This is really a continuation of this morning's post. Fred went with Bill Rossi this afternoon to check on Bill's new tool shed that's being built over in the Morrisville area. Bill and Diane had been out kayaking this morning and the workers at Jane Milne's (new boathouse) told them there was a lightning strike there during that storm we and Jason Randall took pictures of last night. Jane told them the bolt of lightning came in on two computers and a television - all could be ruined. She took the computers to see if anything could be saved from the hard drives, but won't know right away. Absolutely too close for comfort! Better a tree than the house, though.


Back to the real purpose of the trip. Below are pictures of the type of shed Bill and Diane have ordered. It's in the process of being built now, but won't be ready for a few weeks.

While they were in Morrisville, they tried to find some flowers. Today is our 25th anniversary and Fred thought it would be nice to surprise me with flowers. They couldn't find anything in Morrisville they thought appropriate, so they went to the Flower Basket in Hardwick. When they got there, this is the sign that greeted them. So they came back empty handed; but like folks always say when something like this happens, "it's the thought that counts."

We've had a lovely anniversary day, and no, we didn't go out to celebrate. Fred ordered pizza from Marty's and we will decide when and where to celebrate later on. We didn't get married with a big splash, either - we went to the church in Cabot after work that Friday, and our good friends, Pat and Kathy O'Donnell stood up with us and then we went back home to camp where Pat and Fred went fishing while Kathy and I made supper for all of us, including their three kids, and they all spent the weekend with us.

We lived at camp for 17 years. We were both working in Montpelier and really enjoyed being at the pond year around. Back then there were only a few people living on the pond in the winter - I think we could count four, maybe five. There was nobody along West Shore Road except us. Our nearest neighbors were my parents who lived where we do now. Sandy Beach Road wasn't plowed all winter, Chatot Road was just a snowshoe trail. Back then we got two or three channels on TV with an old bent up roof antenna, the radio didn't get much of a signal after dark in the winter, the only computers were at our office, cross-country skis, skates and snowshoes were required equipment, and the snowmobilers and ice fishermen were the only action we saw.

One year we had very little snow and just about every Sunday we'd skate up the pond to where the Ide camp is now and change our skates for hiking boots for the rest of the trip to the store in Walden to get a Sunday paper. By the time we got back we'd had enough exercise to last the whole week. Other winters there was no skating and we'd take long walks with our dog Clint, often at night in the moonlight, sometimes on snowshoes in the woods, sometimes in the road. There was never any traffic at night, and even in the daytime or during the week we knew just about everyone who drove by. I think there were more snowmobiles than cars, especially at night. Lots of things have changed, but the memories of those early Joe's Pond years always make us smile.