Nothing too exciting to report tonight. Our weather changed today from bright sunshine to clouds and a little freezing rain that made driving a little hazardous for an hour or so, according to news reports. Tomorrow is going to be better except for high winds. We took advantage of the nice day yesterday and went to Littleton, NH. We enjoyed the mountain views, starting off in Danville, the clear blue sky and clean new snow, and took pictures of things along the way. I never really noticed just driving along the strip that is the road to Lisbon where all the box stores are popping up, but when I looked at the photos I realized - that road is anything but attractive now. We stopped at Littleton Chevrolet and saw the beginnings of the new building Abel Toll and Ronnie Lister are building. There's a picture of a crane high above the roof. We were told the present building will be leveled, making a much more attractive approach to the business, and there will be showroom space which the present building does not have.

We did our errands and then had a quick bite at McDonald's before heading home so Fred could get back to helping our neighbor, almost 90 years old, with her new computer. Back in West Danville, while I was in the P.O. picking up the mail, Fred got another picture of Joe's Brook, the old railroad track that is now snowmobile trail, and also the footbridge.

In case you haven't been on the road to Littleton for a while, and perhaps never in winter, I thought you might like to see the pictures we took.
Slide Show

Here is a bit of news you may be interested in - Walden has a pizza place now. We haven't been there yet, but plan to try it soon. You may remember that in 2006 Anthony and Jacqueline Willey bought the Walden General Store, not far from where Ella's Pizza used to be quite a few years ago. They have lots of things going on there now, including a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, and they are featuring pizza, calzones, specialty melts and wraps along with their regular menu. They also have beer on tap and wine. I don't know if they added extra space or are utilized existing space, but it sure sounds as if it's a fun place. Anyway, I thought you'd like to visit their web site to see their menu: Walden Country Store
Fred will put a link on the web site, too.

News from here -

We started off the week with a lovely day, bright with sunshine. The wind was cold, but in the sunshine you could really feel the heat of the sun. That's always encouraging to realize the earth is finally tipping towards spring and summer.

We noticed in Saturday's Caledonian Record that Jason Larrabee has purchased Larrabee's Building Supply from Steve Larrabee. Lots of you know Steve and Jason are cousins. Steve is also our state representative. Jason said not much will change, and Steve will still be on hand part time. This agreement has been in the works for quite a while, apparently, and details have now been finalized so the changeover is official.

I suppose lots of you get forwards in your e-mail, some of which strike you as being important if warning about something or disclosing some little-known trick to avoid something-or-other or prevent mail fraud or whatever. Some of you know that I've been taken to task a few times for posting one of those messages here when I thought it was a valid warning. It took a couple of those embarrassing errors, but now I take time to investigate by going to factorfiction.com, urbanlegends.com, snopes.com or hoax-slayer.com to find out if the message is real or not. Today I got something a little different. Someone sent a picture of the moon as seen at the North Pole - lovely shot with amazing reflections and details - but, guess what? It was a completely fake digitalized made-up picture. Geeze, you can't trust anything these days.

Here's one that is real. My sister-in-law, Ellie, sent this from Colorado recently. I asked about it because I'm partial to railroads and think there should be more of them. Here's her reply:

The picture of the RR track sign does not indicate a functioning track! It was probably used before we were even born. It is amazing to see the trains, loaded with coal, pass through the valley, though, and especially through the Glenwood Canyon. The tunnels carve into the mountains and the trains are swallowed up for awhile. Sometimes the trains have to wait until one comes from the opposite direction and then the switch to the tunnel track can be made.
In Colorado, the DOT [Department of Transportation] and the legislators are considering the possibility of constructing a rail system connecting the Denver area with the mountain area, along the I-70 corridor, to alleviate the congestion of traffic. This (congestion) is terrible during winter storms and especially during the weekends and vacations. And so many times, it is impossible to get through because of accidents, avalanche dangers, etc. A lot of gas would be saved if most of cars could be "removed" from the travel from city to mountain.


Coincidentally, I heard about a proposal by a senator in Colorado that seems to address the traffic problems Ellie mentioned. Here's a link to an article dated today: Traffic

Ellie and Tom are at Beaver Creek, Colorado. Tom is a ski instructor there, so Ellie is often left to ski on her own. She wrote to me about a typical day for her:

The sun was shining and it was pleasant. It was early, around 11:30 am, and the warmth of the sun was very nice. I was even convinced that I should ski, since it was so warm. So, I came home, walked Rascal [their dog], and put on my ski duds. I walked to the bus shuttle for the mountain and did about 6 runs. It was sunny but it was only 20 degrees F. Thankfully there was not much wind. I explored the ski areas known as Bachelor's Gulch and Arrowhead. Tom was in training all day. Anyway, after 6 runs, I decided that I had gotten enough exercise for the day and took a long trail called "Leave The Beav" to end up at a bus stop where I could catch a parking lot bus and walk home from there. It is only about a 5 minute walk from the bus shuttle station. Going skiing is convenient here.

She sure makes it sound (and look) easy. This is a picture of Ellie on the mountain.

We have a report for all you Ice-Out Contest folks. Diane Rossi went out onto the ice today and talked to some of the people fishing through the ice. Here's her first report:

I took a stroll out on the ice on my snowshoes today. The fishermen say the ice is 2-2 1/2 ft. thick. They aren't catching much.

This evening I had another comment from Diane -

There's been a truck driving around on the ice all afternoon....like it's just fun. I don't see headlights, so I assume it's gone. Or he found a soft spot.....


