We're still having spring-like conditions and no sign of anything changing in the near future.  I'm beginning to believe there may actually be a sap run next week if temperatures get into the 40s and 50s as predicted.  It has been hardly worthwhile for folks to go south this winter.  We keep hoping, though.  We still have February and March that could bring a load of snow . . . or not.  

Woody came back to hang out with me in my office yesterday.  I was glad he wasn't permanently miffed with me.  Some cats do seem to hold a grudge - and will get you in their own good time.  We had a cat like that many years ago.  Her name was Hideous.  Jamie had rescued her late in the fall from a neighbor's cold garage when she was the only kitten left that hadn't been adopted.  I had firmly said "No" to having a kitten, and it was at least a month before I realized one was living in Jamie's room.  We had a rule that as long as the boys kept their rooms neat and changed their linens regularly, I would not disturb their things.  I was in and out from time to time, but didn't discover the kitten until she strayed from the hiding place one day.  By then it was too late.  Jamie had fed and cared for her and none of my reasons to not have a kitten held up any longer.  So she became a member of the family.

We had a large dog at the time - another reason not to have a cat, said I - but he was fine with her.  However, growing up with three boys and a big dog took a toll on Hideous and she learned to be mean when she needed to be.  By the time the boys were mostly out of the house and I was living at Joe's Pond, Hideous had been through a lot, so she had problems being in a quiet household and treated as a beloved pet.  She liked to curl up in my lap, but would rouse from a seemingly sound sleep to bite my hand or arm and then skedaddle away like some wild thing.  She loved to play with a string or a toy, but would apparently remember something one of us had done to her years before and she'd attack whoever was closest.  The boys said it was because she'd spent so much time closed in with Jamie's notoriously putrid sneakers her brain was fried.   In spite of the fact she seemed to hold a grudge against humans in general, Fred and I really liked her.  She had personality plus.  We learned to expect the unexpected from her; she was over 20 years old when she died, and we genuinely missed her a lot.

Woody, bless him, is nothing like Hideous.  However, he still steals my office chair whenever I get up.  He has also been known to ignore us pointedly when we arrive home after a few days away, 
like he's mad at us.  I have to remember he's a cat, not a dog; cats don't get all excited like dogs do when you come home.  It's undignified.

I found out recently that the road between Danville and St. Johnsbury was once a toll road.  It was built around 1811, but didn't last many years.  People didn't like the idea of having to pay to use it.  I expect locals went by way of North Danville or one of the roads in the Pumpkin Hill region to avoid it.  Fees were according to the type of vehicle, number of horses or oxen pulling it abd how many passengers, or the number of animals being driven through, etc.  Anyone on foot had to pay, as well.  The toll roads were usually built and maintained by companies contracted for the job and the company was supposed to keep the roads to a certain standard that towns sometimes couldn't manage.  There were several toll roads, or turnpikes, in the southern part of Vermont and in Massachusetts, but only that one in this region.  The era of turnpikes ended after the Civil War.  I've been doing a section on roads for the West Danville history book, and have found a lot of interesting information. There's lots more to do - we're just getting started.  

We've had a bit of snow today, but not enough to make us a winter.  On WCAX tonight there was a report that some sugar makers are getting ready - with the weather warming again next week, they expect the sap will begin to flow.  Make syrup while the sun shines, I guess.  We all know that things could change abruptly and we'll get some real weather.  On the up side, there's no snow in the woods so it's easy for farmers to get around to tap, and might as well give it a shot because there may not be a "normal" maple season in March and April this year.  Fred was reminding me of the year we had mud season start in February.  I'd forgotten - it was when we were living at camp - but it makes it a little less worrisome to know this kind of "winter" has happened before.

