Wet and windy tonight. It's been overcast all day, but not awfully cold. We're expecting high winds by early a.m., and a stormy day tomorrow. We've lost most of our snow, but I'm sure we'll be getting more, probably even this weekend.

The Christmas season is officially here. We got our first Christmas card in the mail today - from Homer and Margaret Fitts, of course! Homer's has been the first we've received every year for literally decades. When we lived at camp all those years, we not only looked forward to the card from Homer, but also the decorations across the water at his place. Not just at Christmas, but every holiday, Homer's was decorated.
We can't see his place from here, but we can see Gerry and Crystal Prevost's across the pond above Rt. 15. They have their decorations up - tonight was the first time I've noticed them, but they may have been up earlier.

There's a holiday auction going on Saturday at the Cabot School. We got a flier in the Cabot Chronicle today. Lots of interesting stuff to bid on, like museum passes, memberships, meals, ski passes, gift certificates and gift ideas, all for the benefit of the Cabot School Marine Biology class expedition to Belize in the spring. Things get going at 10:a.m., if you want to join the fun.

On Saturday evening there's a Memorial Tree Lighting and Annual Christmas Concert at the Cabot United Church. Tree lighting is at 6:30 p.m., concert a5 7:00. Refreshments following the concert. For more information, call 563-2278.S

There will be an "Elve's Workshop" at Cabot United Church from 3-5 p.m. on Dec. 12. Parents can drop off their youngsters age 3-middle school, or they can stay and make "surprise gifts" with the kids.

On Monday, Dec. 13, at 6 p.m. there will be a Land Use and Natural Resources work session which will lay the groundwork for Cabot's land use regulations and zoning ordinances that the Planning Commission has been working on. Let Gary Gulka at cabotplanning@gmail.com know if you plan to attend. Light refreshments.

There's Yoga at the Cabot Public Library on Dec. 14 and 21, and Jan. 4, 18, and 25, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.. $10 per session or $40 for all five. Alicia Feltus, 563-2721.

On Saturday, Dec. 18, there will be a Live Creche at the Rockwell Farm on Houston Hill Rd. in Cabot. Live animals, carols, everyone welcome. Call 563-2278 for more information.

There will be a Youth Holiday Market to buy, sell or trade your stuff that is still good. It's on Dec. 21st at the library at 3 p.m. The folks at the library will help with pricing and stickers - prices should be from 25 cents to $5.

On Wednesday, there's a School Concert at the Cabot School Performing Arts Center from 7 - 9 p.m. There is also a dinner in the dining hall at the gym to benefit the 8th grade trip in the spring. The dinner costs $6 per person or $20 for a family of four. For more information, call 563-3052 or 563-2727.

On Christmas Eve there will be the annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at the Cabot United Church, 7 p.m.

Now that's a lot going on in one small town, and I'm sure Danville and Walden have a lot planned, too. I don't have a schedule from either of the other towns, however.

Melvin Churchill and his family and farm are featured in the latest issue of Yankee Magazine. Lots of great pictures, I understand. I don't know if you knew this or not, but Melvin has a very nice singing voice. He's a great story-teller, too. The tourists at Fall Foliage time love going on the Nichols Ledge hike with him.

I guess all towns have their problems from time to time, but I've been reading about the woes Danville has as they prepare for a couple of years of "down time" while work is being done on Rt. 2 through town. The village green will be off limits, and that could mean a really big financial loss for everyone involved in the Danville Fair and Autumn on the Green festivities. I bet lots of folks wish they'd never heard of "route 2 improvements."

In Cabot, there's an on-going hassle about needing more parking space in town.
This has been going on for a long time and it's not likely to be settled any time soon. Some folks think the problem is only at the Willey building where the library and town offices are and that the town should just take back what is the Willey property and use it for parking; others think there should be off-street parking elsewhere in town (but where?); and still others believe there isn't a parking problem in town, just at the Willey building sometimes. The Hardwick Gazette has regular reports on select board meetings, some of which have apparently ended in shouting matches. I don't believe Cabot has a Board of Civil Authority, but sounds as if they could use one.

I guess lots of folks are on edge these days for one reason or another. Remember this song? (Turn on your speakers!) Don't Worry, Be Happy

We've enjoyed an absolutely beautiful day today. The temperature was in the low to mid-30's most of the day with bright sunshine and hardly any wind. The pond is very close to being completely frozen over - really cold nights - but the forecast is for some pretty warm days until later in the week, so some of it will probably open up again.

Fred noticed these guys enjoying the sunshine in Danville this morning. You can see we have a few inches of snow, but I expect a lot of that will melt in the next few days. However, by the weekend we'll have winter back.

