I had a call tonight from Ray Rouleau. He and Cyndy arrived at Joe's Pond today so he says summer can start now. He says it's really good to be back. And we're really glad to know they are back safely, ready to enjoy the summer. I suppose now we'll all have to get going to get the road signs out and all changes made. Ray gets us all moving so everything is up to date and looking good for Memorial Day weekend, the "official" start of the summer season.

We're going to try to conjure up some nice warm weather everyone heading back from their warm winter roosts. It's possible we may have a little snow from that weather that's over North Dakota right now but kinda headed in our direction. It's not likely to amount to much, even if it does make it here, so don't change your plans if you are ready to head north.

Bill and Diane Rossi were here for dinner tonight - we wrapped up some Ice-Out stuff and heard about their river boat trip on the Mississippi and Tombigbee rivers, dodging tornadoes. They were fortunate there was no only slight damage to their boat and later their flight home was delayed due to severe storms in the area. They had a great time, but I think they're glad to be home.

As for damage from our latest rain storms here, Fella Buttura's furnace at their cottage got flooded and isn't working. The Butturas have family staying for the weekend, but we hear they are having to do without much heat. There's been so much rain, even people who don't live on the pond are getting water in their basements. The ground simply cannot absorb all the water.

I guess we'll have to put all our appliances up on platforms to keep them above high water level, if we can just figure out what that might be. New records are being set regularly - Lake Champlain is at the highest level ever recorded at 102.84 today - so we can no longer logically believe this period of high water is unusual and isn't likely to happen again. Old timers around the pond know it's been this high or higher from time to time in years past, even when Otis Brickett was able to control the dam by inserting or removing boards and the power company was allowed to lower the water way down to accommodate spring runoff,
there were still times when rain raised havoc and the water level. If scientists are correct, severe weather is going to happen more frequently everywhere, so we'd better figure out how to protect ourselves and our property and be ready for whatever comes along.

Good Morning -
Things are looking pretty good here. The sun is trying to shine, the rain has stopped (except for a few sprinkles earlier this morning), it's 42 degrees and climbing. We checked the water level and it's going down rapidly - only 5 or 6 inches above normal. There will be some "treasures" caught here and there along the shoreline as the water recedes and stuff that's floated away gets left behind, so folks will need to check with neighbors around the pond to locate lost items or to find the owners of whatever has washed up on your property. We'll get it all sorted out, I'm sure.

We checked the water level at Walter Ruf's, as we've been doing, and sometime yesterday, his dock got put in place. That's a sure sign of the beginning of our good time summer season, when docks begin to show up.

In case you've wondered how all the water that we've had affects people who live below us, particularly on the Connecticut River, Tom Dente sent me these pictures
yesterday and the following message:









Hi Jane,
I attached two photos of the the affect of the snow melt and water runoff in Vermont and along the way [of the Connecticut River], felt in Middletown, CT. The restaurant is on the shore of the Connecticut river in Middletown. In the 1980s the water level reached the second floor peaking near the roof line which caused Middletown to become an island surrounded by water for a few days.
Tom

I guess we can feel pretty fortunate we haven't had things worse here in the hills of Northeast Kingdom. Homes around Lake Champlain are taking a hit with water in the lake at a record high. Champlain gets runoff from much large streams fed by surrounding mountains which still have plenty of snow left to melt. Most of the snow around here is gone. I noticed a few patches in the woods as we were walking this morning, but I think we've seen the worst of the flooding and high water for a while.

I've heard of a few people with problems around pond - our boathouse and dock took a big hit from the ice; Rossi's boathouse suffered some damage; Pearl Island has a toppled shed and probably other damage; Fella Buttura has water in his basement. As more folks return, we may hear of other similar damage, but we haven't suffered the kind of damage seen in other parts of the country, so we must feel fortunate.

I want to remind Cabot people to get out on Tuesday to vote for our two additional select board members. There are four running. For the one year term, former town clerk, Jackie Folsom and self-employed building contractor, Dan Dunham. For the two year term, former road commissioner and now farmer Allan Perry, and educator/business owner Judy Pransky.

All are well qualified candidates. We applaud them for coming forward to serve their community. Being a selectman is not always a comfortable position to hold; there is a great deal of responsibility in the job and it's impossible to please everyone, so there's always going to be someone who disagrees with you. Looking at the candidates, I feel confident that whichever two win, the town will benefit.

We posted a short video of the water going over the dam yesterday. You'll find it just below this post. It was really quite a sight - and sound. Literally tons of water tumbling over the dam and down the brook. It's hard to believe as you stand there watching it that after a few hours the pond wouldn't be empty. However, there is a lot of water coming into the pond from various small brooks. The ground right now is super saturated with water and it gushes off the hillsides - in one spot along the ditch on the upper side of West Shore Road this morning we saw an actual water spout. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was just like a water fountain shooting up and over out of the ground.