Thanks for the information and the pictures, Diane. I sure hope whoever it was driving around out there is ok. Every year it's a concern, but as far as I know, there have been no accidents here at Joe's Pond involving trucks or cars, and there are a lot out there some weekends. A snow machine went through in the narrows last year, as I recall, but no one was hurt, luckily.

Good Morning - Here's a story to start your day on the right note.

Can ColdWater Clean Dishes?

John went to visit his 90-year-old grandfather in a very secluded, rural area of West Virginia.

After spending a great evening chatting the night away, John's grandfather prepared breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. However, John noticed a film-like substance on his plate, and questioned his grandfather asking, 'Are these plates clean?'

His grandfather replied, "They're as clean as cold water can get' em. Just you go ahead and finish your meal, Sonny!"

For lunch the old man made hamburgers. Again, John was concerned about the plates as his appeared to have tiny specks around the edge that looked like dried egg and asked, "Are you sure these plates are clean?"

Without looking up the old man said, "I told you before, Sonny, those dishes are as clean as cold water can get them. Now don't you fret, I don't want to hear another word about it!"

Later that afternoon, John was on his way to a nearby town and as he was leaving, his grandfather's dog started to growl, and wouldn't let him pass.

John yelled and said, "Grandfather, your dog won't let me get to my car."

Without diverting his attention from the football game he was watching on TV, the old man shouted, "COLDWATER, GO LAY DOWN NOW, YAH HEAR ME!!!"

Meet Coldwater.

Stray Cat in Neighborhood

This came today from Helen Morrison just below us on W. Shore Road. If anyone knows where this cat belongs, please get in touch with us at jpwebmaster@fairpoint.net, or with Helen at helendanamorr@yahoo.com. Here's what she said:

There is now another cat outside, and before I try to
tame it and get it off to North Country Rescue (I just
can't do another) I want to know if it belongs to
anyone.  It is very skittish.  It is an adult, cream
colored with large gray splotches.  Its coat looks
like shadows on snow in the woods.  Does this cat ring
a bell for you?

We don't know if someone is dropping cats in the neighborhood or what, but there have been more than the usual number of apparent strays this winter. It's way too cold for them to survive long outside without shelter, and certainly people could find the animal a home or take it to an animal shelter rather than being so heartless and cruel.

We have new pictures for you -

Thursday when we were in St. Johnsbury we had to detour from Eastern Avenue because of an emergency that had several fire trucks and a host of police on the scene. Fred took pictures although nobody on the street knew what was going on. On Friday we read in the paper that there was electrical smoke in the state office building. Apparently it wasn't serious.

On the way home, when we stopped at Hastings Store for the mail, Fred noticed the calendar display. About the last week of December we realized we didn't have a 2008 calendar in the house. Usually we have every size and description with everything from animals to Vermont scenery on them, but somehow we failed to have even one small one on hand. It didn't take long to gather more than we needed, but none as interesting as these at the store. They're at a bargain price, too.

You can see that there is some very serious problem solving that goes on at our house. You've heard that two heads are better than one, and I can attest to it being a fact this day when Fred and Bill Rossi tackled a perplexing problem having to do with an ornery CD. I think at this point Fred was on the phone with Diane. Some days he mans the help desk by himself and I'm the only customer, but that day it was a two-man job.

Every now and then we lose track of Woody, our cat. He's mostly in the house these cold days, and gets very bored with just the two of us humans around. He has a habit of changing sleeping places. He has his own box in the big window, but spends lots of time on the rug in front of my chair in the living room, or in front of the fire. Sometimes we find him under the dining room table, or in one of the bedrooms - usually under the bed. During cold weather we always try to find him before we leave the house, just in case one of us let him outside and even though we leave the garage door ajar so he can get in there, it's too cold for him to be out there very long and we don't want to take any chances. When we can't find him in any of the usual places, we always begin to look high. We sometimes find him on the cupboards. This time he was either on his way up or down, and paused on the refrigerator to watch us trying to find him, I suppose. He has an uncanny way of showing up unexpectedly in the very spot where we have already looked.

More tomorrow.

Another cold day here in the Northeast Kingdom. Fred keeps telling me it isn't really THAT cold, but it feels REALLY cold to me. We were in St. Johnsbury this morning and it was raw - I was really glad to get back home to the wood stove. So what do I find when I turn on my computer a few minutes ago? This picture from our summer buddies who have all migrated south . . . (sigh) Tom Dente sent this message: Jane, Just finished lunch in St. Petersburg. Wishing everyone who sees this a belated Happy New Year! Tom, Camilla, George, Judy, Andre and Sherry.
What a good looking group of sun-tanners, happy to send their greetings, to the frozen north! Way to go, Joe's Ponders! From left to right, George Anderson (looking good, George!), Judy Anderson, Sherry LaPrade, Camilla Dente, Tom Dente, and Andre LaPrade.

A sample of what I'm working on these days -

I've mentioned that I'm scanning old photos and documents for the Cabot Historical Society, and I came across this photo today in the process. I thought you might be interested to see a "before" and "after" example of the process. This picture is much more recent than most that I'm working with, but it is secured in the album with scotch tape as well as (probably) glued in place. The glue will usually dry out and sometimes a photo can be lifted without damaging the original, but I'm going to leave everything in place in this album, donated by the Hubert Wheeler family this fall. Once I have cleaned up the scanned image as much as I can, I will make a copy for the display albums I'm putting together. These are specially designed to hold photos for the public to view without damage from fingerprints, wear, etc. Eventually, everything I've scanned onto my computer will be on CDs, as well as in the albums. The originals will be left in the album and the album will be repaired and stored in a special archival box, away from light and the public.

