HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We wish all of you a very Happy New Year with good health, much happiness, and loving relationships throughout the coming year.  Be safe and enjoy every precious minute.  

Fred and Jane

This lovely New Year's greeting came from Joe's Ponder, Roland Laperle.  Thank you, Roland - and Happy New Year to you!

Click Here. 

Here is a poem sent by some CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow) network volunteer within the past week and included in my monthly newsletter from our coordinator in Colorado.  I don't know what part of the country he/she lives in, but it could have been Vermont . . .

'Twas the night before Christmas
and the yard was pure mud.
Santa fell down, he hit with a thud.
His suit was all muddy, on this you could bet.
He said he'd be back when it wasn't so wet.
I received no presents under my tree.
It was the rain and the mud that caused Santa to flee.
I heard the rustling of many reindeer hoof beats,
and Santa swore to return when El Nino retreats!
Merry Christmas to All!!!"

We have more snow falling today, but a different variety.  Today we have nice, fluffy flakes, not that cornmealy stuff.  Our temperature is 20 degrees and it looks as if the pond is frozen - although we cannot see the broadest part from here.  The temperature has been cold enough, and the pond had already been mostly frozen over a couple of times, so it wouldn't take much cold weather to finish the job - we hope until spring when we can declare an Ice-Out Contest winner.  We were beginning to wonder if we would be able to even get the block and flag out on ice for the contest this year.  One thing about Joe's Pond - winter never fails us.

Burke Mountain is due to open for skiing on Saturday, so there will be lots of happy skiers and riders in the area.  The weather may moderate, but I'm guessing we won't lose all of our snow again right away.  Fingers crossed and big smile! 

We have at least 5 inches of snow!!  That was what I measured earlier this morning, and it has been snowing or sleeting ever since, so there may be a little more buildup.  It's very fine, so doesn't build up quickly, but it's also "mealy," and very difficult to shovel or walk in.  I was wishing I had two ski poles to help balance me as I climbed Jamie and Marie's hill this noon.  I tried to stay in the wheel tracks, but there were 2-3 inches of fresh slippery snow and to top it off, everything looked level but wasn't because the road tilts.  Pretty much a complete white-out that completely threw my gyroscope out of whack.  I made it, but not without some stops to regain my perspective - and do a little mild cussing.  At least I was smart enough to wear my cleats, although in that mealy snow, they weren't a lot of help.  I would have done better with snowshoes.

The good news today is, I have a solution to things breaking down in threes.  This morning Cousin Ora sent an old Irish remedy:  "Break two eggs into a frying pan and cook; then you have broken the curse."  Simple as that - broken printer/scanner + two eggs = three things broken, so no more worries.  We happily had eggs for lunch. 

Road crews are out and working hard to keep things moving on the highways.  Actually, the report is that there weren't many upsets on the commute this morning.  The snow seems to be winding down, and depending on how warm it gets, we may keep getting snow here in the higher elevations, while it will likely turn to rain in most places.  We had a low of 14.5 last night, and my thermometer is still reading only 20 degrees, so no big, quick warm-up here yet.  Incidentally, we may have the Sherwoods on Old Homestead Road to thank for our snow.  Historically, they have brought rain with them when they come to Joe's Pond directly after Christmas for their ski vacation each year.  I believe they arrived on Sunday, and look what happened!  Thank you, Don and Diane - we hope you will be able to enjoy some really good skiing this week.  Don was contemplating water skiing . . . fortunately he probably won't need to resort to that, although the storm isn't over and the Sherwood Rain Curse could still present itself.

We've had a little taste of winter today.  The temperature dropped during the night to about 10 above and there has been a cold wind most of today.  There was a sifting of snow on the ground this morning - just a hint of what's coming, if the forecast is correct.

I have been trying to remember to turn on my scanner more often, and when I did that this morning, almost immediately there was a call about a snowmobile on fire on Isham Hill Road.  Apparently the snowmobile was in a garage, and before the fire departments could reach the place, high on the hill on the Route 15 side of Joe's Pond, the garage structure caught fire.  Walden and Danville responded quickly, and fortunately there was a private pond near the building for them to get water, so they had the fire knocked down fairly quickly.  We could see the emergency vehicles going along a road through the field that shows to the right of the smoke in the pictures above, and hear the chatter on the scanner as the fire departments arrived and got to work.  The place is 179 Kindberg Road, a dead end apparently off of Isham Hill Road.  We hope there wasn't too much damage, but any fire is serious, and we are sorry someone's holidays were marred by this catastrophe.