We walked on Sandy Beach Road today and checked out all the activity. There is really a lot going on there. First we checked the water level at Walter's (or maybe I should have said the ice level!) and it's about 4 inches below the top of the cement wall - not high, but not low, either. I guess that's about as good as it will get.








We went on to LaGue's where they are completely closed in now and working in the basement area. We took pictures of the inside - really very nice, and a great view from those big windows. There is a deck on the left of the three windows - you can see the sliders in this photo.

We saw cat tracks in the snow and the carpenters said it's the yellow and white cat Fred took a picture of a while back. They said it comes around regularly to check them out - looks well fed, so they think it belongs in the neighborhood. We found tracks way up into the field along the path past Morgan's. We also found a dead uneaten mole, so figured the cat probably isn't awfully hungry.

At Gagne's, they seemed to be finishing up some roofing on the front of the house, and there are more windows/doors to get on. Next door, by Bouchard's, two men were working in a rather deep hole next to the road. Turned out they are Onion River Well & Spring Service and they were installing a pump that will service three cottages on that road. They explained how it would keep the water flow constant, no matter how much water was being used at any one of the cottages. They are out of Marshfield, and you'll find their business card on the web site.

Next we noticed something going on a few cottages down at Rouleau's, so stopped there and found Garrand Caulkins leveling the lawn over the mound septic system there. It looked very nice and we enjoyed our short visit with Garrand. He's done work for us in the past, too.

Once back home, we both settled in to work at our computers. I've finally put the new web site up for the Cabot Historical Society, but it is just a beginning and there are lots of glitches that I'll be ironing out as I go along. I hope to work on it a little every day or so in order to keep the process fresh in my mind. If I'm away from it more than a couple of days, it's sometimes hard to remember how or what I was doing when I left it. You can see it at www.cabothistory.org. It's not pretty right now, but I'll be working on that, too. There is a ton of information that needs to go on, but this is a start.

Fred and his cyber partner are doing a web site for the UVM Center on Aging, but that's much more involved than the historical society one I'm doing. The historical society needed to have something that just about anyone can manage so that after I'm done getting stuff put on, others can just go in and add to it, update or make changes. Then I'll be able to get back to the stuff I enjoy far more. I don't much fancy being a web master.

Upcoming December Programming at the Cabot Public Library -

Monday, December 6^th from 6:30 to 7:30 pm

Winter Reading and Holiday Gift Ideas

from Linda Ramsdell of the Galaxy Bookshop

Linda Ramsdell grew up in Craftsbury and opened The Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont in December, 1988. She will come to the Cabot Public Library to talk about books that make great winter reading and holiday gifts for all ages.

Linda will also discuss some of the season's great fiction, as well as non-fiction for readers with diverse interests. She is looking forward to hearing what people in Cabot are reading on these long and chilly nights.

This program is Free and Open to the Public. It will be hosted in the Library.

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We were in Maine and had a quiet but very nice three-day mini vacation. The weather wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible, either, and we made it home ahead of the snow. We were surprised when we got to West Danville and found most of the first pond frozen over. This morning we can see that there is ice in back of the islands, and later, when we went to the village, both the smaller ponds are frozen over, so it won't be long before all is still here at the pond.

We were actually looking forward to some blustery weather at at the ocean, but there was a strong off-shore wind from the northwest when we got there and the ocean was calmer than I'd ever seen it. We decided Joe's Pond had more surf going on than the Atlantic Ocean. Little did we know!

This morning when I was at the post office in West Danville talking with Diane she said she could barely keep her balance getting from the parking lot to the store on Wednesday the wind was blowing so hard, and people were saying they hadn't seen the pond so rough in quite a while.

All these years I've heard our friends on the Maine Coast telling how bitterly cold the winter winds are on the coast, and I'd always thought they had just never experienced a good January gale in West Danville, Vrmont so had no bench mark. After we arrived Wednesday we headed out for our usual walk along the beach and even with our backs to the wind, it was really cold. We had our gloves, earmuffs, mufflers and warm boots, but we were still cold, and knowing we would need to face into the wind to get back to our hotel convinced us to forget walking on the beach and instead we settled into a cozy corner in the hotel lounge.

We knew the weather might have an impact on our trip, so we had watched weather reports closely before we left and deliberated which might be the best route to take. Any way we go, we have to go over mountains. We've been through Crawford Notch in a snow storm and know Franconia Notch can be a bear, too, especially if there's lots of traffic. We decided on Rt. 302 through Crawford Notch.