The first photo is just as I scanned it to my computer. The second is how it looks after I've cleaned it up, ready to be printed or displayed on a CD.

This is the road crew back in about 1956. The roads were kept in the summer with a "road machine" much like the modern one we have now, and it had two big upright wheels that the blade operator was constantly adjusting and there might have been more than one man on the grader. It was pulled by a tractor. There were usually two or more men following it, along with a dump truck and driver. The men would pick up sod and stones turned up by the grader and toss them into the truck. As I recall, they would rake the sod into piles or rows to be picked up. There was also a crew to clear the ditches - mostly with hand tools. If gravel was needed, it was dumped and then leveled roughly with the road machine and smoothed, stones picked, etc. by men following behind. I found a picture of one of those old machines so you can see what I mean. I know some of you will remember them, too. Of course, in the winter it was an entirely different story when the roads were plowed with a slow-moving crawler tractor - one man in the cab and two tending the wings on the back. They had to plow all night during storms - the thing only traveled perhaps 10 or 12 miles an hour, and there were lots of miles to cover.

We're looking for information. Tucky Sancibrion tells me there was a woman who drowned here at Joe's Pond in 1947 by the name of Emily (aka Mykla) Brozicevic. She would have been about 32 at the time. Her parents were Michael and Slava Brozicevic; her siblings were Eva, Martin and Adelina.

If you know about this, Tucky would be grateful to have some information, as would I. I had not heard about this accident until Tucky mentioned it. To get in touch with Tucky, you can e-mail her at
vt721@sccoast.ne
To reach me, you can click on "comments" below.

This message came this evening -

Hello,
We have recently purchased Joe Cioffi's camp on Joe's Pond and wanted to introduce ourselves to everyone. We are The Systo family; Cathy, Paul and our 14 year old son Matthew. We live in Barre and can't wait to start spending our summers at Joes. I have some great memories of times spent at The LaGue's camp as Linda LaGue is a close friend of mine. My Mother, Carole Couture  has a few childhood memories of times spent at Joes as well. We're hoping for a very early Spring and look forward to meeting many of you this summer.
The Systo's

We are happy to welcome the Systo family to Joe's Pond! We're looking forward to meeting Paul, Cathy and Matthew. I'm really happy that they apparently know about www.joespondvermont.com and used our webmaster address to get in touch. How easy is that! Already they are part of the Joe's Pond community.

Now I have another slide show ready for you. A few weeks ago Fred's brother, Tom - a ski instructor at Beaver Creek, Colorado, sent us all these photos (and more!) showing us the countryside, the ski area, and some of the people he teaches. Click below to start the slides.

Colorado

These nice pictures came from Diane Rossi. There is usually some kind of activity going on here at the pond, even this time of the year. We don't have a lot of ice fishing shantys out there yet, but usually a few more appear on the weekend. Diane took this picture of a fisherman in front of Kyle Brown's.

Now Bill is retired, they are able to ski on nice days during the week if they want to. They went yesterday (Saturday) and met friends for breakfast at the Miss Lyndonville Diner.

On the left is Mario Bonacorsi, then Butch Churchill, and Bill.
Conditions have been good at Burke - lots of snow and well groomed. It's been a little cold, and in spite of the sunshine, it will be cold on the mountain today. Our temperature here is two above outside my window (not in the sun) and there is a slight breeze which will put the wind chill around -10. That won't stop dedicated skiers, though. And it might be warmer on the mountain. Sometimes that happens, but you can bet there's going to be more "breeze" at the top.

That's Bill at the base lodge at Burke Mountain. Below are Bill and Diane before taking a run. Look at that view towards Willoughby Lake! You can see almost to Newport! That's Mt. Pisgah, the big hump on the right, and the smaller one left of it is Mt. Hor. These peaks are on either side of Willoughby Lake in Westmore. Crystal Lake is a bit to the left, but you can't actually see it, either, and it doesn't have any identifying mountains nearby to locate it. You can see there's a valley to the left of Mt. Hor and another small mountain begins, and that's where Crystal Lake is, parallel to Willoughby Lake. Thanks, Diane, for the great pictures.

(Don't forget to click on the photos to make them larger.)

A couple of news items:

You may be interested that the Danville Animal Hospital has been sold by Dr. Stan and Susan Pekala to Dr. Lisa Whitney who has been with the office for four years. It's hard to believe that the Pekalas have operated the animal hospital in Danville for 34 years! Dr. Whitney will officially take over the practice in February, and told the Caledonian Record that she will not be changing anything right away.

Another item in the Business Watch today is that there is an Ocean States Big Lots store definitely coming to St. Johnsbury. They are hiring now, so the opening must be soon. That will be a boost for the Green Mountain Mall - with the new Penny's store, things are certainly looking better there.

I'm happy to report Fred and Woody caught the little mouse shortly after lunch today and mercifully turned the young rodent loose in the woodpile. We would probably have fewer visits from Woody's little playmates if he were not as well fed as he is. He's in the game for the thrill of the hunt, not the satisfaction of a tasty treat.

We're expecting tomorrow to bring cold and windy weather, more typical of January here at Joe's Pond. Groundhog Day is only a couple weeks away and then we'll find out if there will be another six weeks of winter - but of course winter coming to a close by mid-March would be unusual, and no self respecting woodchuck in this neighborhood is going to show up as early as February to predict it one way or another. Perhaps in April . . .

