Is it Spring Yet?

Not here at Joe's Pond! We've had snow flurries off and on all day today, but none of it has stuck around, fortunately. The water level went up after the ice went out due to the rain of the last couple of days. Several area roads were closed late yesterday because of flooding, but today things seem to be back to normal. I overheard one of the men on a road crew complaining that the roads were "either too frozen or too wet" to do anything with. Assistant town clerk in Cabot, Velma White, told me today the Danville Hill Road is very bad so she's been going up Rt. 15 to 215 into Cabot each day. Good to stay on the hard surface if you can.

We've been busy inside today. Fred has been working on his computer downstairs and I've been on mine upstairs. In addition, I did an follow-up interview on CBC Canada Sirius Radio out of Toronto - the same gal that Don Walker did an interview with. Don wasn't available, and neither was Dave, so Dave asked me to fill in, last minute. I think it was going to be on a 5 o'clock show tonight, and I was doing the interview at 4:50. Cutting it a little close, but we got it done and I hope they ran it so we'll have more Canadians entering the contest in 2009. Dave will be doing a follow-up interview with Jay Thomas, Sirius Radio, NYC on Monday.

Speaking of 2009, a little while ago I mentioned on the blog that there are road projects planned for Rt. 2 in the Cabot area. John Zicconi responded to my query with estimates of when the planned work might happen. As I understand it, Act 250 pre-hearings for all segments were to be held tonight in Cabot since all this work is on the stretch of Rt. 2 along Mollys Pond and Molly's Falls Dam in Cabot. In the meantime, this is what is planned: (2009-2010) 1.46 miles starting east of Marshfield town line to just west of Thistle Hill Road, reconstruction, alignment and addition of eastbound truck climbing lane; (2013-2014) 1.5 miles starting east of Hookerville Road through to just west of Danville Hill Road, full reconstruction, widening and alignment; (2015-2016) 1.34 miles near Molly's Pond ending east of W. Shore Road, full reconstruction and widening, alignment and addition of westbound truck climbing lane. The dates the planned work may be done are shown. When all is finished, the commute to and from Montpelier/Barre should be considerably shortened and less stressful.

We're looking forward to moderating weather in the next few days - more sunshine and gradually rising temperatures. That should bring out some of our summer folks who have delayed returning because of the muddy roads and foul weather. Hope to see lots more of you soon.