Fred and I have been trouble-shooting my old Epson scanner/printer most of today.  It has refused to print for me recently - failing slowly so I've had to feed some of my printing projects to Fred's laser printer; but I'm now ready to print photos for the Cabot Historical Society and today it wouldn't let me do that.  I need to have a color printer, and have been very happy with Epson products - I think this is the second Epson printer/scanner I've had, and it is nearly 10 years old.  It's a "Workforce 500" and wouldn't you know, we just got a full set of ink cartridges for it.  I'm hoping someone else can use them - the color cartridges are #T0684 and #T0681 for the black cartridge.  After talking to the Epson help desk, we decided to purchase a new printer-scanner, an updated version of the one we have, for probably less money than this one cost, although we didn't check that, and almost certainly less than we could ship this one someplace for repairs.  I don't think this machine owes us anything.  I'm made literally thousands of scans and copies with it and sent I don't know how many fax messages.  It's like an old friend and I hate to part with it, but with work piling up, it's time has come.

I just hope we're not caught in a "things happen in threes" situation where there will be a couple more things breaking down shortly.  I'm going to think positively and keep my fingers crossed.  Not that I'm superstitious but just saying - it could happen. 

In the meantime, my snow measuring pole is in place, the snow shovel is near the door onto the deck where I can reach it to get to my precipitation collector tomorrow morning, and Fred has the snow blower gassed up and ready.  Oh, yes, and our snow tires have been on for weeks.  We're ready.

Here's another oddity to add to this Christmastime at Joe's Pond 2015 history - Kate Chatot's honeysuckle bush is blooming!  I'm guessing it won't last long after today, but for the time being, it's right up there with poinsettias and Christmas cacti!
Thanks, Kate, for sharing that photo with us.
 

Here's what Beaver Creek, Colorado, looks like - that's where Fred's brother, Tom and his wife, Ellie are this winter.  Tom is a ski instructor at Beaver Creek, and  says the snow conditions are excellent there this year.  Tom took this picture yesterday.  Looks like beautiful weather, too. 

This morning we're in a bit of change-over mode.  We are getting some rain, but also there is freezing rain in spots so driving conditions could be a little dicey.  Later on we're expecting some measurable snow, and that may be the start of real winter for us.  We've had so much fun with all the warm weather, some of us will no doubt be sorry to see winter setting in; but there are others who depend on snow to bring skiers, riders and the snowmobile crowd out, and we can appreciate how much snow will mean to them.

BRRRRRRR!!

I just found a note from Nancy Buttura with pictures of granddaughter, Riley, and her dad taking a "mid-morning dip" this morning.  That had to be painful!

We hope everyone is enjoying the long holiday weekend.  We found we were a bit tuckered after the frenzy if holiday gatherings, cooking, overeating (slightly) and keeping up with things in general.  We certainly enjoyed having mild weather, but we didn't go to the extremes some folks here in the north country did.  In today's Caledonian Record there are reports of some folks on Shadow Lake in Concord water skiing, and in St. Johnsbury, some guy was out mowing his lawn.  It's good that people took advantage of the warm weather because tonight things are beginning to change.  I just took pictures of the evening sky - unusual puffy clouds.  The top picture is the southwestern sky, and the bottom is looking southeast towards the pond from our house.  We've had clear sky and sunshine today, but this evening the clouds are rolling in and the temperature is dropping into the 30s and snow is predicted.  There was a white coating of frost on everything this morning - like in the early fall. I paid attention to the forecast - up to 5 inches of snow over tonight and tomorrow - and finally put out my snow measuring pole in the back yard.  I was beginning to think I might not need it this year!

Speaking of snow, here's a nice picture of a snow roller in Cabot.  I don't know the year, but it could have been as late as the 1930s.  I was also interested in the house.  There are plants in the bay windows, but it looks as if the upstairs has been unused for some time - notice the  missing and broken panes of glass and shuttered dormer.  Closing the upstairs off after children were grown and out of the house was a way of saving heat and labor.

Once the roads were rolled after a storm, folks went off in their one-horse open sleighs, over the meadows and through the woods . . . 