Yesterday I posted a photo Evelyn had taken of the shed on Pearl Island. Today we got this picture of the other end of the island. The water, though still very high at about 17.5 in. above normal, is beginning to go down, but we have yet to learn how much damage has been caused by either high water or ice.

There was no reason for me to wake up at 3 a.m. this morning, but I did, and then I couldn't get back to sleep. Turned out Fred was awake, too, so when at a little after 4 o'clock I decided to get up and watch the wedding on TV, he got up, too. He wasn't interested in the wedding, but went directly to his computer. I made myself some coffee, got our breakfast oatmeal started and settled down to watch all the English women with their beautiful, silly and gravity-defying hats. As the sun came up, I got this picture - that is a crescent moon high in the sky.

Nothing could match the rainbow we had here last evening. Bill, Monika and Jo-Ann were here for dinner, already seated at the table, and I was on the phone with a reporter when I first noticed it. There were reflections, I counted two, further down the lake that were not as defined, but the main rainbow was the brightest and largest I've ever seen, I think.

Later in the evening Diane Rossi sent these pictures with a note:











Couldn't resist taking these....The loons, the water, and the rainbow all welcoming us home! The ice-out flag floated over here, and then started floating back toward Homer's, but was still up when it got
dark.

Diane and Bill had just arrived home from a trip and it was as if they brought spring with them. Diane got pictures of both ends of the rainbow. We still aren't sure where the pallet went down, but this morning when we checked the water level at Walter Ruf's the markers were nowhere in sight. The ice is gone except there was a little showing in the Cove near Island Drive and perhaps in the cattails by Billy Hamilton's at the north end of the pond. Today would have probably finished off any that was left.

It got pretty cold last night for a change. There seemed to be a little frost on the grass as daylight broke, but by the time we walked, around 8 a.m., it was pretty nice. Now we have clouds again and the forecast is for . . . showers!

We measured the water at 17.5 in. above normal level this morning. That's a little above what it was when we measured on Wednesday, but it had come up more so was higher yesterday - but we didn't have any spare time to measure it then. Ice-Out kept us both pretty busy answering phones and sending e-mails. We could see this morning on the Allen's lawn where the water had been higher and left some debris.

I know I told you not to come back to the pond too soon because of the roads. Since Cabot honed W. Shore Road, it has been much better although there are some "greasy" spots where the frost is still not out; but except for the Danville end, which is pretty messy but passable, we're in good shape. I heard the Walden road crew discussing some of their roads today as being "nearly impassable." They were working on getting them in shape, though. It's been a tough spring for a lot of reasons.

The JPA newsletter will be out soon. It's being proofed for errors and will then goes to the printer, so by the end of next week I should be mailing it to members.

Here's a short video of the water at the dam yesterday morning, April 27th. Turn up your speakers. The roar when we were there was deafening.

WE HAVE AN ICE-OUT CONTEST WINNER! IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T CHECKED ON FRED'S HOME PAGE ICE-OUT REPORT, HER NAME IS KAREN BROUILLETTE, SHE IS FROM WEBSTERVILLE, VERMONT, AND HER GUESS WAS THE CLOSEST - APRIL 27 AT 10:07 P.M.

THE ICE ACTUALLY WENT OUT ON APRIL 27 AT 10:17 PM. THE EARLIEST IT HAS EVER GONE OUT WAS LAST YEAR, 2010, WHEN IT WENT OUT ON APRIL 5; THE LATEST IT HAS EVER GONE OUT WAS IN 1992 WHEN IT WENT OUT ON MAY 6.

THIS YEAR THE CLOCK STOPPED BECAUSE THE ICE WITH THE PALLET AND FLAG DRIFTED UP THE POND AND DISCONNECTED THE CLOCK. AT ABOUT NOON TODAY, THE PALLET AND FLAG WERE BEING BLOWN UP THE POND BY A STRONG SOUTH WIND.

WATER LEVEL IS VERY HIGH AND THERE HAS BEEN CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE AROUND THE POND. HERE ARE A COUPLE OF PICTURES. YOU WILL RECOGNIZE PEARL ISLAND - THEIR LITTLE SHED HAS TOPPLED AND THE ISLAND IS NEARLY UNDER WATER. (Photo by Evelyn Richer) THE OTHER PICTURE IS THE END OF OUR DOCK - HALF OF IT BENT AND TORN APART BY THE CRUSH OF THE ICE. WATER IS HIGHER THAN IT WAS YESTERDAY AND STILL RISING. I'M SURE THERE WILL BE A LOT OF DAMAGE AROUND THE POND, UNFORTUNATELY. THE DAM IS OPEN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, BUT IT CAN'T BEGIN TO TAKE CARE OF ALL THE WATER. WE HAVE HAD SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON AND THERE IS MORE RAIN IN THE FORECAST.

AT LEAST WE HAVEN'T HAD A TORNADO - YET.