At the exit onto Rt. 302 for Bethlehem, we came up behind a "student driver" in a big rig. If you know that route, you know there aren't very many places where you can safely pass another car, let alone an eighteen wheeler, or whatever they are. It was a little foggy and we weren't sure of the road surface and it was obvious the student was paying close attention not only to the posted speed signs, but seemed hesitant about just about everything - side roads, meeting cars, road conditions, etc., and we were wondering how he/she would do going through Crawford Notch. We decided we'd rather be in back than in front of him, and settled in for a long, slow haul. However, when we reached the intersection with Rt. 3, the truck turned off towards Franconia, and then we wondered if that was planned or if the trucker had been warned away from the road ahead. But we pressed on and there was very little traffic. We had the Notch mostly to ourselves. It is always interesting going through there, and fortunately there was no snow and the road was only wet, not icy.

Once we were on the other side of the mountains, we had sunshine. I've put together slide shows - as usual, we took way more pictures than are needed, and believe it or not, I've used only part of what we took. Here are some we took on the way over on Wednesday:
Nov. 24, 2010

We usually go to Maine in the off season to avoid crowds, but have never been there this late in November. The hotel was fully booked, but everything in town was closed after Wednesday night, even the lobby, grill and lounge at the hotel. It was so quiet. Nobody in the streets in town or on the beach. None of our favorite spots were open except where we had reservations for dinner, at Warren's Lobster House, in Kittery. (See above)
The meal was wonderful and we were amazed at how many people they were feeding. It's a very large restaurant and famous for their salad bar. We've been there before, and we knew it would be good.

It's very close to the Portsmouth Navy Yard. The Navy Yard is actually on Seavey's Island in the Piscataqua River, and accessed just down the street from Warren's Lobster House. We got this picture.

It was a good thing we'd decided to bring breakfast with us, just in case, because there was absolutely nothing open Thursday morning. The hotel told us there would be coffee in the lobby until 8 a.m., so Fred went sprinting down at 7:45 to get some for me, but unfortunately I guess everyone wanted to get out of there as soon as possible because the desk clerk told him they'd just dumped it - the lobby would be closed until midnight.

All things considered, we still had a great trip. We had an excellent dinner, but finding a place for a bite in the evening was a challenge. We knew everything in the Kittery area was closed, so we headed north towards Ogunquit. That was all quiet, too, and in Wells even McDonald's was closed, but we found a Cumberland Farms open and were able to get sandwiches.

Here are some of our favorite scenes and places in York (I apologize for the house under construction shown on its side . . .: York, Maine

There was a little more surf by Friday morning when we left, but still not the stormy seas we'd hoped for. We took our time leaving, waiting for the roads to thaw a bit before starting out. The reports were of freezing rains in the mountains. As we were leaving York Village on Rt. 91, we crossed the turnpike by way of a high bridge and saw an accident with lots of fire trucks and a couple of ambulances. Our road was fine, and a couple hours later we were all set to have lunch in Meredith, NH, when Fred's brother, Tom, called us. Tom and Ellie Spent Thanksgiving with their family in Connecticut on their way to their winter home in Colorado, starting out first thing this morning (Saturday). Tom was unsure of how he'd left the thermostats at their Laconia house, so asked if we could go by and check for them. He caught us when we were within about five miles of their house, and I have no idea how he did that. We might have been 50 miles in either direction, but he called at just the right time and place.

As we left Laconia and made our way to I-93, there was ice on everything along the road. The interstate was ok, but there had apparently been a fair amount of snow by the slush the plows had left. We were careful going through the mountains and were really glad to get home. Unfortunately, the picture of Fred examining the thermostat at Tom's didn't respond to my turning instructions. Blame Flickr.com! Friday, Heading Home

I've had lots of messages today, and haven't been able to deal with all of them yet, but here are some. I received this from Liz Sargent about her mom, Lucia Pearl:

Hello All:

This is the easiest way to communicate and tell you what is going on with my mother (Lucia Johnson Pearl). As many of you know she fell October 8th, broke her hip, was recovering nicely, at home, and all was well until....

Sunday very early in the AM, she fell again, hit her head, went to the ER where she was treated and released back home. Had multiple bruises, no damage to the hip (thank God), and a laceration/bruise on the side of her head. She did fine until early Wednesday AM when she had a terrible headache. We knew because of medications we needed to get her back to the ER pronto. There they discovered a bleed between the outer brain and lining (she was on Coumadin), she was taken by ambulance to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Brain surgery was done (our only hope) Wednesday evening. The surgery report was good, but "she's not out of the woods yet."

Thursday two of the family visited, she was agitated (to be expected), but doing as well as could be expected.

Friday Peggy and I went down for hours. The woman in the bed was not our mother as far as personality went. She was still extremely agitated, not making sense, and generally giving us and the medical staff a hard time. They upped her oxygen and she seemed to be quieter by the time we left after supper.

