We just heard about a very unfortunate experience one of our Joe's Pond families were forced to go through over the holidays. Many of you know about Bob and Dotty Noyes' grandson, Nicholas, who has Batten's disease. His parents took him to Disney World in Florida, which means a great deal to him, and on their way home just before Christmas, Southwest Airline wouldn't let them have his special seat on the flight. Here's the story as it appeared on FOX News: News Report

This family has been through so much, something like this is the last thing they should have to deal with. We hope the airline looks carefully at their regulations and the training of their crews so they will deal with situations like this better in the future.

We had a cold night last night, and a bright but cold day today. The thermometer got to -6.1 last night and hasn't been much above 10 degrees all day, with a bit of wind to keep things even a bit cooler. I haven't been outside except to take my CoCoRaHS measurements at 9 a.m. Fred, however, has been out several times, blowing away the couple inches of snow we got overnight, picking up the mail, etc. I'm getting over a "holiday cold" and take great pleasure in doing as little as possible. However, I did feel inspired this morning to take down all the Christmas decorations. The tree was in the way of getting the window quilts over the big windows in the living room, so once that was gone, it was best to get everything else taken care of, too. I usually leave everything until after New Years, but I suddenly wanted to get it taken care of early.

There hasn't been much e-mail activity in the past week - which is good, because I haven't been very attentive to the computer. Before and just after Christmas we had lots of lovely e-mail greetings and messages from family and friends, and we thank all of you. I've noticed a sharp decline in regular greeting cards this year, and some of the people who sent e-mail messages or cards mentioned they were "going green." I can certainly understand that - I don't like tossing those beautiful greeting cards, and although there are some ways they can be recycled, I haven't found many good prospects in the past few years. I didn't send any regular cards out this year. I'll write a few letters a little later to friends and family who don't have computers, but I did my holiday greetings all on line.

Now it's time to think about New Year's Resolutions. I'm afraid I don't do well with those, so I won't even pretend to make any. I just hope 2012 turns out to be a nicer year than the last one - more peaceful, more jobs and fewer homeless and hungry, few or no awful weather catastrophes, and less political nonsense. It's time for things to turn around in this old world.

This is what we look like this morning. Yesterday and last night we had .80 in. of rain that washed away a whole lot of our snow. I'm seeing 4.5 in. of snow at my stake in the back yard, but when I look across at the hills above Rte. 15, there are bare spots. However, the good news (for some) is that there are a few snowflakes in the air this morning. The temperature hasn't started to drop much yet, I'm reading 35 degrees, but it's going to plummet late this afternoon and get really cold.

Those of you who know a little of the recent history here at the pond know that every year, right after the Christmas holidays, Don and Diane Sherwood come to go skiing. And every year, almost without exception, we have rain. I wasn't sure when they were arriving this year - except the snow showers we had yesterday turned to rain late in the afternoon, and guess what? The Sherwoods had arrived. Maybe Mother Nature is trying to override their effect this year sending us new snow and near-zero temperatures. We'll wait and see how this turns out.

The pond is like glass again, but I think some of it may not be frozen yet, and with light snow falling, the surface will become rough and not so good for skating. The roads have all been sanded and seem to be fine as long as one doesn't drive too fast.

Here is a recent news release from the library in Marshfield -
For Immediate release:
December 26, 2011
Contact: Susan Green
802-426-3581 or 426-3717

Mondays at 10 a.m. Story time. Join Sylvia Smith for story time, for children birth to age six and their grown-ups.At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Wednesdays from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Playgroup following the school year schedule. Join our community for playgroup, including stories, arts, songs, nature activities, and cooperative games.At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Fourth Mondays at 7 p.m. Monthly Book Group