I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me. Does anyone remember a musician/composer by the name of Chet Howard? I believe he was born in St. Johnsbury and was a county-western artist. Any information would be appreciated.

I promise I'm not going to bore you by writing a whole lot more again today, but I wanted to share with you the pictures we took this evening when we went to check on the Ice-Out clock. The flag is still up, as you can see, the pond was clear of fog, so Fred got some pictures of the debris left by the ice fishermen, and because we saw that the water had come up some during the day, we got some pictures around our cottage of the high water. Really high and climbing. Take a look: High Water
By the way, Kate Chatot called while we were gone to let us know that Woodbury Pond's ice went out today. I've forgotten the exact formula that Chico Carcoba used to predict when Joe's Pond would go out, but it was based in part at least on when Woodbury went. After seeing the high water and with rain in the forecast, I predict the flag will be down very soon - perhaps even tomorrow. Richard Fortin is keeping close track, as are several others who chose dates right about now.

I thought I'd let everyone know how high the water is right now. Going by Walter Ruf's cement retaining wall at the front of his cottage, the water is about 16.5 in. above normal. Normal, according to Walter, is about 4 inches below the top of his wall. Today when I measured, it was 12.5 in. above the top. It could go higher, but there's a lot of water going over the dam. David Covell has pictures taken this morning - go to the slide show on his website,www.joespond.com - the dam pictures are at the very end of the slide show.

We took pictures (of course!) on our walk this morning, and I've put them into a slide show for you. They aren't as dramatic as David's dam shots, but here they are: Water Check, 4-27-11










When we got home, it was too nice to go in, so I did a "walk-around" to check flower beds and the back yard, etc. The first thing that caught my eye were the crocuses (or crocii). I swear they weren't there yesterday! Then, my daffies are progressing nicely. Can't wait for them to be in full bloom. There were other things showing, some peonies and iris.

In the back yard, my vegetable garden is surrounded by very wet ground, so there's no hurry about getting out there to work for a while.
The sun is beautiful this afternoon, but the weather forecast is for more rain, hard at times, so I guess we're not going to dry out any time soon.

On the scanner I'm hearing some of the roads that were flooded in the St. Johnsbury area are now open - a few places there's still only one lane, but it's getting better.

It's amazing how good everyone feels to be able to peel off jackets and to see some sunshine. Our neighbor, Don Encarnacion, was washing his car, happy to be outside in comfortable weather. We saw Evelyn Richer and her mom, Doris Demick as they were headed into St. Johnsbury to do some shopping. Evelyn said as soon as she heard they had honed West Shore Road, they were ready to head out. I told her to watch out for the culvert a little way up the road from where we were standing - it looked like it could cave in with the weight of a car, but she made it across okay. Later we met a couple of guys who had been picking up clutter at the Cabot cemeteries, and they were glad to be out in the sun getting things done.

Just before we went inside to eat lunch, we heard a partridge drumming down in the woods below us. Our neighbor had heard one the other day and was asking about it, so I sent her this link. Ruffed Grouse or Partridge
The male is putting on a fine display to attract a mate, and it sure is an attention getter! Sounds a lot like a stubborn one-cycle engine.

There was a comment this morning posted after the pictures of the ducks the other day - yesterday, I think, and in answer to that I'll just say, "Yes, I DID notice!" But I didn't put a caption on - maybe, "Baby I'll follow you anywhere"?
or "Get outa my way, woman!" "Last one in's a rotten egg!" What do you think?

And that, dear readers, is all she wrote for today - unless there's some spectacular event or news, of course. I really need to get some work done, much as I enjoy posting pictures and rambling on.

During the night we had a really hard downpour. It woke me up around 12:30 and seemed to last a long time. There was a little thunder and some lightning - kinda like summer! - and I knew there would be a whole lot less snow on the ground this morning.

There are still patches in the woods and on our back lawn, but mostly it's gone around our house. The ice on the pond must have taken a real hit, but it is holding on. The temperature didn't go down much last night and right now is 51 degrees, so things are really warming up around here and melting fast. There's lots of fog, This picture is how West Shore Road looked when Fred went to check the clock at Homer's at 7 a.m.











Fred could barely make out the flag. He said he had to wait a bit until it cleared enough to see the flag. The wind moves the fog around, so he waited until it cleared a little and got these pictures. The platform is still tilted which seems to indicate the ice has melted more on the south end of it (no surprise there!) It is surprising that sometimes it tips precariously but doesn't go down like you'd expect it to. We think with the water high this morning, and bound to get much higher with all the water coming into the pond from the swollen brooks, things could begin to change rapidly.

