on the Plain near the schoolhouse - he might not make it into the village for the church service, but usually the Cabot road crew is able to keep up with storms just fine, so he probably will be ok. This one is supposed to be packing a lot of wind, and out by the Plains Cemetery can be a challenge sometimes.

So, armed with plenty of food, wood, and gas for the snowblowers and plow vehicles, we're as ready as we can be, and we'll just have to wait until morning to find out if the weather's going to be as wild as predicted.

Diane and Bill Rossi went skiing at Burke today. Diane said they had a good time, the skiing was good, but it was bitterly cold. Never got out of the single numbers above zero today, and with a wind felt much colder. This is a good start to the ski season, though.

The news on the cell tower that has been installed at the Bothfeld farm on West Hill in Cabot is disappointing. Fred tried our car phone on the way to Hardwick this morning and he was well up on Rt. 15 before he got a good signal. I guess it could be different for some cell phones, but so far we can't say there's any big change. Sorry.

I'm closing this and going to go listen to the weather on WCAX. Then I'm going to get a good night's sleep so I'll be ready to help Fred shovel out tomorrow. Maybe.

Good Morning!

It's a beautiful morning here - cold and clear with bright sunshine. We know it's the "lull before the storm," but thanks to modern technology we know what's coming so can use a day like this wisely. Henretta from the next house up the road called this morning to say she was going into town to stock up and asked if we needed anything; Fred has been out and blown all the driveways clear - says he wants to have the snow from the previous storms out of the way before this one hits. Of course, we know all the snow that's been blown or plowed out of the driveways and roads is going to get blown back in, plus some, but that's life here in the north country.

We asked son, Jamie, the one who lives just above us here on W. Shore Road, to report to us about cell phone reception. He monitored his phone reception on his way to work yesterday and this was his report:

Fred,

I checked my cell on the way in this morning. I have 1 or no bars (as usual) from our house to Peck's Farm. With my service and/or phone, this is not enough level for reception/transmission. Nothing has changed with new tower. Jamie

Peck's farm is about a mile this side of Danville. We guess the benefit is greater in Cabot Village and on the western side town, towards Marshfield, perhaps some of Walden on Rt. 15, and the Calais-Woodbury area. It's a start, at least, and other farms or towns along Rt. 2 may fine it easier to work with the new legislation now - but there will probably always be neighbors who object to having a tower near them or within eyeshot. We enjoy picking out the "perfect tree" towers along ridge lines when we're driving. Even the obvious thin pole type is difficult to see most of the time, but I guess if there was one close to your house it would be different.

If we learn more about reception here, we'll let you know. Fred is going to Hardwick this morning to recycle, so he'll try the car phone from Rt. 15. to see if reception is better along that stretch.

FROM RAY AND EVELYN RICHER AT THE LOON'S COVE ON SANDY BEACH ROAD:

Ray ran into Ted Chase in town today and he mentioned that he had seen two otters by his camp… first time in a very long time (down his way) according to him. Ray and I see them often up here and forget that sometimes others miss seeing them… this year we had four visiting the shoreline off and on… just as the ice was first crusting over in the cove; we figured it’s a family. These are a couple of the shots of one of the guys… one shows him making himself at home on the loons nest… the other had just downed a fish…

We here at Joe’s are so fortunate to have these lovely playful guys visiting us from time to time… they are so much fun to watch!!

Well, aside from having a grouse on our front porch yesterday morning we have had the usual sightings…. Lots of birds at the feeders, and many deer in the back yard bedding down at the edge of the woods, and an occasional mink hopping across the front yard (we think he lives in the waterscape) and of course lots of rabbits… Haven’t seen the fox yet but he’s around and it’s a bit early for the bobcat sightings (over here anyway)… A couple of weeks back, we had a deer on the ice that a pack of coyotes chased down until she broke her leg running and they unfortunately had a mighty fine feast…

That’s it from here… Merry Christmas to all!!! It sure looks like mid winter here, and we aren’t even officially into winter yet!! But it’s so beautiful!!! And there is MUCH more coming, I’m told!!

Here’s our puppy family now… our Dalmatian, Abbey, died last week at 13 years old, so we have these little “angels” to keep us goin’!! And they do!!! They love the snow… we got them some harnesses and Ray is going to build a sled for them to pull… (They love to run and we know they are capable of pulling up to 50# each… (We need more dogs to pull us around though!!) But they could always pull a camera!! HO HO HO!!! We thought Santa might use them someday… (ya think????)

