We sure got rid of a lot of snow today. It was very nice, in spite of the wind, and the snow is almost gone. You can see there's a big difference in the amount of snow across the pond on Rt. 15, as well as here on our lawn. I think the grass looks much greener than it did before the snow came. One of the gardeners on WCAX was explaining that the old saying about snow being the poor man's fertilizer is sort of true. It seems it has something to do with there being a lot of acid rain type stuff collected in the snow and when it falls on ground that isn't frozen, that allows it to seep into the ground releasing the nitrogen which lawns and gardens need. Or something like that. I may have it slightly off, but the bottom line is that a late spring snow fall isn't altogether bad news.

I took some pictures of my daffodils this afternoon. They are pretty forlorn. Some have the blossoms broken off, but most are just flattened. The tulips around the corner from these daffies look pretty perky, though. I don't have many of them - usually the moles eat the bulbs. I finally planted some next to the house and they seem to be surviving.

I had an e-mail from Homer today asking if we'd noticed the pontoon boat at the dock at Point Comfort. We had - the top was crushed by the weight of the snow. We intended to get a picture, but have now gone by at least twice and each time forgot to do it. Homer said his pontoon boat isn't in the water yet, but it took some damage, too. He hopes to get it in Saturday. All that snow on top of any boat could be a problem, I would think. If not covered, that's a lot of weight and with the wind whipping the waves plus the snow melting could easily sink a boat, and if it was covered, the cover would almost surely suffer damage. I don't think very many people had their boats in the water, although we did see that Jack LaGue's is tied up at his dock. Perhaps he put it in the water after the snow storm.

This is what's left along our driveway, wrapped around our clump of small birches. They were bent to the ground under the weight of the snow, but as soon as Fred dumped the snow off them, they popped back up. Birches are inclined to bend easily, and sometimes don't straighten up, so I'm always relieved when they recover. We often see birches and young maple trees bent double in the woods. I guess that's because nobody was there to release them from the snow.

This should be a fairly good weekend to work outside - Saturday will be the best day. Unfortunately, the forecast has changed a bit and now we're hearing there will be showers and possible thunder storms on Sunday, especially in the afternoon, which is not good news for our planned gathering at 1 o'clock to present the Ice-Out winner his check. We won't have to be out there long, and the temperature is expected to be in the high 60's or low 70's, so it shouldn't be uncomfortable, even if there's a shower. See you there, I hope!

Lovely sunshine again today, but only about 52 degrees and there's a sharp wind out of the northwest - again. Coming over the snow that we still have on the ground, it's darned cold unless you can find a sheltered spot.

We went down to check the water level early this morning and found it is just about on target. That is a surprise, really - it looked quite high when we came home yesterday afternoon, but I guess that was because the water was particularly rough with so much wind. There's still quite a bit of snow on the ground in places, so I've made a short slide show to show you what we look like. Morning Walk, April 30, 2010

We went to pick up the mail and also to deliver the portable file containing the JPA checkbooks, etc., to George Anderson. George leaves that stuff with me during the winter so we can still operate while he and Judy are away. I'm always happy to give it back to him. It was quite warm at his house on the driveway side where the sun was beating in; but George was trying to do some work on the waterfront side and said it was pretty chilly.

We are presenting the check to our Ice-Out Contest winner, William Barber, on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., at the State Fishing Access, off Rt. 2, if any of you are here and want to meet him. He lives in St. Johnsbury, but knows Joe's Pond quite well. The "ceremony" will be short, but it's always nice to have some of our members around, and of course there may be some media coverage, too. Last year several members dropped by, and that made it lots of fun. Tom Dente will make the presentation. Hope to see you there.

A friend sent me this link to what she said is a fun site, especially if you're into knitting and crocheting: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/techniques/1104888/1-25#19

In talking to Garey Larrabee at the post office this morning, we learned he is hoping to have a commemorative postal stamp approved for around July 4th. I'll keep you posted if the postal service agrees to his proposed stamp design. It will be very nice (I saw it - perfect for Joe's Pond) and will be a nice keepsake for us.

A day or so ago Fred's brother, Tom, sent a link to a story in the Burlington Free Press about the job situation in the Burlington area. If you haven't seen it, here is the link: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100428/NEWS02/100428012/Burlington-jobless-rate-lowest-in-New-England

We just got back from picking up Bill and Diane Rossi who are back from a trip to the Grand Canyon. We had appointments this morning in St. Johnsbury, so rolled out early. Again, we have a lot more snow than they do in St. Johnsbury - or almost any place other than Stowe and Jay Peak. We took pictures along the way as we went to St. Johnsbury, then home to grab a quick lunch before heading out again for the airport in Burlington. It was nice in Burlington today, but there was a stiff wind that made it kind of cold. Not much snow left at all, although they did get quite a bit Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the weather people on WCAX. Here is a short slide show that will let you see just what a difference a few miles make. After the Snow Storm

I measured a foot of snow on the ground this morning at around 7:45 when I made an early CoCoRaHS report. I'm hoping there will be way less when I measure tomorrow. The snow seems to be melting pretty fast, and the pond seems to be quite a bit higher than it was, but there's still quite a lot more left to melt. Right now the temperature is about 45 degrees where my thermometer is located out of the sun. The one that's in the sun is about 10 degrees higher and there's a lot of water running off the roof where the sun is hitting. None of my daffodils have shown up yet, though. I expect they are badly crushed by all that snow and the best I can do is pick them all and enjoy bouquets instead of the color in the garden. Some of the bushes in the yard are still bent under snow cover, but the ones I treasure Fred uncovered and they are not damaged.

