We just came back from a long hike in the woods. Notice I didn't say "walk" - and there is a reason. This was definitely a "hike" - through the woods over or under fallen trees, berry bushes wrapping around our legs, slogging through swamps and jumping small streams from the heavy rain yesterday, and wet branches slapping us as we made our way through stands of spruce and fir trees. It was mild, though and the woods smelled wonderfully earthy - a mix of wet leaves,moss, mud, decaying wood and fragrant evergreens. Once out of the woods and in the field beyond the Sousa farm, there was a mist in the air but still it wasn't cold at all.

I made a slide show of the pictures we took. The trail we were on used to be a road from in front of our house straight up the hill to Cabot Plains Road. It was only used in the summer, but was a neat shortcut for those of us who lived on the Plain. It is almost completely grown in now, with deep ravines where water has rushed down during heavy rainfalls in the spring. We walk it sometimes in the winter on snowshoes - much easier then because we are usually walking over all the logs that have fallen across the path. Here are some pictures: Slides

We were careful to wear bright red. We only saw evidence of hunters in one place, a truck was parked near the Leinoff's turnaround. We assume there were hunters on the south side of the hill, away from where we were, for we didn't see anyone at all while we were out. I'm afraid if there was any wild life in the vicinity of us, it would have been scared off because we were talking and laughing - not being quiet at all, especially when we came out of the woods into the fields. We did see a folding chair at the edge of the woods as we were starting out - just above Henretta Splain's house. There was a foam coffee cup nearby, too. In the clearing below there were a couple of apple trees, perfect, I expect for a hunter to watch comfortably from the cover of the woods as the deer came to eat the apples. It didn't look as if anyone had been there for a while, though.

We stopped briefly to see Jamie and Marie; we had heard Otto barking when we were still way up in the woods, and thought he might have heard us, but Marie said he was barking at something down the road, she thought. He's very enthusiastic when visitors come, especially his buddy, Fred.

While we were at Jamie's, he was watching a presentation on KATV of Peggy Pearl addressing a group at the St. Johnsbury Historical Society. Peggy has just written a short history of St. Johnsbury, so she was talking about her book. Peggy works at the museum and has a great deal of knowledge about St. Johnsbury history. I'll find out more about her book and let you know where you can find it.

So that was our adventure for today. Butch and Sue Bouchard stopped by to pick up a Joe's Pond Directory and we had a nice chat with them. Now it's time to find something to eat - again. Sunday nights are usually easy - cereal, or sometimes French toast or pancakes - or maybe a b.l.t. . . . Now I'm hungry!

I had signed out of the blog and when I checked my e-mail, this was there from Tom Dente:

Larrabee to Lead State GOP

Montpelier, Vermont - November 14, 2009

Vermont Republicans have selected former state representative Steve Larrabee as their new party leader.

Larrabee, a former state representative from Danville, will take over for outgoing party chair Rob Roper. Larrabee is chairman of the Caledonia County Republican Committee and member of the Danville Selectboard. He has said his primary goal will be using all the party's resources to help elect Republican candidates in next years election.

Vermont Democrats and Progressives also held their annual conventions Saturday.

Congratulations to Steve; that's a big job, but I'm sure he'll be very good at leading his Party.