I want to share with you once more, one of my favorite "signs of Christmas," this rendition of "White Christmas," sung by the Drifters, and illustrated by Joshua Held.  It makes me smile - I hope it does the same for you.

We are awaiting nasty weather - again.  The temperature, which as far as I know has not moved out of the teens all day, is going to moderate tonight and bring snow and perhaps sleet, at least in Vermont's southern counties.  I expect we'll see mostly snow.  We have very solidly frozen ice on back roads and lots of driveways in our area, and I found out today that even with cleats on my boots, I had to be very careful on my walk at lunch time.  The snow will cover the ice, and at least for a while, could make the going even more hazardous since we won't know for sure where the icy patches are.

I had a note from a Joe's Ponder who lives in Virginia, saying they are preparing for the ice storm that is moving up the coast.  They are fortunate to have a wood stove so will be comfortable even if they lose power.  It's good to be prepared, with extra water and enough canned food to last a spell in case you're not able to get out for a few days to shop.  That doesn't happen often, but it doesn't hurt to be ready - just in case.

I remember being caught in St. Johnsbury a few years ago when the weather took an abrupt turn while a friend and I were shopping and enjoying lunch.  We came outside to ice covered sidewalks and roads that had happened just in the short span of perhaps an hour.  My car was parked right in front of the restaurant on Railroad Street, and it was all we could do to get to it without falling down.  It was still raining and freezing onto everything.  Those of you who know St. Johnsbury will understand my concerns; there are several  ways to get to Main Street from Railroad Street, and all of them involve pretty steep and/or curving hills.  When we lived in St. Johnsbury, Eastern Avenue and Maple Street were often blocked by someone who couldn't make the hill, and the same with other approaches, so not only did one need to get a good start up, you also had to hope the way was clear towards the top.  I don't recall how we made it that day, perhaps by way of Hastings Hill, but I remember being very relieved when we were out of town and on Route 2 headed north.

Bad roads are a way of life in rural Vermont.  One of the tests I had to pass before my father would let me drive in winter was that I could master putting on a set of chains.  I quickly learned it was better to put on the chains before I attempted a difficult road than to wait until I got stuck.  It's not fun digging out a snowbank enough to get chains on.  It was quite a few years before I stopped keeping a set of chains in the trunk of my car.  I guess I graduated to studded tires; then there was front-wheel drive, and that was a whole new learning experience, especially backing down a slippery hill.  I don't know how many times I was fortunate enough to turn end for end so I could simply turn around and try again; or how many times the spin out landed me in a snow bank.  Now, we accept that some days it's just better to stay home, and we can do that now.  It's more fun now to recall some of those adventures as we made our way to and from work on a daily basis than it was to live them.  So drive carefully on your studded or groovy winter tires, and thank the road crews who, with better storm warnings, better equipment and a more scientific approach, do a much better job of keeping the roads safe than they were able to even 20 years ago.

 
This top picture was taken in the 1930's, we think.  It was on what is now known as Brickett's Crossing Road - that's Cabot Plain in the background.  Below is a picture taken on Deeper Ruts Road of a Cabot plow truck that got into trouble back in the winter of 2009.  We didn't hear much about this, and I'm not sure who got the picture or who gave it to me - it's probably better that we don't know the particulars.  As far as I know, nobody was hurt.

We just had a call from Billy Rossi saying that if you happened to be on their webcam a little while ago, you weren't seeing things - there actually was someone skating by their house, and they had a  golden retriever with them.  I  would not consider the ice safe yet, but to each his own.  Remember, to get to the web cam, use Internet Explorer as your browser to access the Joe's Pond Vermont website - then follow directions.