This morning (Sat.) I called and the night wasn't too bad, she is more alert and talking some. Peggy and I will be back down there today. We are hoping this uphill battle will continue and she will get over this. As you know she is one strong woman and we hope she will fight this to come back home again. She has been through so much starting with the death of my brother (her son), John, in February 2009. We still struggle daily with that tremendous loss. And then in April 2010 she lost of husband of 66 years - although he had been sick for years with Parkinson's and she was getting mighty worn out from being his caregiver at home.

We hope you and yours are well and you will send positive thoughts and prayers Lucia's way. I will continue to update as I can.

Gratefully, Liz

Elizabeth A. Sargent
529 Jamieson Rd.
Danville VT 05828
802-748-1456
lizsargent@charter.net
"God does not simply will that we should be happy, but rather that we should make ourselves happy." Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

We are very sorry Lucia has had more misfortune. We will all be thinking of her and the family.

These photos came from Pat and George Parizo, taken this morning. We've had snow all day with quite a bit of wind at times making it look pretty blizzardy, so those geese may not have wanted to fly in such weather. I do hope they find a place to roost for the night as much of the lake is already frozen - both smaller ponds and the northern part of the big pond - and with temperatures dropping tonight, it could close in on the big pond, too.

I was talking with Joe Turner (Point Comfort) at the post office and mentioned to him his place is pretty well frozen in already and he said he thinks this is it for this year. I think he may be wrong - we usually have the pond freeze and thaw again at least a couple of times before it closes up for the winter, but we'll see.

Another rainy and cool-ish day. We've had lots of fog, a cold drizzle, but all the snow from a few days ago is now gone. We really didn't have much snow, but I was able to report a trace a few times last week.

Fred and Billy were down at the building sites this afternoon. I was working on the new web site for the historical society so didn't get to see the progress until I unloaded the photos. The LaGue house is closed in with windows in place and is looking good. The carpenters said they'd have it closed in by Thanksgiving, and so it is.

At Gagne's, there are windows in there, too, although Fred got a picture of only the side facing the road, so we aren't certain about the front of the place. This crew also wanted to have it closed in by Thanksgiving, and it looks as if they are within range of hitting their mark. Looks really nice.

At LaGue's, there was a nice yellow cat hanging out. Fred said it looked well fed, so probably belongs to one of the neighbors. Also, there has been some road work done on Sandy Beach Road - looks like the town did some work on the culvert - however, it doesn't look to me as if it will be much help in a really big storm. I think it should be a bigger one and set lower, otherwise, the water will again wash over the road. I have to hope they know what they're doing, but I wouldn't want to bet any money that it won't wash out again, first big rain we get. Here's a picture of it - the road surface looks really nice, a whole lot better than the road along the flat on West Shore Road. That is really messy and will be until things freeze up again, I expect. Looks like April out there!

We wish everyone a very nice Thanksgiving. Travel safely.

Cabot, VT.

CABOT CHEERLEADING

INFORMATIONAL MEETING & SQUAD SIGN UPS

The Cabot Recreation Committee is pleased to Announce they will be offering

Cheerleading beginning in December 2010.

5^th through 12^th grade students of Cabot School are welcome to participate.

An informational meeting and sign up session will take place on December 1, 2010 at 6:30pm at the CSPAC* building. Hope to see you there!

*Cabot School Performing Arts Center, on campus.

Here's an interesting bit of history Fred found: http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/thanksg.html Apparently, contrary to what we learned in grade school, the Pilgrims didn't decide on one Thursday they should prepare a feast to thank the Indians or God or Mother Nature for helping them to survive. They probably gave thanks every day for just making it through. Thanksgiving Day is a fine opportunity to be thankful for family and friends, and for most of us here in America, a pretty good life. It is also an opportunity to help those who are down on their luck, jobless, and less fortunate. So be kind, generous and compassionate. Be thankful for what you have and share it.

We were both busy on our computers yesterday, but in the afternoon we decided to take a break and go interrupt son Bill's family at home in Waterford. Monika is taking some on-line courses and was writing a paper and Jo-Ann was studying, getting ready to go back to school today, and Bill was acting as translator to help both with the English language. We were successful in breaking up their routine for a few minutes, but they were all very gracious and seemed happy to change gears.

Jo-Ann had been to her first school dance on Saturday, which was a pretty big deal for her. I don't imagine the children in her school in Namibia had dances, but I didn't get a chance to ask the question because she was so excitedly telling us about the Waterford School dance. She can't wait for prom night and already knows what she's going to wear. That's the enthusiasm of a 12-year old!

