We're still in a deep-freeze. Last night the lowest Fred saw on our thermometers was -16 degrees. He was up a couple times to feed the wood stove - not a night for it to get too low. This morning it is still -10 degrees and I doubt it will go much higher today. No new snow, and there's 12 inches at the stake in our back yard. I no longer go out there to read it, but use the binoculars to read it from the bedroom window. I still have to go outside to get the new snow readings, but there was only a trace in the gauge this morning, and I suspect that had blown in with all the wind we had yesterday. At least we have bright sunshine and not much wind at all.

This came from Jenny Rafuse this morning:

West Danville United Methodist Church is having a Ham Dinner on February 12th at 5:30pm. Donations Welcome...
Call "Pete" Blackadar to reserve your spot! 802-563-2725

I got my newsletter from Burr Morse at Morse Farm Sugarworks yesterday. I went to the web site to try to establish a link so you could all read it, but it hasn't been posted there yet. I don't believe Burr would mind my posting it here. I am sure you'll find it interesting, like I did. There's a link to the Morse site on ours, and you should check it out and perhaps get on his mailing list for the newsletters. I enjoy them a lot - he has a very "homey" writing style. Here's the newsletter:

Burr Morse
Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks
Montpelier, VT
www.morsefarm.com

January 29, 2010

Hello again Maple People,

We've got our own version of "The Tortoise and the Hare" right here in the North Country. The race started eighty years ago. It wasn't a traditional race with two contestants and a finish line....no, it had to do with the life stories of two objects as varied as, say a tortoise and a hare. They were both born in 1929 and related in a round-a-bout way. Heck, most folks wouldn't even recognize it as a race but I do. In this race, the "hare" was a huge bridge made of hundreds of tons of steel and concrete, built strong enough to carry traffic across Lake Champlain way into the future. It should have won this race but was deemed unsafe to cross in October of 2009 and died two months later when a demolition company imploded it in a matter of seconds.

The "tortoise" was a simple idea that became a parade float. You see, the bridge was so big and important that many of the cities and towns around Vermont and New York State wanted to send floats for the gala parade that would open the bridge. The idea had risen from a group of Montpelier citizens quicker'n the tap of a speaker's gavel, a "capital" idea it was...Montpelier's float would be a replica of the Vermont Statehouse. The parade was held on a hot day in August of 1929. Thousands of excited folks lined the roads on both sides of the lake to welcome the bridge that would liven tourism and commerce in the North Country. Governors John Weeks of Vermont and Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York shook hands in the middle of the bridge and the gala parade made its opening official. Afterward the floats all returned to their villages, diminished to memories and photographs, except for one. The little statehouse lived on...chalk another one up for the tortoise.

It was built by carpenters of the A.K. Baird Company on a volunteer basis out of scraps of lumber from the jobs they were on. That was back in the days when law making was simpler and work ethic was strong. They immediately started with their hand tools working only during their noon hours. Even though it was only a parade float they were building, those guys "drove home" both quality and pride with every nail; after all, it was the statehouse they were building. Over the summer of 1929, the structure grew from its eight by twelve foot frame to include two Greek Revival porticoes and a gold leaf dome that would rival the real one. Well before the big day, they had applied the last of the ornate trim and placed a foot-tall Ceres, Roman Goddess of Agriculture atop the dome. When the big day arrived, it was placed on a platform farm truck for the trip to Addison.

After the parade, the little statehouse came back to Montpelier, appeared in a few other parades, and then rested in front of Toy Town, a group of roadside cabins on US Route 2 just down the street from the real statehouse. Many a Montpelier area resident of my vintage remember passing that little statehouse every time we went toward Burlington back in the days before Interstate 89. Ironically it was the opening of I-89 in the 1960s that both "drove" modern travel, including traffic over the Champlain Bridge, and hastened the decline of the little statehouse. Toy Town went out of business soon after the interstate highway opened, necessitating a change of home for the little structure. It went down Randolph way for a spell and then migrated over toward Burlington where it jumped from home to home. After its twenty-plus year spell at Toy Town, however, the little statehouse model never quite received the care and attention it needed. In the year 2000, Montpelier resident, Paul Guare located it out in back of a cement warehouse over in Williston. It was dilapidated almost to the point of no return.
Paul Guare's father-in-law was Nelson Paxman, one of the original carpenters, and Paul had always had a special place in his heart for the little statehouse. He arranged for the broken and rotting pieces to be picked up and trucked back to Montpelier where the Montpelier Historical Society took ownership. The minute those pieces arrived "back home", another group of carpenters reached for their tools, once again on a volunteer basis and a "shoestring" budget; those guys belonged to the Montpelier Kiwanis Club and, according to my Kiwanian friend, Fred Bushway, invested upwards of two thousand hours in bringing the local treasure back to life.

These days the model statehouse rests proudly right here at Morse Farm under a shelter that was built with Montpelier Historical Society funds. It'll never be out in the weather again, accept possibly on one of the occasions it's appearing in parades or at historical functions throughout Vermont. Yes, it's permanently mounted on a trailer so that it can be made available for all to enjoy. In a couple years, in fact, it'll be traveling to a very special place, Addison, Vermont for the opening of the new Champlain Bridge. It'll be a huge day for lots of folks, folks who have been seriously inconvenienced by the bridge's two year absence. There will be none more excited, however, than a large contingent from Montpelier who remember the history of it all...long live the little statehouse that could!

Maple season is fast approaching and we're scurrying to "win the race" with that one, too! Sometimes it really seems like a race, with the season only lasting four or five short weeks. During that time we truly need the "perfect storm" of weather, equipment and attitude to pull it off. We never have a problem with "attitude" because we Morses have sugarin' in our blood but the weather and equipment can provide surprises. Right now we're scrambling with sugarhouse repairs and installing that new evaporator and the weather is still doing its winter thing...whew...we've got more time! Although we've yet to make any 2010 maple syrup, there's still plenty left from 2009. How about racing to www.morsefarm.com to get some? We sure appreciate your orders an loyalty but most especially, your friendship!
Sweetly, Burr.