Just a few short items to share tonight. Steve Allen sent the comic strip on the right a few days ago, he said as "a gentle reminder." I think people have been pretty good about not feeding wildlife like the ducks here at the pond recently, but just in case you're tempted, please don't do that. The will often stay here too long when they are fed by well-meaning people, and there's a real risk they will get literally frozen into the ice and will perish. We've seen it happen in years past, so it's far better to let them fend for themselves and they will leave before the lake freezes over.

This beautiful foliage shot was sent to me today by George Parizo. He didn't say where it was taken, but I'm sure it was near the pond. Foliage this year has been spectacular - best we've seen in a number of years. It might have to do with the wet summer we had - there are differing opinions on that.

The weather wasn't great for Cabot's Fall Foliage Day yesterday, but we were happy we didn't have rain like Plainfield had today. There was quite a bit of fog, especially on Cabot Plain as I drove over in the morning. Later in the day, when Fred went down to pick up our take-out turkey suppers, there were some rays of sunshine, and he took a few more pictures. None of the days will be great weatherwise this week, but even when it's cloudy and drizzly, the foliage is brilliant. Cabot's Fall Foliage Day operated out of the gymnasium this year, and one of the pictures is of the excavation site between the school and the gym where the new performing arts building is to be built. I took some pictures Fall Foliage Day in Cabot.

You may have seen in Monday's Caledonian-Record that the Route 2 Projects in Danville and Cabot are moving ahead as planned. The projects are in the Act 250 state land use permitting process, and work is scheduled to start in 2009. Because the rebuilding projects will impact about 16 acres of wetlands, the state will create a wetlands area on 70 acres to offset that. There has been some opposition because of the wetlands being disturbed, but this seems to have been minimal. The project will include breakdown lane and a truck passing lane, all of which will mean this heavily traveled route between St. Johnsbury and Montpelier will be upgraded to today's safety standards and should also last well over 20 years. Spots east and west of the Danville/Cabot stretch have been updated fairly recently, so once the three remaining problem areas are completed, Route 2 should be a much safer and enjoyable route to travel.