We didn't get the buckets of rain that were predicted last night - and I don't believe much is expected tonight, but as we were leaving the baked bean supper at the JPA pavilion, there was a huge thunder cloud in the western sky, so I snapped a picture.

There was .59 in. of rain in my gauge this morning. That's enough to wet everything down nicely. It rained very hard so not as much as we'd like soaked into the ground. There was some erosion at the end of our driveway, so a lot of the water ran off into the pond without doing our parched fields and gardens much good.

The bean supper was really good - I always enjoy the variety of salads as well as the beans and hotdogs - and the ladies did a super job getting everyone fed. It was nice to be able to have the side curtains on the pavilion pulled back making it very comfortable. Our heat wave is apparently broken for the time being.

I made a slide show of tonight's gathering for you - Baked Bean Supper

I received a comment from Matt Randall on yesterday's blog. I'll post it here as I think you'll be interested. Matt is in graduate school at UVM, and last weekend he and his family gathered at Joe's Pond to celebrate the Fourth and his sister Lauren's graduation from college. Here's what he wrote:

Jane, I'm enjoying the wildlife photographs you've posted. I unfortunately didn't have my camera for an opportune moment during 4th of July weekend when I saw a newborn fawn who still had it's white spots (about 3ft tall to the shoulder). I spotted the amazing creature at the edge of the brook just up past the railroad bridge. I came around the bend and it was standing there just 2 feet from my kayak, still as could be. There was no mother in sight and this baby had probably never seen a human before. It was an amazing experience. I wish I could have made it a kodak moment. Maybe somebody else who's at the pond more frequently will be lucky.
Matt Randall

Thank you for sharing that, Matt. It is a heart stopping moment to come upon a beautiful animal like that. We had a baby like that in our back yard a couple years ago, and the mother was with it. We were watching from the bedroom window and saw Woody (our big tiger cat) heading toward the fawn. Woody really likes dogs, and I think he may have thought the fawn was a dog, or maybe he was just curious - but when the doe saw the cat she immediately went after him. Woody took refuge in between the tiers of wood that were piled close by and after a few moments the doe, on high alert with her ears flipping and her tail switching, went back to the fawn and quickly disappeared with him into the woods. We called to Woody and he came running into the house. He often sits in the living room window and watches the deer on the lawn, but I doubt he has any interest in going out to investigate them.

We have been talking with Pam Hebert about putting a page on the web site for people to go to if they find what might be milfoil. We'll be working on that in the next few days and I'll let you know when it is operational. There is a procedure to send suspicious findings to be verified, and we'll include those instructions, plus regular reports on how and what our inspectors are doing at the boat launch. We hope that by helping people to know exactly what to look for and making proper identification, we may be able to avoid an infestation of milfoil here at Joe's Pond. The more eyes we have watching, the better chance we'll have of staying free of it.

I noticed this article that WCAX had on their site tonight -

Burlington, Vermont - July 10, 2010

Four people were hospitalized and remain in stable condition after being electrically shocked on the Burlington waterfront Saturday afternoon.

Canadian boat owners docked their boat along the waterfront and plugged into an incorrect charge port. The port leaked an electric charge into the water where nearby children were swimming. The electricity caused them to be paralyzed in the water. They were transported to Fletcher Allen Hospital.

"Their father heroically put himself at risk, and jumped into the water. He was able to successfully get them out of the water despite the pain he was experiencing himself. He was able to get his children up onto the dock. Following that the parks and recreation department responded very quickly and shut off the power that services this part of the dock. They were able to eliminate the chance for any other people being injured," said Burlington Assistant Fire Marshall Tom Middleton

Officials are still investigating how the electric current went into the water.

That is frightening. I hope those children and their dad will be ok. Water and electricity are a really bad combination.