We're back to a dreary day with no sunshine but a January amount of snow and wind. It is 11 degrees now - hasn't been out of the teens all day, and with the wind, it's raw out there.

Fred and Bill Rossi had to go into town this morning and Fred took some pictures while there. I mentioned a few days ago that chef John "Woody" Woods has a food cart near the beach, off Rt. 15 in W. Danville now. It's only been up and running for a few days, but I imagine he's getting a few customers already. Weekend snowmobilers will liven things up, no doubt, too. I doubt he could have found a colder, windier spot, but it looks as if he's well prepared for any kind of weather.

While Fred and Bill were there, Woody's mother, Nan, stopped by to see how things were going. You'll see her at the end of the slide show. Fred also took pictures from W. Shore Road of an ice fisherman. I bet he was cold, too. Hardy souls, our Vermonters. Here's the slide show:SLIDES

We're in count-down mode now, getting ready to pick up Bill, Monika and Jo-Ann on Thursday as they arrive from Africa. They will land in Washington, D.C. early on Thursday morning and then around noon will catch their flight to Burlington. I expect they may be pretty tired after an all-night flight - Bill says he can never sleep on a plane, and then there's the seven hour time difference, but that may not be quite as difficult flying in a westerly direction. We should have pictures for the blog by late Thursday evening.

Fred is out snow blowing one more time so everyone can get home without a hassle. The snow is very light and doesn't really pose a problem except when it gets packed down it's really slippery. Turns out the young lad we mentioned who was in the snow bank by Walker's camp yesterday was waiting for Jamie to come and pull him out. Jamie was on his way home from work, just ahead of us yesterday and stopped, as we did. He pulled him out with "The Peach" - his old workhorse jeep, put together from parts of two or more junks, that he uses to plow and to rescue hapless drivers. Jamie advised him to slow down. Fred makes one trip up and back on Jamie's driveway and that is enough to get both Jamie and Marie up the hill ok, usually; then Jamie finishes the job with "The Peach." Jamie says he appreciates "The Peach" a lot after plowing for years with his tractor that had no cab, no heater, no music, and was hard to start in sub-zero weather.

I posted a short item a few days back about Ned Moran, who used to own the Joe's Pond Country Store, now being administrative assistant at Fred's Plumbing and Heating in Lyndonville. I didn't put his picture in because actually I had misplaced it. But I finally found it this morning, and here it is. It is an ad from the Caledonian Record, so the quality isn't great. Newspaper pictures don't scan well, at least for me.