I've started scanning the material in a scrapbook donated this summer to the Cabot Historical Society. Yesterday was my first day working on one donated by the Hubert Wheeler family, and I had managed to scan around 50 photos when I took a break to call my aunt Betty in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. When I came back to the computer I somehow hit a wrong key and it froze up. I tried everything I could think of but it remained unresponsive. My scanning program automatically saves when I exit properly, and I hoped it would work that way when I had to shut down and restart, but deep down I knew that was unlikely. I shut the computer down and lost everything I'd done. Scanning 50 photos may not seem like a big job, but I'm working with very fragile pages, photos that have been glued, taped, bent and written upon, and handling them once is quite enough - however, I went back to the beginning and did them all again, shuddering as additional parts of the brittle black paper of the album crumbled and fell on my desk or on the floor. I'll put it all back together and repair and reinforce the old photo album as best I can using archival glue, and then it will be ready for proper storage. The most interesting part of a project like this is when I begin erasing the tears, waterspots and brown age spots from the pictures on my computer. The end result will be relatively clean and clear copies of all the photos. I'll print copies of all of them to be filed in archival albums. I'll eventually also put them on a CD or DVD so visitors to the historical society building can enjoy them. I don't know how many photos are in the collection to date, but I'd guess several hundred. I've filled four albums and three more are "in progress." I still get a kick out of opening an old album and finding a picture I haven't seen before, or a photo that's not only identified, but dated!
The photo above is of Drew's Hardware Store, probably taken about 1894. Shown from left to right are James Drew, Jessie Drew, Earle J. Rogers (on tricycle), Albro Burnham, Ezra Haines, Lafayette Myers, and Walter Myers sitting on the wood pile. The bottom photo is the window of Banfill's Harness Shop. Both places of business were on Main Street in Cabot, Vermont.

We've been sort of busy this morning - Woody, the cat, either brought in a little mouse from outside or caught one, temporarily, here in the house, and it was cornered in one of the hot water heating units in the living room. Fortunately, the heat doesn't come on when we have the wood fire going, so the unit was cold. We worked hard to get the mouse out of there, and then lost him again, so now we have no alternative but to set a trap - sorry, little mouse. Woody is no longer interested and has gone back to sleep in his bed by the window.

I've been fielding questions from e-mail, some Ice-Out business, some camp rental stuff, and a little personal mail, now it's already time for lunch. I wanted to post this for you, though. I rec'd this last night:

Hello, we are a family group of 14 from Connecticut looking for a rental on Joe's Pond! We are big fans of the pond having visited in the past and found it a very relaxing ,fun place to unwind and relax. If anyone knows of a camp that is for rent that would acomodate our group please email to the above addres or contact Kim or Norm Pelletier at (860) 675- 4814

Thanks so much!

Good News!

This came this morning from George and Judy Anderson:

Good Morning Fred and Jane, Great slide show on the blog. I hadn't had a chance to get on line this AM before Camilla called to say that our house was on the slide show today. I do miss the snow but under the circumstances, I guess we're lucky to be here now as George can get out to walk every day.

We arrived back here in Sun City Center this past Sunday. It's "GREAT" to be in our home after seven weeks away. George is continuing to do well. He had an appt. with a cardiologist here yesterday, and will begin a cardiac rehab program with in a few days. We had a visit from Tom and Camilla Dente, and Dolly Lague yesterday.

Again, George wants to thank everyone for the calls, cards and thoughts.

George and Judy

I thought you might like to see what how we see the sun coming up from our living room window. Fred caught our cat, Woody, enjoying the view this morning. There probably were some critters out there that interested him more than the rising sun, but nevertheless, it was nice of him to pose for the camera. Later on we stopped in West Danville to pick up the mail, and while I was doing that, Fred was risking life and limb to take pictures of Joe's Brook below the dam. I really liked the pictures he took, but I'm glad I didn't know where he was or I would have been a bit worried - standing on that slippery dam high above the brook is my idea of a daring deed, but he said he thought our viewers deserved something better than our usual "road shots" as we travel to St. J. and back! Point taken. Enjoy. (Don't forget to click on the photos to enlarge them.)

I neglected to get this slide show going on Monday. We were having snow squalls that day, but there wasn't much actually snow accumulation, and yesterday and today were beautifully sunshiny. I thought you might like to see what's going on at NVRH where they are doing more renovations and putting on an addition in the back of the hospital. That is the people hospital - Fred also visited St. Johnsbury Animal Hospital and took pictures there. We both got haircuts and stopped to pick up the mail in West Danville before going home - in the snow.

Slide Show

We're getting some of our snow depth built up again. Yesterday was a snowy day, but only a few inches fell. Today has been bright and clear - very nice, like spring, Fred declared when he came in from snowblowing the little snow we had and clearing the walkway.

We have some new stuff on the home page you may want to see. There's a slide show of the big fire in Littleton, NH last week - click on Saranac St Fire on the menu at the left of the page. Also, there are new business cards posted. Also, under "Links" and then "Attractions" you'll find a link called "Tree Climbing." We thought that was kind of an interesting site.

