We're in for another cold night, but at least the temperature is going to stay in the positive numbers, that is - above zero. Things are heading in the right direction, and tomorrow may bring some really warmer temps, like in the high 20s or low 30s.  We'll be happy to have some above zero days and nights.  Above is our world as it looked from our kitchen window this morning - weak sunshine that never got very strong.

Last night was very cold, well below zero.  We had a very nice evening with Bill and Diane Rossi and Don and Diane Sherwood, here at our house.  I thought about calling them and asking if it was too darned cold for them to have to be out, but decided we'd all gotten together in past years when it was bitterly cold, and they would not mind too much.  And I was right.  Bill and Diane, of course are old hands at Joe's Pond winters, and Don and Diane are, too, sort of.  They have been coming to camp right after Christmas for I don't know how many years, and have experienced just about all the quirky weather extremes Mother Nature loves to throw at Joe's Pond - in their case, it's usually been rain that they bring with them when they come for their ski vacation.  Last night, Don reminded me to mention that "the spell is broken." But here's the thing.  According to the forecast, there may be some rain briefly during the warmup next week, so maybe it will just arrive a bit late  . . . or it could skip us and the pattern will be definitely broken.  I don't know which is worse to bring with you on a ski vacation, rain or bitterly cold weather . . . You're not totally off the hook, yet,  Don.  

I have to say, though, Diane S. and Pam Hebert went for a long hike on the rail-trail yesterday, about 4 miles, Diane said, and in that intense cold, that is an accomplishment, even courageous. Diane said they were going to walk on the pond, but the wind made it too cold, so they stayed on the trail where they were more or less protected.  With the temperature around (I'm guessing) minus 15 degrees yesterday, the wind chill would have been like about 25-30 below, so I'd say they used good sense.  I confess, I didn't go outside all day yesterday except briefly to check the snow/rain gauge, and I haven't been out today, either.  

Today I had to search out a tape I did way back in 1992 so I could share it with the others working on the history of West Danville when we meet on Monday.  It was with Betty Woodring, who used to own Point Comfort.   Betty was married to Glen McLaughlin years ago.  I did the interview with her in November of 1992, and she told me she was 95.  She was living in an apartment at the St. Johnsbury House then, and seemed sharp as could be the day we met and chatted about her life, her sons, Tommy, Jimmy and Bobby Reagan, her former husbands and living in West Danville .  The tape seems not to have stood the test of time, however, and there are only parts of it still audible.   I found the notes I took that day, so all is not lost. 

Also today, I've been editing and reformatting more of the interviews done for the Cabot oral history book we published in 1999.  I have been working on the interview with Bob Davis, the former manager of Cabot Creamery, and coincidentally, I saw in the paper he died this past week.  I didn't know Bob much, or his wife, Barbara.  They had Paul Swett, out of St. Johnsbury, build their house near Cabot Plain Cemetery years ago.  They later sold the house to chef John "Woody" Woods, when Bob retired and went back to his home town of Morrisville to live.   I remember my father was working for Gravett and Swett when they built that house, and he came to like the Davises quite a lot while working there.  At one time, they had a fairly large maple processing  operation at the house.  Their sugar woods was where our family had sugared for many years before the property was sold to Bob. 

The transcript I was working on was mostly  about the Cabot Creamery and gives a real insight to how milk handling changed from the 1950s on.  The creamery was nearing failure when Bob came into the picture; but he had experience in the milk handling business and was willing to learn about cheese making, and turned things around.  Not everyone was happy with his tactics, of course, but what he did seemed to have been what kept the business alive.

For me, the most interesting part of editing these old transcripts is all the information that didn't get in the book, Cabot, Vermont, A Collection of Memories From The Century Past.  Also interesting is that now there are used copies of this book showing up on line for $19.95 and much more.  We are still selling them new for $20.00.  

Oh, I nearly forgot.  Fred got this picture of Woody last night as we were awaiting the arrival of our dinner guests.  Woody has abandoned me in just about every way.  He now spends most of his time in with Fred during the daytime, either hanging out on the bed  (Fred's "office" is our spare bedroom) or on the rug next to the printer.  He jumps into Fred's chair if he gets up from the computer for even a minute - and then Fred just rolls the office chair to one side with Woody in it and uses one of  the dining room chairs.  That probably explains why I've been abandoned - when he nabs my chair, I pick him up and deposit him on one of the other half dozen "beds" available to him in the house.  So last night, just as we were about to sit down for a few minutes, we found him taking a snooze in Fred's chair in the living room.  He did wake up long enough to socialize with our guests a little during dinner, but mostly he slept.  These cold winter days and nights have him a bit flummoxed, I think.  But I have to admit, I miss him in my lap and on the desk next to my computer, even though sometimes he's a real pest.