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.