The monthly book group continues in 2012 with the book: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese for January. The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent is February’s pick, and The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow is on deck for March. The group meets the fourth Monday of every month. At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Wednesday, January 4 at 7 p.m. Classic (1941), directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake. This classic commentary on Hollywood tells the story of a disillusioned director who decides he needs to know more about the common man in order to perfect his craft. At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Wednesday, January 11 at 7 p.m. Potential Health Concerns of Wireless Devices. With Ray Pealer, an East Calais resident and one of the state’s foremost experts on the subject of wireless technology. At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Wednesday, January 18 at 7 p.m. Local author reads from his book: Lanthan Mire: Impending Consequence of Doom by Paul Luciano. Paul Luciano (AKA Lucian Harke) is a Vermont-based fiction writer and musician. The book, featuring fictional character Lanthan Mire, is an adventure story about an other-worldly being sent to a lost planet and the inspirational powers of sound. In support of the book and CD, Paul performs a type of musical theatre. He shows a space/nature-orientated silent movie while playing tracks that range from slow broody surf to all out thrash and recites passages from the story (in character). Despite the dark facade, the story is a positive one and incites readers to follow their inspiration to great heights and never lose hope. At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m. Acupuncture for Winter Health with Pamela Brady. We will talk about illnesses that typically present during the winter months and the different acupuncture treatments to address them. There will be a presentation and demonstration. At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Friday, January 27 at 7 p.m. Film Program: Rick Winston presents Alfred Hitchcock’s Art of Suspense. Hitchcock famously said, "Some films are slices of life, mine are slices of cake." His career spanned forty years and many film eras. There will be twelve film clips, starting with the silent “The Lodger” (1925), through his British films like "The Lady Vanishes," then on to Hollywood, with favorites such as "Notorious" and "Rear Window." Rick will discuss the evolution of Hitchcock’s craft; how he worked with his favorite collaborators; his wry sense of humor no matter how grisly the subject matter; and explore some of his favorite themes. Note: this presentation is rated G, with all gruesome acts taking place off screen! At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Saturday, January 28, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friends Annual Book Sale. Start out the New Year by cleaning out those bookshelves and getting some new reads. Bargain books on all subjects from cooking to biographies to history and novels. All books $2 or less, with children's books as little as 25 cents. Prices will be further discounted toward the end of the sale. From 12 to 1:30 all books are free. Everything is a bargain, and your purchases help support the library. At the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield: 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

I didn't expect to be writing on the blog today, but I decided to share the pictures of our family Christmas Eve party, so here I am. We were at Bill and Monika's. We had a lovely dinner, and everyone was able to be on hand. Even though we are all in close proximity, we don't always keep in touch or see one another often, so we have lots to catch up on when we're all together.

There had been a little snow during the day, but the roads were fine.

When my mother was alive, she decided one year to make "teddy bears." She got a pattern and started sewing and stuffing. Various infants were the recipients of her sometimes unusual bears, usually made from colorful fleece, back when fleece was used mostly for bathrobes. After both my parents had passed away and Fred and I came to live here at their house, I found the pattern Mom had used - and a finished big, blue bear! I put it away and mostly forgot about it until baby Tangeni was born in July, but because the bear is so large, I decided to wait to give it to her. Christmas seemed like perfect timing.

Jo-Ann opened her presents from us and her aunts and uncles, and then she asked her parents to open one of theirs. She had made a very nice ceramic "fish bowl" for her dad, and a lovely ceramic heart for her mom. We were impressed by the colors and the design, and although she protested saying she is "not artistic," we all heartily disagree. You'll see both items in the short slide show.









After we left Waterford, we stopped at McDonald's in St. Johnsbury for a coffee for me. St. Johnsbury was unusually quiet, and I thought the streets were not lighted as nicely as I remembered in past years. Down at the old railroad station where the Welcome Center is (above left), there were lots of decorations, but not many along Railroad Street (above right) or up on Main Street.

Here's the short slide show: Christmas Eve

It's still snowing lightly and has warmed up to about 20 degrees. It went to -6.1 degrees last night, so Santa must have had a cold ride when he visited our area.
Everything has been very quiet at Joe's Pond today - almost no traffic. It's been a lovely Christmas Day.