However, not everyone had a smart-stepping horse and sleek little sleigh.  More than one family used a steer, or sometimes the family cow, to pull their wagons.  I think it was the Perkins kids over in South Cabot that would ride one of their cows to school, then turn her around and she'd go back to the barn.  At the end of the day, the children's father would sometimes pick them up with the cow pulling a wagon or sled.  Probably most often they simply trudged home as soon as school let out because they all had chores to do.  The one-room schools in Cabot were thoughtfully placed so that no child would have to walk more than two miles to school.  I don't think they had snow days when schools closed.   

However, in the very early 1800s, school didn't keep during the harshest winter months or sometimes during mud season, but was kept during the summer months. Back then it was difficult to even find someone qualified to teach school, so some communities had no schools for their children for long periods of time.  Anyone with even a little bit of education might be called upon to teach, even young women of 15 or 16, or there might be an itinerant male teacher who would stay for a period of a few weeks, boarding with one of the families in the community and teaching pupils gathered at someone's house, and then he would move on to some other town.  Eventually, of course, education got more organized and regulated.

Oops!!!

I'm so sorry - I got the name wrong on the pictures yesterday - it was the Cassani kids, Emily Cassani Demers and her brother, Joey Cassani, not Calcagni kids.  My mistake.  Emily sent another shot of them today - here it is.   Emily wrote: 

Hi Jane and Fred ~ merry Xmas! We thought it was Xmas in July and we were expecting fireworks!

Our Christmas Day started off with sunshine, but has deteriorated and now we have pretty solid cloud cover.  The temperature is at 45 degrees, quite a drop from yesterday when Emily and Joey were cavorting on the water.   

Merry Christmas!

We are back from our Christmas Eve dinner with our family at Jamie and Marie's, just up the hill from our house.  We had a lovely meal and lots of laughs.  

It's been a busy day here at the pond.  The nice weather is proving to be an extension of summer in more ways than you might expect.
Nancy Buttura sent this picture of the Cassani kids, Joey and Emily, taking advantage of the nice weather.  Looks like fun, but I bet the water is really cold, in spite of the nice weather.

When we got home from Jamie and Marie's this evening, I found this picture in my e-mail.  Jack and Sue LaGue got this shot as they chatted with the Hamiltons from their deck.  It was a lovely day for a boat ride to visit neighbors!  The second photo is of another visitor that was apparently interested in the pontoon boat - a cute little ermine.   He is wearing his winter coat and is pretty conspicuous against the brown fall leaves.  Hopefully we'll have snow soon so he will blend into the landscape a bit better. Thanks, Jack for the pictures.  Click on images to enlarge them.

Also, today I received this card and photo from George and Pat Parizo on Sandy Beach Road.  They have a new poodle puppy - cute as can be.  Thanks to them for sharing their Christmas joy!

This must be the year for puppies to find their forever homes and our Joe's Ponders to have their Christmas wishes for a buddy fulfilled.  This is Henretta Splain on Clubhouse Circle with her new puppy, Oreo.  Oreo is a rescue dog from Texas, and probably has never  seen snow, so having bare ground when she arrived in Vermont is definitely a plus for her, I bet.  Now she will be able to get used to the snow gradually and it won't be such a shock!

We thank everyone for their pictures and Christmas wishes.  We've had lots of wonderful comments and notes as well as e-cards, and appreciate your thoughtfulness.  We wish everyone a lovely Christmas Day.

A Christmas Boat Ride

If some of you thought you saw a pontoon boat on the pond today,  it wasn't an illusion, it was the Hamiltons.  Nancy told Homer Fitts they were out on the water today, with temperatures not unlike some mid-summer weather we've had at Joe's Pond.  Perhaps someone took a picture . . . ?  Wish we'd seen them - we would have rushed down to get a picture.  We've recorded it here on the blog so it's official - December 23, 2015, the Hamiltons were stretching the boating season to just about the limit.  

Enjoy this mild spell while you can - next week we're going to get down to the business of winter, according to the forecasters!  Thanks, Homer, for letting us know.

