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!