This shows how high the water is around Ned and Carolyn Hamilton's boat landing. I intend to get down to measure at Walter Ruf's later today. Walking on the road won't be fun - I think I heard the road machine go down through a few minutes ago, so that will stir things up a bit. I tried to see the road to tell if I it really was the road crew, but can't tell without going down to look - and even then it's hard to know because they may have been headed for further down the road where the potholes are the worst. I hope it was them and if they can help those potholes and dips, we'll put up with poor walking conditions, for sure.

I'm looking out at my vegetable garden, beginning to think about getting some early planting done. It is always fun to open it up in the spring to see what's changed over the winter. Last fall I put a heavy coating of mulch over everything before I covered it all with black plastic. Usually most of the grass/hay mulch is pretty well decomposed by spring. Those fish worms stay active all winter under the right conditions. This year there was a deep cover of snow, so they may not have had to go as deep as normal to survive and could do their work nicely under the cover I provided. I'll wait a while for the sun to warm the soil up a bit more before I plant anything. We expect to see the sun again by the weekend, but for now we're literally in a fog!

We checked the clock and the flag early this morning and there's little change from last night except it may be a little slushier. Hard to tell from a distance. The top two photos were taken last night around 7 o'clock, the bottom ones this morning.
The ice is still solidly attached to the Barre Avenue shore, but right by Homer's you can see in this picture how the ice is cracked and melting.

Our ticket logger, Ros, told me this morning there are about 3, 455 tickets still in the running. All others have had earlier dates or were ineligible due to errors or omissions. We try to check the tickets as they come in to be sure everything is filled out properly, but during those last frantic days before the closing date, we simply cannot check every single one, and by then it's pretty much too late to contact anyone to get any problem straightened out. Diane and I made lots of phone calls this year to let people know they'd goofed up their tickets somehow, and most we were able to resolve. We were unable to contact some, or we left messages and had no response.

Back to the weather and other stuff we can't control. We are getting a steady drizzly rain today with lots of fog. The thermometer is reading pretty close to 50 degrees. I didn't hear heavy rain last night, and I measured .60 in. of precipitation this morning, but we had an e-mail from David Covell a few minutes ago saying there's a heap of water going over the dam. The level didn't seem to be awfully high when we were at Homer's this morning, but it is higher than normal. I guess it's about time to check out the water level at Walter Ruf's - that's a better guide since we have the top of his cement wall to go by. We'll try to do that soon, if there's a break in the rain. We would walk down - not a good idea to take the car out unless you have to these days. I timed it this morning and it took me about 18 minutes to drive from Homer's home. We met a couple of vehicles as we were coming back and they were not slowing for those bumps at all. I don't see how they can stay on the road, and wonder that they have a car left after a few trips. I sure don't want to pound my car like that.

We also spotted a pair of ducks visiting at Bill and Diane Rossi's. Aren't they nice? They were right beside the road when we first spotted them, but then headed down the driveway to where there was a little puddle in back of the tool shed. We didn't bother them further, so perhaps they will spend the day there. There isn't much open water along the west shore, but perhaps they were looking for food - like in Diane's flower beds, maybe?

I tried to get a picture of a partridge on our front lawn this morning, but by the time I got the camera, it was gone. They like to forage under the apple trees for whatever the squirrels and deer leave behind. I haven't seen the usual flock of turkeys going through. They usually stop under the apple trees, too, but not for long. They seem to always be on the move.

Here's something for all you folks who like to sing in the shower or strum your guitar out on your porch in the summer. There will be a Talent Show at the Cabot Performing Arts Center on May 20th. Here's more about it from Hugh Burke, one of our neighbors who lives up on Cabot Plains Road:

THE FIRST ANNUAL CABOT SCHOOL PERFORMING ARTS

CENTER TALENT SHOW

This year on May 20th, the 1st annual Cabot “World’s Best Talent Show” lands in our little town of Cabot, and you’ll be happy it did. It doesn’t matter how old you are because people of all ages can enter and there will be three age groups competing; elementary/middle school age, high school age, and adults. There will be a cash prize for each category and the amount of money one can win is determined by how many people attend. Bring your friends and family. If you have a talent, we want to see it.

To register, you can either go to cabotschool.org and click on the CSPAC link or you can call 802.563.2546 and leave a message. Someone from the Performing Arts Center will contact you with further details.

The entry fee per act is $10.
The audience admission price is $5 for adults and $3 for students.
The talent show is open to residents of Cabot and the surrounding areas (Danville, Walden, Hardwick, Plainfield, and Marshfield). We will provide a full sound system, back line of instruments and amps, and microphones for participants. If you will need any assistance with your act then we may be able to provide 1 or 2 stage crew members to lend a hand.

So all of you undiscovered (or frustrated, under appreciated) musicians, singers, dancers, and storytellers -- get your acts together and be ready to compete.
See you there!

Doesn't that sound like fun?? Talent shows were regular entertainment years ago, and they came up with some pretty darned good performances, too, according to the old newspaper reports. With gas prices the going higher, this is a great time to maybe win some extra gas money - and if you don't want to enter the contest, you can have some great entertainment without traveling many miles or spending a bundle.

