Finally I'll have some rain to report tomorrow. For the last six days my rain gauge has been dry. I've been conscientious, though, and actually checked the gauge every morning even knowing no rain was forecast and none came unexpectedly - but darn it, I'm new at this stuff and you just never know. So, tonight, Tues. and Thursday we should be getting some rain so I'll have something to report.

By the way, CoCoRahs (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network) is looking for more volunteers to report precipitation. It's easy enough. The hardest part for me was finding a spot far enough from buildings and trees to set up the gauge. You can get training on line, so if you're interested, go to www.cocorahs.org

We were in Lebanon, NH yesterday for daughter-in-law, Monika's graduation. It was a very nice day and we are very happy for her. Some friends from the Washington, DC area came and are staying with Bill and Monika, and we were all invited to the home of Monika's host family in Norwich for a cook-out. We took lots of pictures, as did everyone - I'm sure they'll have plenty of shots to send to Monika's family in Namibia. That's Monika right after receiving her diploma. And that's Jamie with in the very bright shirt way in the back with the video camera. Below, Monika with her host family, Joel, Signe (red dress) Soren and his sister Lila, who made the cake she's holding, and friend Rodney Johnson in the background. Everyone had a wonderful time. Good food and good company.

We stopped briefly at the Walmart Super Store in Woodsville on the way home. It's quite a nice store, and very few people were shopping. It was late on Saturday afternoon, so that probably was the reason. We've only been there a couple times since it opened - we get most things locally - but when we're in the vicinity, we like to check it out. We picked up a couple subs at the Subway there and brought them home for our supper. Subway wasn't busy, either.

Speaking of Subway - Dave Parker (who owns several in the Barre/Montpelier area) will be bringing out the 2010 Ice-Out Contest tickets sometime this week, I think. Diane Rossi and I will be getting them ready to hand out to JPA members at the meeting on July 4 (10 a.m.), and they will be available to anyone and everyone from then on. We'll leave some at Hasting's Store and probably Joe's Pond Country Store, too. It's surprising how many people are already asking for them. I'm not quite ready to begin thinking about Ice-Out yet! The ice is hardly out of the pond, and we had snow last week. I want some summer first!