We've had lots of lovely cards, both regular and e-cards, this year. Homer Fitts wrote that he and Margaret will not be heading south this year - they are going to enjoy winter at their home in Barre. Homer said they have lots of friends there and lots going on that they both enjoy. That's good for our Ice Out Contest. The flag and clock are set up at Homer's cottage, and sometimes we've worried that he wouldn't get back from Florida in time to give us a hand. In spite of the present cold weather, it won't be long before we'll be charging ahead to get as many Ice Out Tickets as possible sold. It's been a strange start for winter here, so we have no clue what our spring will be like or when we might expect the ice to be gone and the contest over.

Work Update

Danville Route 2 Project

Project: Danville FEGC 028-3(32)

WINTER SHUT DOWN

12/23/11

THE PROJECT IS NOW CLOSED DOWN FOR THE WINTER!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We have snow! Plenty of it. For now, we have about five inches on the ground, having had about three inches fall overnight. There was still a couple inches at my measuring post yesterday, even though there was bare ground south of us. We were in St. Johnsbury and there were only patches of snow on the north facing hillsides. It felt like spring, and everyone was out doing last-minute shopping before the weather changed.

When we left, our driveway was extremely slippery, but West Shore Road was well sanded and the main roads were bare - at least, they looked bare, but we were careful as it was perfect conditions for black ice. By the time we got east of Danville, the day began to brighten, and soon the sun was shining bright as could be and it felt like April instead of December.

This morning is a different story. Absolutely lovely out there, but I expect the roads could be a little slippery. The top picture is our back yard this morning; and the bottom one is the view from our living room, looking at the pond. If you look closely, you can see the white of the pond beyond the trees in the center of the shot. All that lovely clear ice we showed you yesterday is covered up this morning.

Pam Hebert sent me a link to a You Tube video I think you'll enjoy. She said to watch for the photo credit at about .31 seconds into it.
Stuck in Vermont: Four Months After the Flood

Did you see "Rachel Hebert" credited on the Grace Potter video? Rachel is Pam and Joe's granddaughter, and she and her dad, Chris, were at the concert. Chris posted the video he and Rachel took during the song, "Mad Mad River" on You Tube, and the folks at Stuck in Vermont asked permission to use it. Cool, isn't it? Thanks to Pam for letting us know about that.

It was interesting to see the comparisons and how far the state has come repairing all the damage done last spring by Hurricane Irene. When you think about how long it takes for most road projects, ones even a fraction of the size of most of the repairs needed after the flood, it's amazing how it got done so quickly. I'm sure some are not permanent fixes, but even so, traffic is moving and people can get to where they need to be. I heard someone on the news the other night say that being able to completely close those areas to traffic was a great help in getting the work done speedily. Some folks had to travel many miles around the work sites, but we've heard few complaints, and everyone understands and cooperated.

A few minutes ago, in the rain, we were surprised by the appearance of Ray Rouleau. Ray and Cyndy are here for the holidays and he was out for a walk to get some exercise, in spite of the rain. Fred was outside preparing for icy conditions on our driveway later on if the rain begins to freeze. Ray said he loves this weather . . . I'm not sure how Fred talked him into shoveling the deck, but at least we helped him get that exercise! One thing about it, he'll be back in the warmth of Florida in a few days while we'll be shoveling snow for the rest of the winter, I expect.

Another cold day with hardly any variation in temperature - mostly in the teens and now 10 above. Tomorrow we're due for a big change, according to the forecast.

I just received some "cool" ice pictures from son, Jamie. He took these from West Shore. He said he was in the vicinity of Drown's and Decker's, and also at Keene's. Further up the pond, near the Wells cottage, he said the ice was white - it apparently hadn't thawed, so it was "old" ice. Isn't nature beautiful? We don't often see the pond with ice that's this clear of snow, and of course this won't last long. If the weather turns warmer, it will get slushy and then we'll probably have snow fall on it and freeze, and that will ruin the glassy surface we see in these pictures. I have no way of knowing how thick the ice is, but I doubt it would hold up much more than a confused duck or goose coming in for a landing.

