It's been a rainy, rainy day here. We built a fire for the first time in at least two months yesterday and Fred has kept one going all day today, too. It's not only rainy but the thermometer hasn't moved more than a couple degrees past 60 all day.

I went out and picked up some apples from our two trees - one is a transparent that apparently seeded in by itself, at least we never noticed it until last year and then a bear got the apples before I could and managed to break off one quite large limb, probably by climbing too far out onto it. Big dumb lummox.

The other tree has been there since before my folks built the house here, I think, and that would be about 40 years ago. There are lots of apples on that tree, but they are relatively small and because we don't spray, are inclined to be a bit spotty. Once peeled, they are delicious for pies and applesauce.

We did some sleuthing regarding the cell tower on the Sousa farm, asking the question that came up at the JPA meeting yesterday - whether Verizon phones would work from that tower once it's up and running or if only AT&T phones will work. A reliable source tells us this tower (and the one at the Bothfeld farm on Cabot's West Hill) will only serve AT&T phones. That's not especially good news for people who have Verizon equipment. It was mentioned that if enough people complained, perhaps Verizon could put their equipment on the same tower. That may have been tongue-in-cheek, but it's worth a try. I'm not sure if those companies would agree to something like that - I expect that being competitors, they are like politicians and would rather stick to party lines than serve the public. Even so, maybe we could start an e-mail campaign to both companies and see what happens.