Coming to the top of the hill before getting into Danville on our way over, we saw some turkeys grazing with the cattle at the Isham Farm and beyond them the White Mountains were absolutely beautiful - really white with snow and glistening in the late afternoon sun. Fred used plenty of zoom and got this picture.

Then, as we were coming home, we were aware of the moon as it was beginning to get dark. We didn't take any pictures right away - we have lots of moon shots, so to speak - and it wasn't until we got to Joe's Pond that we decided it would be an opportunity missed if we didn't get a picture with the reflection on the water. After all, we might not see the moon OR open water again in combination for a while, right? This photo was the result of a quick stop at Mo and Pat Gardner's on West Shore Road. We pulled into their parking space and didn't even have to get out of the car! It looks as if it was the middle of the night, but actually it was only about 5 o'clock.

Today the weather has changed - a lot. Yesterday was pretty cold all day, mostly in the low 30's and on our way home we had a warning for icy conditions as we were leaving the gas station by Hospital Drive. The car was getting reading of 27 degrees and as we progressed toward Danville the temperature dropped steadily and was finally at 23 degrees when we got home. Overnight we had a little snow, but then it changed to rain and of course froze on the cold surfaces of roads, etc. The driving could have been a little tricky this morning. Fortunately, we don't have to be anywhere.

This short item was in the Burlington Free Press this morning: A motorist sustained serious injuries at about 9:46 a.m. Saturday after driving off Wightman Road in Danville and crashing into several trees, Vermont State Trooper Charles Winn said. Myrtle Bell, 72, of Danville, was not wearing a seat belt, Winn said. The road was slick with snow, he said. Police ask anyone with information related to the crash to call Winn at 748-3111.

We don't know Ms. Bell, but we sincerely hope she will be ok. There is more in the Caledonian Record: Danville Crash

Lunch in Littleton

As promised, here's more information on the Mittershill ski area at Cannon Mt., NH. Some Mittershill History and more: Mittershill Update
to go along with the video I posted late last night (see entry below today's.)

We were in Littleton yesterday to celebrate my October birthday. Let me explain. We have a group, four of us - Fred (Jan.), Louise (May), Elizabeth (July) and myself - who enjoy getting together for lunch on or near our birthdays. We were doing very well until my turn. Elizabeth went to visit her family in Switzerland, getting back in early October; but from then on, there was one delay after another before we could all find a convenient time to go - thus, my celebration yesterday.

As we were coming down Rt. 15 into West Danville - I had taken the Harrington Hill short-cut from Brickett's Crossing Road - there was a very large flock of geese enjoying the beach. These were only a few of them, and they weren't particularly shy about our stopping, but we didn't want them to waste energy taking off, so we kept our distance. The flags mark the snowmobile trail. We don't have enough snow yet, but it won't be long before the geese will be gone and the snowmobile crowd will be here and happy.

The weather yesterday was not bad. It was chilly and there were some snowflakes in the air here as we left, but but in St. Johnsbury and Littleton, the weather improved, but I don't believe it got much above 40 degrees.

Going to "99" in Littleton came about because someone went there and had their lobster roll summer before last. We agree they make just about the best lobster roll any of us have ever had. We knew they only make them in the summer months, but we went there yesterday on the outside chance there may have been enough demand so they were still on the menu. The weren't, but we all found other choices and it turned out just fine. That's Louise in the first picture, while Elizabeth (in the red jacket) and I get settled at the table. Later, I took this picture of Elizabeth and Fred.

We saw Russ and Ginny Reed from St. Johnsbury there. The Reeds have been friends for many years, and were neighbors when I was living in St. Johnsbury. They also had a cottage here at Joe's Pond for many years, and their daughter, Beth and her husband, Robert Wechsler, have a cottage on Barre Avenue.

After stops at Staples and Walmart, we went to the new McDonald's for ice cream. Neither Louise nor Elizabeth had seen it. It's quite nice, but typical. This new place opened near the site of the old Continental Motor Inn, right at the exit from the interstate. It's much more visible than the old one up the road towards town. There's still more space where I'm sure there will be something else built soon.

The view on the way home looking north towards Willoughby Lake was lovely, and later, after a stop at Price Chopper for all of us to pick up a few items, we headed home. I took another picture as we passed the Beattie farm just outside of Danville. That stream of traffic is normal in late afternoon when people are on the move from their work places.