In the early 1980's when Fred and I were living year around at camp, we had a mostly open winter - lots of cold weather and very little snow. We were able to skate the whole length of the pond with very few rough patches and no snow. We used to sling our hiking boots over our shoulders and skate to what is not Island Drive, then park our skates at the edge of the ice and hike up to the Walden store to get the Sunday papers. We had a wonderful black lab named "Clint" who went with us, but what we hadn't realized was how difficult it would be for him on the ice. He made it up ok, but when we started to come back, he sprinted down the east shore, looking for a better way to cross. Fred had to go after him and carried him home - no easy feat on skates as Clint was a big dog. After that, we left him at home when we went skating. He liked it that way - he stayed clear of ice after that first trip.

I remember skating on the pond with my parents one winter (and only one winter) when I was a kid. There was a strong wind and we took a blanket and used it for a sail. Trouble was, it was a really hard trip skating back against the wind. As I remember, there were a number of skaters out on the pond that time.

I've had more than the usual number of e-greetings this year from people saying they are "going green." I hadn't thought about e-mail greetings as being "green", but I guess that's true. It's a hard choice, though, whether to
send a card, which might help a company struggling to stay in business and also help the postal service, but that costs trees and energy to make and will no doubt end up in a landfill. Kinda takes the fun out of getting a pretty greeting card, doesn't it?

I have often complained when I get a card, no matter how pretty, without any personal message, not even a howdy-do, just a signature. Hardly seems worthwhile. But I know people are busy and don't have time to write much - that's my biggest problem with sending cards, I always tend to write way too much and end up only getting only a few done before Christmas and have to send the rest after the holidays are over. That makes the decision to send e-cards easier, I guess.

This would be a good year to donate the price of sending out cards to a food shelf or use the money to buy a toy to donate to a homeless family. I'm saddened when I hear of kids going hungry and families losing their homes because they can't find work. This isn't the way things should be in our country, but the people in Washington who are supposed to be watching out for the folks who sent them there just don't seem to "get" it. They don't understand the hardships so many people are enduring. It makes me sad and angry and ashamed.

Our weather has warmed up considerably today. It's actually about 34 degrees now, after two nights of near zero readings. By that I mean, a few degrees above or below zero - depending on where the thermometer was and what time it was read. The pond was pretty solidly frozen over as of this morning. There were spots that looked like open water, but upon closer inspection, we determined that it was actually very clear ice without any snow on it. Some of the pond had opened up, so when the temperature dropped night before last, that open water froze making it look as if it was still open. Not solid enough for ice fishermen or snow machines yet, and it looks as if we're headed for milder weather, so it's hard to tell if it's going to open things up again or not. This is at least the second or maybe even the third time it has frozen over - just like the old timers say has to happen.

We could really use more snow, but nobody wants to say that out loud because we don't know who's listening or how much we might get if our wish is granted. It's always nice to have a white Christmas, but we don't want to get foolish about it.

We were in St. Johnsbury again this morning. As we came back to West Danville, the weather had warmed considerably even though we'd only been gone a few hours. These pictures show you we don't have lots of snow, even in West Danville. Next month at this time I'll probably be posting much different pictures.

I got some "creepers" to put on my boots for walking. Fred has had some for a while and today I saw some in the hardware store and decided to give them a try. I'm always fearful of slipping on icy roads when we are walking, especially when coming down our steep driveway. I wore them the first time today and what a difference! I think mine are called "Yak-Traks." I remember years ago people used to have some sharp metal claw-like rigs that they strapped on their boots to keep from slipping. They were sharp and dangerous, but these newfangled things are much less intimidating and probably way more effective. Now I wonder why I waited so long to get them.