We haven't heard anything from my computer since it arrived in Indiana several days ago for repairs.  Fred had offered to set up an older computer for me that still works, but I held off for a little while thinking I would get used to using the laptop.  After a day listening to me complain about finding I'd typed a few dozen words into some previous paragraph because my curser had jumped around and I hadn't noticed, Fred activated the old computer for me - under protest, because I knew I'd have to transfer files - and there's always the chance of losing something.   I can't access the internet with the old computer, so I have both the laptop and the old one operating.  My office looks like "command central", but I can now research on the net and not disturb my work on the regular computer - and I don't have to watch my curser every minute. Trouble is, the laptop is now on the side desk that Woody likes to stretch out on when I'm working.  He came in as soon as we began moving things around and got in the middle of everything, so I brought a folding canvas "director's" chair in for him - I thought it would be very appropriate for a cat that gets his way most of the time.  I put his rug from the desk in it and helped him "discover" it.  He settled down.  Wonderful, I thought.  He's going to adapt.  However, for the rest of the afternoon, every time I left my chair, he would hop into it and I'd come back to find him curled up, sleeping soundly.  He does that with Fred all the time in his office, and Fred will push the chair with sleeping Woody aside and bring in another to use himself.  I'm not that obliging; after all, Woody is a cat, not the King of Everything.  So when he stole my chair, I transferred him to his director's chair.  Next time I left my chair for a minute, he calmly took it over; and I put him back in his chair again.  That happened about four times and the last time I deposited him in his chair, he sat staring at me for a long moment and then hopped out of the chair and hasn't been back since.  That was a couple of days ago, so I guess I'm getting the "cool cat" shoulder. 
I wouldn't want him to know, but I do kinda miss his warm furry presence. 

We have sad news today.  A long-time Joe's Ponder has passed away.  Joan (Beck) Bertolini, whose family has had a cottage on Joe's Pond for many, many years on what used to be called Flint's Point, passed away on Saturday, January 23.  Joan and her late husband, Enzo, enjoyed summers at the pond for many years.  One of their sons, Martin and his wife, Kate, have renovated the cottage into a year-around home, so the family connection to Joe's Pond remains strong.  Our deepest sympathy goes to the Bertolini family. Joan was a fun-loving and kind lady; her many friends at Joe's Pond will miss her. Messages of sympathy may be sent to:  Martin & Kate Bertolini, P. O. Box 86, West Danville, VT 05873.  

We have a mixed bag of weather this morning.  I've seen bright sunshine with temperatures ranging in low 30s and at the same time beautiful fluffy snowflakes floating through the sunshine.  Now the sun has disappeared and there are only random flakes in the air, but the mountains over Walden's way appear to be in a full-blown snow squall.  My shaded thermometer is reading a very constant 30 degrees while the others at different locations vary depending on sun or shade.  We had some rain off and on yesterday and the snow at the backyard stake is down to 3 inches.  Nothing big in the forecast, so we'll have to make do with what we have.

This morning's Times Argus carries the obituary of Rod Clarke.  Fred and I took a journalism class from him in 1985.  It was memorable.  Rod brought in Tim Lewis, who was at the time working for WCAX, as I recall; Tim teaches journalism at Lyndon State College now.  They were two crazy guys with a real passion for their craft and excellent, sometimes scary, teaching skills. 

I dug out my notes from that class (Of course I kept them!) and smiled at some of the "rules:"
"When in doubt, leave out."
"Don't screw it up with too many facts."
"Be fair."
"Write as if you are being charged for every extra, unnecessary word."

We used to bump into Rod occasionally in Montpelier when he worked for United Press International (UPI) - sometimes at one of the local watering holes after work on a Friday night - and over the years his name has come up and we remember his brash, fun, energetic, motorcycle-riding, mountain-man style. We feel fortunate to have known him even a little.  

It's like spring here today.  The temperature is around 40 degrees and there's some wind, but it's out of the southeast, so not as cold as we've had in days past.  There was a little rain shower in the middle of the morning, but it didn't last long.  We still have about 5 inches of snow on the ground, but one good rain storm would quickly wash that away.

We had a call from our friends in Alaska this weekend.  We were happy to hear from them and learn there was no damage from the recent 7.1 magnitude earthquake a week ago.  The quake was centered near Cook Inlet, about 160 miles from where our friends live in Anchorage.  Because it was so deep (50 miles) it didn't shake them up too badly, and there was no danger of a tsunami.  I checked the Alaska Earthquake Center website and was amazed at how many quakes they have had recently along the peninsula, some of them pretty big.  It may be that this goes on all the time.  I didn't find anything about that on the site.  I guess our friends are fairly used to earthquakes, having lived in Alaska for many years; they said other than a few things falling from shelves (nothing broken) and some water splashed out of the aquarium, they had no damage. Some parts of Anchorage were without power, according to a report I read, but over all there was nothing alarming about the event.  There were two smaller, 4.0 and 3.2 quakes that followed about a half hour later.  I don't think I'd like having that much earthquake activity around me all the time.