Here's a familiar scene from our living room window, to show you how things look from here. Pretty blue water, and I love the faint green of the new leaves. All during the snow storm yesterday, no plow showed up. Fred was out with his snow blower, but that didn't work very efficiently because the snow was so wet and heavy. He was able to keep the three driveways, ours and our two neighbors' passable, though. Traffic during the day along West Shore Road was infrequent and there was a lot of slush in the road making travel really difficult, especially if you met another car and had to move out of the wheel tracks. Last night everything froze solidly. This morning the Cabot plow came along and cleared the slush out of the road and we're almost back to normal. I guess they figured since school had closed there wasn't much point in wasting time and gas plowing when much of the snow was going to melt anyway.

We've seen some pretty confused robins the last couple of days, apparently wondering where all the bugs and worms went. If any of them have started building their nests, that would be darned inconvenient, too. Yesterday we saw a big rabbit sprinting across our back yard and into the woods towards Henretta's. He had already lost his white winter coat and stood out sharply against the snow. Easy prey except he was staying on top of the snow and could probably outrun most predators in those conditions. Lots of things are pretty topsy-turvey this spring, but perhaps this storm will have cleared the way for more of that nice spring weather we enjoyed so much before this. I sure hope so.

Here's Bud Pearl's obituary - sorry, it didn't get attached with the note from Liz below:

Pearl, William Howe (Bill, Bud, Willie) died Wednesday, April 28^th after many years of Parkinson’s Disease. He was born in St. Johnsbury August 16, 1921, the son of Raymond A. and Alida Howe Pearl. His early life was spent on Cliff Street until the premature illness in 1936 of his father. This changed forever the life of the family.

He attended all eight grades in Summer Street School and graduated from St. Johnsbury Academy with the Class of 1939. His first employment was with the A. H. Gleason Grocery Co. at the corner of Main and Central Streets, a great place to work with Ray P. Bailey, proprietor.

Before leaving for the United States Army in 1942, he lived with wonderful friends, Mr. & Mrs. Charles W. Ruiter at 120 Main Street. Mr. Pearl was assigned as a member of the cadre at Fort Devens in Massachusetts, going on numerous trips to deliver troops to various stations in the eastern part of the country. In 1943 he was assigned to Camp Edwards, Massachusetts where he was a Corporal of the Guard for the East Coast Processing Center.

On January 8, 1944 he married his long-time sweetheart, Lucia Johnson, at South Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury. In January 1944, he went to Infantry Training at Camp Croft, South Carolina with a large contingent from the south. At the close of training, William Pearl was sent to Ford Ord, California. He became a member of the 21^st Infantry Regimental Combat Team, Col. William J. Verbeck commanding. The outfit went from Layte to Mindoro and thence to the small island of Lubang. The next landing was at the large island of Mindanao. While he was on the ship, report came that President Roosevelt had died.

Corporal Pearl, throughout the campaign, was advanced in grade three times to Sergeant, to Staff Sergeant and to Technical Sergeant in charge of a Platoon. Throughout the campaign the men were on foot all the time. He was very fortunate to have survived and been one of the few in his rifle company who was able to be there every day. The end of the War came while he was on Mindanao and his outfit was sent to the Japanese Naval Base at Kure with the men taking up occupation of Japan at Okayama. He returned to the United States on the Troop Ship Admiral Hugh Rodman.

His first two years at home he worked for Mr. Simon Atwood at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. He was associated with the Ralston Purina Company until he was offered the position of caretaker in 1953 at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery upon the death of Mr. Atwood. This work interested him very much and he was able to open up several areas in the cemetery and in 1966 open the first crematory in the State of Vermont. While at the cemetery, he took an abiding interest in the cemetery, gave talks on the cemetery and its people, and served as a trustee. He always had a great interest in the history of the area and was active in the St. Johnsbury Historical Society.

He was a life-long member of the North Congregational Church, joining under the leadership of the Rev. George Avery Neeld, who he greatly admired. While Chairman of the church Business Committee, he was responsible for spearheading the installation of the sprinkler system and later was Chairman of the North Congregational Church Tower Fund Drive to restore the church tower with the help of his friend, George Crosby, who was the Treasurer. At the time of William Pearl’s death, he was Deacon Emeritus of North Congregational Church.

He served on the Board of St. Johnsbury’s Zoning Adjustment for a number of years.

He and his family enjoyed canoeing, swimming and row boating on Joes Pond where they purchased the small island in 1955. The family has enjoyed their farm in the Town of Danville since 1959.

William is survived by his beloved wife, Lucia, of 66 years, his two daughters, Peggy Pearl of East Ryegate, and Elizabeth Sargent and her husband, Robert, of Danville, his daughter-in-law Sheri Sargent Pearl, five grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren, and a sister-in-law, Alice Johnson Blair of Danville, as well as several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by two sons, Thomas died in 1982 and John in 2009 as well as a sister, Margaret Pearl Ide in 2008.