I saw in a recent Caledonian Record that the Langmaid/Smith cottage on North Shore Road is on the market. I knew the family had decided to sell, but hadn't seen the ad before. It's always sad when someone decides to sell their Joe's Pond property, but as times change, so do the interests and needs of families. It's a great location, close to the recreation area. It will make someone a nice vacation home.

This photo came from Jack LaGue tonight. I'm sure Sue (or Jack) sent it to me some time ago, but apparently I didn't post it as when I went looking for it on the blog, it didn't seem to be there. Sorry, Jack and Sue - I really thought I'd posted it to share with those poor souls who are no doubt missing Joe's Pond sunrises as they sip their morning coffee and prepare for another day in the warmth of southern climes.
Here's what Jack wrote tonight:

Below is a lovely sunrise that greeted us one morning a couple weeks ago at Joe's Pond (not the greatest of pictures, but it was a great sunrise)

Jack said the picture was taken a couple weeks ago. The pond wasn't frozen at that time, so there were some foggy, misty mornings. Thanks for sending it, Jack - and I'm sorry I didn't get it posted timely.

Sometimes I'm truly amazed at the number of people who respond to something I've written here. The bit about Alfred Hitchcock having shot a movie at what is not the Burtt farm has created a flurry of suggestions that it was probably "The Trouble With Harry," that was shot in Craftsbury. Another response was that it might have been a short film he apparently did called, "Vermont the beautiful" - see the comment from Rob a couple of posts ago.

The other thing that has created some interest is the photo of the old cottage that came from Danny Colford's collection by way of Andy Rudin. Craig (and I'm not sure who this is) wrote that it looks like it was on Flint's Point, which is the name of the point of land now reached by Cove Road. I think that is probably right, but perhaps in time we'll hear something from Danny and the mystery will be solved.

In the meantime, we've had a little of every possible kind of weather today. It hasn't been awfully cold - low 30's most of the day so far - and while we were getting light rain last night, this morning it turned to snow and for a while we had a real blizzard going on with lots of wind and blowing snow, even though the snow is very wet. Now the temperature seems to be dropping but the precipitation has stopped. I measured .85 in. this morning, and we've had more during the day.

Our wind gauge is definitely set up in the wrong spot. This morning when I went to retrieve my water gauge I could hear the wing roaring overhead and the trees across the road from us were swaying in a strong north wind - and our wind gauge was lazily turning from north to west to east to south and back, trying to find a steady breeze and the little cups were barely turning. At one point we registered 5 m.p.h., but I could see snow blowing down West Shore Road faster than the traffic goes past. We'll see to moving it, but perhaps not until spring.

I heard from one of my "sources" that Walter Ruf (Sandy Beach Road) has a birthday coming up on Christmas Eve. This is a big one! My source also told me Walter and Mimi will have a family reunion with two sisters, one from Germany and one from New Jersey, to celebrate the event with them in Florida. Very nice. Perhaps Walter will send me some pictures to post here. Happy Merry Christmas Birthday, Walter!!

Bill Rossi let us know this morning the goose that had hung out at their boat house during the sloppy weather yesterday was gone when daylight broke this morning. Diane thought he might be waiting for a strong north wind, and I'd say he wasn't disappointed. Bill didn't tell us what wind speed his anemometer registered, but I'm betting it was right up there. The wind must have been whipping down the pond today. It looks as if the ice has melted or broken up, too, so we're back to open water in most of the pond. Freeze-over number two may be this weekend.

Right now the wind has calmed down and the thermometer is registering 32.2 and the wind speed is changing between 5.0 and 2.0, out of the northwest. At least it seems to be holding pretty steady from that direction, not waffling like it was this morning. Even registering a lower wind speed, at one point over night the wind chill low reached around 8 degrees. I'm glad I wasn't that goose waiting to take off last night!

You'll see I've had a couple of comments regarding Alfred Hitchcock possibly having filmed a movie in Cabot. We're still working on it.