I'm weathering this stuffy cold pretty well, drinking lemon-ginger tea (great stuff!) and lots of plain water, juice, and green tea.  I'm fairly afloat, but it seems to be doing the trick and keeping my nose and head fairly clear.  Drinking all those fluids is also good for my exercise regime!  What really felt good was getting outside in the fresh, spring-like air at noon for my walk.  Something about the cold air seems to clear the sinuses. 

We are still awaiting my computer with its new hard drive. Working on the laptop is really frustrating.  Things jump around - a lot!  I've been working on the manuscript of the West Danville History book, trying to edit material and insert photos, etc., and I'm constantly being surprised that my curser is someplace it shouldn't be and I've typed a bunch of words in the middle of an unrelated paragraph.  I will be very happy to have my desktop computer back again.  Fred just sent me a link to a site that has some statistics about how long hard drives will last.  Check it out.  Three or four years doesn't seem like a long time, but it proves it's a good idea to back up your work frequently.  Ours lasted 3.5 years and didn't fail completely - just kept telling me it was going to.  I didn't want to risk having it crash and lose stuff, so we backed everything onto an external hard drive before even contacting customer service for support.  However, external drives last about the same length of time, except you don't use them as much.  All this aside, I hope I get my computer back soon - and that the new hard drive gets through those first critical months without problems. 

I often think back to the first computer we had.  It was a Wang, and I don't remember that we used it for much at all except perhaps a few letters - and I probably typed manuscripts with it.  It was mostly a word processor. We both had to use computers at work, but they were really awful.  It wasn't until I retired that I began to enjoy working with computers, and now I'm lost without mine.  I still prefer to leave the laptop at home when we go on vacation, and since we don't have smart phones, we are truly disconnected.  And that's a good thing!

This has been another nice day with temperatures in the low 20s.  I have been cold all day, but that's because I finally caught Fred's cold he's been dealing with all week.  It's the sniffling sort of thing that I doubt will amount to much more than an irritation, but it was a good excuse to hang out inside all day.

I had a note from Karen Cobb in Virginia saying they got about 13-14 inches of snow in this storm, but they didn't lose their electric power.  Karen said their dog, Gunnar, now about 1 year old, is loving the snow.  He was born in Holden, Maine, so Karen thinks he's a natural to be in snow.  He's a cutie, for sure.

Diane Rossi told me there was a car doing wheelies on the ice last night.  There was a full moon, I think, and it was a beautiful night, but that was a really dangerous stunt, and I'm just glad no harm came of it.  A truck went through on Memphremagog recently, and I think also one on Champlain.  The ice this year is particularly unpredictable because of the unusual weather during December and the first part of January.  Some folks have more courage than sense, I guess.

We've all been watching the storm as it progresses up the Atlantic coast and thinking about our friends in that area.  Tonight we are happy to have a message from Tom & Camilla Dente in Connecticut.   We're glad they are ok - digging out tomorrow, no doubt, but no big problems.  Here's what Tom wrote:  

Hi Jane,
There is no shortage of snow in CT. Most of us in the mid to south part of the State have twelve or more inches of snow and more falling now. High winds have picked up and what's on the ground will be blown around and settled in places hard to get at and remove. 
Much better here though; JFK airport has twenty-seven inches on the ground. The news is don't expect air travel to get better until mid to late week. Washington, DC is a mess this time with snow. Two to three feet on the ground and not a good way to handle the snow. So CT came out pretty good all considered.
That's it from here,
Tom

As for what's going on here, I understand Ted Chase was out on the pond with his snowmobile today.  Ted likes to get out there as soon as possible - last year it was on skates when the ice was only a few inches thick and crystal clear so you could see to the bottom in places.  Ted likes to live on the edge . . .

This came yesterday from Sandra Grenier looking for a rental next summer:

I like the month of July but would do mid July to mid August.  I have rented for about 10 years at the LaPearle camp but he uses it now.  I would prefer to not be right on Route 2.  But I would look at it.  Contact greniersandra2@gmail.com.

