A pretty nice day today. We had a few breaks of sunshine, but it was mostly cloudy and not very cold - in the 30's. Tonight it's about at the freezing mark. I measured two inches of new snow on our deck this morning, and 24.5 inches at the back yard stake.

We've watched the Olympics some - the hockey game this afternoon was a good one. I like hockey. Although I can't always keep track of the puck and don't know the rules much at all, I think I understand it better than football and certainly like it better. Now the Olympic games are over, we have the Oscar presentations to look forward to. I enjoy watching the parade of beautiful people, the entertainers, and wait for a surprise non-scripted goof or unexpected tirade or interruption. Sometimes it's difficult for those beautiful people to behave themselves, I think. And then there are those with a "cause" to promote, or a burr under their saddle who use the Oscars as their soap box. The dresses are nice sometimes though; or silly; or flat out outrageous. I do sudoku puzzles or knit while I watch so it isn't entirely time wasted.

I watched "Flight of the Phoenix" this afternoon, before the Olympics. I've seen it two or three times before, but still enjoyed it. Fred came in to watch about the last hour. I think he'd been working on taxes or something. He'd seen it, too, but we'd both forgotten some of the details that make it so interesting, and also it is always nice to see some favorite actors like Stewart, Borgnine, and Attenborugh. I guess I should have mentioned we watched the original version, not the more recent one with Dennis Quaid, etc. Perhaps we should watch that now and compare. Some other Sunday.

An old friend from Cabot passed away last Wednesday. Ruth Burbank, who I'm sure some of you will remember, died at age 102. I interviewed her a long time ago - perhaps for the Cabot oral history book, or maybe something else I was writing. She was living in a senior housing facility in Morrisville, and I remember all the knitting and handiwork she showed me, plus lots of family photographs. More recently, Bill Wheeler brought me a stack of photos of the Wheeler family, including this one of Ruth and her husband, Jack Burbank. They lived in Walden for many years and once owned the little gas station just up Rt. 15 out of W. Danville. Jack liked to hunt and fish, and you can tell just by looking this picture he was a character. Dashing, I'd guess, for the time.

There is a large extended family, and we extend sincere sympathy to them. Ruth will be missed.

This is Ruth's obituary:

GREENSBORO – Ruth Adeline Burbank, 102, of Greensboro formerly of Morrisville and Hardwick died Wednesday Feb. 24, 2010, at the Greensboro Nursing Home.

She was born May 13, 1907, in Cabot, the daughter of the late Hubert and Bertha (Pike) Wheeler. She attended Cabot public schools. On June 30, 1925, she married Jack Burbank in Craftsbury. She enjoyed crocheting and knitting blankets and hats for babies and sick children at Copley Hospital. She was affiliated with the United Methodist Church in Walden. She lived in Hardwick before moving to Morrisville and later to the Greensboro Nursing Home.

Survivors include a foster daughter, G. Linda Premo of Wolcott; a foster son, George Twine of Jefferson, Tenn.; a sister, Frances Wheeler of Barre; 14 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; many great-great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was predeceased by her husband in 1964; a daughter, Hope Dean; two sons, Charles Burbank and Roy Burbank; six siblings, Helen Wilde, Hazel Witzel, Arlene Lawrence, Grace Rollins, Cleora Benjamin and Maurice Wheeler.

A graveside service will be held during the summer in the Walden Heights Cemetery in Walden.

Northern Vermont Funeral Service, Hardwick is in charge of arrangements.

*****

Cabot voters, remember the school meeting is being held tomorrow night, Monday, March 1, beginning at 6:00 P.M. We will be voting for two school directors (by Australian ballot) and the budget for the year beginning July 1, 2010, in the amount of $3,471,315, by either voice vote or paper ballot. The regular town meeting will be at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 2.

I got right to it this morning and began sorting through about 100 photos from Bill and Monika's trip to Africa in December, 2009, to pick up Monika's daughter, Jo-Ann.

Their trip got off to a bad start when their luggage was delayed about a week. They stayed in Windhoek and did a lot of sight-seeing, but then had to move on as there were various appointments to be kept with African authorities to complete the paper work for Jo-Ann to leave the country, and they also wanted to see Monika's family, about an eight-hour drive to the north. The luggage was delivered to them there.

They were the center of attention at a celebration of their marriage staged by Monika's family. They wore native costumes and all the family and friends, and even people they really didn't know, gathered to wish them well. They said there was lots of food and beer consumed, lots of noise making and great good humor at the party.

After a few days there they went back to Windhoek and flew to Johannesburg for the embassy appointments. Jo-Ann's papers were completed about a week before their scheduled flight home, so from Johannesburg they went to Cape Town, returning to Johannesburg the day before their flight home on January 14, 2010.

