We recently got our Washington Electric Co-op newsletter in the mail. There were some interesting articles in it we thought you might be interested in reading, so here is a link: Washington Electric Coop

I thought the information on the HDTV's was interesting, and especially the one on the "smart strip" surge protector. If our refrigerator at camp had been plugged into one of those, we probably wouldn't be looking for a new one. We suspect one of the storms that passed through here last week did it in. The service man who came to look at it, Wayne Lewis, told us because refrigerators (and some other appliances) are always "on," they are subject to power surge damage. We have a lot of our smaller appliances plugged into power strips that we are able to turn off, and we began using power strips to save electricity when not using those appliances once we learned there is a small amount of electricity being used by plugged-in appliances even when they aren't actually in use.

There's other good stuff in there, too, especially for members who will need to know about the new rate scheduling process.

I went with Fred to do our recycling this morning. We found some horses in a meadow along the way, just outside Cabot, and since I needed to drop off a book at the library, we parked in front of Goldie's Restaurant, next to the hardware store. The Fourth of July is big in Cabot. I'm usually there during the parade, but this year I won't be going down until mid-afternoon to be at the historical society rooms. Weather permitting, the Joe's Pond Fireworks will be set off on Thursday evening, and then on the 4th Cabot has their big celebration. We came home by way of Danville Hill and stopped at Edmund Menard's, the
"Bird Man," but Edmund wasn't at home. As you can see, this is a fascinating place to visit. Edmund is not only an artist when he's carving wood, he is a wonderful landscaper and gardener, too. He rigged up the water wheel and it turns constantly, creaking and groaning softly as it turns with the weight of the small stream of water running over it. Along the side of the house are odd bits of wood I believe Edmund keeps on hand for future use, finished burl poles, and various carvings. Everywhere you look there's something interesting going on. Inside his home is a "whole other story," with charming folk art and inovative decorative displays.

After we left Edmund's we stopped for a picture of the farm on the far side of Molly's Pond in East Cabot. It used to be the Nelson White farm, but now is owned by
Matt Lindstrom. It's a very pretty setting, and I'm sure tourists love taking pictures of it. So do we. We looked for the moose, but didn't see him.