Stay out of the snow-banks!!! Stay warm!!
Blessings, Evelyn and Ray

We are truly sorry to hear about Abbey - she was a very sweet dog. We know what it's like to lose a faithful and dear pet, but I'm sure having the "little guys" around helps take the sting out of missing Abbey a little, at least. They are cute as can be - I'm sure they'll do their very best to make your holidays bright!

AND THE GOOD NEWS IS . . .

We MAY have cell service now in the Joe's Pond area!! A cell tower has been installed on a silo at the Bothfeld farm on West Hill in Cabot. We don't have a cell phone, but we do have On-Star in our car, and Fred went out this morning and found spots in our driveway that had reception, some didn't. We aren't sure if that's different than before. He drove up to the schoolhouse on Cabot Plain and got reception on the long hill approaching the schoolhouse, but not anywhere else. We'll try other spots on W.Shore Rd. and Rt. 2 to bring you a report later. In the meantime, here's a link to the WCAX report.

Cabot Cell Service

You'll find a link on home page as well. (www.joespondvermont.com)

On the Road Again!

We've been going into St. Johnsbury every few days lately. Fred had an appointment this morning and we decided to get our grocery shopping done so we wouldn't need to go again this week! If the forecast is correct, we have a nor'easter coming at us this weekend. Just what we need. We've had snow every day for way too long now. It was snowing again when we left this morning. Fred was out there early with the snow blower. The roads weren't bad - W. Shore Rd. was well plowed and had some sand here and there. I guess it's slippery in places, but we haven't put it to the test, fortunately. Rt. 2 was ok, but slushy and awful if you had to be behind another car or truck. Not much traffic when we were on the road at around 8:30 a.m.

St. Johnsbury was pretty snowy, but calm compared to what we'd left in W. Danville. It was pretty wild at Marty's 1st Stop, too. We
stopped to fill up with gas - Fred likes to keep the tank full this time of the year especially.

Some of you will recognize St. Johnsbury Academy's Fuller Hall. There are repairs going on to water mains or something so that portion of Main Street was closed to traffic except for folks who live out there, I think. It seems a lot of their old pipes are bursting all at once. I think much of the St. J. water system has been in place since the 1800's, so no wonder! I hear it's costing the town a lot to fix things and it's been difficult to keep up with it, especially this time of the year.

When we got back to Joe's Pond, Hasting's Store was pretty busy. We saw several people we knew, Maurice Burrington was there, Mr. Fortin who lives at the end of the bridge going west out of W. Danville - that interesting house that kind of hangs out over the water on one side and projects almost into the highway on the other. Mr. Fortin told us "the state owns 10 feet of my living room." I've always wondered about damage done by the state plows - the snow must just pelt against the windows. He told us there had been some damage in the past but most of the time the trucks are careful and slow down going past the house. Says he wouldn't live anywhere else, though!

That's blowing snow in this picture taken in front of Lucenti's. I guess it's still blowing outside - once we got home we stayed in.
It actually isn't awfully cold, but it's getting colder - I guess that's why we had so much wind during mid-day. We sure know it's December here, although as I was watching the wind blowing across the parking lot at Marty's, I was thinking it looked more like March - which made me realize there's a long way to go until spring!

Look on the Home Page for New History Story

I have just posted an article about the terrible accident that happened at Joe's Pond in 1961. Two nuns drowned that July afternoon. Some of you will remember when it happened, but perhaps you never knew some of the details as told to me in the past few days by people who were there at the time. I have also posted a link to the original newspaper article that appeared in the July 29, 1961 issue of the Caledonian Record.

You'll find a link to the story on the main menu under "History" and also on the left side of your screen on the home page.

IMPORTANT NEWS!

This morning I received this message from Tom Dente, president of our Joe's Pond Association about George Anderson, our treasurer:

While visiting Judy's daughter and family in Texas, George experienced dizziness and issues requiring further medical evaluation. Following testing, the medical team determined George had a faulty aortic valve that needed repair or replacement and three coronary arteries that required replacement. He never had a heart attack. He had an aortic valve replacement on December 10th and a triple bypass. He is recovering from the surgery and the prognosis appears, at this early time, to be good.
If folks would like to send a card his temporary address in Texas (through Christmas) follows:

George Anderson
c/o J. Lukes
304 King Elder LN
Leander, TX 78641

Another snowy day in the north country!