This picture came from Diane Rossi this afternoon, and here's what she wrote:

This guy hung out here all day....I don't know if he's still here now that it's dark and less windy. We figure he was waiting for a north wind to ride away....

Today was downright spring-like. Even now, at 10:30 p.m., it's above freezing. The pond was completely frozen over when we went into town this morning. With the warmer weather and rain forecast for the rest of the week, there will be open water again - but like the old timers say, the pond usually freezes over three times before it's solid for the duration. It doesn't always work out that way, but I'm guessing it will open up at least once more before it's solid. There were open spots showing, like in the narrows between the first and middle ponds and where brooks run in, especially the cove at Barre Avenue and West Shore Road. It was quite warm and everything was melting in St. Johnsbury, but here we still have a few inches of snow on the ground in most places.

Fred got this picture early this morning of a red squirrel in our crab apple tree. They usually scamper off to hide the apples in their dens, but this little guy was enjoying breakfast in the sunshine. Woody, the cat, was watching from his bed by the big window, but wasn't interested in going out to chase the squirrel. We're a little surprised there are any squirrels left around our house. One would think those that haven't been caught by the wily cat would be smart enough to steer clear of where he lives. I guess the need for easy food for the winter out weighs fear of felines.

Yesterday we were in Cabot Village and as you can see, Harry's Hardware store is all decked out for the holidays. They are still working on the roof of the Willey Memorial Hall, so we had to use the back entrance to reach the library. On our way home, we found this young fellow crossing the road. There were other cattle on both sides of the road and they all seemed to be well fenced in, but this one had apparently managed to find a way around or through the fence. The Burt's have very high wire fences around their apple orchards - we expect that's to protect the trees from deer. They are using more of their fields for orchards now, and have moved the cattle to some of the other fields.

I heard today that the Burt farm was used in one of Alfred Hitchcock's movies some years back - perhaps when it was owned by Bob and Barbara Davis. The Walbridge family owned it before that; but I have no recollection of any movie company being in Cabot. I'd be interested to know more about this - nobody can remember the name of the movie, and I Googled for information and came up empty.

Here's an announcement:

CABOT RECREATION DEPARTMENT

Basketball

for the Primary Grades (p-2) will begin Saturday the 7^th of January from

8:00 until 9:30AM

There will be registration at the gym on the 7^th from

7:30 to 8:00AM

Please be prepared with contact info, insurance info and $10.00 registration fee per child.

Please call

Libby Hale 563-3226 libbyhale1@gmail.com, or

Rebecca Nally 563-3503 rmnally@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Faith in Action Northern Communities Partnership is hosting the Cabot Community Holiday Dinner on December 16th at the Masonic Hall in Cabot. We'll begin serving at 5:30 pm and will have Ham and Turkey, veggies and desert available. This dinner is open to anyone and is provided free of charge, so if you know of anyone in need of a free meal or who will be alone and needs community over the holiday season, please pass this information on to them!

There will be holiday music with Mary Cobb and some members of the Cabot Community Chorus!

If you would like to volunteer for this event or contribute a dish, please contact Naisha at 563-2197 or Faith in Action at 563-3322.

Bright sunshine this morning, and about 34 degrees - warmer in the sun, of course. We've had a little breeze to keep things cool, and it's really quite a pretty day.

I had a note over the weekend from Sue LaGue. Sue and Jack are getting ready for their first winter at Joe's Pond. Actually, this will be the first winter here for Richard and Carmen Gagne, just down the road from them, too. Both couples built homes here last winter, and visited frequently as the building process was going on, but now they are able to sit back in their cozy homes and enjoy the very different world of Joe's Pond in winter time. Here's what Sue wrote:

Well, the ice is starting to form and stay on Joe’s Pond. Its been interesting watching the wild life this season. Yesterday, we saw an otter swim by, a gaggle of geese and 2 loons. I hope the birds have finally migrated now. We are enjoying our buttoned up place here. We are still doing some decluttering from the move but have settled in for the winter and can even use the garage for one car.

