Winter Buoys in Place

A couple weeks ago I mentioned about the buoys in Joe's Pond and that there are "winter buoys" or markers that have to be put in place.  Jamie Dimick (our youngest son) does that, and here's his latest report:
 I got the new red barrels in for JPA! Marie, Otto and I put out the small winter ones today on Smith's point and Sunken Island. We also took in  the white barrel at Jane Milne's today too. Buoys are done for the season! We put detergent bottle there for the winter.  I emailed Jane Milne to let her know what we were up to. I also explained to her, I'll put out Jack Lague's orange barrel he volunteered, for the rock on her point, next season.
This should resolve any early and late season boating concerns for JPA members.

This is good news.  With the great weather we're having, there are bound to be boaters, and maybe even sailing vessels (!) out there, and now all shallow spots will be well marked. The top photo shows the new red barrels with Otto in the truck and below, looking  kind of like a circus performer . . . I wonder if Jamie could teach him to roll the barrel in the water, like log rolling . . . ?


I've been busy collecting articles for the silent auction coming up at the Apple Pie Festival on October 19th.  Donations from businesses and individuals have been great - people are so generous.  This is the only real fund raising event the Cabot Historical Society has, and it means a lot to us to have such great support from our community.  We are looking for collectibles, small antiques, gift baskets or gift certificates, hand made items and good used items, but not lawn sale or flea market things, although we like to have a broad price range.  If you have items to donate for the Silent Auction, or if you can donate a pie - or want to enter your special recipe pie in the competition, give us a call:  for the Silent Auction, either Diana Klingler, at 426-3811 or me, 563-2381; and for the pie contest, Mary Beth AChurchill at 563-2345.
If you can donate for the food sale, call Jennifer Gochey at 563-2377; or if you would like space at the craft show, call Beth Hoffman at 563-2129.  If you can volunteer some time on the 18th to help us set up, or on the 19th during the festival, give Joanne Luce a call, 563-2723 - we can always use more help, even if it's just for an hour or so to give someone else a break.  The activities start at 9 a.m. and we'll be there until 3 p.m., so plan to come down to the gymnasium, rain or shine, and join the fun, have a great lunch, have some apple pie (or buy one to take home), and do a little shopping at the craft booths and silent auction tables.  You'll find lots of beautiful, unusual items, and bargains galore.  Bring the kids - there will be something of interest for everyone.  

Tom Beattie got in touch with me after he read what I'd written in a previous blog about his family's farm.  Tom told me the farm has been in his mother's family since John McDonald came from Scotland and settled there in 1839.  He said his nephew, James Beattie, will run the farm now, and he is the sixth generation to own the farm.  That's a lot of history in one place!

I had been curious about the new construction, and Tom said it will take the place of the present big barn which was built for a different style of farming, when loose hay was stored on the upper level and tossed down through scuttles to the cows in the milking stable; and below the stable was where the manure was collected and loaded onto a spreader each spring or fall and spread on the fields.  The new facility will be all one level, with both hay and manure stored outside.  Tom said part of the original barn will be salvaged, but most of it will be torn down.  

We will be watching as the changes take place.  The number of active dairy farms has been dwindling over the years, and it's very nice to see one that is thriving and moving ahead.  Especially the Beattie farm that has been in existence for so many years.