While we enjoy quite nice weather, a lot of the rest of the nation is being walloped by a brutal storm with lots of snow and high tides along the Atlantic coast.  We could really use the snow, but it isn't going to hit us much at all, from all reports.  I just came in from my walk up Jamie and Marie's driveway and it was very pleasant.  The wind has died down and the temperature is in the high teens as the sun is sinking behind the hill.  Fred had to go to Danville a few minutes ago and took this picture of Route 2 after he left West Shore Road.  You can see we don't have a whole lot of snow, and the road is relatively bare. 

Don't forget the benefit dinner at the Danville Inn Sunday evening.  There's Turkey Pie, mashed potato & gravy, Cop Suey, Beans, Coleslaw and a variety of desserts on the menu.  The dinner starts at 5 p.m. until all are served, and is by donation.  

I just realized the information I included yesterday about Sarah's Country Diner didn't say where it is, so I added that.  Some folks might not know it is in Cabot, at the back of the hardware store.  Sarah has been in business there for some time - in the same spot Julie Achermann was for a long time.

Here's something some of you may be interested in knowing about:

Sarah's Country Diner in Cabot has got you covered! we are now offering frozen, home cooked meals.
Two sizes 7x7 - feeds 1-3 people only $10.00
9x9 - feeds 4-6 people only $15.00
Available right now-
Shepherds Pie
Macaroni and Cheese
Chicken and Broccoli Over Rice
Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Shells
Call or stop in to get your easy, ready, made dinner!
802.563.2422 7am -3pm Monday through Saturday

We have another absolutely lovely day here - as long as you don't have to go outside.  The sun is shining brightly and although there is some heat to it coming through a window or in a southern exposure outside, the air is very cold.  We haven't been able to get even to 20 degrees all day, and there's a persistent north wind that goes right through whatever layers of clothing you have on.  My anemometer is still not fully functional, but I know the wind was out of the north because it hit me full force as I came to the end of our driveway on my noontime walk.  It sweeps down North Shore Road at that point and I always rush to the shelter of more trees along Jamie and Marie's driveway.  The good news is that it isn't blowing as hard as it has been the last couple of days, and the temperature has gone up a little, too, but it's still biting cold if you aren't prepared.  

We aren't expecting much from the big storm presently heading north from the southern states, and that's a big disappointment to lots of people.  We have only five or six inches of snow on the ground in most places, but ski resorts can certainly make plenty of snow.  It's the snowmobile enthusiasts that are really hurting now because the the season is getting shorter every day and there hasn't been enough snow to adequately cover the trails.  Of course, the path of the storm could change, but the forecast is that only the very southernmost border of Vermont is likely to get much snow.

The West Danville History Committee met this morning and we are making progress on our project.  The writing process has begun, but we are still open for stories from anyone who may have grown up or lived here in the past or who has memories of someone or some event that would be interesting for others to read about.  It's all part of "history," and we'll be happy to consider including your thoughts, pictures or essay.

Dot Larrabee asked me to let people know there will be a Benefit Dinner at the Danville Restaurant & Inn on Sunday (Jan. 24th) beginning at 5 p.m. until all are served.  This is to benefit a family in Danville, and payment is by donation.  The menu sounds wonderful:  Turkey Pie with Mashed Potato and Gravy; Chop Suey; Beans; Coleslaw and a Variety of Desserts.  This is a worthy cause - Dot didn't name the family, but apparently they have had a string of bad luck and illness that has taken a toll, and this is a way the community can show that Danville cares.  We hope you can help by joining neighbors at this benefit dinner.

We have personal knowledge of Steve Cobb's Turkey Pie and lots more in his dining room, and the food is always delicious.   So put on your winter garb and head for the Danville Restaurant & Inn on Sunday night for a great meal and show your generosity. 

Just a quick note to tell everyone what a beautiful, but cold, day it has been here.  We finally got sunshine a little after high noon, but it did little to warm us up.  My weather station is reading 12 degrees, and that's usually a couple degrees warmer than the other thermometer at the back of the house.  We had a couple inches of new snow, but it blew around so much it was nearly impossible to measure and this morning there was an inch less than there was yesterday.  I'll need to go out with my yard stick eventually and take several readings and average them to send to CoCoRaHS.  The wind piled snow onto our front deck so it was hard to even get a good measurement on my snow board this morning, but the whole process of measuring snow is "by guess and by gorry," so I don't worry much about it.





