I had a message from George Parizo this morning with pictures of the installation last week of the culvert on Sandy Beach Road. These pictures give a whole new perspective. Here's George's description:

Re: Culvert replacement on Sandy Beach Road and storm damage to the lake.
The new culvert is 36" the old one was only 20." The workers are coming back to finish lining the top part of the brook with 12" stone. After labor Day they are going to install a cement header to insure the water goes where it's intended to flow. The damage to the lake is another matter, There is a lot of red tape involved in putting equipment into the water. There is some doubt we'll be able to float our boat until the damage is addressed.

Sam Louis is working on the process of getting the permits in place to a allow the material to be pulled out of the lake.

George Parizo

The photos George sent give a totally different perspective. Seeing the size of the culvert compared to the men in the trench is impressive. Now it seems that there is a good possibility the problem may be solved after all these years of that culvert washing out.

As for the "sandy beach" George and Pat now share with Bill and Sandy Ricker along their respective waterfronts - we'll need to wait and see what Sam finds out.

Many thanks to George for the pictures and setting us straight on the situation.

(As always, click on the photo to enlarge it.)

For those of you who aren't fortunate enough to be at Joe's Pond right now, we've had a reprieve from rain, at least for a few days, and things are beginning to dry out a little everywhere. People are beginning to drift back and some are discovering they are missing docks or other items; others have unfamiliar items stranded at their waterfronts or on their lawns, left there when the water level receded - but gradually everything is getting set straight and folks are hoping to enjoy a beautiful summer.

We won't be without rain for long, though. Today and tomorrow we have forecasts for severe thunderstorms, but then cooler weather will break us out of this hot and humid stretch and the weekend looks fairly good. It's going to be oppressive today and tomorrow, though. We can hunker down at home today - shades drawn against the hot sun, overhead fans stirring the air - but tomorrow we have appointments in St. J. and a lunch date with Fred's cousin from Rhode Island and her friend who has a cottage on Newark Pond. They are coming to see how things at the cottage fared though the heavy rains. That's a pretty rural area and we aren't sure if the roads are passable to get there, but they will have done their homework. We haven't heard from them and they were arriving yesterday, so assume all is ok. We are looking forward to seeing them.

There has been no word on the missing little black pig. We hope he was smart enough to head back home. I think pigs are very smart as farm animals go, but this one was perhaps too young to have learned to come when called. All three were smart enough to keep out of the road when cars came - and smart and quick enough to avoid being caught by four or five people. I'm impressed that two women did what all the rest of us couldn't, and caught two of the little beasts.