We were in St. Johnsbury again today - and Fred took lots of pictures while I was busy getting my hip and shoulder fit again. You might think my complaining was in order to avoid helping Fred stack all that wood, but that isn't it at all. I've actually been quite uncomfortable, especially walking, and turns out I have bursitis going on. Anyway, I'm doing great now, thanks to Dan Wyand and his physical therapy associates. They are all very nice folks there, and I've had great results every time I've had to have P.T. I've gone there for therapy on everything from a stiff neck to a shattered ankle - and some kinks in between - and always had a good experience. It's not quite like having a relaxing massage with incense and mood music, but close enough when you're hurting.

We went into town early, before the salt had really made much of a mark on the hill leading up to the hospital, and we wondered if we'd make it. We overtook a slow moving tractor of some sort half way to the top, and we couldn't see over the brow of the hill to pass, so we had no choice but to slow down and hope for the best. We made it just fine. That's some hill approaching the hospital from the interstate.

On the way home, I drove and Fred took pictures. Lots of you will recognize Dole Hill and that's the south side of Danville Village pictured above. I really like that photo of the village - looks like a Christmas card scene.

In West Danville, we made our usual stop at Hastings Store and the post office. Garey and Mary were on hand. There was no tempting aroma of freshly baked banana bread like when I was there on Saturday, but the store was warm and friendly with nice decorations. There was a petition on the counter about the bath house at the public beach. Perhaps you know there's some concern as to whether it should be taken down or renovated. We couldn't sign it because we aren't voters in the Town of Danville.

By the way, I noticed on the outside of the store there's a sign for wreaths - plain or decorated, and they'll ship them - contact Jane Larrabee.

As we came to Point Comfort, we couldn't resist Santa and his Reindeer scampering across the ice from their dock. Merry Christmas to all, and to all, Good Night!

It's a bit nippy this morning here! Temperatures were in the single numbers above zero last night (as far as we know it didn't dip below the zero mark) and the sun can only be described as "weak" this morning. It's another "off and on" day, I guess, with periods of dim sunshine and clouds with a few flakes floating down on us. More good news by tonight, according to the forecast.

I don't know about you, but Fred and I have been using those curly CFL light bulbs for years now. We started using them when we lived at camp year around. We had an audit done by Washington Electric, and at the time they gave them out free with the audit. We put them in all the fixtures that we left on for long periods. The advice then was that if you turned your light on for only a short time, leave the incandescent bulbs in place because the CFL apparently wasn't made to use for short durations.

Back then the CFL bulbs had to warm up - they'd come on dim and within a few seconds, would brighten. We got used to that quickly when we realized the really noticeable difference in our electric bills. Now the CFL bulbs come on instantly and bright, and they are configured better to fit in more fixtures. We use them throughout the house, even in fixtures we turn on and off frequently, and we're inclined to leave lights on instead of being quite so aware of the turn the lights off when you leave a room mind frame. As one gets older, it's nice to have plenty of light! The CFLs rarely need to be replaced - I may have replaced two or three in the past 15 years or so that we've used them.

This offer below seems like a pretty good deal. The darned things can be expensive when you buy them in most stores, and I imagine that has kept some folks from trying them. If you stock up with six at 99 cents each, you'll have a good start and I bet your electric bill will reflect that. If you're already well stocked, some to someone you know who hasn't tried them yet. It's the "green" thing to do! May all their Christmases be Bright.

*****

Light Up & Save!!

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb (CFL) Campaign

(4 CFL bulbs use the same energy as 1 incandescent bulb)

Plainfield Hardware

and

Harry’s – Cabot True Value Hardware

December 2007 – April 2008

$0.99 each – Limited to six per household

CFLs use 66-75% less energy than incandescent bulbs.

Annual electrical costs (at rate of $0.13 per KWH):

1 - 75 watt incandescent bulb………………….$12

1 - 18 watt CFL (comparable to above)………$ 9

Average home savings per year is greater than $100!!

CFLs last 6-10 times longer than incandescent lamps and

help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In-store recycling & information available.

Sponsored by: Cabot Conservation Committee, Marshfield Energy Committee, Plainfield Conservation Commission, and Efficiency Vermont

The 3-town goal is to sell 5,000 CFLs

CFLs are practical and welcome gifts!

AUTHOR READING by J. David Book

David will discuss his recently published book,

“It is Sweet and Honorable to Die for the Fatherland”

about Civil War soldiers from Cabot, Vermont.