I had a really nice surprise today.  Just after we'd finished lunch, our neighbor, Julie Ackermann stopped by.  She had brought a Christmas wrapped present she said was for me.  When I opened it, I was totally surprised to find it was a well-worn copy of "Five Little Peppers and How They Grew," by Margaret Sidney.  When I was a child, I had a whole series of the Little Pepper books, and I think they were my first introduction to reading books in a series.  I remember receiving them as gifts for birthday and Christmas, and spending many happy hours devouring those stories.  I was eight or nine years old.  The books had shiny paper covers with pictures of the Pepper children.  The book Julie gave me is blue with black lettering, the paper cover having no doubt outlived it's usefulness years ago, and when I opened the cover, there was a scraggly ink inscription, "Miss Eleanor Bolton, Cabot Plains, March 11, Saturday."  I could hardly believe it was actually one of my old  books.  On the back cover is a date stamp of Nov. 22, 1939, and "25 cents."  I cannot imagine a nicer surprise, and it was very kind of Julie to bring it to me.  She said it had been at her parents' house on Danville Hill and she has no idea how they came by it.  Nor do I, except when my parents built this house in 1962, where we now live, prior to moving they disposed of lots of things at the house where I grew up on the Plain. I suspect they donated books to the school or the library or perhaps the book was with items sold to the local auctioneer at the time, Albert May.  We'll probably never know, but it has come full circle, and I'm delighted to have it.

I want to share with our Joe's Pond Association Members this card from the folks at the Passumpsic Savings Bank in Danville.  Since we won't be having a meeting until next May, this is the best way to be able to share it.  The staff at the bank's Danville branch are always very helpful and patient, particularly with the numerous and often large deposits from the Joe's Pond Ice-Out Contest, and that is very much appreciated.

We have had the predicted warm weather today, with even an hour or two of sunshine in the early afternoon.  It is beginning to cloud over again - this morning we had dense fog throughout the hills surrounding the pond - and I think we can expect more rain tonight and tomorrow.  I measured .82 of an inch of rain in my gauge this morning at 9 a.m. - that's the amount over the past 24 hours.  We have been in the upper 40s most of the day, and our thermometer on the front deck had a high reading of 50.3, a low of 37.2. 

Diane Rossi has been in touch with Phil and Joyce Rogers who told her in their 30+ years living at Joe's Pond, they recall the pond was open at Christmas at least four or five times.  One year Phil rowed out to Sunken Island at Christmas with a Santa hat on - Joyce will try to locate the picture and share it with us.  Phil and Joyce live in Texas now.

I guess we weren't paying much attention to the weather in the early pre-retirement years when we were living at camp.  Mostly we were first trying to keep warm and tighten the place up, and then we were enjoying our coal-burning Vermont Castings stove and probably since there were no concerns about global warming and nobody except weather people had heard of el nino or la nina, whatever weather we had didn't strike us as being unusual.  If we had a late fall, we probably were just glad we didn't have to worry about icy and snowy roads on our daily commute to Montpelier.  In bad weather, our biggest concern was getting up the hill from camp to reach Route 2.  Danville plowed just to Barre Avenue and Cabot the same, and our driveway was just north of Barre avenue, so if one or the other of the towns didn't plow early enough, we would be a tad late getting to work.  It didn't happen often, though, but I do believe winters were more severe as a general rule 20 or 30 years ago.

Fred just went out to the garden to bury some food scraps in the garden (our way of composting) and the ground is not frozen at all.  I was talking to a lady in St. Johnsbury yesterday who was elated with fuel prices being down plus the warm weather.  She said although she likes a White Christmas, she appreciates low fuel bills even more. 

  

 I received these two pictures from Ted Chase this morning.  I'm not certain when the top picture was taken, but it's a lovely mirror image, about the same location as the "totem pole" view I posted a few days ago.  I've turned it 45 degrees and yes, there is a definite pattern there, but not quite as distinct as the first image.  Neat picture, though.  I'm sorry it doesn't seem to want to enlarge.  It's a zip file and the blog mechanics don't do well with those.

The picture of the bald eagle below was taken in the marshes here at Joe's Pond back in August.  That is a beautiful shot, and thank you, Ted, for sharing both pictures.