Today's weather is turning out to be so mild and perfect we're all kind of coming out into the warmth with spring thoughts like you wouldn't believe.

We checked the flag on the ice this morning (it's tilted, but not ready to sink quite yet) and then stopped for the mail (there was none), before continuing on to recycle at Wolcott. While we were at the store, we saw one guy with shorts on - I don't think he was a local, but he might have been. Deb Stresing was sprucing up her shop, getting it ready for the May 1st opening; we bumped into Jenness Ide which is always a pleasure (she's always bubbly and fun); then there was Garey in the post office showing signs of a different sort of spring fever.

It seems there are new regulations set up by the U. S. post office department about forwarding mail, and Garey is having a hard time with the mail for some of our summer folks. He said to let you know it would help him a whole lot if you let him know when you are heading back here so he won't send your mail on a long unnecessary trip south only to be fetched back here because you've left already . . . then you arrive here and your mail is someplace else and important stuff is delayed getting to you. I'm sure you get the picture. He was obviously having a hard time this morning trying to figure out where people are or where they're going to be if they aren't already, and if not now, when. He says a quick phone call to him at the P.O. (802-684-1158), or send him a note: Postmaster, West Danville, VT 05873, should reach him!

Having promised Garey I'd do my best to help by posting his plea on the blog, we continued on towards Wolcott. There were folks walking on the beach - perhaps they'd been on the rail trail, but I imagine that's still kind of wet and snowy in some spots. They were enjoying the sunshine just as much as we were. We passed a Quebec car a little further up the road, a convertible with the top down (of course!) pulled over either examining a map or making a phone call from their cell - we couldn't tell which. We met lots of cars with drivers smiling happily and talking on their cell phones.

We stopped at Poulin's in Hardwick and Fred picked up a piece of lumber he needed. Really nice folks there. They didn't know us at all, but we were told to drive out to storage area "D" and someone would take care of us. A very nice young man was waiting, knew approximately what we needed, got it, cut it to length for us and sent us off with instructions to talk to a certain lady in the office about another question we had. We were impressed at how friendly and helpful everyone was.

Same thing at the recycling place. They are now distributors for Maine Wood Pellets, and Fred got lots of good information from a very friendly person there. While he was in that office talking about wood pellets, I was in the car watching a very friendly dog pacing in and out of the open door of the office. She looked to me like a boxer - not your regular "junk yard dog" breed, but she sure looked like she was keeping track of things. There was a hound of some description bawling at a farm up the road on Rte 15, but that didn't seem to interest her at all. I guess the mournful howls were just background noise for her. She seemed more interested in people coming and going, but in an aloof sort of way.

We stopped at Grand Union on our way back through Hardwick. I don't know why we should be surprised when we see someone we know in Hardwick, but when we heard someone yell, "Go on back to West Danville," we were just a bit taken aback. Turned out it was Mary who works at Hastings Store. She was chatting with a group of people in the parking lot and had recognized us. We hailed her with waves and a big "hello" - picked up a couple of things in the store and were on our way again. Mary was still enjoying the sunshine in the parking lot with her friends.

And so it goes - a nice spring day, everyone out doing their thing, enjoying the sun while they can, any way they can. It's supposed to rain buckets tonight and for the next few days. We're beginning to feel the temperature dropping - it was a little above 60 around noon, but now has dropped back to about 54 degrees. Still warm enough to melt snow and ice, by golly.

Two things before I move on to other things. There is a new comment on home page, if you're interested, and someone also sent me a comment after reading yesterday's blog. You'll find that one at the bottom of that blog.

We're hearing from lots of people who picked Ice-Out dates over the next few days. This will be another nail biter, I think - that ice is looking pretty dark and with heavy rain coming, it's anybody's guess when the platform will sink and the clock will stop.

We hope everyone had a nice Easter. Our weather today has been much improved over what we've experienced until now - we actually felt "spring" in the air.

We went with our friends, Elizabeth and Louise, to "99" for dinner. It was a last-minute decision, made so by my reluctance to issue invitations for guests to come to our house until I knew the road was at least passable. By the first of last week it seemed safe enough, but by that time our family had made other plans, so we decided the four of us would go out.

Louise isn't a fan of buffets - she says at age 93 she wants someone to wait on her; she doesn't want to go out and have to serve herself - she can do that at home. With that in mind, and knowing we all enjoy "99" in Littleton, we made reservations there. In the picture above, we are intent on making our selections. None of us opted for traditional lamb or ham, both of which were offered as Easter specials.

We were not disappointed with our dinners. The food and service were excellent, the restaurant wasn't noisy or crowded, the weather was mild, and we were able to enjoy doing some errands at the box stores before we left Littleton.