A memorial service will be held at the North Congregational Church on Saturday, May 1, at 3:30 PM.

Donations may be made to The St. Johnsbury History & Heritage Center, c/o Reg Wakeham, 1302 Main St., St. Johnsbury, VT 05819.

Sayles Funeral Home assisted the family.

Submitted by:

Elizabeth A. (Pearl) Sargent, daughter of William H. Pearl

802-748-1456

529 Jamieson Rd.

Danville VT 05828

Sad news, not unexpected, from Liz Sargent about her father, Bill "Bud" Pearl:

Some of you know that Dad took a turn this past weekend. He died at 6:50 AM this morning, Wednesday, April 28.

Mom had hernia surgery Monday, spent two nights in the hospital, is now home and doing well. We worry about her doing too much!

This is the easiest way for me to handle you all knowing, so excuse the impersonal way, but the obituary says it all and I knew you would want to know! Hopefully, the Caledonian will get this published in tomorrow's paper.

Liz

Elizabeth A. Sargent
529 Jamieson Rd.
Danville VT 05828
802-748-1456
lizsargent@charter.net

We've got snow up the yazoo this morning. It began to snow at about 1 p.m. yesterday. So far I've measured (and reported) 18.5 inches. Several weeks ago I put away the snow board I've used all winter, but the little round cocktail table on our deck serves just as well. It's metal and white, so stays cold enough that the snow won't melt as soon as it hits it, and that's the whole point. On the ground, there is a little less (15 in.) because the ground is warm and the snow melts. It's snowing heavily enough so it builds up pretty fast, even so. We began taking pictures at about 4 p.m. yesterday. You can see the rapid progression of the snow buildup. Snow Storm

We were fortunate that we didn't lose our power until late last night, and then for only a few minutes. It went off a few times during the night and has blipped out once this morning, but only for two or three minutes. That's amazing considering the amount and weight of the snow on branches and lines. There is a light wind out of the west that is taking some of the snow off the trees, but they are still drooping heavily in most places. An e-mailed outage report from Washington Electric, our power company, state they have problems in the E. Montpelier/Calais area due to a substation failure; other than that there are spotty outages throughout their area. I don't know how people who have Green Mountain Power Corp. are doing.

The good/bad news is that this is all supposed to end sometime tonight - turning to rain with a very rapid warm up tomorrow. I'm imagining the flooding that will result of all this snow melting so quickly. Watch out in the valleys!! Joe's Pond will no doubt get quite high, but I'm sure the power company is monitoring the dam and it's probably as wide open as it can be. Surely they will know we have a lot of snow here - I think they may still be trying to work on the penstock below West Danville where the bank washed out earlier.

I had sad news yesterday from Liz Sargent. Her father, Bill "Bud" Pearl, who has been frail for some time, is now ending his journey. Bud has been a friend for many years; he and Lucia raised their family in the St. Johnsbury neighborhood where I lived and Bud had been a long time friend of the Dimick family. He had a wonderful grasp of history and a rare sense of humor. The Pearl's have owned the small island for many years and it was one of Buds favorite places to be. Our thoughts are with the family as they keep vigil.

Kate Chatot left a message for me yesterday to let me know she has a friend visiting who has a dog, Ollie, who is very friendly but inclined to jump up on you. If you are up by Kate's and meet the dog, don't worry, he's not dangerous. I expect he'll love the snow. Thanks for the heads-up, Kate.

Evelyn reports the loons have been busy building their nest. I wonder how they're doing with all the snow. If they stayed on the platform they'd be buried under the snow, so maybe they ride out a storm like this in the water. But then they'd have a hard time getting back to their nest building because they might not recognize it! I hope they don't get discouraged and give up nesting for this year! They could get confused and head south again . . .

I've stretched my luck about as far as I dare. I don't want to take a chance of losing everything on the blog this morning, so I'll sign out quickly before the power flips off again. Keep warm and safe.

P.S. - Liz Randall sent me some cute bloopers from her newspaper in L.I. yesterday. I'd seen many of them, and since it was a long list, found this web site that has some of the same on it. Liz thought we might need a giggle while we suffer through all this snow . . . Bloopers

Remember that photo I took this morning of my lawn? This is how it looks now. It has been snowing since about 1 p.m. Until then it was rain. Now it's about 32 degrees and still snowing quite hard. I just measured 3.5 inches. There have been some fender-benders in the Burlington area, and I expect some in our area, too. I just turned on the scanner, so will see what's happening, if anything.

The snow is beautiful, but a little shocking, too, after the green grass and flowers and baby leaves sprouting on the trees. I think the prediction is for much warmer weather after this is over, starting around Thursday. This is going to be a lot of water to absorb. The picture below is part of what I see from my office window - really very nice, as long as it doesn't stay around too long. The photos look like they were taken in black and white, don't they?!