While I'm here, I'll update everyone on the weather, which is not very nice today.  We had appointments in St. Johnsbury and it rained hard all the time we were there.  This afternoon it is dark and dreary with lots of low fog, and the rain is still coming down quite steadily.  The temperature is hanging out around 40 degrees, sort of like April.  I guess there could be some flooding.  We noticed brooks running very high this morning.  We were wondering as we went along the pond on Route 2 if all the ducks and geese have left the area.  If not, it could be one of those years when a bird or two gets caught in the ice if/when the weather turns and temperatures drop.  I haven't seen or heard any wildlife around the pond recently, so hopefully they have all gone to their winter destinations and haven't been fooled by our strange weather and all the open water this year. 

I received this poem from Andy Rudin - as rain hits cold and turns to ice, then warms and washes away the brown slush:
 Snowfall

by Ravi Shankar

Particulate as ash, new year's first snow falls

upon peaked roofs, car hoods, undulant hills,

in imitation of motion that moves the way

static cascades down screens when the cable

zaps out, persistent & granular with a flicker

of legibility that dissipates before it can be

interpolated into any succession of imagery.

One hour stretches sixty minutes into a field

of white flurry: hexagonal lattices of water

molecules that accumulate in drifts too soon

strewn with sand, hewn into browning

mounds by plow blade, left to turn to slush.

We still have our snow, but the thermometer is in the mid 30's so it doesn't feel much like winter.  

We had dinner last night with our granddaughters and their mom and dad in Waterford.  We had a really nice meal and had a chance to see their Christmas tree - and they got to open some early presents.  Tangeni, four, is full of energy and great fun to watch as she changes every time we see her.  She is in pre-school and loving it, takes gymnastics and dance classes, so she is a busy little girl.  Big sister Jo-Ann, is rapidly turning into a lovely young lady.  She will be 17 in July, and we are constantly amazed by her.  The girls and Monika are in the above photo.

We are looking forward to our family gathering on Christmas Eve, this year at Jamie and Marie's, just up the road from us.  The forecast is for temperatures in the 50's or higher (!) on that day.  It won't matter, we'll have a fun time and perhaps by New Year's we'll have some snow to prove it's actually winter here at Joe's Pond and not springtime.  

I've been working on old photos - some that were used in the 1999 oral history of Cabot and a whole lot more that weren't included.  I am sorting through, putting titles on, and will eventually print them so I can include them in our album collection.  Here is one I was particularly interested in of Mrs. McCormick.  She and her husband, John, lived were Helfands do now, at the end of Deeper Ruts Road, just off of West Shore Road before it splits into Cabot Plains Road and Bricketts Crossing Road.  Mrs. McCormick was a very pleasant French lady who was a midwife, nurse and general care-giver for anyone in the neighborhood who needed her.  She was called upon to assist Dr. Burbank, and probably other doctors of the time, regularly.  In addition, she kept a meticulously clean house and was a superb cook.  She had a heavy French accent and my mother, then a young teacher at the Plains School, was invited to dinner at the McCormick's.  When my mother arrived, Mrs. McCormick announced they were having "meat pie."  What my mother heard was "mink pie," and she said she was barely able to eat a mouthful.  Hopefully, once she tasted it, her fears were forgotten, but perhaps not.  My mother was forever embarrassed that she had so misunderstood Mrs. McCormick.  The picture above was at their home - daughter Gladys later married a Rowell and lived in Walden.  The Rowell farm is still operating there.  Pliny, the McCormick's son, was a close friend of my father's, having grown up and gone to school together on the Plain.  The picture is dated about 1902, but I believe it was more like 1916, judging by the age/size of the two children.  Even though I've been through hundreds of old photos from Cabot, I still find wonderful surprises as I sort through these.

I measured 4 1/4 inches of very light, fluffy snow this morning, and our temperature is at 19 degrees.  Brrrrrrrr.  We really feel the cold after all the spring-like weather.  Not much chance to acclimate to the cold though. We are still getting snow and there's a bit of wind to shift it around, but the forecast is for things to warm up again into the 50s, so it's unlikely we'll see a white Christmas.  

The snow has boosted lots of spirits, including those merchants who have been seeing uninspiring sales.  We saw people being interviewed by WCAX on Church Street in Burlington yesterday, and they were elated to be Christmas shopping with snow in the air.  'Tis the season!

 I'm sure there were grownups who awoke this morning and felt the same excitement they did as a kid seeing the first snowfall of the year.  Only normally here at Joe's Pond that would have been in early to mid-October or November instead of nearly Christmas Eve. 