I had a nice note from Don and Diane Sherwood yesterday, and they sent some photos taken when they were here to ski just after Christmas. You'll notice the lovely Christmas tree - it is probably the only "hot" Christmas tree you've seen. It seems Diane was walking along the rail trail that runs near their house and noticed the tree outside Pam and Joe Hebert's house. Realizing the Heberts were not at home, Diane rushed back and told Don to go and get it. I think Don protested a bit, but finally gave in and got the tree. He and Diane put it on their porch, decorated it with lots of lights, and for about a week, they and especially the neighbors across the pond from them, Bill and Diane Rossi, Tom and John, the Craigs, Bill Dimick, etc., all enjoyed the display. Here's what Don has to say about it now:

Here are some pictures of the Hebert Recycled Christmas Tree all dressed in lights on our deck. We really enjoyed it as did Diane and Bill Rossi across the pond! The trees are opposite our barn on Old Homestead Road and the stream is along the railbed.

The curved sheet of ice and snow eventually slid off with a huge crash! Now the roof is free of snow....I hope. Metal roofs are the best....the steeper the better!

We're driving to Venice, Florida the end of this month. We'll send some pictures of some warm beach weather if we can .

See you in March!

Don

That sunset photo is from Don, too. It would be the view from their cottage. Thanks, Don, for all the great photos. I think we should commend you and Diane for giving that little tree an extended life, and sharing with your winter neighbors here at the pond.

A few weeks ago I tossed a couple of oranges into the woods by our driveway. I had stored them just outside the doorway in the garage where they are handy from the kitchen. I think it was one weekend in the fall when I was expecting company and didn't have adequate room to store everything in the refrigerator. When I discovered them around Christmas time, they were frozen solid. I considered for a moment what I might still use them for, but because I was busy and had plenty of fresh ones properly stored in the house, I tossed them into the woods with the thought it would be a nice surprise for some bird to find them next spring. I watched as each one plopped softly into the snow just beyond the driveway, sinking out of sight in a foot or more of soft snow.

At lunch time today I noticed a squirrel struggling with something in the driveway. Almost immediately I knew what it was. He worked carefully, keeping the orange from rolling down the drive, gnawing to get a grip on it and then tugging it backwards, a few inches at a time. Halfway across the blacktop, he stopped and tore away some of the peel and gnawed at the fruit, apparently enjoying the frozen orange. After a few minutes, he grasped it again with his teeth and managed to drag it the rest of the way across the driveway. For a moment he seemed to contemplate the next step. He dashed onto the snow bank and up our birch trees. I thought his intent must be either to somehow get his prize into the tree like I'd seen him store apples in the lilac, or else he was looking for an easy route to his den which I think is in a disconnected drain pipe under the crab tree. Perhaps he realized the folly of either idea, or maybe the apples in the crab tree suddenly looked a lot more manageable, because he abandoned the orange and bounded into the crab tree - familiar territory with more familiar fruit.

I went outside a few minutes ago with the intentions of tossing the orange closer to the squirrel's den, but I didn't anticipate how hard the crust is, and it rolled quite some distance away. If the snow doesn't come too soon and cover it up, he'll maybe still be able to collect it. It was nearly half eaten, and that made me wonder - I've heard about cows getting tipsy from eating frozen apples in the fall, so maybe our resident squirrel is in his den this afternoon sleeping it off . . .

This is one of those gloomy, black, white and gray days here. During the early morning hours there was a bit of wet snow that turned to rain by daybreak. The temperature is hovering around freezing, and there is a thin coating of ice forming on the trees. I took these pictures at about 9 a.m. Fred had just left to help our 89 year old neighbor and good friend, Louise, get her new computer set up and running. She has never had one before, but took a basic computer skills course a few years ago and is excited about the prospects of having so much information at her finger tips. The hard part about getting her set up was finding a server. She's only a couple miles from us, but her options are definitely limited compared to us. I think today Fred will finish the last steps getting her service hooked up and begin showing her how everything works.

We have had feedback about the slide shows, and so far nobody has liked the last method of presenting photos as well as what we used before, so we'll go back to the other program, flickr.com. Thanks to all of you who checked in on that.

I have the scanner on and there is a report of an accident near the interstate exchange on the Danville side of St. Johnsbury. One injury. I expect the roads may be slippery in spots, especially the paved ones. The Cabot town truck has been by here earlier this morning and spread salt and sand and the road looks ok, but there isn't much traffic on it. Several loads of logs went out towards Rt. 2 yesterday, but nothing like that today. Fred took his shovel and a pail of wood ashes, just in case, when he went out this morning.

Winter weather doesn't let up on us this year at Joe's Pond!

We have a new slide show for you. We could have titled it "After the January Thaw." Click on the arrow to start the slide show. Let us know if you like this better or not as well as the way we've presented slides before.

It's been quite a day here at Joe's Pond - at least at the Brown household. Our nephew, Greg Brown, came for lunch to discuss a book he's written, and this morning Fred was helping our neighbor set up her new computer. She is almost to 90 and has never had a computer although she did take a course in basic computer skills a few years ago.

Greg (that's him in the picture on the right) is working at the King George School in Sutton, Vermont, and working on several writing projects in his spare time. Greg has had some interesting jobs over the years and has done quite a bit of traveling, and his book combines work and travel experiences in a very engaging way. He says it isn't ready for publication yet, but we enjoyed getting a preview and we're looking forward to it's completion. Greg's parents spend winters in Colorado where his dad, Tom, is a ski instructor at Beaver Creek.