I had an interesting e-mail from my daughter-in-law, Marie, a few minutes ago. She'd read about my finding some of the old cocoa mulch I'd used several years ago still in my flower beds. Since I wrote that, I've covered it with fresh mulch from the tree trimming we did a few days ago, so I'm assuming none of our neighborhood animals will find it. However, here's what Marie wrote:

FYI - also did you know that cocoa mulch is highly toxic to dogs and cats. I got a notification through my hospital email about this. I guess someone bought bags of this cocoa mulch at Target and their puppy ate some of it not sure how much, threw it up and then next morning on their morning outing the puppy had a seizure and died. There was no warning on the bag either, pretty darn sad.

Now that I think about it, we've been warned not to give chocolate to pets, so this makes sense. I checked to see if there was anything about it, and sure enough, I found this site: www.avma.org

On a lighter note, I also had this from our neighbor, Henretta Splain, a few minutes ago.

So what do you think of our crazy forecast? Snow and then muggy and 70 degrees this weekend. I figure one of these days I am going to see Fred snow blowing in Bermuda shorts and flip flops with crampons!!

That cracked me up. Fred just went out to check the driveways - but no shorts or flip flops. It's getting harder and harder to decide what to wear when you go outside these days. We almost always check the thermometer and THEN decide.

Nothing happening on the scanner, so I guess most folks are making it home ok. It's about time for the news on Channel 3, so we'll find out how the rest of the state is doing with this neat spring snow storm.

Good morning! We're sort of looking down the barrel of a snow storm here. There is a light rain falling and it's 40 degrees right now. Not unpleasant, but as the temperature drops, we'll begin to get some heavy wet snow according to the forecast. At right is how my lawn looks this morning. It will probably be a lot different tomorrow morning.

Jay Peak is already advertising that they'll be open for skiing this weekend. ( http://www.jaypeakresort.com/ ) The forecast hasn't changed and areas above 1000 ft. can expect from 6 to 12 inches. That definitely includes us.

Fred and I walked early this morning since we wanted to avoid the nasty weather and we both have a busy day ahead. There was a mist in the air when we headed out and by the time we got back, about half an hour later, it was more like rain. I had .20 in. in my gauge when I checked at 9 o'clock. This is what our day looks like so far.

You'll see a new comment on the comment page; also we have one on yesterday's blog. (Scroll to the bottom of yesterday's blog and check on "1 comment".) We are glad when readers participate in discussions, so if you have opinions on either comment, add your own. That's what a democracy is about. Besides, it makes the web site a whole lot more interesting!

A few days ago we were talking here about The No Work Gardening Book by Ruth Stout. A friend in Cabot, Peter Dannenberg, sent this interesting information:

A bit of trivia: Ruth was the sister of detective story writer Rex Stout.
His mysteries starred a reclusive obese genius name Nero Wolfe. The
detective occupied an entire brownstone house in New York City, which he
almost never left.

Wolfe raised rare orchids in a greenhouse on the roof. His leg work was done
by a tough-talking private eye, Archie, and other helpers. Then Wolfe would
piece clues together and solve the cases in the comfort of his sumptuous
home while dining on gourmet meals prepared exclusively for him by his
private live-in chef. Rex Stout's mysteries were among my favorites when I
was an adolescent.

I now have Bonnie as my live-in epicurean chef. She constantly protests that
she doesn't cook well, but a glance at me belies that. However, I can't
raise orchids and the only crimes I solve are the thin plots of police
dramas on TV. I drive Bonnie to distraction by blurting out whodunit before
the TV detective.

Thanks, Peter, I never made the connection.  In case some of you don't know the detective stories or Rex Stout, you may be interested in this link:  Rex Stout

A bit cooler today, but still nice. We'd better enjoy it, we're told we could get from 6-12 inches of snow in some areas tomorrow night and Wednesday. Tonight's forecast looked as if our immediate area would get in the 2-6 inches range, but we'll have to wait and see. With trees and flowers budded or in bloom, a heavy snow could set things back considerably; I'm especially concerned about the apple trees. When we get cold weather after the buds have set, that can ruin the apple crop.

Today has been busy. We've had more visitors than normal (happy to see all of them) and phone calls (also welcome) today. People are back - Tom and Camilla Dente, Andre and Sherry LaPrade, George and Pat Parizo, George and Judy Anderson, and probably others we don't know about.

And e-mails!!! Every time I logged on I had at least half a dozen. Of course part of all the activity was because I began updating our Local Services section on the web site and contacted several of those people to see if they are still in business and/or if anything had changed. People are busy and forget to let us know when something such as a phone number or e-mail address has changed, so from time to time we try to contact the people who have space on our web site in order to keep it current. One of my major gripes is when a web site isn't updated regularly. We appreciate when someone lets us know or if they find a link , phone number or e-mail on our site doesn't work - or like last week when it was brought to my attention some information in the introduction on home page was in error.
It not only keeps us on our toes, but lets us know you're paying attention!

I had this e-mail from Homer today:

HI JANE AND FRED,

GOT A NOTE FROM BOB VALDATTA ABOUT ALASKA ICE-OUT. ON MARCH 27tf THE ICE WAS MORE THAN 50 INCHES THICK, A MARK ONLY REACHED SIX TIMES IN THE LAST 22 YEARS. LAST YEAR'S THICKEST MEASUREMENT WAS 46.75 INCHES. THIS WILL BE A LATE SPRING.