Back at Joe's Pond, we stopped at the fishing access to check on the Ice-Out flag. The warmth of the day had hastened melting at the pond. The first pond, at West Danville, is nearly free of ice, and the middle pond is not far behind. Our third pond, which for those of you who may not know Joe's Pond, is much bigger, and they are all connected. We had noticed earlier as we were heading down Rte 15, there was open water at least to Pearl's Island - we took this picture at the head of Island Drive, looking west. We were impressed that by the time we were back from dinner a few hours later, the ice was beginning to darken in spots although not so much on the third pond, but you can see by the photos there is more water showing at the shoreline than there has been. Ice conditions have definitely changed today.

We're going to be checking the clock more regularly now - in fact, with more warm weather and rain expected this week, we will check twice a day as there's no way of knowing how rotten the ice is under the pallet - the contest could be over very quickly. We will keep you posted.

We hadn't been over Brickett's Crossing Road for several weeks due to the mud, but we were pleasantly surprised today to find it is much better than West Shore Road. For a while it was pretty close to impassable, as was W. Shore Rd., but Walden has smoothed it very well, and although there were a couple of still very wet spots, it was not all that muddy. West Shore Road, on the other hand, is full of humps and ridges - the kind that go across the road like speed bumps - and if you aren't careful to very slowly pick your way, your car will bottom out, hitting either the front bumper or the belly of your car, or frequently both at the same time.

It's not only Cabot's end of the road; Danville's isn't much better, just shorter. We're hoping both towns do some serious work on West Shore Road soon. I think the frost is sufficiently out so they can do it some good. With rain coming Tuesday through Thursday, it would be really good to do it sooner rather than later, but that probably won't happen. I keep reminding myself (and others) that other roads in town are probably as bad or worse than ours, although after driving over it today, it's hard to imagine.

On May 3rd Cabot voters will be voting to elect two additional members to the Select Board, increasing it from three to five members. Judy Pransky is seeking one position, and former road commissioner Alan Perry is running, also. I don't know if anyone is running against those two. I believe either or both would be fine additions to the board. I don't think Alan, if he is elected, will be filling the road commissioner's position as retiring board member Larry Gochey did, even though he certainly has the background for it. He has stated that the road commissioner position should be separate and there should be a specific job description, which he says he will urge the select board to write. Alan's father and his grandfather were long-time road commissioners, and Alan held the position for several years until he decided to farm.

Well, so much for sprucing up your Easter bonnet and breaking out the spiffy heels and best togs for church tomorrow. Looks like Easter Sunday may be just another "mackinaw, touque and mucklucks" kind of day, if today is any indicator.

I measured one inch of new snow this morning, and it's still snowing. There's plenty of wind out there, too, but the good news is that it's out of the south and may bring some warmer temperatures by tomorrow. But that doesn't change that all this snow is going to leave a wet mess on roads and sidewalks, so a lot of us could be clomping around in winter boots wearing zipped parkas, earmuffs and mittens. It won't be pretty, but we'll be warm.

We may think we've got it tough with wet snow, mud and wind, but think about the poor birds that have arrived back under the impression there is spring in the north country only to find the place covered with snow, precious little open water, and blizzard conditions going on. Talk about confusion and disappointment! Take a look at these robins early this morning looking for breakfast worms.

Even Woody is confused. His summer "self-service" door is now open, but every time he starts out, as soon as his head is through the flap the wind hits him full force and, ears back and eyes shut, he retreats to the comfort of the living room and a wood pillow by the fire. If he does go out, he doesn't stay long and bounds through the kitty door, bolts up the cellar stairs and bursts through the door like Jack Frost is right behind him. It's way more interesting (and comfortable) to watch what little is going on outside from his perch on the window sill.










I just looked out and realized the wind and snow had nearly stopped. I expect it's just a lull in the storm, but I took the opportunity to snap pictures so you can see how pretty all the new snow is. I did a bit of zoom to show you the channel, but there was more snow in the air there, probably due to wind coming up the pond and blowing it off the trees - or maybe it was a squall moving along the valley. The wind is picking up again here, so I don't think we're going to see sunshine any time soon.

We have friends cruising on the Tennessee River - in 80 degree weather. We've heard from them a few times and so far none of the bad weather in that general area has affected them. Mud season is always a good time to plan a vacation someplace warm and sunny. Then there are some Joe's Ponders who didn't heed my advice to delay coming back, so arrived back from Arizona this week - but they are good sports and, being native to the north country, understand our freaky weather and probably got out their cross country skis. No point being grumpy about it, heat up some maple syrup and have a sugar-on-snow party. This fresh snow is perfect for it!

About the Ice-Out Contest - I feel really sorry there are so many of you who picked Ice-Out dates that have already gone by. Weather is a big factor in this contest, and it's completely unpredictable in spite of all our forecasters and almanac predictions. I know some of you took at a last-minute opportunity during those last days of March to picked up more tickets so you could enter later dates, so I think if you picked a date in June you have a good chance to win . . . Actually, the ice is probably melting in spite of the weather - slowly, surely, silently rotting away and one day we'll look out at the platform and flag and they won't be there. The whole apparatus will just quietly disappear without fanfare. Maybe.