We went to St. Johnsbury today to ship off the hard drive for my computer - so I'm fumbling along on our old laptop.  It's working ok, but I'm just getting used to the keyboard, using a mouse because I'm totally frustrated using the finger pointing method of moving things around.  On our way home, we stopped at 

the fishing access and got pictures of Shelly Walker's new house over on West Shore  Road, and of the first fishing shanty to appear this year.  There was an interesting bit in the Caledonian Record  last night about safe amounts of ice.

According to the University of Vermont Extension Service, "No ice is safe ice."  That said, the article (about Newport's Kingdom Games Director, Phil White going through the ice with his pickup truck on Lake Memphremagog this weekend) went on to state that people should stay off ice that is less than 4 inches thick; walking single file on 4 to 6 inch thick ice should be safe; 6 to 10 inches should support ATVs and snowmobiles; small cars and pickups need 10 to 16 inches and larger vehicles need over 16 inches to be safe.  They included measures to take when you go out on the ice in order to be able to escape from your vehicle if it breaks through. It would probably be a good idea, especially this year when our season was so messed up, to review those safety measures.  I found a site that has slightly different information, but it seems to be about the same:   CLICK HERE.

Things don't look quite lined up at the top of this page, but until I get more experience on this laptop, I'm going to get mixed results, I'm afraid, so for tonight, I'm going to congratulate myself that I got this much posted - pictures are often a pain to keep in place.  I know you'll figure it out.

We have our first report of ice thickness this season.  Read the comment at the bottom of today's entry below.  Thank you, Jeff!  Your side of the lake was last to freeze over and we were beginning to wonder if we'd have open water all winter.  It's good to know we are back in the realm of "normal."

It was Channel 22 and Fox 44 that did the interview today.  It was blustery cold- only a little above zero and the wind was whipping snow off the roof, down the pond, and across roads.  It was bitterly cold, but Christy Souders did most of the interview inside at Diane and Bill Rossi's.  It will be on Channel 22 at 7 p.m. and Fox 44 news channel tonight at 10 p.m, and then again at 11 p.m. I think, and she said on the morning news tomorrow, too.  If you miss it, I think Fred may have a link on home page where you can see it. None of the Ice Out Contest is set up yet, but Christy's focus was on whether we think the warm fall weather will affect the date the block sinks and stops the clock.  I couldn't be much help - I expect since there are ice shanties out there and Bill Rossi told us today there was a car or truck out on the ice already, I'm guessing the ice is about normal thickness for mid January - especially after the weather we're having today.   There may be thin spots, like along the east shore where there was open water up until a couple of weeks ago, but for the most part the ice is growing rapidly and probably will for the next couple of months.

We had the pleasure of having from our four-year-old granddaughter, Tangeni, yesterday spend some time with us yesterday.  She was excited to see her friend, Woody, and he was dedicated to her the whole time.  He's a very patient kitty - through lots of petting, brushing, playing, and finally some relaxing to watch cartoons.  Just before she left, Tangeni showed us "two faces," and this picture is what she was talking about.  She had been combing Woody and he always enjoys that.  He's been a little tired today and has stayed very quiet, but we are glad he seems to like Tangeni almost as much as she likes him.  He doesn't ever run away from her or hide, and she is very gentle with him.  She says he's a "very nice cat."

We know it's winter today, for sure.  The wind is whipping and the thermometer hasn't shown anything but single numbers so far - but at least they are above zero.  Tonight may be a different story. 

We also know things are getting back to normal when we get a call, as we did today, for an interview about Ice Out.  They are coming to talk with us about the expected effects of our unusually warm weather on the contest.  I suspect they won't want to spend much time outside the way the wind is whipping down the pond today!  I am showing 2 above at the back of the house, and a mean NE wind, I think.  I'm not certain if the wind gauge is fully functional after being solidly frozen up a few days ago, and it's too cold to even go out on the deck where I can look up at it at the peak of the roof.  I'm showing wind speed, but the direction hasn't changed all morning, and that's unusual.  I believe it's WCAX that's doing the interview with us, but I'll have more information later this afternoon, and I expect it will be on tonight's newscast.

This beautiful picture came this morning from Fred's brother, Tom.

