Angela's free raft has a new home. If you were thinking about grabbing that swim raft at Angela Buttura's, you're too late. Someone has taken it - Angela said she doesn't want to chance someone taking her new raft, so wanted to get the word out a.s.a.p.

I just added up the rain amounts I've reported during June - 4.33 inches. I think that is below normal for June. Of course, that's as of 9 a.m. this morning, but whatever we get today will go into my July report.

I saw a young woman on a bike with her infant in a seat, and it reminded me of the seat I inventoried on Sunday at the historical society. I didn't get a picture of the mother and child, but found a seat similar - see how far we've come! This modern seat is at Sears. I wonder how or if the 1800's youngster was strapped in. I looked for photos of bicycles in the 1800's and 1900's, but I didn't find any with a child's seat. Knowing the Yankee ingenuity of the times, perhaps the one we have was a one-of-a-kind home-made seat rather than a manufactured product.

When exploring the internet this morning, I found another recent model that fits in front of the adult rider instead of on the back of the bike like the one above. That makes sense - I guess. Either way is a bit dangerous being that bikers do take nasty spills sometimes, no matter how careful or experienced.

I remember a close call one time when I had one of my kids with me riding on a street in St. Johnsbury. Someone opened a car door as I was about to go by. In traffic, when you're in a car it's bad enough to have that happen, but when you're on a bike with a child aboard, it is really scary. I was shaken, but not hurt, and my son was oblivious to the danger, but I never took any of the kids with me again on my bike.

Fred is off to recycle, and then he and Bill Rossi are going to pick up Bill's tuner or whatever at Byrne's Electronics in St. Johnsbury. That was a quick fix - I think Bill is very pleased.