The weather here today started off warm, like March or April. There were brief periods of rain, then some sunshine in between showers, but quite warm. I had windows open for the fresh air, temperatures seemed to begin dropping, and by mid-afternoon, there was a distinct bite to the air, a stiff breeze, and we were suddenly back to "seasonal weather." Where there had been water in back of the islands, is now showing white eand even noticed a few bare spots in the fields above the pond by Rt. 15. There were a couple of ice-fishermen in back of the island, but it looked as if they were at least ankle deep in water that was on top of the ice. Around noon, about the time Greg arrived,xcept for a few glossy spots close to shore that could be either water or ice. Fred took a picture of the White Mountain range through the maple trees along the road by our house.

A few minutes ago we saw a couple walking on W. Shore Rd. - perhaps George and Pat Parizo or it could have been Sam and Judy Lewis - we only saw them for a moment. Then we saw a team of sled dogs followed by an ATV go down the road. Fred grabbed his camera and waited in the driveway for them to come back up the road. They went past very quickly, but he was able to get one picture. (Click to enlarge!)

I have just checked my e-mail and there is a note from Sheryl Gould: (Sheryl and John have a cottage at 60 Narrows Drive)

Dear Jane,

Just an update from the Goulds. We have started a remodeling project at Joes Pond this winter, and hope to come up soon to see how it is going. It is an enlargement of the living area and adding a fireplace and new heating system so we can enjoy the camp year round. We hope to come up in July for a full month this summer.

All is well in Alabama. We are enjoying 70 degree weather, after a cold snap that took us to the teens. A typical Alabama winter. Sheryl

Thanks, Sheryl, for getting in touch. I guess I'd have to say our Vermont weather is pretty typical this year, too. I hadn't expected Alabama would get temps in the teens, though. Nice to hear from another of our Joe's Ponders.

I JUST HAD A CALL FROM A JOE'S PONDER WHO REPORTS HE LEARNED THROUGH A VERY RELIABLE SOURCE THAT THE CELL PHONE NUMBERS ARE NOT GOING TO BE MADE PUBLIC TODAY OR ANY TIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE. APPARENTLY THIS WAS ANOTHER SCAM SORT OF THING THAT GETS FORWARDED EVERYWHERE FOR THE BENEFIT OF SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE PUBLIC. I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT CHECKING THAT THOROUGHLY BEFORE POSTING IT. IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS, LET ME KNOW, BUT IN THE MEANTIME, I'VE TAKEN THE NOTICE OFF THE BLOG. --Jane Brown
Later:
Now I've had a chance to check out the report about cell phone blocking and here's some information for you:
cell phones

Good Morning Everyone!
Happy Birthday to Fred and Elvis!

Another warm day. The water is running off the roofs and down the roads. Fred was out taking pictures a few minutes ago. There was a fog bank over the pond and along the valleys. West Shore Road looks like it does in early spring - before the mud season sets in seriously. Our driveway is clear and some of the shrubs are poking out of the snowbanks. Unfortunately, the flies are waking up, too. The chickadees have been feasting on them near our big picture windows, driving Woody a little crazy and keeping him dashing in and out most of the morning.

We let the fire in the wood stove go out this morning. The house is very warm with the sun coming in the big windows, and outside my window here in the office, the thermometer is reading 50 degrees, and that's on the cooler side of the house. Out front we have a reading of 56, but the sun seems to have gone in momentarily. I'm sure it was warmer than that when I was outside a little while ago.

By mid-afternoon we'll probably need to start the fire again, but for now it's very comfortable.

I've posted a few pictures of our January thaw. Now it's time to make a birthday cake!

Here is something entirely unrelated to anything current, but I rec'd one of those sometimes bothersome "forwards" recently about old photos from a Brownie camera and finally, today, I found some background information on those photos. You might be interested: Pearl Harbor Photos

The "forward" mentioned that the photos had been found in "the footlocker of a sailor, etc." - but that may not have been the case. Read this comment I found about them.
From:
Subject: Pearl Harbor Photos
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 17:39:08 -0600

By now you must have received several comments or explanations re: the photos of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. Whoever posted them, in various numbers and formats, also included a tall tale of them being found "in an old Brownie camera, in a sailors footlocker, a sailor who serverd aboard the USS Quapaw (ATF110)"

Well, of course, sailors have seabags, not footlockers, the keel of the Quapaw was not laid until Dec. 1942, and they are all high quality (not Brownie camera quality) US Navy photos, taken all over the battle area. The aerial photos were taken by Japanese pilots as they attacked Pearl Harbor. The US DoD or War Department (in 1945-46) acquired those and other miltary photos after Japan's unconditional surrender.

I had seen most of the pictures in Life magazine in the 40s. All these pictures, now in US Archives, got wide display in 1991, on the 50th anniversary of the attack. Looking closely at the aerials you can see artwork has been done on the photos, for clarity and intelligence use.

I have a long experience with photography, particularly Navy Photography, from 1953 in Navy Photo School, through 1996 when I retired as a Navy Photo Lab (civil service) manager.

Bernard R. Cleary,
Chief Photographer's Mate

Here we are in the middle of an old fashioned January Thaw! After all that really cold weather and all the snow, we knew things would have to turn around and warm up. It has been in the 40's today - hard to keep the fire going without overheating the house. I had to open windows, but it's good to get the fresh air inside. Feels like spring outside.