He took it earlier this morning from the top of Spruce Saddle, Beaver Creek, Colorado, apparently where chair 6 unloads.  He was literally high above the clouds.  The sunshine makes it look ideal for a great day of skiing.  He didn't mention temperature, but the weather forecast is for temps in the 30's daytimes and 20's nights.

The bit I put on the blog about Russia being 55 miles from U.S. got a response from Jack LaGue this morning:  (Thanks, Jack!)

See http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/russia.asp

"In the middle of the Bering Strait are two small, sparsely populated islands: Big Diomede, which sits in Russian territory, and Little Diomede, which is part of the United States. At their closest, these two islands are a little less than two and a half miles apart, which means that, on a clear day, you can definitely see one from the other."

"To the Russian mainland from St. Lawrence Island, a bleak ice-bound expanse the size of Long Island out in the middle of the Bering Sea, the distance is 37 miles. From high ground there or from the Air Force facility at Tin City atop Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost edge of mainland North America, on a clear day you can see Siberia with the naked eye."

'So it is that one of the quotes most strongly associated with former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is the exclamation "I can see Russia from my house!" even though she didn't actually utter that phrase during the campaign. 

The basis for the line was Governor Palin's 11 September 2008 appearance on ABC News, her first major interview after being tapped as the vice-presidential nominee. During that appearance, interviewerCharles Gibson asked her what insight she had gained from living so close to Russia, and she responded: "They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska"'

This just proves you can't really depend on what you hear or see on TV or on line.  I went to Wikipedia and found slightly different information: Diomede Islands. 

It's also interesting that the international time zone line is between the two islands - but it doesn't matter much that one is 23 hours ahead of the other, because there is no travel and probably little communication between the islands.  I liked that the two islands are sometimes called "Tomorrow" and "Yesterday."

On to another subject - my computer is needing a new hard drive, therefore, I may be out of commission for a while.  We are hoping to get whatever I'll need onto the laptop, but some things will need to wait.  I expect it will be a couple of weeks before I'm up to full steam again, beginning about the middle of next week, unless the thing fails completely before then.   I intend to enjoy my "down time."  I'll be monitoring and answering e-mail, so not much should change, actually.  Apparently my breaking eggs to break the spell of things happening in threes didn't work - or maybe I'm working on another set of three.  I've lost track of what has broken down around here recently, and prefer not to think about it.  Maybe if I ignore the "threes" thing it will go away.  

I'm pretty sure finding things to count as part of that superstition is pretty easy, so it could go on and on and I'd always be looking over my shoulder wondering "what next?"  I remember years ago, when I was a single mom with three boys growing up, I would get very nervous when things went smoothly for any extended period of time.  I always knew that just around the corner there would be some sort of catastrophe to deal with.  I'm not sure when that ominous feeling disappeared, but it did, and we look back on those years now with a great deal of  humor.  I'm forever grateful, however, that during those years there were "catastrophes" I never knew about; the boys relate some of those escapades now at family gatherings and I am happy to know things turned out ok even without my knowledge.  

I need to be brief tonight - my computer has been acting up and Fred has been trouble-shooting all day with various help desks - but no real break through yet.  So I've been able to have my computer only a couple times all day to check my e-mail.  I've had other  non-computer type projects that needed my attention, so have still been busy and fairly productive.  Fred is waiting to get back in here and finish up some backups - just in case the hard drive fails.  I've been getting messages that it's likely to happen and so far there's been no "fix" for it, so we may be looking at a new hard drive.  

I had an e-mail from Andy Rudin (Old Homestead Road) today to let me know a long-time friend of his who used to live in West Danville passed away this fall.  I'm sure some of you knew Cliff Pye - I never knew him, but Andy said he lived on a farm just outside of West Danville and graduated from Danville High.  I thought some of you might not know he had passed away so click on his name above to see the obituary

I also had a message from Diane Rossi today letting me know there are fishing shanties on the ice now.  We are amazed - it seems only a few days ago the pond was still open, but apparently the really cold nights we've had took care of that and there's sufficient ice to be out there fishing.  Nobody could pay me enough to go out on the ice right now, but I'm sure those guys that are out there know how thick (or thin) it is and use good sense.  I hope!