We've been at home all day today, catching up a bit. The weather has been very changeable with some sun, some snow, some wind, and not very warm temperatures. It was in the teens last night, and I expect it may be again tonight, although I think the forecast was for a warming trend. I spoke to a gentleman in Venice, Florida this morning and he told me it was a lovely 85 degrees there. At that particular moment we were having a mini-blizzard, right out of Canada by way of Walden. His call was just a thank you to let me know he'd received the information he'd asked for which I sent about a week ago, and I was able to let him know I will now mail off some photos. I'm glad we went a couple weeks ago to take pictures of the Perry grave sites he was interested in. I knew better than to wait too long because West Hill Cemetery is akin to the Plains Cemetery when it comes to snow, cold and wind exposure. Fortunately, I got pictures of exactly what he needs for verification on his genealogy pages and I won't need to make another trip to West Hill.

Here's an interesting video of the new chair lift going up at Mittershill/Cannon ski area (NH): youtube
As you may know, the Mittershill ski area is being upgraded after several years of not having much activity. I'll try to find more on this tomorrow. Right now I have to go and watch Tom Selleck.

We took a walk just before dark, making a quick trip down to check the water level, now at 4 in. below the top of the cement wall, and to check the work sites. At LaGues, the roof is finished and they'll soon be getting closed in - perhaps by the target date of Thanksgiving.










We crossed over to the Ricker property next door to see if there was more beaver activity and found where they had cut down a couple good sized trees and apparently worked on them some on the lawn - there were chips there, too. These pictures were from Ricker's drive, looking towards the road.

Down at Gagne's, the north side of the house has most of the roofing on, and with good weather, they may be able to finish the rest tomorrow. There's a lot of area to cover. Things are looking very good, though, and they will have the place closed in before much longer.

We awoke to snow again this morning, but by around noon it was mostly gone. The temperature hasn't improved much, though; it never got much past 35 degrees, and tonight there's a real bite in the air. Last night there was a lot of wind, and some again this morning, in bursts. When we left for our walk, the sun was out (mostly, see photo) and it was relatively calm. I measured another .20 in. of precipitation this morning and measured .3 in. of snow on the snow board. There was only one other report of snow, a trace reported in the west central region - probably Sugarbush area.

Sadly, we have to report we've lost another long-time Joe's Ponder, Michael Bessette, of Barre, whose cottage is at 3480 Rt. 2 W, passed away on Tuesday. Here is the obituary from the Times Argus: Bessette Obituary
We extend condolences to his wife, Ivana (Argenti), and to the family. He loved Joe's Pond and will be missed here.

We get the Hardwick Gazette a day late because it's sent in the mail. In this week's edition, there is a report of Monday night's forum on the school budget in Cabot. Cabot School has about 213 students, PK-12. For those of you who don't have access to the Gazette, here is a briefed version of what reporter Will Walters wrote:

There were about 70 people at the forum. School Board Chair Chris Tormey told them voters will "need to decide if they want to continue to pay for the quality education they have been funding up to now or whether they are willing to sacrifice some quality education to meet the financial goals set by the state."

According to this article, there needs to be a reduction of $100,000 in expenses to remain level funded, i.e. to keep taxes the same as the past year. This could change depending on what the Legislature does to assist schools once it sets the budget. There is also a $44,000 "unaudited deficit," not included in the $100,000, which "can be paid off over a number of years." In addition, there are maintenance issues such as a leaking roof on one of the satellite buildings and drainage work needed.

The school board has asked Superintendent Nancy Thomas and principal Karen Stewart to level fund. Superintendent Thomas reported Cabot has "decreased income, increased expenses and a deficit." She said because the State is facing deficits for the next two years, the Legislature is forcing cost cutting on local school boards. If the boards do not meet the budget demands, the Legislature will force cuts.

Thomas said the current 2 percent cut for Cabot under Act 146 would be $48,239. The district is expecting a $70,000 deficit in revenue and "unanticipated cost increases" of $87,000, which will mean possible cuts in staffing, fewer course offerings, adjusting class sizes "to the 18 that is considered optimal," some on-line classes or combining with Twinfield. They will also be looking at cutting transportation costs by eliminating some bus runs, or field trips and athletic trips. While the state reimburses some of the transportation costs, it costs $4 per mile for a school bus.

There were various suggestions from the audience, such as reducing the school week to four days; however, Stewart said State law does not allow that. Another suggestions was to require teachers to be certified to teach more than one subject. It was also requested that the Board look into whether closing the high school and offering school choice would save any money.

*****

It's interesting that in neighboring Woodbury, a K-six school of about 50, the School Board decided not to commit to cutting the 2 percent from their budget as requested by the State. That would be about $14,000 for them. They are saying they have "enough to deal with" and don't know yet what the consequences, if any, would be if they don't cut the 2 per cent, and simply don't know where they can cut more. Woodbury did a survey recently and most people seemed to want to close the school. There will be further discussions in Woodbury.