Woody, our cat, is pretty sure it's spring. He has been in and out most of the day. We're happy he doesn't bring critters inside for us this time of the year. You see, to catch a squirrel or a mole he'd need to get into the snow, and he isn't foolish. So he goes outside and sits in the driveway, watching the trickles of water running between bare patches on the hardtop (he's very interested in running water) or he'll stare intently at some imagined movement off in the distance. Sometimes he'll sit on the deck, tail lashing, whiskers twitching, where he can see the squirrels running back and forth to the crabapple tree and lilac. That makes him very nervous so he doesn't stick to it long. He comes and raps at the back door for either Fred me to let him in. Sometimes he stays only a few minutes before he's ready to go outside again, so we spend quite a bit of time opening doors for him. I should explain that we taught him to rap at the door when he first came to live with us. I tied a sap spout to a piece of string and hung it on the door knob. He bats the spout and it knocks on the door. If nobody responds right away, he keeps batting the spout or tugs at the string if he's balancing on the railing - either way, it makes quite a racket. We're happy that this time of the year he doesn't bring little creatures in for us to see, though.

I had an e-mail from Jennifer Cowles, a summertime Joe's Ponder. Here's what she wrote:

Jane,
How wonderful it was to see those pictures of Joe’s Pond. We have no snow here in Denver and this past weekend it was 60 degrees! The coldest has been 5 degrees, and coming from Vermont I have the right clothes to stay warm and still take the dog for a walk.

I have attached a couple of photos for you, as you can see I live on a small pond out here as well! Stay warm and keep the news coming!
Jenn Cowles

It's nice to hear from you, Jenn. And thanks for the pictures. Is that you behind the scarf and sunglasses?? I really thought there would be a lot more snow out there after the big storms we had reports about, but I understand the ski resorts are looking for more snow. Sure is pretty country, though. Those mountains sure are a lot bigger than our Green Mountains, but they don't seem nearly as friendly as Camel's Hump or Mt. Mansfield. I'm sure you find Colorado an interesting place in which to live, but we look forward to seeing you back at Joe's Pond this summer, Jenn. We hope everything is going well in your new home.

We're enjoying moderate temperatures today. There wasn't a lot of sunshine, but it was comparatively bright and we didn't get any snow! We just came back from a short snowshoe trek into the woods in back of our house. I was surprised at the amount of snow in the woods. This was the first time I've been on snowshoes this year - Fred has used them to bring in some of the seasoned wood piled in the woods in back of our house. That's me trying to locate the top of one of the piles. I was near our grape arbor and the top rail of that was chest high; it is actually over six feet off the ground. I estimate I was standing on well over three feet of snow and there were at least another eight inches of new, fluffy snow on top of that. It was just borderline difficult snowshoeing because of the deep snow. I was very glad to have Fred breaking trail for me, otherwise I'm sure I would have quit after the first five minutes. Going through the woods there was so much snow it was hard to tell if we were going over the tops of trees or across downed trees, and we frequently slipped or the snow caved under our weight. Fortunately, I didn't fall into any holes, but as soon as I could find one, I used a stick to help balance me. I don't usually use poles when I snowshoe, but today I wished I had them. My stick would hit the crusty snow left from our last thaw, a foot or so down, then as soon as I put any weight on it, it would break through and send me off balance, but still it helped some. I was tired by the time we got back, and I don't think we were out more than half an hour or so. I will probably feel it in my muscles tomorrow, too.

The scenery was wonderful, and everything in the woods is so still, it's lovely to be out there. We saw a track where a deer had gone into the cedars near our house - must have been hard going. There were a few other tracks, but hard to tell what they were. Snowshoe rabbits or squirrels, I suppose. There were no new signs of activity, and the tracks we saw were covered with new snow.

You can see that there's quite a slope in back of our house, which means a good climb as we start off, but it's downhill all the way home, and that's always very welcome. The last picture is Fred arriving in our back yard ahead of me. We will try to get out again soon - but I expect the freezing rain and warmer weather for the next few days may delay our going right away. We try to keep paths through the woods, and usually there are several routes that are well packed so it's easier to manage walking on them. Our daughter-in-law, Marie, has been out a few times on trails further up the hill that come from where she and Jamie live, but Fred and I didn't get up there today.
Marie had a few days off last week and took Otto, their new puppy, with her snowshoeing. She said he seemed to love being out in the snow - he has some coon hound in him, so I expect he'll be right at home romping in the woods when he gets a little older.

So that was our adventure today. Now it's time for some beans and hotdogs. I hear you chuckling. It's Saturday night - doesn't everyone have beans and franks on Saturday night?

The weather has moderated and today was pretty nice, in between snow showers. Things sure look like January - but it's looked that way for at least a month here. The scenery still amazes us, and we see it every day. We hope you enjoy it, too.

Let us know if you have trouble viewing the web site home page. We've reduced the size of the picture and hope that lets it load faster for those of you who have dial-up. The home page wasn't showing up well on some browsers, so Fred has made some adjustments and we hope that helps. We'd appreciate knowing if you have problems. It's a bit of a learning process for us, but we want the web site to be as convenient for you as possible.

We stopped at Marty's today to get gas. It was very busy there, with lots of snow machines in the parking lot. We see them on the rail-trail across the pond often, both in the daytime and evenings, so I know there are lots of people out enjoying the snow.

Slide Show

A report right from the slopes:

I went skiing today with Sherwoods. It was really, really cold. A beautiful day, not much wind, wonderful snow, and very few people there. But really, really cold. We made 2 runs at a time before going in to warm up, but after lunch we only lasted 1 run. It was fun, anyway. --Diane Rossi

It didn't get above zero here today, and right now, at 5:30, it's already 10 below outside my window. Going to be a cold night.

Thanks for the report, Diane.

By the way, there are a couple of new business cards on the web site. You might be interested in seeing them. On the home page, go to "Other" and find "Local Services" on the drop-down menu.

Cold Night!