I'm no kid, but I admit to feeling a bit excited, or perhaps relieved, when I looked out this morning and saw the ground was white again.  Somehow, bare ground this late in the year makes me just a tad apprehensive. White is normal in December.  

We had a little sunshine earlier, but now snow is falling steadily - it's perfectly quiet outside and the brisk wind we had earlier has subsided.  It's encouraging, but probably isn't going to last, although the mountains may retain some winter conditions.  The pictures above were taken as this morning's snow was arriving.  The pond looks open in back of the islands where it had been completely iced over a few days ago.  It wouldn't take many hours of below freezing temperatures to close it in again, but I believe another warming trend is in the forecast. 

Every now and then there is a burst of wind that swirls the snow off the roof so it looks like a blizzard - and then the sun peeks through the clouds.  It's 23 degrees so I think our day will continue with off and on snow showers.  The trees are snow covered and there's enough on the ground so blowing snow will probably make driving a bit hazardous in some areas.  There will probably be unexpected icy spots, as well, so we all need to remember our winter driving habits.

So that's the good news (or not!) from Joe's Pond this morning.

The weather just isn't matching up to the time of year up here in the Kingdom.  We had rain last night and my thermometer shows a low of 33 degrees in the past 24 hours.  Not our typical late mid-December weather, for sure.  I measured .25 in. of precipitation this morning, and of course there isn't even a hint of snow left, and although I cannot say for certain, I believe the pond is fully open again - no ice anywhere.  I think the pond has been almost entirely frozen over twice so far - except the big pond never quite froze completely.  We don't know what to expect in the weeks and months ahead, but here is what the experts are saying:  Winter 2015-2016. Looks like southern New England may be digging out from under excessive snow again this year while up north we may be lacking in the white stuff but enjoying warmer weather than last year.  It was bitterly cold for what seemed like forever last year!

It has been suggested we should start an "Ice-In Contest."  I've been thinking about that, but figuring out how to declare the pond fully frozen over would be tricky.  We could have some microphones set up to catch the "ssssswoooooop" the pond makes when the last bit of ice closes over the water; or we could have Jamie Dimick attach a motion detector to the Sunken Island buoy that would signal when the buoy is no longer moving; or maybe have all our year 'rounders reporting daily, "open water," "cat ice," or "solid as far as the eye can see" -- that would keep year 'rounders busy on these gloomy days.  Trouble is, I haven't figured out how to deal with the pond freezing over and then opening up again so many times; and truth be told, we have enough to look after dealing with "Ice-Out."

This time of the year our cat, Woody, gets very bored.  He is mostly content to sleep during the day, but around six o'clock every evening, usually just as we are sitting down for dinner, he begins a routine that lasts until we go to bed.  During these evening hours, he's always on the wrong side of the door and needs our attention. I wanted to find something to amuse him and perhaps tire him out during the evenings, so we got him a kitty toy when we were shopping on Thursday --  a little pole with a long line of sturdy elastic string attached to a soft, puffy little toy fish.  He loved it.  He lunged and jumped like a kitten to catch it, and once he did, which was within about two minutes of play, he chewed off the elastic in seconds and then walked away from the motionless stuffed fish, leaving me holding a wooden dowel with a soggy string attached.  It was like he was telling me to get real and find him a trout or a perch to play with.  I should have known the elastic string wouldn't withstand his razor-sharp teeth -- he's chomped my knitting yarn enough times -- sometimes when I wasn't aware he had been playing with it until I had the slimy, wet end of the yarn in my fingers.  Yuck.  He also loves to chew on rubber bands - those are a little harder for him to actually chew off, but enough tooth piercings in a rubber band make it a real danger and I've been zapped any number of times from them breaking at the tooth holes.  But we love him in spite of his antics and demands, and will continue to answer his demands through dinner time and TV.  I view it as good exercise.

There was a sifting of snow on the ground when we woke up this morning, but by afternoon most of it was gone.  We may have more snow showers off and on, but the temperature remains above normal and no indication of any change for the next week or so. Looks like a green Christmas is going to be assured. Great for travelers, but most of us would still prefer some snow.  It's still not out of the question, but unlikely if we can believe the forecasters.  Fred took this picture in West Danville on Monday, but nothing has changed much, there's been rain and fog and a little snow with a few breaks of sunshine, but not much.  The ice on the pond has come and gone and each night a skimming forms in the quiet coves, but during the daytime most of it has melted. 

