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.