You may remember that there was a report recently of an algae bloom spotted at the north end of the lake.  Kellie Merrell looked into it with some other professionals from the Agency of Natural Resources and as far as anyone can tell, it is a sometime thing that happens naturally and unless it becomes more widespread or frequent, there is no need for concern other than to avoid swimming in the water and be careful to keep dogs from drinking it.

That said, Kate Chatot has sent us a link to a very comprehensive analysis of blue-green algae produced in Scotland for the World Health Organization. I think you'll find it interesting - long, but interesting.  Also, she sent a link to a site where we can learn about numerous things we can to to help prevent this and other contaminants from entering our streams, ponds and lakes.  This is an endeavor of the Lake Champlain Committee to help people understand and take action against further pollution of that lake, but the same precautions apply to Joe's Pond.  Here's a link to their "Take the Pledge" program. 

Kate is sidelined right now recovering from a hip replacement last week, so she's putting her "down time" to good use.  Thanks for all the great information, Kate.  Really good stuff, and hopefully by heeding this advice we can continue to enjoy Joe's Pond being free of serious problems.  We don't have anyone doing water sampling for clarity since Gina Kurrle and Marty Talbot resigned after last year.  Anyone interested can get in touch with either of them to find out more about this important volunteer job.  Jamie Dimick did it for a number of years, and then Gina and Marty; this is the first year in a while we haven't had sampling going on during the summer.

There hasn't been much news about the fire at Joe Labbe's place, and I haven't heard how Joe is doing - only that he has been in hospital in Newport.  He was not injured in the fire, but did have some difficulty on the road in Derby the night of the fire.  The fire inspectors have not figured out exactly how the fire started, but they have said they believe it was accidental.  Joe has no family in the area, and we haven't heard where he might live in the future.

Our hot weather is supposed to ease up perhaps tomorrow.  We had only .02 in. of rain yesterday and last night, but Greensboro got close to an inch.  I had the prediction for winter wrong, too - I heard the same report again and some scientist was saying because of El Nino, he expects we will have less snow and a milder winter.  I guess that's good news - if it happens that way.  Milder certainly sounds good after last winter's unrelenting cold, and less snow is ok except we hope there's enough for winter sports and to keep our  lawns and fields from getting winter killed.  In the meantime, we'll all try to enjoy the last of summer.