You can tell that the folks at Hastings Store are in the spirit of Christmas, no matter what the weather. If you click on the image you will see there are lovely decorations - the place looks really nice.  Jane has been busy, I suspect!

I received a really interesting photo today.  It was taken when the leaves were still on in the fall.  The picture is lovely as you can see here - the upper end of West Shore Road; but then, what do you see when it is turned?  I'm sure it will look different to each one looking at it, but if you let your imagination soar, what do you see in the photo below?


I see an image that resembles a face and other features, and apparently Judy Bailey on Old Homestead Road saw something similar that led her to ask, "Was there ever a lost totem pole at Joe's Pond?"  

Perhaps it's the spirit of Joe Indian back at his favorite hunting grounds.  At first I thought the face is joyful - that's a big smile!  But when I clicked on the image, it looked very stern.  If it's Joe, he has some red decoration, perhaps in his hair.  I doubt he would have war paint, but perhaps he was decorated in order to appeal to Molly - or to impress all of us enjoying his beloved pond.  I wonder - on a quiet day this time of they year, if Judy took a picture of the same scene, what would show up?  Does the spirit of Joe Indian hang out during other seasons or does it move to Newbury for the winter like Joe and Molly did . . . ? 
Thanks, Judy, for sharing this with us. 

This strange weather has some folks wondering just how "strange" it is for us to not have snow this time of year and for the pond to be open.  I went back in my picture files and also checked previous years on this blog and found out that in 2005, when I had just begun writing the blog, there was no snow and open water on November 13.  I didn't have anything about the weather written in December, so it may not have been remarkable.  Below you'll see a picture, taken on Dec. 23, 2005, and it looks like we got caught up.  We usually think the pond freezes over right about Thanksgiving, and generally, I think that's about right.

Briefly, here are some notes about Novembers past:
2006 there was no snow and some ice on Nov. 23
2007 we had 34 degrees and the pond was still open on Nov. 25
2008 the pond was frozen over by Nov. 30
2009 we had rain and open water Nov. 30; pond frozen by Dec.15
2010 not much snow, still open water on Nov. 30
2011 10 in. snow on the ground, but some open water Nov. 30
2012  first two ponds solid but big pond still open on Nov. 28
2013 pond was still open on Nov. 25, but very cold temperatures
2014 Open water until Nov. 29, and had 12" snow on 28th.

As for snow - here are some pictures taken around Christmas each year since 2002:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Certainly we've had some years with far less snow than others, but all of the above proves to me that this is a freaky year.  Click on the photos if you want to enjoy seeing snow.  I'd say we're at least a month behind schedule.  Someone said to me today we may still be dealing with snow and cold in May to make up for this.  

I received this message from Joe's Ponder Barbara Pollack in Arizona today:

I thought you'd be interested to know that for the past few days it has been warmer in West Danville, Vermont than in Tucson, Arizona.  Today at noon, Arizona time, it is 47 degrees in West Danville, and 43 degrees in Tucson!

Happy Holidays!

Barbara

Our friend, Michael in Alaska sent this message today:

Here we still have real winter, but not too much snow—but everything is solidly white. Daylight is pretty slim these days—around 5 ½ hours from sun up to sun down; but only a short time when the sun is up above the trees.

Thanks to both Barbara and Michael for the updates on their weather.  We're still pretty lucky here in Vermont - unless you're a skier, boarder or snowmobiler.  Lots of us are enjoying the nice weather, but it seems there are a lot of folks wondering what pay back will be like.  

We've had a lovely weekend, and for Fred and me, a really great one because Saturday morning I came face to face with our little mouse as I reached for the faucet at the kitchen sink.  He was nibbling on a banana peel in a little container I keep at the sink to hold bits of garbage as I work to prepare a meal.  I was as surprised as the mouse, but he was apparently hungry enough so he wasn't about to move very far away from that tasty treat.  After scurrying out of our reach and then reappearing time after time for ten minutes or more, Fred finally captured him but wasn't in a position to be able to pick him up (we both had our "mouse hunting" gloves on!) but I was able to get my finger on his tail to hold him long enough for Fred to get a good grasp on him.  Fred released him down in the woods.  I expect he will find his way back to the garage and spend the winter there unless Woody finds him again, but at least he isn't in our house in a partition someplace. Woody missed all the excitement.  He was sound asleep in Fred's office. 