We know they will all enjoy being here at the pond - it's quieter than in summer, of course, but that can be a good thing.

Andy Rudin sent this link from the New York Times about Vermont's recovery from the floods this summer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/us/vermont-rebounding-from-hurricane-irene.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
Thank you, Andy.

He also sent me copies of some old photographs taken at Joe's Pond and given him by Danny Colford, whose home on Route 15 burned this summer. Unfortunately, some of Mr. Colford's treasured old photos were lost in the fire, but he sent some to Andy. One that I recognized right away was of this cottage. This is from a different collection, but it is definitely the same place and I believe it was located either on the point now known as Cove Road, or possibly along Clubhouse Circle. You can see a large barn which I believe is the Ewen farm above Sandy Beach Road. Perhaps someone will recognize the place and let us know. Andy will be contacting Danny Colford to see if he knows whose place it was.

The second picture has a sign "Dew Drop Inn," but I don't have a clue whose cottage it was. It could have been located on West Shore Road, or perhaps Birchbound Road or Edgewood Avenue.

Today has been a little more like winter - some snowy sunshine this morning and just blah this afternoon. Temperature has been in the 20's. We went down to Bill and Diane's late this morning and as we got out of the car, we mentioned that it was quite a bit warmer at their house than up at ours. That, of course, was on the road side of the house, and we were sheltered by houses on both sides and their garage. Later on, when Fred was out on their boathouse deck helping Bill put up his new weather station, the wind was bone chilling - sweeping down the pond in great gusts right out of Canada.

Turns out Bill and I got almost exactly the same weather station. Fred and I got ours set up a couple days ago, so when Bill asked Fred to come down to help with his, we both went. You've heard the jokes about how many it takes to change a light bulb; well, today it took four of us to set up a weather station. As usual with these things, the instructions, if they are sent with the unit (and only part of them came with Bill's) almost always omit simple details that would make life a whole lot easier. Things like what diameter pole will work to attach the wind gauge to, and maybe a template for attaching the monitor to the wall. Sure, we can figure these things out, but as long as they are writing instructions in ten different languages, maybe some technician would think to include that kind of stuff and that maybe putting the rain gauge out if you live in winter isn't such a good idea . . . but we figured it out. Here's a very short slide show of Fred and Bill doing the hard part outside. Diane and I watched from inside and handed tools out the door to them when called for. Weather Station Installation

There was a lovely moon tonight. I got this picture at about 6 p.m. The temperature will be in the teens tonight, so by morning there will probably be more ice on the pond. A few more of these really cold nights will close it in, I expect.

This notice came today about the Cabot Development group meetings:

The group decided at its last meeting to make second Wednesdays at 7 p.m. the permanent meeting time. Please mark your calendars. I have secured the Masonic Hall for 12/14 and 1/11.

Jeannie Johnson

802-595-7710

To do our part to help our neighbors during this season of giving Faith In Action Northern Communities Partnership, Inc. will be collecting donated toys now through December 21^st to be distributed to local families in need. Please bring your unwrapped new or gently used donation to the Masonic Hall Mon-Fri, 9am – 2:30pm. December 21^st will be our last day for collecting these much needed donations.
thank you.

We went with friends to the Danville Inn Restaurant for dinner tonight. I'd had a yen for chicken pie, and Steve Cobb, owner of the inn, makes a really good chicken pie with big fluffy biscuits topping it. We had a lovely meal - everyone ate more than we usually do, but it tasted so good - you know how that goes.

This is our group - left to right, me, Mary Encarnacion, Elizabeth Weidmer, Don Encarnacion, and Fred.

In addition to knowing about Steve's chicken pie, I also knew he has wonderful decorations in the dining room this time of year. Actually, the place always looks beautiful, no matter what season it is, but his Christmas decorations are especially nice. We tried to guess how many ornaments were on the tree, but everywhere we looked there were more, so we gave up.













