No rain to report this morning. We heard thunder rumbling during the evening and there were flashes of lightning in the distance, but the storms never reached us. When I made my precipitation report this morning, I checked the map of Vermont, as I always do, to see if other nearby areas had rain, and there are several reports - check it out CoCoRaHS.org

Just about everyone agrees it was hot here yesterday. I heard someone say we're not yet acclimated to hot weather, and I guess that's right, so we tend to suffer in the heat more than those folks who spend more time in warmer climates. Today seems to be building up to be much the same as yesterday, even though we were promised a cooler day. Above is a picture Fred took from West Shore Road yesterday - perfect day to be on the water. We were on our way to St. Johnsbury to do errands and grocery shopping, and had to stop at the Vermont Motor Vehicle Dept. satellite office on Western Avenue, in the Elks' Club building (see photo). I think they are there every Thursday and do operator's licenses, registrations, the whole deal, and are very efficient. It reminded me of when Fred and I used to go to various towns to conduct Social Security business. Sometimes we went together, but more often he went with another claims representative. The claims reps took turns, and sometimes if they were short handed, I'd go and would take care of the social security card needs, answer what questions I could and do clerical stuff. We went to Barton, Newport and St. Johnsbury. They don't do that now. Nearly everything can be handled on line.

Fred is out at the wood pile, splitting up the old poplar chunks. I heard him tell someone yesterday he'd probably be taking down a third poplar, and although I'm not sure which one he's targeted, I think it's the biggest one yet - really tall, as those old poplars can get, and like most of the trees at the back of our place, it's on a slant and it'll be tricky to get it to go where it won't do damage to other trees or building. There will be a lot more wood in it, which means lots more work.

By the way, I forgot to mention the Farmers' Market in Danville. I promised my friend, Amanda Legare, I would do that - we have it on the Schedule of Events page, and I intended to mention it earlier this week since it is every Wednesday. Amanda sent this picture of Diane Gadapee and her grandson, Kyle. Looks like the Gadapee's had a good maple season!

Find a friend or two and plan to spend some time at the Danville Farmers' Market next Wednesday.

July Fourth will be a busy day for Joe's Ponders. First of all, the fireworks will be on July 3rd, if the weather is good. Rain date is July 5th. The Joe's Pond Association Annual Meeting is on the 4th at 10 a.m. at the recreation area. We will have Ice-Out tickets there for you to pick up, so try to be there.

Cabot's annual Fourth of July Parade and BBQ is a big event, so those of you who aren't involved with Joe's Pond Association will want to head on down to the celebration in Cabot. The Historical Society museum will be open all day - I'll be working there in the afternoon. There's a lot going on over the weekend of the 4th - we just hope there's good weather.

I hope you'll come to our "Beatrix Potter Revisited" program on Wednesday, July 22, at the Cabot Historical Society. Helene Lang will do a presentation about Potter's books and life. The program is a Vermont Humanities Council event, and is free. It will be held at 7 p.m. at the Historical Society Building on Main Street. Click on the poster for details. I recently saw "Miss Potter," the movie about Beatrix, starring Renee Zellweger. It is a nice story, and I think you'll enjoy Ms. Lang's presentation. Hope to see you there.