There is a similar situation in the Twinfield school, with about 430 students. The 2 per cent budget reduction would amount to $166,000, and they are also facing a reduction in revenue of $56,000. They are considering the same kinds of changes Cabot is, saying that as a whole, the state "tends to be over users of para-educators," and that means one of the most probable measures is staff reduction to meet budget demands.

Cabot School and Twinfield, a PK-12 school will share an exchange teacher from China this term. Xiaolin Wang will be here until January. It wasn't clear what she will teach, but she is here as part of the University of Vermont Asian Studies program and teaches English, pre-school through high school, in China. Cabot's new principal, Karen Stewart, went to China to teach last April through the UVM program.

This will be another tough year for schools, school boards and tax payers.

Well, this was a day with lots of weather changes. It was raining hard for a while this morning, after a pretty good downpour and lots of wind in the night. I measured .56 in. at 9 a.m., and it rained some after that. In between showers, we had some sunshine and the temperature stayed in the high 40's most of the day. It may have been a little warmer in St. J., although I didn't check the temperature when I was there for a dental appointment this morning. This picture was just before I got to St. Johnsbury. It wasn't raining awfully hard, but the fog was settled in all the valleys and whisping along the ridges outside of town. A few minutes later, the sun came out.

On my way into town, I got this picture at the parking turnoff in West Danville of what I'm guessing is part of one of the really, really big wind turbines that are being trucked across Vermont from Maine, I believe it is where they are manufactured, and it's headed for Utah by train from some point in upstate New York. It's hard to find rail routes in a location that can be reached by trucks hauling these gigantic sections. We've seen other big parts going through, too. It's a project by First Wind, I believe. www.firstwind.com

Some of you may know about the laying off of 54 people at Kroll Data in Lyndon yesterday. The employees had no warning - they were told Tuesday morning and were out of there within a few hours. The company does credit verification and one would think business would be booming these days - but the company had been sold a couple of times. Richard Downing, who has a home on Darling hill in Lyndon owned it for about 25 years. He sold it in 2002, and this past August, it was acquired by Altegrity Corporation. The new owners felt say they had to "restructure" to gain efficiency and refocus business, thus the decision to close the Lyndon office. It's a tough situation for those employees - 38 full time and 16 temporary workers. Not what our local economy needs right now, and just before the holidays, too.

We had a brief e-mail from Fred's cousin in Rhode Island today, with a photo of their grandparents. I hope the photo shows up for you. I'm experimenting to make it large enough for you to read. Here's what Ora wrote about her memories:

Grandma Wry (Ora Hibbard Wry: 1875-1957) with her husband, Tony Wry in the background. They are at the turkey farm in Vermont making the selection. They always sent a live turkey, in crate, from St. Albans to NYC. The station master called my dad and magic: we had a live turkey in the small backyard in East Rutherford, NJ. Suburban NJ, just about 15 miles from New York City: a live turkey....needless to say it was quite a tradition.

Pretty exciting for us kids: big bird, feathers, and lots of preparations before Grace and Orlin presented it to the large family gathering. These probably included the Dickinsons from Passaic (Grace's family) and us....perhaps 12-14 people altogether.

But, who's counting: there were so many choices and such good cheer.

Cousin Ora was named for her grandmother. You can see Grandfather Tony in the background, watching as his wife selected a proper turkey to ship to the family in the city. And yes, in those days, they dressed up even for turkey picking!

It has been a really beautiful day again today. It started off a little doubtful, but by about 10 o'clock the sun came out and it was very pleasant. Fred and I walked down to Sandy Beach Road and I stopped to measure the water level at Walter Ruf's. It was at 5.5 in. below the top of his cement retaining wall, and once again the surface of the pond was like glass, so it was a cinch to measure. We're getting a little rain tonight, and there's a prediction for lots of wind . . .

The building sites are looking good. At LaGue's, the men were working on the last roof surface and said by day's end it would be finished. They surely had great weather for roofing. The top picture shows the north side of LaGue's, and part of the front facing the lake.

At Gagne's, things were humming and while they weren't roofing, they were putting finishing touches on and it should be fairly dry until they can get the roof finished. There is a great deal of roof to cover, but it will probably go fairly fast. This picture is of the work that was going on at the front, or lake side this morning.

We got quite a few pictures and I've made a slide show. We took our time and walked along the shoreline to get some pretty pictures, and as we were walking up through the field by Morgan's, we saw a partridge in the field. Nov. 16 Walk

Fred saw son Jamie as he was coming home from work late this afternoon, and Jamie told him a 300+lb. bear was shot in the field just beyond Henretta Splain's house this weekend. We had all heard the shot, but being the start of deer hunting, we didn't think much more about it. The guy who shot it always lets Jamie and Marie know that he's going to hunt in that field - he has come there for years, with the permission of the land owner, and as a courtesy, lets Jamie and Marie know. This year he was happy that he'd bagged a big bear. We had mixed emotions about it, though . . . I can't help feeling sad that a wild thing like that has been killed. Of course we don't want to be over run with bears - or with deer, I suppose - but unless someone really needs the food, killing them tugs at me.