There were still storage containers with more decorations waiting to be put up. I expect it takes Steve lots of hours to do just the tree, let alone the rest of the dining room and so many other rooms in the big old inn. Here are some pictures. The tree, and Santa waiting to greet guests, then Mr. and Mrs. Claus in a sleigh - a child's old-fashioned buggy type sled.










The inn is pretty from the outside, too. With lights in every window, it's very welcoming. Pictured here is the front entrance, and then the back wing is just as nice. Beyond is the lawn where one very hot afternoon last summer Steve very kindly set up for three of us to have lunch. My friends, one from Maine and one from Texas, were very impressed with the attention and care we had that afternoon. I wish they could see the inn now, with the snow and the Christmas decorations.

Today is kind of dreary. The day seemed promising early this morning, but now the sun is gone and there are a few snowflakes drifting down from time to time. There is hardly any wind today, and the temperature has remained at about 34 degrees, although I don't think there's much melting actually taking place. There are still 5 inches of snow on the ground at my back yard stake.

The pictures above are of the channel at the north end of the pond, where water from Walden Mountain and other points north of us flows into Joe's Pond. The second picture is of the water in back of the two islands, and is more protected from wind and shallower than the broad lake south of there, so that cove is one of the first places the pond freezes over. You can see some white at the left of the photo, which is snow in the marsh. The pale blue/white is ice that shifts with the wind and opens or freezes as the temperature changes. We think the pond will be completely frozen over in another week or so. We certainly have a lovely carpet of white right now, and most folks think the snow is here to stay this time.

We installed our anemometer toady. We were able to get it pointed in the right direction with the aid of our compass, and now we're waiting for some wind to register on it. I will attach the rain gauge in the spring. No point in having it out in the weather frozen stiff. I still have my regular rain/snow measuring devices to report to CoCoRaHS, and now I have an early Christmas present in my new "weather station."

While Fred and I are gearing up for winter, our cat, Woody, is quite frustrated now that snow and colder weather have arrived. He still goes outside and tests the climate, but in about five minutes tops, he's ready to come back inside. We use a kitchen timer to remind us to check to see if he wants to come back in. We haven't closed off his entry door yet, but the snow is at least five inches deep for him to navigate to get to it, so we try to let him back in the front door. When it gets really cold, he seems to sense it and doesn't tease to go outside except on very warm days. He's getting older and mellower, and hopefully wiser!

This morning we found him snoozing in Fred's shoes in front of the fireplace. See below. He was sound asleep when we took these pictures, and stayed in this position for an hour or so - until he got completely warmed up, I guess. I'm not sure why he had one paw thrust deep into Fred's shoe, but he seemed very comfy.

Work Update

Danville Route 2 Project

Project: Danville FEGC 028-3(32)

WEEK OF 12/12/11

DAY WORK:

MOUNTAINVIEW DRIVE: Crews will be finishing up the last remaining water test on the new main. This work is expected to take a day to complete and is not expected to interrupt water services.

Motorists may encounter alternating one-way traffic around this area while crews are working. Access to Mountainview from Route 2 will remain open.

Contact Francine Perkins, Public Relations Officer, FRP Enterprises, LLC with any questions or concerns with regard to this project at 802-479-6994 or for a more up to date schedule visit www.roadworkupdates.com.

We got socked with a fair amount of heavy snow last night - I measured 5.5 inches. We had light rain most of the day yesterday, and it turned to snow around 10 p.m. Fred has been out with the snow blower and I've done my CoCoRaHS measurements, so we can continue our day inside where it's warm. The sun is bright this morning, but there is a gusty northwest wind that makes it seem colder than it really is.

I recently received word that Paul Heiden, son of Judith Heiden who has a cottage on Birch Bound Road, passed away at age 42. Paul lived in Southwick, MA, and loved being at Joe's Pond with his family. I'm sure friends who knew him here will miss him. Our deepest sympathy to all his family. Click here to see the obituary:
Paul Heiden