Summer arrived officially today, and what a great weather day it was!  Temperatures in the high 70s even here at Joe's Pond, a nice breeze, and except for a few high clouds early in the day, it has been mostly clear and pretty dry.  We didn't celebrate by dancing around a fire or any of the other ways mentioned in this piece about Summer Solstice, but we did get a fair amount of work done.  I've been waiting for a string of dry days in order to finish up painting the railing on our deck and some of the trim around doors, etc., that get weather beaten over time, and today was perfect for that.  I got about half done of what needs doing.  Fred scraped the three basement windows ready for a primer coat, and we'll probably get to them tomorrow.  I don't believe they will need any re-glazing, but the garage windows are in dire need of lots of work, so that will take some time. 

We met a really cute little dog today.  Our friend (and egg lady), Jenn Persons, came by with our eggs today and brought Clara, a very sweet "foster" dog Jenn is caring for until she is adopted.  She seems to have lots of black Lab, but perhaps not a thoroughbred.  She has shorter legs than most Labs, I think, and Jenn said she believes she's about two years old and won't get much bigger.  She stands about 14-16 in., I'd say - definitely neither a small nor a large dog.  She made friends with our cat, Woody, right away.  We were impressed that as soon as Jenn called her, she immediately came.  Jenn said she does a little dance standing on her hind legs when she's really excited and happy.  I'm sure it won't be long before someone adopts Clara.  She's a very nice little dog.

Jenn was Woody's owner before he wandered into our lives.  She told us today all his siblings have died.  We were sad about that - he came from a litter of at least four, I think.  We are thankful he seems to be very healthy, even though he does have to have a special diet (augmented by wild creatures in the summer, of course), so he never gets canned anything, and isn't interested in "people food."  A clerk at Price Chopper told us last week her cat begs for table food all the time and loves oreo cookies.  I don't think chocolate is good for animals, but I didn't get into that.  Woody likes to hang out at the table when we're eating, but it's just his way of being social.  He never begs, just stretches out on the rug either beside or under the table to be near us while we eat.  As soon as we leave the table, he leaves, too.  Sometimes he startles guests by brushing against their legs as he maneuvers for a resting place under the dining room table.  We've had guests try to feed him, but he will only sniff the food and then walks away.  

Recently someone contacted us at the Cabot Historical Society asking if we knew when the town garage was built.  It is located at the foot of Bond Hill, on the right after you cross the bridge heading north out of town on Route 215.  None of us knows, but Bonnie Dannenberg remembered there used to be a freezer locker about where the garage is now.  I hadn't thought about that, but after she mentioned it, I remembered there was one there when I was in high school.  It was a fairly large building that seemed to have been made from cement blocks.  We are hoping someone will remember when that building might have been torn down to make way for the town garage.  I was at the historical society briefly yesterday to drop off some things, but I didn't think to look in the town reports.  I expect there would be some mention there as it would probably have come up for a vote on whether to erect the garage there or some other location.  

You may have noticed that Jack LaGue posted a request on the web site "Comments" page for people to let him know if you have seen many geese so far this year and if they are hanging out on your property like they did last year.  We haven't heard of any problems this year - perhaps because we gave them a pretty hard time last year, or maybe because they got here when the weather was pretty warm and decided to keep going north to a cooler climate.  Jack's interest is for the benefit of our Goose Committee, of course, so e-mail him, jacklague@fairpoint.net if you have information.  

As far as we know now, weather permitting, Joe's Pond Fireworks Display will be on July 3rd.  If there is rain, we will set them off on July 5th.  We'll keep you posted.  Also, Cabot's big Fourth of July celebration will be rain or shine on July 4th.  Click on the poster to make it larger so you can see all the fun activities they have lined up.  It's always a fun day for everyone.