A little new snow - 1/2 inch is what I measured this morning, and I also measured 8 in. of snow on the ground. Snow cover in open areas on our eastern facing slope is pretty uniform except bare spots around trees, on knolls, etc. This is probably (I hope) the last time I'll measure the total snow on the ground this year. There is a lot of water content both in the new snow that fell overnight and what was already on the ground. Our temperature today is inching towards 50 degrees (!!) and that's pretty exciting after the cold weather we've been having. The sunshine isn't as bright as it started off to be early this morning, and I expect we'll have rain later today and some tomorrow.

Steve Allen sent an interesting link to me this morning, and that prompted me to do a little exploring. This is what I came up with:
Starting April 25, 2011 ---

US 2: Long term road construction.

Between VT 232 (near Marshfield) and VT 15 (8 miles west of the St. Johnsbury area). Long term road construction because of major road construction work. Starting Monday until October 15, 2012.

Comment: This is a phase project that will involve reconstruction and widening of a portion of U.S. Route 2. The first phase of the project will involve a mile section of Route 2 east of Marshfiled Village. A speed restriction will be in place and some delays can be expected.

Last updated today(April 22) at 10:39AM EDT

To access this sort of information, go to Vermont.gov

Here's what Steve wrote:
VT Transportation has these cameras set up all over the state - this one looks like it's just east of the Marshfield Dam, where the road goes up hill with a passing lane. http://170.222.32.148/18/

Hope Spring shows up soon!

So do we, Steve, so do we!

The Cabot Planning Commission will hold a public work session on

Land Use

on Monday, April 25th at 6 PM

in the 2nd floor meeting room of the Willey Building

-- light refreshments will be served --

The Land Use section of the Town Plan forms the basis of the Town's land use regulations.

Come and learn how the Planning Commission proposes to retain Cabot's working landscape

while promoting a thriving village center -- and engage in the discussion.

Copies of the draft Land Use section will be available

Friday, April 22 at the Cabot Town Clerk's Office.

This morning we DID wake up to a world white with new snow (again) except for the dark ribbon of mini-brooks running across our lawn and the road and driveway where the snow isn't sticking. It was pretty close to 32 degrees when I checked for CoCoRaHS at 9 a.m., but now has climbed to about 35 and the snow has melted off what bare ground there was around our house. It's still snowing too hard to see across the pond to the Rte. 15 hillsides, but I imagine it is melting as it hits there as there was a lot more bare ground on that slope.

I know lots of folks are beginning to get a bit edgy about the price of gasoline these days. It seems to continually climb, and with summer vacation time coming up, it's certainly not good news. I was interested in the comment posted yesterday saying we should refrain from purchasing gasoline for two days - everyone on the same two days - and that might bring the price back to a reasonable amount. I guess it's worth a try.

On the news is a put-down on using ethanol made from corn because it causes some engine parts to rust or something. I wonder why that isn't a good opportunity for companies to begin making those parts from a material that resists rust. I suppose it would cost more to do that, but if the price of fuel could be kept down it might be offset somewhat.

Whoa! The sun just popped out! There are still snowflakes flying around, and a pretty good wind, but it's certainly getting brighter out there. Fred and I are going into W. Danville to check the mail and will stop to check the Ice-Out setup - that may be covered in snow, who knows!

Join your friends and neighbors to plant trees and shrubs along the banks of the [Winooski] River.

Tuesday May 3^rd 1:00 to 6:30 PM

At two properties in Lower Cabot

Look for signs and balloons marking the location along Rte 215 about ½ mile south of Cabot Village.

Students from Twinfield School will helping out in the early afternoon and employees from Cabot Creamery will be joining in at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Volunteers are welcome for any or all of the time!

If you can sign up in advance, it is greatly appreciated. Contact the Friends of the Winooski River at 882-8276 or info@winooskiriver.org.

However, all are welcome!!

It's a strange day weatherwise today. We were awakened early by a thunderstorm, around 5:30 a.m., and various types of weather have been rolling through ever since. right now, at almost noon, things seem to have calmed down, but when I did my CoCoRaHS report at 9 o'clock, I crunched through about a quarter inch of frozen something or other - could have been hail or perhaps just freezing rain. Whatever it was, the temperature was such that the droplets froze on the tree limbs, forming pretty little ice nodes. I don't think it did any harm to buds or anything as the temperature has risen to nearly 40 degrees from the freezing point in just these few hours. Right now, the rain and thunder have stopped but the wind is still pretty strong. Perhaps there's more weather on the way.

With all of this going on, there isn't much melting, but there will be considerable water coming off the hillsides again since the rain was heavy at times. We are promised nicer weather later in the week and for the weekend.