The temperature at our house got to -15 degrees last night, or at least that was what it was when Fred checked at 5:30 a.m. He didn't need to go outside to clear the driveway, though. NO SNOW fell last night. There was a wind, and there are mini-drifts along the edge of the snowbanks around our driveway, but nothing serious. Today is bright with plenty of sunshine, and outside my office window the thermometer reads a cool 8 below. No sun is hitting there, but I don't see any melting going on even where it does hit.

I haven't actually heard any reports from skiers, but it must be brutally cold out on the slopes. One run, and back to the lodge, would be my guess. We're going to warm up rapidly in about 24 hours, though, so if folks can wait until the weekend, skiing should be comfortable and enjoyable again. It's ironic to have such nice snow and such cold weather - from a skiing point of view. But for a lot of us it doesn't matter all that much. It seemed really good to haul out my "horse-blanket" wool coat on New Year's Day. I so seldom wear it, my friends all thought I had a new coat. I think I've had it for at least 15 years - it's long and roomy, perfect for walking along W. Shore Road on cold winter nights.

It reminds me of a story my dad used to tell about the bear-skin coat his father and mother had. He said it was long and heavy and for that reason, nobody wore it unless they were going to be sitting in a sleigh or pung sled driving a team of horses. The story went that Dad had to take one of his sisters to catch the train in West Danville. She'd been home for the holidays, and as luck would have it, a big snowstorm came the day she had to leave. The roads weren't plowed as well as they are today, but they set off in Dad's car, probably a Ford. He said his mother insisted he take the bear-skin coat with him in case he had to walk home. He resisted, but finally gave up and put it in the car. He got his sister to the train, but it was late and quite a bit of time passed before he was able to leave for the trip home. The roads were badly drifted, but he would shovel out in front of the car when he came to a drift. This worked until he got within about a mile of home. The wind was howling and the snow drifting faster than he could shovel it out, so he decided to leave the car and walk home. He put on the heavy old coat and started out.
"I'd climb up over a drift and just roll down the other side," he said. "That coat was so heavy and long, after I'd gone a ways, it was easier to roll or slide down the drifts than it was to try to walk in it. But I never got cold! Actually, I was damned glad Mother made me take it with me."

So that's about the way I feel when I wear my coat, and I always remember Dad's story.

Heading for the Deep Freeze!

We're starting the New Year off right here at Joe's Pond! First, let me back up a bit to New Year's Eve. A few Joe's Ponders gathered at Bill and Diane Rossi's on the evening of the 31st. Diane had wonderful food laid out for us, and while it wasn't awfully cold, it snowed pretty steadily all day and most of the night. Fortunately, none of us had far to go, so driving wasn't a problem - and West Shore Road was in good shape.

Diane took some pictures. Diane Rossi, that is. We had two Dianes and two Bills there - now maybe you think THAT wasn't confusing. Bill Dimick left before Diane began taking pictures. It was sort of like when I go to the post office and Jane Larrabee is there, then Jane Milne comes in - we get in on a lot of conversations that aren't actually meant for us, but it doesn't matter - sometimes I think folks just like to see if we're paying attention when they call out "Hi, Jane!" and wait for all three of us to whip around and answer.

Anyway, it was a nice group on New Year's Eve and we had a great time. That's Bill Rossi in the corner by the fireplace. One thing we've found out is that when you visit the Rossi's, you don't get to sit by the fireplace unless Bill isn't home. That's his chair, no doubt. We're like that, too. Fred has his favorite chair and I have mine. I have to share mine with our cat, Woody, though. Why he doesn't like to sleep in Fred's is a mystery, but when I want my chair, I just move him to his own bed by the window and he doesn't even open his eyes.

New Year's day Fred and I were invited to our neighbor, Elizabeth's, on Brickett's Crossing Road. Another neighbor, Louise was there, and friends we hadn't seen in some time who live in Cabot Village. Elizabeth is a great cook and we always enjoy having a meal with her. There was little going on along W. Shore Road all day - a snowmobile from time to time, but it was snowing quite heavily, and by the time we left in early evening it had built up 3-4 inches in the road. By this morning Fred had to be out with the snowblower again. I spoke with Diane Rossi, and Bill was out clearing their driveway, too. Fred says the snowblower is a great way to keep the drive wide and the snowbanks lower during a winter like this when we have lots of snow.

He's outside now clearing some of the snow off the edge of our roof so the ice won't build up. The snow is very deep on the roof even though he's already taken it off a couple times. I can no longer see the railing on our small back deck, and the back door is snowbound for the remainder of the winter, I guess. It's hardly worth it to try to keep it clear of snow because it's directly underneath where two roofs meet. I may lose my view if the snow keeps coming.

Right now the thermometer outside my window reads -5 degrees, and the prediction is for it to go lower. There is a bit of wind, I'm estimating around 10 mph, so that would put the "feels like" temperature down to about -22 degrees. Cold enough to make your nostrils stick together, for sure, and exposed skin can get frost bitten in about 30 minutes!

We hope everyone had as nice a New Year's celebration as we did, and while you may not be able to enjoy the invigorating weather we have here at the pond, we hope wherever you are you are happy, healthy, and anticipating a great year in 2008. It sure looks good from here! We aren't hearing any old-timers going on about "winters aren't what they used to be" - in fact, we are all wondering just how much snow we'll end up with if we don't get a thaw in January or February. March can be a bear, and we could end up with a lot more snow than we've had in a while. But we can usually depend on a "January thaw," even though sometimes it doesn't get here until February or March.