HOMER AND MARGARET

That's a lot of ice! We've had 40 inches or so here at Joe's Pond during a normal winter, but we didn't have anywhere near that this year. When Homer was here a few days ago, we were asking if the Nenana Ice Classic was over with in Alaska, and at that time he hadn't heard anything. He must have contacted his friend, and we thank him for that.

We've been exploring how to protect the Sandy Beach Road sign post today. I talked with Cabot road commissioner, Larry Gochey, and he had several suggestions. Larry has had a lot of experience with damage to signs. It's a constant struggle to keep the road signs in place. They are vandalized regularly, usually the road name is torn off the post.

Our sign will be back up as soon as Ray has a chance to repair it, Evelyn said, but it will be without the top as that was badly damaged and will take time to repair - time she doesn't have right now.

We went for a nice walk in the woods this afternoon. It was just the right temperature, but we found there are already black flies around so we had to keep moving. I hope since black fly season seems to have come early, we'll be rid of them earlier than usual, too.

It was lovely in the woods, but we found many tree tops on the ground, snapped off tall spruce trees by the wind. There were a few that were uprooted, but mostly the top 10-20 feet of a lot of those tall, stately evergreens had been whipped by the wind last winter enough to break them off. We've never seen as much of that kind of damage before. We have found tops of trees broken off from time to time, but today there were dozens of them.

We had a hard time finding our old walking paths. The lumbering that was done on the land above us has so changed the landscape it's really hard to tell exactly where you are; and then there were the fallen trees. We found we were constantly adjusting our route to go around the debris. It's usually a good idea to follow the trails of deer, but apparently they have had the same problem and it seemed as if there were no "paths." We saw lots of deer tracks and a few moose tracks.

I always move whatever is in the pathway as I go through the woods, throwing branches and broken limbs aside and breaking off the dead twigs that are sticking out to snag your clothing or scratch bare arms. Fred laughs at me, reminding me we probably won't take the same route through the woods again. Today I started off doing all that work as usual until I finally realized there really was no more "path" to clear, and until the leaves are out we will certainly not take the same route again.

Here is a short slide show of where we were today. I'm sorry you can't hear the birds and smell the woods - the dry leaves, the wet muddy swamps, the faint sweet smell of daphne. We didn't find many flowers, but it's early yet. Woods Walk

I received this from my friend, Bonnie Dannenberg who loaned the Ruth Stout No Work Garden Book to me:
Hi Jane,
Read your blog and I'm dropping a note to say I must respectfully disagree
with the comment from Steve Allen: ". . .hay and straw are no-nos!!! . . .
release their seeds into your garden soil . . ."

Ruth Stout, in her "No-Work Garden Book" does not recommend a thin
layer of hay, but a *very*deep*layer*, eight to twelve inches thick I believe.
On page 7 of her book she says: "I am asked over and over why isn't it
bad to mulch with hay which is full of weed seeds? Well, if the mulch is
thick enough, the weeds can't come through. When I say this, people
then invariably ask why it is that the vegetable seeds come through and
weed seeds don't; this is because heavy mulch is on top of the latter, but
not the former. As I said above, a planting of small seeds shouldn't be
covered with mulch, or at the most a narrow board, strip of paper or
half-inch of sawdust will keep the ground soft and moist." {This would
be until the plants are large enough to draw the hay mulch up closer to them.}

The key to her system is that she has a very deep covering of hay on the
garden year round. If she sees a weed, she just throws hay on top of it
and it dies. As the hay rots, she adds more (and scatters her kitchen
vegetable waste on the garden, which she then covers with more hay.
She says there is no odor.) She had her soil tested and it lacked nothing
as a result of using the continually rotting mulch. She also has not plowed
or tilled in years, because the hay mulch keeps the soil soft, rich and moist.

As far as grass clippings, I wouldn't have enough from our small lawn in
10 years of mowing! :-) Anyway, I highly recommend the Ruth Stout
book to everyone.
Bonnie Dannenberg

Bonnie has a nice garden every year, so I guess it must work well for her. As I said before, it saves your back and lots of time. I found last year that I had to keep a really think layer of grass clippings around the plants to keep the weeds from coming through.

Another beautiful day. The thermometer is creeping up towards 60 - reading 52 degrees right now. The sun is bright and there is a light breeze from the north. I think the weather will deteriorate later in the day, but right now it's perfect.

I had this message from Evelyn Richer this morning:

We are watching the loons at the nest this morning... no one has got on
the nest yet...  (but they are definitely 'courting' with bill flicking
and everything...) Any day now... probably today they will mount the
nest.  But what this indicates is that they are planning to nest again
this year... (a very good sign)


Ray and I will pick up the sign today...

Ray thinks he can repair it... (just not too sure when just yet.)
As for the top... well, I don't know yet how badly it is damaged, but Ray
says it was in pieces... (I don't have the heart to look yet)

It's a shame about the pretty sign top that Evelyn had just finished re-doing. It takes hours of work and skill to create those paintings. I hope it can be repaired.

That's good news about the loons. We've heard them calling - always a welcome sound, but I know they can be irritating to some folks living on the pond, especially when they tune up in the early morning hours or are screaming as you're trying to get to sleep at night. I guess most people on the pond get used to them, though.