Bill loved the country. As you watch the slides, try to remember that the temperature ranged in the 100's and got as high as 107 while they were in Oshakati, which is closer to the equator. They especially liked Cape Town and were glad they took the opportunity to visit there. Johannesburg was very large and not particularly accepting of mixed couples, so they had to be careful. It was very helpful that Monika knew the language and the customs.

Jo-Ann gave me names of people in the pictures, but I'm afraid I didn't write them down and can't remember for sure, but I got the important stuff in, I think. They had a great time, Jo-Ann is here and we're very happy to have her in the family. She always has a lovely smile and is just as sweet as we knew she'd be after meeting her mom. Here's the slide show:

Meeting Jo-Ann in Africa

This was our world early this morning. We got another 3.5 inches of snow last night, and I think we'll be getting more throughout the weekend. It's about 35 degrees, so the snow is heavy, wet, and slippery on the back roads. I reported 25.5 inches on the ground this morning, so we are gaining back some of what we lost in the rain. Some folks have reported getting sap runs, but I haven't heard if there has been enough gathered to make much syrup.
Town Meeting Day is coming right up next week, and that is usually the start of sugaring season, so we're about on schedule.

We had a very nice day today. First of all, the day was mostly sunny! After all the snow squalls and wind, it was really nice to get outside and feel spring in the air. There was still a bit of wind, especially in West Danville (of course!) but for all of that, the sunny intervals seemed to outnumber the brief episodes of spitting snow.

Mid-morning we set off with some things to drop at The Open Door, in Danville. It was especially nice to learn that Bobbie, one of the volunteers, was a blog reader! There were two other volunteers there, Ollie, and I'm afraid I didn't catch the name of the other lady, but we were both impressed with how clean, well kept, organized and well stocked they are with used items. Fred checked out the food shelf in the back, and then we had to get going as we were picking up our granddaughter, Jo-Ann, to spend the day with us. We enjoyed our stop at The Open Door and I wish I'd had time to look around. They have lots of interesting things.

Jo-Ann was waiting for us at Thurston Auto with her dad. She presented me with a package of Rice Krispies Treats which I will share with Grampa Fred. She brought a Valentine with lollipops attached for us when she visited a couple weeks ago.

We stopped at Hastings and Jo-Ann met Garey, Jennie, and Alyssa, who gave us a big wave and enthusiastic "Hi!" Alyssa is growing fast and will be talking whole sentences by summer, I bet.

After lunch we went for a walk along Brickett's Crossing Road to find some early pussy willows. The horses were in the big field, and one was especially friendly, but Jo-Ann was a little wary of him. A whole different sort of animal than she's used to. Lions, camels and giraffes don't faze her, but the horse, and even Woody when he makes an unexpected leap onto her lap, are worrisome for her.

Here are today's pictures: Slide Show

Tomorrow I'll put together a slide show of some pictures taken in Namibia when Bill and Monika went there to get Jo-Ann. We were going to put some into an album today, but we ran out of time, what with chasing pussy willows and pegging snowballs at utility poles along the way. Jo-Ann told us in Namibia people build their houses in groups, close together, and wondered why houses here are often so far apart and not in clusters. About all I could come up with was that many people in Vermont were originally farmers and needed the extra land around their homes to support their livestock; but I think it is probably due to a cultural difference, too.

We had a nice day all around.

This notice came from the Cabot Town site web master, Will Walters:

The Cabot Selectboard will hear extra public comments on the Australian ballot
questions Friday, February 26 at 6:00 pm

The board held a public hearing Wednesday but was concerned the poor
roads and bad weather may have kept interested people from attending.

The hearing will also hear comments from the public concerning the
proposed merger of the town and village.



Will Walters
Administrator

We have a warm (38 degrees), windy and cloudy day so far, with no rain or snow yet. That is in the forecast, though. Rain for most areas, possibly snow in the "higher elevations," which usually means Joe's Pond area. I'm told there is hardly any snow in St. Johnsbury, but I've measured a total of about 18 inches from this storm. The snow on my stake is at 31 inches, having settled an inch or so since yesterday. This picture was taken a few minutes ago and shows how quickly the heavy snow load is melting and slipping off the trees. Everything is dripping and melting. Great for snowman-making.

This is a picture we snapped last night as Jamie and Otto were leaving in "The Peach." Jamie couldn't make his driveway, which is long and steep, even though Fred had blown the snow away - the blower doesn't take as much snow off as the plow and what snow was left packed right down and was very slick. After removing a little more with "The Peach" Jamie made it up ok. Otto was excited, but it was so wet with half rain, half snow, they didn't stop to chat.

