We're in for a wintery mess today - we've had snow earlier this morning, and now it has changed to rain.  My thermometer is reading 30 degrees, but seems to be on the way up.  This is going to make the snow very heavy, so there may be some stress on roofs, also, tomorrow night we're expecting more snow - the heavy spring kind.  Finally we're getting some spring weather, unpleasant tho it may be.  It would have been nice to get a few gently warm days to take the snow pack down before it rained on us, but as usual, we don't have a choice.

Yesterday Diane Rossi did an interview with Fox News 44 television.  Fred has a link right above the main menu on home page.  Jane Larrabee was also interviewed.  Nicely done, ladies.  We'll expect a nice bump in sales from that!

Our long-time friend and neighbor, Louise Siemers passed away yesterday morning at NVRH.  Louise was friends first with my parents, and later with us.  We shared many good times with her going out for lunch with other neighbors, or at dinners at our house.  Louise was special in many ways.  She was an artist and animal lover, sometimes a philosopher and always opinionated; she loved her religion, her family, New York City, and classical music.  She often said it was her husband, Howard, who picked Walden as their retirement home, but she came to love it there, taking great joy in feeding the birds and animals that came to her spacious deck every day.  She was known for her love of cats and over the years had cared for literally dozens.  After Howard died, her cats became her valued companions as she continued life in rural Vermont.  I always thought it took lots of courage for a city girl like Louise to live alone on a back road in Walden.  We will miss Louise - her humor, her often unique opinions, her friendship, and the wisdom gained during her long life.  I'm not certain, but I think Louise would have been 96 this May.  She told us many times in recent years that she was "ready when the Lord calls me," and that gives her family and friends comfort, I'm sure.  But we'll still miss her.

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Below is a schedule of events at the Cabot Public Library:  

(Click on it to make it larger.)

This came from Helen Morrison, who will be collecting bottles and cans for the Kingdom Animal Shelter:

Folks can call me (563-2488) to come get their returnables; or they can leave them in front of my garage. [936 West Shore Road]  The money I collect from them will go directly to the care of our cats. 

We are an all-volunteer, non-profit, true no-kill Shelter located in St. Johnsbury.   We service surrendered and stray cats from the Danville, Peacham, Cabot, Walden areas, as well as St. Johnsbury and east.  A cat that comes in our doors is with us until they are adopted.  We take kittens, teen cats, older cats, special needs cats, shy cats, friendly cats, grumpy cats...all kinds. We have placed over 500 cats in loving, forever homes since 2009.  Thanks, Helen.

It's remarkable the shelter has placed so many cats - just think, that's 100 cats a year!  Wow, who knew?  Good work, Helen and Kingdom Animal Shelter.

I received a message from Karen Keene who is with her family in Colorado: 
 Just an update, we discovered Peyton has a torn rotator cuff and will need surgery, so sadly he had to pull out of his two races.  We will be cheering Ryan on!  
Karen

We were sorry that Peyton has been injured - it goes with the territory, I guess.  Boarding, just like skiing and other sports, can lead to injuries.  We wish him a speedy recovery, and will be anxious to know how Ryan does in the competitions.