Here in Cabot, Easter Sunrise Service is held on Cabot Plain. Sometimes in very inhospitable weather, and sometimes it's been difficult for people to get there because of the roads. I haven't been to Cabot in at least two weeks because of the mud situation, so I don't know what they are like in that direction. A neighbor told us a few days ago they aren't as bad in that direction as they have been along W. Shore Road, but now West Shore Road is pretty good except we expect there may be more "breakouts" in different spots since some of the known mud holes haven't shown up yet.

It's funny how one thing leads to another sometimes. I've been corresponding with a gentleman researching the William Osgood family, one of the first settlers in Cabot. We had no notion (at least I hadn't) that William had served during the Revolution. When I went through our records of known veterans of that war buried in our cemeteries, I realized that the list I'd posted on our Cabot Historical Society website, www.cabothistory.com, was incomplete. Then I also realized that probably the Cabot Cemetery Commission would like an updated list of those burial sites so they can place flags there, so that's on my "to-do" list now.

Flags at the veterans' graves are a tradition, and from time to time, we've missed one, which is unfortunate and certainly unintentional. So, in spite of research being time consuming and sometimes dull, every now and then something very interesting comes to light and real benefit is realized. That's the little nudge I need sometimes to keep me moving forward.

Earth Day Every Day

Ten things you can do to help keep Vermont green

By Deb Markowitz, Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources

Surrounded by the natural beauty of Vermont, it is easy to remember that we are an integral part of our environment, and that each one of us shares responsibility for taking care of the land, forests, air, water, and wildlife. Every year on April 22nd, Earth Day, we remind ourselves of the environmental challenges facing our planet. From cleaning up the waters of Lake Champlain, to the effect of climate change on our forests and wildlife, to the growing number of harmful chemicals in our environment we must rededicate ourselves to good environmental stewardship for this and future generations.

This Earth Day let’s commit ourselves to celebrating Earth Day every day. Here are ten simple ways you can help:
1. Waste not, want not. When we reduce what we use, reuse what we can and recycle the rest, we save money and save the planet! Turn off lights and unplug electronics to conserve electricity and save on your electric bill. Office workers in America use, on average, 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year! Think before you print – and save money and paper by using email.
2. Green up Vermont. Every spring when the snow melts we see litter that has accumulated on our roadsides and in our woods and rivers. Help keep Vermont beautiful by joining a cleanup team in your community on Green Up Day (May 7th). www.greenupvermont.org.
3. Buy local. Whether it is buying produce at a local farmer’s market, honey from a local beekeeper, furniture from a Vermont woodworker or bread from a local bakery, buying local helps preserve Vermont’s working landscape, supports a vibrant economy and reduces your carbon footprint.
4. Turn off your car. Idling your car affects Vermont’s air quality, contributes to increased incidents of asthma and also contributes to global warming. If Americans cut idling time in half we would prevent as much as 26 million tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year! If you idle for more than 10 seconds you use more fuel than restarting your engine, so idling also wastes money and gas.
5. Kick your addiction to fossil fuels. Vermonters’ leading contributions to global warming (greenhouse gas emissions) come from the fossil fuels we use to heat our homes and businesses and to fuel our cars. Reduce your carbon footprint (and save gas money) by walking, taking a bus, riding a bike and carpooling. Heat your house using Vermont wood with a woodstove or pellet stove. Visit Efficiency Vermont to take advantage of energy saving incentives. www.efficiencyvermont.com.
6. Button up your house. Weatherize your house to save energy, save money and to stay warm. Go to a free do-it-yourself weatherization skillshop and learn what you can do to save energy in your home. www.weatherizationskillshop.com
7. Buy a reusable water bottle and fill it from your tap! Tap water is cleaner, cheaper and healthier than store-bought water. 1.5 million tons of plastic water bottles are thrown out every year. In Vermont we spend more than 10 million dollars every year to ensure that municipal tap water is clean and healthy.
8. Take a child to a state forest or park. Research shows that a person develops a love of the outdoors and a positive environmental ethic through childhood experiences in nature. We also know that when kids spend many hours every day sitting in front of a television or computer they have a greater risk of obesity, diabetes and depression. There are many great ways to have fun with kids outdoors in Vermont. Take the Vermont Venture Outdoor Challenge and earn a free season’s pass to Vermont State Parks, www.vtstateparks.com, participate in a Becoming an Outdoor Family program www.uvm.edu and learn how to hunt, fish and camp, or take your canoe to one of Vermont's many beautiful ponds or rivers.
9. Get involved. Make a difference in your community. Join your conservation commission, energy committee or planning commission. Become a master gardener, urban forester, volunteer to teach environmental education in your local school.
10. Take time every day to appreciate Vermont’s natural beauty. We are lucky to live in Vermont. Get out and enjoy the mountains, rivers and forests, and celebrate Earth Day every day.