You may recall my mentioning the daily chore rhyme I couldn't remember much of a while back. Tucky Sancibrian found this interesting web site: Hoover Archives
that has it all, with pictures (!) As for the "rest on Sunday" bit, I would think so! The picture on the right is an early "washing machine" on display at the Cabot Historical Society museum. It has moving parts that would slosh the wash around and a built-in washboard. It seems to be all wood, and everything moves perfectly, as near as we can tell. Things were made to last!

Tucky also sent this ditty she remembered her mother quoting:

Solomon Grundy,

Born on a Monday,

Christened on Tuesday,

Married on Wednesday,

Took ill on Thursday,

Grew worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday,

Buried on Sunday.

This is the end

Of Solomon Grundy.

*****
Cabot Broomball Tournament
ORGANIZED BY AND FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS!
Free to play; bring a broom and your friends for a fun game of Broom
Ball! There will be lots of goodies,
and a bonfire to keep warm and make smores!

Saturday, February 27
9 - 11 p.m.
Cabot Common Ice Rink

P.S. - BRING YOUR OWN BROOM!

Sponsored by C-YA (Cabot Youth Activists) and the Cabot Coalition.

For any questions or to register a team call:
Lori at : (802) 563-3338 cabotcoalition@fairpoint.net OR
Lyndsay at : (802) 272-4857

Here's an interesting and informative link regarding who you should and shouldn't give your Social Security Number to:

Social Security Number risks

We all know the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for!" That applies to our weather right now. We awoke to a foot of new snow this morning and I just looked out at the stake in our back yard and we've gained at least another 4.5 inches since about 9 a.m. I have 32 inches showing at the stake. That's kind of an arbitrary figure because the wind could have shifted the snow around the stake. The best way to measure is to take several readings in different spots and average them, but I wasn't interested in strapping on snowshoes this morning, but may do that tomorrow. I expect we'll have a good deal more snow by then. I'll need to attach another yard stick to the stake, for sure.

These pictures were views from our house this morning. We haven't been able to see across the pond to Rt. 15 most of the day. The town has plowed and sanded several times, coming the first time around 4:30 a.m. Fred heard them - I didn't. We've seen them at least two more times so far, and it's about time for them to come through again. The temperature is staying right around the freezing mark, and so far the snow seems to be pretty light and fluffy. We lost power for a few minutes around 9 a.m. when Fred was plowing and I was taking my CoCoRaHS readings, so we aren't sure when or for how long. We have been lucky so far.

I shoveled the deck, as I usually do now that I have my weather gauge out there, but when Fred got back from snow blowing the driveways, he took over to do the paths. I didn't protest. Instead, I grabbed the camera. I took pictures in sequence, as you'll see by the captions. He has much better "form" than I have when shoveling.

I have developed a back-saving "push-scoop" method on the deck that shoves the snow between the spindles of the railing. He does the normal lift and throw method and never seems to have back pain, probably because he keeps in good shape while I shun any exercise except walking or snowshoeing, and don't do either of those as much as I should. Consequently, I do feel the "burn" when I shovel.

I just heard on the scanner that the road crews are reporting from five to 18 inches "depending on where you are" from this storm so far. They are expecting a few more inches from now until into the night, then the storm is supposed to let up and then change over to rain tomorrow. That will be a mess. We may or may not get the rain here at Joe's Pond, but the valleys certainly will. Temperatures are supposed to get into the 40's. We'll wait and see. The town truck just went through again, and Fred has gone to clean out the ends of the driveways and run up to Jamie and Marie's if there's enough snow since he did it at noon time to warrant it.

We had a comment on yesterday's photo showing Fred and Woody fixing the handle on the wood stove, and I think Woody can now claim an international fan club! We welcome our friends across the border in Canada. Always nice to hear from up there! We've been watching the Canadians in the Olympics. Joannie Rochette did a beautiful job in spite of her aching heart. Her courage and determination are remarkable. I know all of Canada and people everywhere are proud of her - and also her father who was on hand last night to support her.

Regarding international readers, last week I had a comment come in what I'm guessing was Chinese script. Of course I couldn't read a word and when I tried to copy it to put into an on-line translation program, I couldn't copy it from the blog program so I had to discard it. Now I'll never know if it was real or spam.

I'm noticing that the wind has just begun to pick up. That can be a good thing - or a bad thing. It may blow off some of the snow weighing down the tree limbs, but it may also topple some, and will certainly impair visibility on the highways. Looks as if the road crews may have a long, hard night ahead.