So much for nice weather here at Joe's Pond.  It's been raw and wet today, with no sun at all.  The trees and grass are greening up nicely, though, in spite of the 40-degree temperature.  I guess that's perfect weather for growing grass - cool and damp.  Once the sun comes back out, we will be reminded that it's really spring after all.

I had a request today for information on a C. C.  Robinson who may have farmed in Cabot some years ago.  I found Christopher C. Robinson (1841-1921) is buried in Durant Cemetery in the lower Village, but I don't have much other information as to where he may have lived, or if that would be the same Robinson who owned a farm in Cabot.  I'm still looking for more information - just in case someone reading this knows.  


Yesterday I dug up a bunch of stones I'd laid out near a very old lilac bush.  They've been there for several years - long enough for the blue myrtle (vinca minor or periwinkle) to cover them completely.  There was a rose bush there, too, that had sprung up some distance from where I'd originally planted it - it's a particularly exuberant yellow rose that I got from Fred's mother.  I remember her saying I should be sure to put it someplace where I didn't mind if it took over.  I thought the lilac, being equally vigorous, would keep it in check, but apparently not.  The rose just sent out shoots further away from the original each year, and not even the stones stopped it.  I removed it to the back of the tractor garage - a temporary "fix" until I can decide where to let it loose again.   It won't thrive where it is now - it's quite wet out there, but that will keep it alive until I make up my mind.  Roses are lovely, but I find them nearly impossible to control.  I have lots of wild ones - and some my mother set out that have sort of "gone wilder," some are light pink, some deeper pink, and I love them, but hate working with them.

Fred is outside digging a ditch around the perimeter of our back lawn to catch the water that comes out of the ledges in the woods above us.  It hasn't been done for a few years and had begun to fill in so the lawn (and my vegetable garden) was getting too wet.  I enjoy the marsh that borders the lawn - mint grows there and forget-me-nots.  I tried to introduce cattails, but apparently it isn't quite wet enough for them to thrive. The garden hasn't dried out enough for me to be able to work in it yet - probably because of the lack of drainage ditch.  I'm hoping Fred's work will remedy that and I will be able to plant a few early crops.


This is a turkey Fred noticed early this morning in back of our house.   Bill and Diane Rossi told us last night they spotted a moose just a little way down Route 2 on Sunday evening as they headed to Barre.  'Tis the season for animals to be moving around, building nests and producing their young.  We found a turkey nest a few years ago near one of our walking paths - I did a quick count without getting too close to it, and as I recall I counted about 16 eggs.  That fall we had a lot of turkeys around here.