We'll have to hold onto our hats tomorrow, I guess. The wind is supposed to pick up tonight and into tomorrow, plus rain. The temperature is going to drop, too, but it's still pretty warm for November. The weather people are a little surprised at how much sunshine we've had so far this month, too. Usually November is one of our dreariest months, with very little sun, but we can't complain this year.

The following message came to me today from Evelyn Caufield. If you know of a place or can think of any possibilities, contact Evelyn at meldy101@aol.com

Wondering if you knew of a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment or house for rent in Danville, Walden or Cabot? A friend with two children and a dog is looking for a better school district. She is starting her own cleaning business and already has local people and a town library as clients. She is the best I have ever had, honest as the day is long, always on time and does a wonderful job. She found the drive to Montpelier and back every day and getting after school care for her kids was just not a healthy lifestyle for any of them. Thanks, Evelyn.

Fred spent some time looking in the blog archives today and came up with two links I thought you might be interested in. I was surprised that so much was going on in November of 2006 - not just the fire in Hardwick, but you'll see in the next entry we had a bunch of construction projects going on at Joe's Pond then, too. Check it out: November 1, 2005

Then I looked back at a few more years - in 2007 we had quite a lot of snow by Thanksgiving. Looks like we probably won't have anywhere near that much this year, but there's still time, and more than likely we'll get a storm just before the holiday to inconvenience folks who want to get someplace for Thanksgiving.

I've been working on the new web site for Cabot Historical Society most of today. I had laid the groundwork months ago, but hadn't gone back to it, so recently when I've tried to work on it I've had to re-learn, or try to, from the beginning. It has been frustrating but today Fred helped me out and I think I may be "getting it" finally. I'm not building a site from scratch; I'm using a Google template thing that is supposed to be like "Web Site Building for Dummies," but there's a definite mindset one needs to be able to understand how computers work, and I'm far too literal or something. I expect to be able to delete something with the "delete key," and copy and paste at will; but that isn't how things work in this program. And whoever wrote those instructions when you click on "Help" must have been in one awful hurry because a whole lot of it doesn't make sense and half the time I can't even find the buttons they're telling me to use. I think I'm getting the hang of it, though, but it's definitely a "use it or lose it" type of learning curve, so I'll need to work on it at least a little bit nearly every day or I'll be in trouble again.

Another beautiful day today, and I missed most of it because I wanted to master this web site thing. Tomorrow isn't going to be as nice, but that's ok; I want to get in another full day on the web site so I can put it up for people to use soon.

I have a bunch of appointments in St. Johnsbury this coming week, so I'm hoping the driving doesn't get too dicey. I'll try to stop by the construction sites and post a report. We may have three constructions sites to watch on Sandy Beach Road if those beavers are building in the vicinity . . .

There's more going on at Sandy Beach Road than we knew. This morning Bill and Diane Rossi went to see the progress on the building sites and Sue LaGue showed them where the beavers have been working in the line of trees between LaGue's and Ricker's. Diane sent these pictures. She said the tops of the alders the beavers had cut were still there. Beavers generally work at night, I believe, and probably they will come to retrieve their harvest and take the tops to wherever their dam project is. They often take small trees like these for their winter food supply, and will bring them to the beaver house and anchor them under water in the mud so they can get to them without going outside. It would seem unlikely they would be building a dam close by, but there is generally a lot of activity in the channel that comes into Joe's Pond and also on the brook by Ned Hamilton's. They've been known to build their dams in at the opening of the culvert by Ned's, backing the water around his garage and tennis court. Perhaps they will build a dam in one of the culverts on Sandy Beach Road -- they are industrious and clever. They may be able to effectively slow down the runoff and stop the erosion in some of the trouble spots state and local officials have been agonizing over! GO BEAVERS!!

It's another really nice day. We've both been busy inside most of the day, but it's about time to get out there and enjoy the sun while we have it.

All Are Welcome…

Join Faith In Action Northern Communities Partnership for a FREE Community Dinner on Monday, November 15^th from 5pm to 7pm located at our new space in the

Masonic Hall 3339 Main St. in Cabot, VT,

and enjoy a Shepherd’s Pie Dinner and some good company.

Owing to fire laws we can only sit 50 people at a time so will stagger servings to see that everyone has a chance to enjoy this meal. The seating restriction will be lifted once a second egress is installed. Call (802) 563-3322 for more information.