We've had two nice days in a row, more or less. I say that because this morning started off sunny but really cold. Things warmed up quickly and we got in the range of 30 degrees by afternoon. Tonight it's still only 20 degrees. Nice break. However, we're headed for cold nights again, some snow showers - the usual stuff January and February are made of.

Bill and Diane Rossi spent the day at Burke Mountain. Diane said they had a great day of skiing and the mountain was beautiful. I checked the blog for January 28th last year, just to compare notes on the weather, and we were having a blizzard. Lots of snow and cold temperatures. I had also posted a copy of the Warning for Cabot's town meeting. I haven't heard or seen anything about town meeting yet this year. I've heard rumblings that things don't go smoothly at some of the meetings, but that's normal when boards and committees are trying to get organized, and this will no doubt be a difficult year financially. Nobody will be getting as much money to spend as in previous years.

Cabot School's new Maintenance Director, Peter Ackermann, is scrambling to get up to speed after Patrick Campbell, the former director, resigned at the end of November. Ackermann is faced with needing to replace the bus that was damaged on January 10th in an accident in Lower Cabot. He's also facing problems with some of the school's buildings such as leaking, bad insulation work, and an over abundance of boilers that, a he put it, serve as "backups to backups" for the wood chip power plant. He stated the plant itself is in excellent shape, but there was no mention of whether there have been savings in heating costs. He and the school board have a lot of hard decisions to make.

The Hardwick Gazette reports that the 50 Walden residents who went to the informational meeting last week do not want to close Route 15 while the bridge is being replaced. Closing the bridge completely would be less expensive and take from 4-6 weeks to complete. Another option would be to maintain traffic during the rebuilding process, which would extend construction time to about 1 year and cost more. The new bridge will be wider by 8 ft., leaving room for walkers or bikers at the sides, and longer by about 17 ft. The cost will not be a burden on Walden, as it will be 80% federal dollars and 20% state funds. Since local money is not involved, one wonders how much clout Walden citizens will have in making the final decision. When asked if towns would be reimbursed for damage done to non-paved roads if the bridge is closed, structures project manager for VTrans Carolyn Carlson said there is no money available for that purpose.

Cabot Fire Department is asking the Select Board or the Planning Commission to adopt National Fire Protection code 1141, which would mean projects under site review by the commission would be required to provide 24-foot driveways and 30-foot turnarounds for all single and two-family dwellings and any planned residential developments, or any buildings being renovated. This would make it easier for the new, larger fire department vehicles to have access in emergency situations. It was unclear in the article whether the request will be acted upon in a timely manner or tossed around like a hot potato.

Another hot topic in Cabot has been parking at the Willey Building. At the last Select Board meeting it was unclear if the Cooksons, who are presently using some of the available parking at the Willey Building for their garage vehicles, had suspended negotiations with the town. The board had decided to post signs and put in guard rails defining the town property, thus reclaiming parking at the Willey Building, but according to the report, that has not been done even though the board apparently had had no contact with the Cooksons except for a letter saying they hadn't withdrawn, formally or informally. Some townspeople are asking what's to negotiate? It's clearly the town's property, so take it back and use it. That would leave the Cooksons with little off-street parking space for vehicles although I believe they own a lot on the opposite side of the Willey Building. Perhaps a swap could be arranged? I'm sure there's more to all of it than it would seem, but it has dragged on for months, getting nowhere, and it's beginning to appear pretty silly.

I will get back to the musty records of the 1700's when problems were simpler and decisions swifter, even though participants had to travel by foot or horseback to conduct the town's business.