We've been pretty busy today tracking Bill, Monika and Jo-Ann's flight home. They left Johannesburg around 1 a.m. our time, except there was some delay in taking off, and they are now in Dakar, Senegal. That is the most westerly point of Africa and the jumping off point for the trip across the Atlantic. As near as we can tell, their flight has been delayed about an hour there, too, but even if they arrive in D.C. later than expected there should still be plenty of time to catch their flight to Burlington. We think the delays getting off the ground both in Johannesburg and now in Dakar are due to security precautions as passengers prepare to board.

We picked up Bill's car at Thurston Auto this afternoon. Ernie had it all gassed up and ready to go. We're following Bill's instructions - he said he was afraid our car wouldn't hold all the luggage, and he was probably right. We'll get any further instructions tomorrow after they've landed in D.C. Hopefully their flight will take off on time and by 2 p.m. they'll be back in Burlington and we'll get to meet our granddaughter!

We stopped to pick up mail at Hastings and saw Alyssa, her mom and both grandparents. You can see that Alyssa is already right at home behind the counter at the store. In only a few years, she'll be serving customers just like generations before her. She's a real cutie, and friendly as can be. She lit up like a Christmas tree when her grandmother came into view. Both Jane and Garey have been having a hard time with pneumonia. Garey said it's been months and he hasn't been able to shake it; Jane said she is finally feeling much better. She's had a rough time for several weeks. The weather could be a contributing factor, I guess. We are pretty tired of daily snow, cold, wind and misery.

Bill Rossi came in while we were at the store. He'd been to Rotary in Barre, but said he and Diane had been skiing on Monday and it was very good. I believe Don Sherwood went with them.

Today has been a little of everything. There was bright sunshine early this morning, (see picture) and then it clouded over and we got some snow - again. I sort of lost track this afternoon. There was sunshine in St. Johnsbury when I left, but in Danville the sun was nearly obscured by snow showers, and by the time I got to West Danville, the clouds had blotted it out. After that, I don't remember. It hasn't been as cold, though, and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 30's. I'll believe it when I see it.

There was a brief article in the Caledonian Record the other day about gasoline with ethanol in it not being compatible with some small engines like in older boats, chain saws or old cars. This article said ethanol has been around since the 1970s and most motors are ok with using it, but really old motors are better with "conventional" gas - I guess that would be "regular" gas. I hadn't thought about that for a long time, but it seems to me we were told to run regular gas in our old inboard boats back in the 70s. I have no idea what the boys use in them. Jamie has the 1962 "Raja" and Bill has a 1930-something Century, I think it is. I think regular used to cost less, but this article said it now costs a little more than the gas with ethanol because it comes out of Montreal. Who knew! The whole point of the article was that the Valero gas station on Portland Street in St. Johnsbury has conventional gas available at their credit card activated pumps. I guess many stations don't bother to carry it. So if you have an old boat that would benefit from using conventional gas, now you know where you can find it. Aren't you glad you read this blog?