People are beginning to return to their cottages, and this has been an especially nice weekend to enjoy being here at the pond. 

I've had a message from Fred Duplesses on the middle pond.  He has retrieved a raft that was floating free and has beached it near the Begin cottage.  That's on the Rt. 15 shore of the middle pond, across from the Route 2 shore.  He said he thought it might belong to someone on the Route 2 shore.  If you are missing a raft, look for it over there.  

Yesterday I posted a message from Helen Morrison about the loons nesting on Pearl's Island.  I had this message from Evelyn Richer today: 

HI Jane...

Yes, Eric Hanson (he posted the signs as we did not have enough signs to
post in such an exposed area), Peggy Pearl, and Liz Sargent have all been
notified that the loons have a new nesting site...and the new 'residents'
are in good hands with Peggy and Liz...They are graciously limiting the
use of the island until after the first  part of June...  They can still
use the island but they have a new 'approach' now... we believe there
could be a new male (he picks the site)... or there was a pesky muskrat
nesting on the old platform... (seen bothering loons last year)

There is also a nest posted in the narrows between the first and second
ponds... We do ask everyone to continue to give the loons space during
this time of nesting... be careful of the boat wakes as these platforms
are not floating and a wave could wash them out and they may either
abandon the nesting effort for the season or retry and have a very late
hatching... These guys are very tolerant, but will still abandon their
duties if hassled too much...

Looks like the loons are getting happier every year with their accommodations here at Joe's Pond.  We've had reports of nests on the shoreline of the smaller sections of the pond before, but as far as I can tell none of those young survived.  Please be careful to slow down so you won't make a big wake at least until the chicks are out of the nest in June.  I'll try to keep you posted when there are reports of chicks.

Fred was out early this morning and took this picture of our old ornamental crab apple trees.  There is a deep red one in the center, and a pink one on the left.  At the right of the picture is our regular apple tree - blooming well this year, so we will have some apples for applesauce.  This tree produces apples only every-other year, and since we don't spray or pay much attention to it, they usually have rusty spots, but inside they are delicious.  The deer love them, too. 

I was pleased that one of the smaller ornamental apple trees has a few buds this year, finally.  I did a little research and found out the trees have to be a few years old before the begin to bloom.  I thought the ones I have were all pretty old, but apparently not.  I lose track of time all the time.

I will be going to our Historical Society annual meeting later this afternoon.  We have to wait until the frost is pretty well out of the ground to go into our building.  We can get in ok, but if the frost isn't out, we cannot close the door securely.  There's no doubt everything will work properly by now - everything is well ahead of "normal" this year.