Today was a strange day.  First thing this morning on WCAX we heard that people in one section of Newport, Vermont, were being evacuated from their homes, but the reports gave no details.  Later we learned it was because some man was holding his family, eight or nine children and a woman, hostage while he threatened police and neighbors from his garage roof.  Absurd - and scary.  Nobody was hurt, and by afternoon the man was in custody and people were safe.

Also today, a woman was shot and killed in St. Albans - a victim of road rage.  St. Albans isn't a big city - it's Smalltown, USA, for Pete's sake.  There will be more in the news about this, I'm sure - the shooter is in custody, thanks to an off-duty policeman who was nearby.  We  don't know yet who the woman was, or what she apparently did that infuriated the man; but something here is terribly wrong when these things happen in our mostly rural state.

On a much lighter and more productive note, there is a very large new barn being constructed on the Beattie Farm in Danville.  We've been watching the progress and we're impressed with how quickly it's taking shape.  It's in a nice position, too, a bit up the hill from the house and existing barn.  Now I'm wondering if this is going to be in addition to the existing barn, which is also very large - and very old - or will the old barn eventually be removed.  I'm not sure how long the late Harold Beattie and his wife, Catherine, the present owner, have been on the property, but there has been a farm there since 1883, according to Village in the hills; a history of Danville, Vermont, published in 1995.

Just down the road from the Beattie farm is Marty's 1st Stop, a thriving store and gas station owned by one of the Beattie sons.  There are changes going on there, too - the big gasoline storage tanks are being replaced.  Normal maintenance, we're told.  This has been an on-going project for a few weeks, but things should be back in place and the pumps operating fairly soon. When we went by yesterday, it looked to me as if there is something being changed at the front of the store, too.  We'll keep an eye on that.


While all of this is going on, we are also getting ready for the big Fall Foliage Week that begins on Monday, Sept. 30 in Walden.  Each day the celebration of fall moves to a different town - Cabot, Plainfield, Peacham, Barnet, in that order, and finally ends in Groton on Saturday, October 5.  The foliage is cooperating - sort of.  There are some spots with very nice color - other spots that are a bit iffy, with the trees either having dropped their leaves too early or just not putting on their brightest show yet.   I took this picture on Monday at the corner of Cabot Plains Road and Route 215 - I liked the contrast of the cows in two different pastures - dairy cattle in the far pasture, beef cattle in the foreground.  Then, yesterday, Fred got this photo on West Shore Road.  This hillside by Chatot Road is always brilliant, and is showing pretty nice color even now.  There was no sunshine, but still the colors are very pretty.  The cows were just outside Cabot Village, at an elevation of about 1,350 ft., while the hillside at Joe's Pond (still in Cabot), is closer to 1,600 ft.  That has a lot to do with how much color is showing.  We'll also be white with snow sooner (and longer) than the village.  That's just part of the charm of living at Joe's Pond!