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.