We've had another lovely sunny day today.  I expect this November may break some records for sunny days.  It's usually our most sunless month, but it seems to me we've had a bunch more nice days than usual.  I just noticed there's a finger of ice behind the big island.  We've seen ice in the marsh at the north end of the pond a few times this fall, but this looks a little different.  The water must be getting pretty close to freezing - we've had some pretty cold nights.

I've been researching information on a big fire in 1935 that destroyed what was known as the Union Block in Cabot.  At one time that three-story building housed a store, post office and town offices on the ground floor, an apartment and the Masonic dining room on the second floor and the Masonic meeting hall on the top floor.  It all burned to the ground, and nothing was saved.  E. J. Rogers owned the store at the time.  The following year, he rebuilt at the same location, the one-story building that is Cabot General Store now.  The store had several different owners after E. J. Rogers died in 1951.  Bobby Searles now owns the store.

If plans materialize for better traffic flow through Cabot, the town may look quite a bit different in a few years.  However, things are just in preliminary planing stage, and if it develops anything like the Danville road project, it will be 20 years before anything gets done.  It seems very similar, however, with plans for sidewalks from the bridge at the north end of town at least to the creamery and perhaps as far as the ball field, narrowing the road through town (Route 215), installing sidewalks or paths on the common, etc.  Sound familiar?  I haven't been to any of the meetings, but here are water and sewer lines all along Main Street now, and probably other utilities that will no doubt be disturbed.  The water and sewer lines were put in probably less than 20 years ago, so perhaps they won't need to be disturbed.  It sounds like something very nice could come from all the possibilities, but at what price?  I haven't seen cost estimates or anything about how it will be paid for.  

In the meantime, according to the Hardwick Gazette there's a petition circulating to close the high school by July, 2013.  That would mean the town would pay tuition for students to go to other schools.  This has come up from time to time, and it will be interesting to see what happens this time.  Some students have been taking courses no longer offered at Cabot at other schools, so there has been a gradual change taking place. 

I read today a member of the St. Johnsbury School Board is advising there is a growing need for a trade school there.  Many of you will remember that there was once a very good trade school in St. Johnsbury.  Young people who are graduating from colleges are often unable to find work in their fields these days while at the same time there is a shortage of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics and other qualified service personnel.  The St. Johnsbury Trade School produced some very competent graduates in its day, and was a reasonable choice for lots of young men and women who didn't want to attend college.  

What is the saying?  The more things change the more they stay the same.  The reality is, there will always be a need for people who know how to use their hands as well as their minds.