The mouse gave us such an exciting chase, we didn't have the heart to kill him.   I have to say, he was a really bold little fellow and kept reappearing after each time we lunged for him and missed.  I could almost hear him laughing at us.  We were happy to have him gone, and after sanitizing the counters and everything he might have been on, I got on with my day.  You can bet we are VERY careful to be sure Woody doesn't bring anything into the house again, though.

The weather has been really nice again and we spent part of today finishing up getting things ready for winter and snow - we are certain that will happen, in spite of this wonderful weather that is so deceiving.  Now we are completely ready, so let it come!

Can you believe there are only 11 shopping days left until Christmas?  Isn't it amazing how time flies by between Thanksgiving and Christmas?  I always think I have all kinds of time, but inevitably end up in panic mode having more things left to do than I'd expected.  After years of rushing to try to finish all the things I've planned, I've finally learned when time gets short and the list is still long, I take stock and begin crossing off the unimportant stuff.  In the long run, a lot of those things aren't going to make a whit of difference.  I always tend to over-plan things, but now I know crossing undone stuff off my list is ok and the earth keeps turning just fine, whether I get it all done or not --  and it makes for a heck of a lot Merrier Christmas!  

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People can bring in their pets for photos with Santa Paws.  The photos are $10 and you get them right away.  They are stunningly clear and beautiful.  And dogs can get their nails trimmed for $7 by Deanna Baker of Kingdom Canine.  And there will be lucious baked goods to buy.  And...one can bring items for Kingdom Animal Shelter to "stuff the Subaru"...paper towels, cat toys, litter boxes, plan non-concentrated bleach, clear unscented laundry detergent, toilet paper, temptation cat treats.  It will be great fun.

 Another day worthy of April.  The back roads are pretty messy right now because they are frozen solidly except during the warm days the frost begins to melt the top layer and it turns into nasty, slippery mud slime.  We had to go to Danville and West Danville this afternoon, and I had thought we might go over to Old Homestead Road to see how the new houses are progressing, but West Shore Road was muddy enough so we decided not to venture over there where the road was probably even muddier since it gets more sun.  Instead, we got a picture of the new places from across the pond.  The green one is the old Knowles cottage, north of Sherwood's, now owned by Erica Ferreira and Dr. James Rustad, children of Chris Knowles.  On the south side of Sherwood's is the Nicholson home.
 
On this side of the pond, Shelly Walker's is moving along quickly.  They were framing the second story today. 

In West Danville, the old Joe's Pond Country Store has been pretty much gutted, by the looks.  As you can see, the whole front of the store and lunch counter area is opened up and being re-done.  There is a new opening in the north end where there was a garage years ago, and there was a cement truck there a few days ago, so things are definitely happening.  I haven't talked to anyone to find out what the future holds for the place, but I'll try to find out soon.  Last spring owner Sara Stinson told me they hoped to be open by this fall.  I think their main effort was to get the upstairs apartment renovated so it could perhaps be rented.  At that time, Sara wasn't sure what kind of business would be downstairs, but by now decisions have probably been made and thus the work can move ahead.  Just having new windows makes the place look a whole lot better than when the Stinsons bought it, so I expect it will be a big improvement for downtown West Danville when it's finished.  Stay tuned for more on this project.

We have a new project going here at our house tonight.  Woody, dear cat and intrepid hunter, rapped to come in from the garage tonight and got by me with a live mouse.  Fred and I spent over an hour trying to chase down the little creature, but finally had to give up and leave it for Woody to do.  We will probably find only remnants tomorrow.  We haven't had to corral any wild things in the house for a long time, although Woody has brought them into the garage from outside any number of times, but we have been able to prevent him from getting past us at the door.  Tonight he just bolted past me and ran into the living room to drop the little critter and of course the mouse has plenty of places to hide where neither Woody nor we can reach him, like under sofas and chairs and in the baseboard heaters. We have had good luck in the past catching and releasing the critters, but that may not be possible this time. We know our cat gets very bored this time of year and we are sorry for him, but we aren't too happy that he decided to bring something alive home to play with.