This came this morning from Evelyn Richer:
Hi again...

Sorry, but I forgot to let you know that the loons are sitting on two
eggs... They seems to have followed a past pattern... I always remember
the dates best by recalling that the eggs arrive by Mother's Day and the
chicks by Father's Day... They are right on track.

Again, we ask that everyone be respectful of their space.  They are
having all they can do to deal with the Canada Geese... They are so
active in the cove this year... but the loon is sticking to the nest
despite the geese' curious manner... Also we had a 'fly over' yesterday
by a mature bald eagle.  It was only about 75 feet above the nest... I
was in my garden out front and heard the loon call, thinking it was
signaling the mate to come to relieve her of her duty, but then I saw a
huge shadow cross my garden... upon looking up, I saw this wonderfully
huge 'glider' overhead!  He was looking straight down at me... he circled
the nest twice and then soared off over the pond... never flapping
once... it always gives me chills to see a large bird that close! I could
look into its eyes!! He was gorgeous!! (yeh, no camera at hand either, it
was only a 'Kodak Moment' I will keep in my memories)

Thanks... Evelyn

That must have been almost heart stopping. My first thought when I read Evelyn's e-mail was that the eagle was searching for a meal. I went on line and found this web site: Eagles Depends on how hungry he is, I guess. Hopefully he'll stick to fishing.

Homer Fitts let us know he's going to be at the pond for the rest of the week until Monday when his daughter, Sue, here from Salt Lake for her niece's wedding last Saturday (Homer's son, Doug's daughter) , will be flying home to SLC. We have nice weather today and pretty good for the rest of the week, too, so I'm sure Sue will enjoy her time at Joe's Pond with her dad.

Our CoCoRaHS coordinator in northern Colorado wrote in his newsletter last night they were getting a heavy, wet snow and had at least three inches at around midnight. Other areas of the country are getting unusual weather patterns, too, tornadoes, heavy rain and flooding or draught conditions, so I guess we in Vermont can be thankful our weather is simply acting like some spoiled child that can't decide whether to behave or act out.

Fred has gone to recycle and to help our neighbor update her computer. She has a birthday coming up on Friday and she'll be 92. In some ways she's like Blanche, (earlier blog) but there's one big difference. While Blanche has traveled more than a lot of folks, she was born and brought up in a very rural, unsophisticated Vermont community. Our neighbor was born in Europe where she lived her first 12 years, grew up and worked in New York City and has traveled extensively in Europe and U. S. The important likeness is that both are independent and self-sustaining, despite or because of their backgrounds. Maybe it's in the genes.