We saw this trivia question on TV tonight:  How far is it from Alaska to Russia?  The answer is 55 miles, and here is the explanation of that.  Maybe some folks really can see Russia from their Alaska home!

We had a little more snow yesterday, and today was certainly not spectacular in any way.  Pretty much a typical January day.  It seemed cold, but actually stayed in high teens and low twenties which is fairly normal.

Shelly Walker's new house now has windows!  It looks cozy and I'm sure the carpenters are happy to have it closed in. 

We went to St. Johnsbury today and as we came across Portland Street bridge, we noticed all these pigeons roosting on the wires at the west end of the bridge.  I have no idea why they chose that particular place to hang out, but perhaps there is a warm updraft from under the bridge - just a guess.  We didn't see any others anywhere in town, so that must be the pigeons' preferred roosting place.  Everybody needs a favorite place to be, even birds.  We were very glad to get back to our favorite place - home.  It was raw in St. Johnsbury, and of course the wind was blowing in West Danville when we stopped for the mail.  We are protected somewhat from the wind here, and Woody had kept the house nice and warm for us, and was at the door to greet us.  He's a perfect gentleman, most of the time.

If there's anyone here at Joe's Pond who thought we might escape bitter weather altogether this year, they are back in reality today.  After the rain diminished our snow pack considerably, the temperature dropped and we got snow.  I measured three inches of new snow this morning and six inches at the stake out back.  Still way below normal for this time of the year, but today is showing up as a very typical January day - snow in the air, lots of wind shifting the landscape into mounds and swirls, and even though there's sun, it's pitifully weak and the thermometer is reading 10 degrees above zero, but wind chill must be well below zero.  I haven't decided which way the wind is blowing, and can't tell how fast.  My little anemometer up on the roof is frozen in place, useless for the time being, but I'm estimating the wind is at least 10 m.p.h. so wind chill would be nine below zero.  There are more whirlygigs than straight blowing snow at the back of our house, so it's hard to tell which direction the wind is coming from, but I suspect it is straight out of the north - Canada!  The top picture is when a gust along West Shore Road hit the trees in front of our house and the second picture shows it blowing through.  On the southeast side of the house it's a bit more protected, but you can see (bottom picture) the snow is blowing through the woods beyond our lawn, near the Encarnacion place, now owned by Kate and Jay Chatot.  I enjoy the wind - within reason.  I don't like being out in it when it's this cold, so I'm debating whether I'll do my usual walk up Jamie and Marie's driveway at noon.

I had a short e-mail from Shelly Walker this morning to tell us her dad, Don, fell on New Year's Eve and broke his left femur.  He will be unable to drive for about two months, so is feeling very penned in, she said.  Don will be 89 on February 8th, but he's always so active, I can understand his frustration.  I'm sure he'd like to hear from Joe's Pond friends - he's not on line, so drop him a card and a note the old fashioned way, hand written. Send it to:  Don Walker, 245 Towne Hill Rd., Montpelier VT 05602, or give him a call, 802-223-2484.  I know he'll be happy to hear from you.  Mark your calendar, too, so you can send him birthday greetings in February.  

Some of you know Don and Audry (1739 W Shore Rd) from their many years spending summers here at the pond.  They were our neighbors for many years when we lived on the pond, and our kids grew up together.  Don and Audry were active in JPA, meetings, sailing, social gatherings, and Don was one of the founders of the Joe's Pond Ice Out Contest. Every year he has distributed tickets for us to various outlets in and around Montpelier.  

This fall, Don and Audry turned the cottage on West Shore Rd. over to their older daughter, Michelle - affectionately known to us as "Shell," or "Shelly," and she is in the process of building a new year around home there.  It was sad, of course, to see the old cottage being taken down, but time had taken a toll and many of us have had the experience of trying to rehab an older cottage for year around living and know that can eat up lots of time and money and is never-ending.  Shell's new house will be beautiful, and she says she can't wait to be a year-around Joe's Ponder.  We will be very happy to have her here, too.  She told me the carpenters plan to put the windows in place in the new house today.  That will be a big relief for them to get the place somewhat closed in - this winter weather must be difficult to work in without some shelter, and the wind has been whipping from all directions, so even though they are somewhat protected by the hill by Chatot Road, I bet it's bitterly cold working there. 