I also had an e-mail from Steve Allen this morning about using hay to mulch the vegetable garden, and it jogged my memory back to a couple of decades ago when I used hay and got just the results he mentions:

Jane - read you blog today - a suggestion: grass is fine in your garden beceuse as it decomposes it releases nitrogen, but hay and straw are no-nos!!! They work fine at first but release their seeds into your garden soil, so you'll find that this fall or next year you'll need to mow what WAS your garden!!! We're looking forward to getting back to the Pond!

Cheers,

Steve Allen

So, I'm rethinking using hay. There are enough grass clippings once we start mowing. Anyway, I've yet to look at the garden spot. I may end up doing the conventional turn-over-the-sod-to-loosen-things-up method. Steve and Bev have a successful garden here at camp each year, as does Walter Ruf.

Back in the 70's when Jed Rulfo owned the cottage next to ours, where Ned Hamilton is now, he always had a super nice garden. I think he always had plants already started that he brought here to plant, thus getting a jump on the season. Jed also knew where to find the best wild mushrooms around, too. And he loved to fish. Having a family of three boys and a dog named "Harvey" that sometimes stole his fish must have been hard on Jed, especially since there were never just three boys and a dog at the Dimick's - but always lots of neighborhood kids and adults and things going on; and it wasn't just us, the Walkers had three kids and a dog on the other side of him! Jed would take the kids on his pontoon boat to fish sometimes, and even took them mushrooming, and Mrs. Rulfo always had a treat handy.

I have to get ready for a meeting on Tuesday with the consultant who is helping revise the town plan for Cabot. I need to search through files on my computer so I'll be able to find what she needs. Since I'm not quite sure what she'll ask for, it may be wasted time, but I'll try to be ready anyway.

This has been quite a day! We're now thinking it was some yokel on a drunken rampage who hit the Sandy Beach Road sign. There are tire tracks in the field by Rt. 2, so perhaps it was an accident rather than deliberate vandalism. I think we'd all feel better if whoever it was fessed up and at least offered a hand to help repair the sign.

The good news in all of this is that Ray Richer rescued the top of the sign this morning - that's why Fred didn't see it. I had talked to Jeff Downs to find out if he'd heard any rumpus during the night, but he said he hadn't, but noticed the broken sign when he left early this morning. I guess we'll need to see what, if anything, can be done to protect that sign. I think Evelyn said it has been damaged at least three times. The town's road sign looks like it's taken a beating, too, but perhaps that was from the snow plow last winter. I once read that if your car goes into a skid the best thing to do is be sure to look where you want the car to go, not at things like posts or trees by the roadside, and you'll likely steer out of it. If you focus on an upcoming tree at a time like that, you'll very likely hit it. Ever notice how many cars slam into the one and only tree beside a highway? I guess that's the reason.

We chipped the tree limbs we'd pruned from our various trees yesterday and I used the chips to mulch my flower beds. It isn't as pretty as the bark you can buy at the store, but helps keep the weeds down and decomposes much more quickly. I tried some cocoa bean shells a few years ago and they're still around. They sure smelled great when I first put them in the garden, though. Walking past the flower beds on a hot day was like I imagine being in a chocolate factory would be.

Our chipper is small and sometimes difficult to start, but once going, it does a nice job on stuff up to about 1 1/2 in. diameter. Anything larger, we can cut up and burn in the wood stove. Fred went down on the lower lawn after we finished chipping and limbed out a large cedar tree that came down during the winter. Cedar smells really nice when it's chipped but doesn't decompose as quickly as other wood. I can use it in some spots, though, so we may have another chipping session in a few days. We're too tired tonight to think about that.

There may be showers tomorrow afternoon, and all week we'll have near freezing weather at night. It's still a bit early to plant seeds, although I'm thinking about peas . . . maybe I'll peek under the black plastic over the vegetable garden plot to see how things are looking. I did the Ruth Strout no-work gardening last year using grass clippings, and it worked very well. She writes that hay or straw works best, and I may try that this year. I put the clippings on after planting the garden; it'll be a different proposition planting through the decomposing grass this year, but according to Strout it isn't difficult. We'll see. It's hard for me to not work the soil - my inclination is to turn over the soil and rake it until it's fine and lump/stone free. Strout's method is easier on one's back, for sure, but I miss seeing the little green sprouts against the dark earth. Vegetables certainly stay a whole lot cleaner, though. No matter how hard it rained last summer, there were no mud splattered veggies. Even the lettuce was clean.

I notice there are quite a number of lights around the pond tonight. Pat Parizo just posted a comment here on the blog, so they are in this weekend for a few days. I think in another week or so there will be lots more people around. Many are scheduled to be back in early May. I think we'll take a walk along West Shore Road tomorrow and maybe we'll see some of our neighbors.

Unfortunately, one of our Joe's Pond Association signs has been damaged - again.

Evelyn and Ray Richer put the sign out yesterday, with the lovely top that Evelyn had carefully repainted this past winter in place, and last night someone either got drunk and rammed into it or intentionally damaged it to get the top. At least, when Fred took pictures a few minutes ago, the top was not there. However, we hope Ray Richer, who was first to report it this morning, found the top and has it safe. As you can see, one post is broken. Except for scrapes and leaning backwards, it is otherwise unharmed.

