The ground was white when we awoke this morning, and we're having snow flurries in rapid succession.  The thermometer is about 30 degrees now, but we had a low of 26.2 last night, and the highest we got yesterday was about 35 degrees.  I think the forecast is for slightly warmer weather later this week, but then another storm will be hitting us along about Wednesday.  There were some reports of slippery roads this morning, but I've had the scanner on and there have been no problems locally so far.

The first real snow of the season is always kind of exciting.  Of course deer hunting season is coming right up, and hunters love to have a little snow for tracking.  Rifle hunting is from Nov. 10-25; then bow and muzzle loader season goes from Dec. 1-9.  Bear hunting started on Sept. 1 and goes through Nov. 14.  All hunting and trapping seasons are listed on the Vermont Fish & Wildlife web site.

If you've wondered about when it's legal to shoot Canada Geese, you'll find that also on the VFW site.  I understand that some of our Joe's Pond folks who used to get upset if hunters appeared in the fall are now encouraging harvesting the geese and ducks after the horrendous experience we had this past summer with a very large population of geese hanging out here.  They made a terrible mess on nearly every property around the pond, including the beach, and we believe that may have contributed at least in part to the bad bacteria reports we had at the beach.  JPA will be doing what we can to try to solve that problem for next summer.  As you know, tablets to test septic systems are available at Hastings Store and will remain there so if you weren't able to test before you closed camp this summer, you'll be able to do so in the spring.  We also have a "Goose Committee" working on discouraging the geese from making this their summer vacation spot next year.

I watched an interesting piece on CBS today about how London is protected from flooding on the Thames.  There were examples of what other countries have done to protect their near or below sea level areas.  Holland has been continually updating their dike system.  The point being made was that the oceans are rising and severe storms are becoming more frequent, so heavily populated coastal areas are going to be in increasing danger from storms like Sandy, therefore a real effort has to be made to take steps to protect from future disasters.  It will be costly, but each storm we've had in recent years has cost enormous amounts, too, and lives have been lost.  Scientists predict the weather will continue to ratchet up.  Here's an interesting timeline - of course, it's all speculation, but food for thought.

I watched David Mamet's "State and Main" last evening on TV.  Many of you know that Mamet, a graduate of Goddard in Plainfield, Vermont, is a "local."  He was friends with the late Chris Kaldor, Cabot's town clerk for many years, and cast Chris in many of his movies.  I was surprised to see another local name, Maurice Lamore, son of now 100+ year old Blanche Lamore, also listed in the cast, along with a number of well-known actors. 

I've finished exploring the internet for today, so will get back to history, which is more reliable than looking into the future, for sure.  We can only hope humans have learned from what has gone before and will therefore not make the same mistakes again - and that the past will help us prepare for a safer, more prosperous future.

I just checked my mail and found this message and link from Henretta Splain:

 "Here are some remarkable photos of the aftermath of the storm.  P. S., I lived for a time in Pt. Lookout, L.I. . . . "

Thanks, Henretta for those photos.  After Irene hit Vermont last spring, we have some idea of what people are going through.