Today has been relatively cold and snowy. We didn't get a lot of snow, mind you, but there have been snowflakes in the air just about every time I looked outside. The temperature stayed in the teens and low 20's until this afternoon, but now it's warming up, as predicted, and according to word on the scanner, road crews will be dealing with rain and freezing rain by about 2 a.m.

I measured another half inch of snow this morning. Bill and Diane Rossi think either my snow measurement stake is set too deep into the ground or it's in the path of Fred's snow blowing. That just isn't the case. I was very careful to set the post and then mark the measurements starting right at ground level - even made a snug apron of white plastic around the pole so there would be a flat surface for the snow to build on. And it's out in back of the house where Fred's snow blowing definitely can't reach. Qther reporting stations - and the closest is probably Jeff Merrell down in Danville - are generally not reporting as much snowfall as I am, but that's the way it always is. This is a snow belt from West Danville over Walden Heights to Hardwick. More snow, generally more weather of all sorts, worse road conditions, the whole nine yards. I just tell it like I see it.

This morning I had 16 inches at the stake - down a little in spite of the half inch of new snow, but there was wind yesterday and last night that would have packed what was there.

I came across an insurance policy written in September, 1839 by the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company on the Thomas Osgood property in Cabot. The values of the property were as follows: The dwelling house and shed, $267.00; household furniture therein, $100.00; provisions and grain therein, $30.00; large barn and shed adjoining, $80.00; hay in said barn, $50.00; grain in said barn, $20.00; a small barn, $30.00; a corn barn, $30.00; and grain in same, $20.00, for a total of $627.00. The policy excluded "jewels, plated ware, medals, pictures, family paintings, sculpture, or musical instruments, unless particularly mentioned in the policy." The agent was S. Dewey. I was surprised that there was such a thing as an insurance company in Vermont that early, so I looked it up and sure enough, the company was founded in 1828, and was the first in Vermont. How about that! They've since changed with mergers and many expansions so now they are called Vermont Mutual Group.

There are other very interesting documents in the batch I'm working on right now. I will eventually have everything in binders, transcribed and indexed so people can see and read these old documents. Some as badly damaged scraps of paper, but others are intact and fairly legible. The earliest I've come across is dated 1764. There weren't very many people living in this area then.

I will be going to the town clerk's office tomorrow to do some research on the George Sumner family. I haven't been in since last fall, so I'll get to meet the new assistant clerk - one of two, as I understand it. I guess we have two part-time assistant clerks instead of one full time.

Woody, our cat, just came in and a file dropped off my desk onto the floor beside him, sending him straight up at least a foot off the floor. He's been pretty jumpy ever since watching the Nature Channel with Fred on Sunday. There were some really big bears, some ugly looking bald eagles, and lots of salmon jumping in a river in Alaska, and Woody took it all in. At one point he jumped up onto the TV stand and peered behind the screen, apparently looking for the bear.

We were reminded of when a stray cat was in the neighborhood of Sandy Beach a couple years ago and paid regular visits to Larry and Carol Byrd until he ventured into their living room and saw a stuffed bear's head on the wall. Carol said he high-tailed it out of there and they never saw him again. He ended up at Helen Morrison's after hanging out at our house for a while and beating Woody up nearly every day. They really didn't like each other at all. Helen named him "Tux" because he was black with a white bib. He's a lucky cat - there are no bears at Helen's house.