It's too bad that people aren't more responsible. If it was an accident, whoever did it should come forward and let us know. If it is vandalism, I think those responsible should get a life. I can't imagine what possible satisfaction there is in damaging and stealing others' property.

Tom and Camilla Dente are here for a few days to open camp. I was sorry to have to report vandalism to Tom when he'd just arrived, but as president of the Joe's Pond Association, I knew he'd want to know. I sincerely hope someone will come forward and let us know what happened.

Other than that, it's a beautiful day here at Joe's Pond. I've been at my computer all morning, but will try to get outside this afternoon. It's perfect weather for working in the garden and cleaning up winter's damage to trees and structures.

First, we'll have some lunch - without all the goodies we had yesterday, and I must say, today's menu won't be nearly as exciting as yesterday's!

Lovely spring day - just a bit chilly with a wind out of the west, but still nice for working outside. We were on a pretty tight schedule today, but got a lot done. I guess the most enjoyable thing was stopping at Bentley's Bakery & Cafe. That is one of the owners, Nancy Frampton, behind the counter; below, I'm checking out all the goodies - and there was a BIG selection. Yummy things like bear claws, really big scones,huge cookies, cakes - all things good. The place is lovely with small tables and you can look past the counter into the bakery to see the bakers and chef working, or watch traffic on Hill Street in Danville.

Although we were there at what I'd think would be an "off" time, between coffee break and lunch, there were several people at the tables and customers came in for baked goods while we were there. We left with several things to sample - Fred got a big slice of maple mousse cake, I got a raspberry square and a chocolate biscotti, plus a coffee "for the road."

When we stopped to pick up the mail, we noticed the lunch special at Hastings Store was chop suey. It smelled so good as we entered the store, we couldn't resist and took some home for lunch. The thing is, one of Jenny's big chocolate chip cookies was included, so there we were with a generous serving of pasta and meat sauce, pickles, and combined with what we got at Bentley's, more sweets than any two senior citizens should consume in a week! We had a pang of guilt as we contemplated consuming so many calories, but that only lasted until we got to the car. We agreed this wouldn't happen "too often," and happily headed home. (That's Alyssa above, showing us her apron, just like her mom's.)

We stopped briefly at Dick Fortin's so I could give him copies of some old photos taken before the school was moved across the brook. It was originally right next to where his house is, at the end of the bridge. This is the view from the Fortin's dock. And then moved on to enjoy our lunch.

We decided to have the cookies for lunch and save the rest for tonight. We had a light supper and shared the sweets. That worked perfectly. (I think we both got a sugar high - we're still working at our computers and it's nearly midnight.)

Homer came this afternoon with some historical Ice-Out material I'm going to assemble for JPA records. He had even done some charts, which I'll copy and keep everything in an album so future Joe's Pond Association members and others can enjoy reading about previous contests.

Late in the afternoon, we got outside to do some work on the lawns. There have been several small trees blown down that needed to be taken care of before Fred could mow the lawn - not that that's going to happen real soon, but it's good to have it done. It's very wet in some spots, but things are getting into bloom just the same. We trimmed out an apple tree a bear had broken a big limb from last fall, in hopes it will help it recover. There were some cherry trees that probably the same bear broke down, too. They were all fairly small trees, but in trying to get the fruit, the bear climbed up and the tree couldn't support the weight. There was a report today that a bear killed some goats at a farm in Ryegate recently. I guess they come out of hibernation pretty hungry.

We've had a little bit of everything for weather today. There was sunshine, then rain and some thunder, more rain and it was right around 50 degrees all day. Tonight it is about 40.

The rain really moved things along, even though it wasn't very warm. You could almost hear things popping up out of the ground and tree buds expanding into tiny leaves. By late afternoon, we had daffodils blooming everywhere they're supposed to be each spring and tulips coming up where I'd forgotten I'd planted any. We planted a small "rescued" maple tree out back last fall, and surprisingly it's showing signs of life, too. It was a victim of our removing an old shed and even though it had crooked roots and was kind of lop-sided, Fred dug a hole and I plopped it in and staked it. Now it has buds.

I hope this will be a good year for apples. Some years we have four trees blooming at the same time - a crab apple, two ornamentals, and a very old apple tree that bears fruit only every other year. The display of color is amazing when they are all blooming. Then there's the fragrance and all the bees and the birds - just spectacular.

In a couple weeks it'll be Mother's Day. This year I expect there will be lots of flowers, but lots of years I'd go into the woods to hunt for Mayflowers (or Spring Beauties, as some folks call them) and I couldn't find any at all. My dad and I had favorite spots where we could always find them. We both knew Mom loved them. I have a few that pop up in one of my flower beds, but I never pick them. There aren't very many and I don't want to lose them. They are in among lilies-of-the-valley, lupines, bee balm and some wild roses that came out of nowhere, too. I can't imagine how they got there, but they are most welcome. I love when something unexpected shows up in my garden - like tiny fir trees or little cedar sprouts. I carefully transplant them up in the woods or to some more favorable spot around the lawn. When it's a flower, though, it stays where it lives. Even the prickly rose gets to stay. Can't wait to see what surprises there are this year.

