We are patiently awaiting snow tonight, possibly 2-3 inches in the higher elevations. But that weather is supposed to clear out of here tomorrow and we will have nicer weather on Thursday - and hopefully, for the weekend.

The local news media throughout Vermont and New Hampshire, and by now probably other states, all carried the Associated Press story about Walter Celley of Cabot shooting a really big moose. Here's the gist of the story:

Monday, October 20

CONCORD, N.H. - A 69-year-old Vermont man bagged the biggest moose so far in New Hampshire's annual hunt.

State game officials say Walter Celley of Cabot, Vt., got his 820-pound bull in far northwestern New Hampshire. The moose's antlers measured 61 inches across.

The hunt began Saturday and runs through this Sunday. State Fish and Game officials say hunters got 147 moose in the first two days. The state held a lottery for the 515 permits.

The department's Kristine Rines says the results were about the same as for the first two days of last season.

I plugged in "Walter Celley, Cabot" on the Google search engine and was amazed at the information that popped up. I'm always surprised that there's so much info on the internet about almost anyone. There is an increasing amount of historical information, too. All it takes is for someone to mention one's name in a newspaper article, on TV, or publish something on the internet and I guess it's "out there" forever more. Scary, isn't it?

I was going through some floppy disks today and found some old photos I'd saved a long time ago. I can't even remember where I got some of them, but there were several I'll include with the other Cabot photos I've been working with. I'll soon have enough for another DVD . . . This one is of the old crawler tractor plow I've mentioned before - the one that needed at least three men aboard, one in the cab to drive and two riding on the back to operate the wings, raising, lowering or cranking 'em in or out as needed. This was taken on what is now called Brickett's Crossing Road - they were almost to Rt. 215 in Walden. You can see the Bolton farm (now Sousa's) in the background at the top of the ridge. The farm that is closer in the picture was probably the Jim Gamble place that is now Dave Covell's. That was a lot of snow to plow!

I'm still going through old photos and hope to find some of Joe's Pond that you may not have seen before. I found one of Edgar Houghton, who I believe was Seldon Houghton's father. Seldon was a prominent businessman in Danville. He worked at the Caledonia National Bank for many years. I believe the family moved to West Danville when Seldon was young, but they had lived in Cabot earlier. The picture was probably taken in mid-1800's. Folks were very proud of their horses in those days, and apparently this one Edgar is holding was worth a picture. My great grandfather, John Bolton, was a horse trader. Some years ago I found an ad in an old newspaper offering his horse, "Bolton Boy" for stud service. There was a long lineage quoted, and from what my father and grandfather told me, John was more interested in horses than he was in farming. My grandfather told me he'd get a pair of horses well broken in to work together and then his father would sell one of them. So my grandfather would have to start over again. The horses were brought here from out west and were quite wild, so required a lot of training.

Then there was the story my grandfather used to like to tell about a neighboring farmer who came from Canada. This farmer had an uncommonly large, well-proportioned and cared-for bay horse, but it was blind. A horse dealer came along and spotted the horse and offered to buy it. The neighbor said no, but the dealer persisted, questioning why he wouldn't sell the animal, to which the farmer replied in broken English, "He don't look so good." The dealer allowed the horse looked fine to him and finally made an offer the farmer couldn't refuse and led the horse away. Within a day or so he was back. "You didn't tell me that horse is blind!" the dealer stormed. The farmer said, "Mais oui! I say he don't look so good all the time!"