Cabot Public Library

7:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 18

Free and open to the public. 563-2721.

An "Off and On" Morning -
meaning, we're getting snow off and on, as predicted. There's a bit of wind, too, making it feel a bit colder than the 30 degrees my thermometers are reading here at mid-day. There wasn't much going on in the village this morning. I'm still getting requests for Ice-Out tickets for stocking stuffers - and some folks are enclosing them in their Christmas cards. Which reminds me, I'd better get going and send mine out.

I've been busy with lots of things - I'll have an interesting bit of Joe's Pond history for you soon. I'm still putting the pieces together, but will let you know as soon as it's posted.

Fred is finishing up stacking our wood for next year and also has been working with Kevin Johnson on a web site. Designing a site other than our own is a new venture for Fred, but I think it's looking pretty good. Check it out at www.stjfire.com - that's a branch of Kevin's Reed Supply Company in St. Johnsbury, and I'm sure all of you will be glad to know about the products and service he has available. The site is a work in progress, so you'll see it change. He also has a business card with us under "Services."

I took a few pictures while I was out to go to the post office this morning. I would have stopped to take others along Rt. 2, but there was more traffic than usual and the going was a little slippery and I didn't want to create any problems by stopping where I shouldn't. It works better when there are two of us - one to drive, one to take pictures out the window!

A sign of the season - the Payne's sign at the corner of Rt. 2 and W. Shore Rd. for Christmas trees. They have very nice trees - they're just past the Cabot Plain Cemetery on the right as you make the bend to go past Chef Wood's place.

Hope your day is a good one. Got your tree yet?

Keeping up with the mail!

Here are a couple of messages I received today:

From Liz (Pearl) Sargent - on a recent blog story about the cottage on the Randy/Marlynn Rouleau property that was recently demolished. That little cottage had originally been on the small island, now known as "Pearl Island" - but also known to old timers around here as "Joe's Island" or "Sim's Island." Liz wrote:

"Brother John and I closed up the island way too late this year and had to break some shore ice to get the rowboat in the water!

We noticed that Sim's camp was gone and were sad. John's comment was "the only thing left of Sim is on the island, his wood shed and his outhouse (only he used another word!) Both of those buildings are now part of our camp. I dreamed about the old cottage going back to the island but that would have taken a huge lottery win, not to mention the fact the island grounds would have needed lots of work before that happened!

John remarked that he thought Sim's camp had an "up" staircase to the second floor and a "down" staircase from the second floor? I wish I had known it was coming down, I would have loved to have seen the inside.

I printed out the blog with pictures you posted so Dad [Bud Pearl] could read and see it. He was quite interested, but sad also that "Sim is gone."

Merry Christmas, Liz

For those of you who may not know, the story of Sim Whittier can be found under "Joe's Pond History" on the home page.

I also had an e-mail from Don and Diane Sherwood:

Dear Jane,

We've loved the pictures and especially your blog. It sounds as if Burke will have a great opening tomorrow. Wouldn't you know it- we're off to Aruba early Sunday for a week (friends invited us to come with them to use their time share). I guess we "can't have our cake and eat it too"! We are looking forward to some R&R on the beach, but will be up to Joe's Pond on the 26th. Please keep the snow for us!

Have a very Merry Christmas.

Diane and Don

I've told Don and Diane I am pretty confident there will be plenty of snow for them when they arrive. For the last couple of years they have had less than perfect conditions when they came north, but this is shaping up to be a great ski season - unless there's a "January thaw" that could ruin everything. At the other extreme, we sometimes get temperatures well below zero around the holidays - but Don and Diane are hardy souls and will still ski, no matter what the weather. It's anyone's guess what conditions will actually be, but we'll be happy to have them back at the pond for a ski vacation. Anyone checked the "Old Farmers' Almanac" lately?

More snow, cold night. Not much news from Joe's Pond!

Fred came in from working at stacking the seven cords, more or less, of wood we had delivered, and says he thinks he's got about six done and one more to go. That's good news. It's a lot easier when you don't have to dig through too much snow to get to t he wood, and better, too, if it isn't too cold when you're stacking. Those sticks of wood are darned cold and it doesn't take long for your fingers to get numb, even in good work gloves.

Walter Ruf sent this picture a while ago. I guess the baby's parents have a sense of humor! Yuck! Do you suppose this kid will grow up to be a politician?