Tomorrow I have appointments in town, so will be out early. If I have time, I'll stop at Bentley's Cafe in Danville.

Ok. Just a brief blog tonight - I am really hungry and Fred probably is, too. I haven't even had time to check with him. He was busy all morning with recycling and helping out a neighbor who had computer and TV problems, and I was busy doing catch-up stuff after being away for most of the past two days. Then this afternoon has whizzed by with both of us working on our computers.

You'll see there's a new comment on yesterday's blog - I don't know who Tammy is, but I thank her for her kind words about the blog. I hope she'll get in touch once she has moved to the area. It's such fun to finally meet people in person who have gotten in touch through the web site or blog. In answer to your question, Tammy - Jane and Garey Larrabee went to Bently's perhaps this past weekend for breakfast and said it was very good. We'll be stopping in soon, I hope. The problem is finding the time right now . . .

I've been researching some questions Andy Rudin had about the statistics I posted about Joe's Pond - literally years ago, and hadn't paid any attention to since. There were a few things out of whack and I'm in the process of changing that, so thanks to Andy for bringing it to my attention. We very much appreciate it whenever someone notices we've goofed when posting something. My friend, Diane Rossi, reminds me now and then (when I goof!) it's only people who never do anything who don't make mistakes.

Another friend sent me this today and I got a chuckle out of it: This supposedly was a letter to the editor of a mid-western newspaper written by an ex-Navy man: "I object and take exception to everyone saying Obama and Congress are spending like a drunken sailor. As a drunken sailor, I quit when I ran out of money."

Liz Randall sent this slide show of her garden. Liz and John were just here for a few days and saw the pictures I posted yesterday of the Burlington area. Here's what she said:

According to your photos I guess Burlington looks a lot like Long Island this time of the year...Springtime is a month earlier than Cabot...

Walked around the yard and took some pictures of a few flowers and trees in bloom - some past bloom and some hadn't bloomed just yet....Different world down here on Long Island... of course I took some pictures of Riley, too! Liz

Slides

Thanks, Liz - I can't wait for my garden to begin to show color like yours! It'll be a few weeks, I think. I'd like to get into the woods to see if there are any Mayflowers yet, but haven't had a chance. I think I need to make time, not just try to find time to do these things.

It was a lovely day here - well, I THINK it was. We were actually on the road early in order to take friends to the airport in Burlington, and didn't get back here until mid-afternoon, so while I don't know how the day turned out here at Joe's Pond, I can tell you it was a gorgeous day in the Champlain Valley.

From Burlington, we made a "pilgrimage" to St. Albans, where Fred grew up. We hadn't been there in a long time - we don't go to Burlington much any more, either. When we were both working, there were many reasons we had to go to both cities, but now, we have no ties in either place. Today we took Rt. 7 instead of the interstate from Burlington to St. Albans. It's an interesting drive and we saw a lot of changes, but at the same time it was very familiar.

In St. Albans, we visited the cemetery where the Brown and the Wry family lots are, drove through town where not much had changed, went past Brown family homes, now cared for by new owners, and as we were leaving, driving down Smith Street, we met a car and Fred exclaimed, "I know that man!" Of course there was no time to stop, but we thought it was neat that in just passing through town Fred would see someone he'd known growing up there. Above left is a picture of "the Smith Street house," where the Brown family lived for many years. Later they would move to Congress Street (right), and that house has changed dramatically.

Taking Rt. 15 from St. Albans to our turn in Walden, we got a wonderful taste of real spring. The fields were the bright green of early spring and there were flowers blooming, cows in pastures, farmers working the plowed fields, hikers, bikers, walkers, rushing water and vistas with mountains looming over the yellow-green haze of early budding trees.

I remember being confused when Fred's mother would ask us if were were going "down to Burlington," or if we'd be coming "down to St. Albans" to visit them; but now I understand. Burlington IS down from here. Today it was very evident that as we headed south on Rt. 15, we were climbing. By the time we were in Wolcott, the grass was not yet green in the fields and flowers were scarce. In Walden we could look through leafless trees and see patches of snow in the woods. This was home territory. The neat thing about today was that we were able to enjoy the sights and warmth of spring only a few miles from home and know that we'll be able to enjoy spring all over again in another week or so when we get a full dose of springtime here at Joe's Pond.

We checked the lake water level at Walter's today. The water was rough with a stiff breeze out of the north so it was difficult to measure, but it looked as if the level is up perhaps 2-3 inches. You can see there is a little snow left around Walter's cottage, too, and while the grass is getting green and there are signs of plants coming up in Mimi's flower beds, nothing was in bloom.

Tomorrow may bring some rain, and the rest of the week doesn't look all that great, but our spring will come - and in the Champlain Valley folks will be into summer weather already.

Fred came upon this link and passed it along to me. It's pretty interesting, and I think many people are beginning to "get it" and change their spending mind set.
Check it out: How to be a Savvy Cheapskate

Andy Rudin just sent us an e-mail about our intro to Joe's Pond that's on the web site - we will be updating that tomorrow . . . !