Here's some good news:  We are making real progress with the history of West Danville project. We have stepped up our meetings and have begun actual writing.  We are looking for input from anyone who might like to be a part of this history.  John Moore (3918 Rt. 2W, above Edgewood Ave.) has given permission for us to include two articles he did for the North Star some 25 years ago about the geological formation of Joe's Pond.  We're excited about that. 

We hope to include information from others who have written articles or would like to write something for us about the history of the pond or West Danville community.  This would include published articles, family stories, poetry or personal musings.  We cannot guarantee everything sent to us will be included in the book, but we will definitely find a place for as much as possible, and you will be given full credit.  It doesn't have to be something very old - we would be interested in comparisons of how things may have changed in the more recent years of your memory, or a particular event that stands out in your mind - a drowning, accident, fire, storm, gathering, or newspaper clippings you may have saved.  The best way we can capture the more recent history is from your memories/stories.  

I  know there are lots of you who have these stories, so jot them down.  Don't worry about spelling, punctuation or writing style -  we'll edit or quote to fit whatever is appropriate into our narrative. Please send submissions to me:  e-mail,  janebrown@fairpoint.net; or regular mail, Jane Brown, 640 W. Shore Rd, Cabot VT 05647.  I hope to have a whole mailbox full of personal memories come in the next few days/weeks from people associated in some way to Joe's Pond or West Danville.  If you have questions, get in touch with me by e-mail or phone (802-563-2381), or with Jane Larrabee, Dot Larrabee or Patty Conley the other members of the committee.  We will be writing and editing throughout the next few months.  Please send anything you have as soon as possible, or contact one of us to let us know you are considering sending something for us to use.  

We are getting the rain, as predicted.  It has rained fairly steadily all day and the temperature has remained in upper 30's, perhaps getting into the low 40's briefly around noon.  There has been plenty of wind, and we lost electrical power for a few minutes late this afternoon.  The road looks as if it could be very slippery, but there have been a few cars going by, so it's certainly passable.  Our driveway was glare ice for a while, but mushy, and Fred was able to break it up so it shouldn't be a problem.  There's an awful lot of water running off the hills into the pond, and we're all wondering if the ice will open up again.  The temperature is moving downward tonight, and we expect everything to freeze up before morning.  Then a break on Monday with "normal" temperatures and snow on Tuesday.

Weather today is mild with some snowflakes in the air.  It's going to turn into rain tomorrow, according to the forecast, but with luck, that could be snow for us here at Joe's Pond.  Or it could mean icy conditions.  I see 4.5 inches of snow at my stake in the back yard, down from about 6.  The wind seemed to blow all night last night, and there's still a pretty steady light south wind this morning.  Even though we've had some bitter below-zero nights, winter seems to be having a hard time getting going.  The last couple of days have been very spring-like, and we have yet to have a good old-fashioned snowstorm.  Not that I'm pining away for anything like that, but the whole "winter" scene has been odd this year.

Fred removed our outdoor Christmas tree from the deck this morning.  I was sorry to see it go - the lights seemed very cheerful, and even though probably very few people passed by at night to notice it, I liked it being there.  We had put it in a large bucket of water, and of course it froze so the tree still has a bucket attached to it down in the woods.  We'll have to wait until spring to retrieve our bucket, and then we'll probably chip what's left of the tree.  Spruce branches make wonderful mulch for the flower beds.

This is a fairly long stretch between holidays now.  There is Presidents' Day in February that commemorates Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, but nothing big until Town Meetings in early March, and then Easter on March 27th.  It somehow makes time go by more quickly when you're looking forward to a holiday coming up.  As we get older, time seems to slip by way too fast, so the months with no big holidays are fine with me.  I heard someone recently did a survey asking people which they would prefer to have, money or time, and older people opted for time while the youngsters chose money.  There's an old saying, "Time is like a snowflake; it melts away while we're trying to decide what to do with it."  There are two schools of thought on that - one is that people waste way too much of their time and life passes them by, and then there's another that reminds us some of the most creative people seem to be "wasting time."  

And that's all the time I have right now - I need to get busy.

Today was like spring.  At noon when I started off for my usual hill climb, the air was warm and fresh with just a hint of spring smell in it.  I found myself thinking how nice it would be if the last three or four days of sub-zero weather was the extent of our winter and now there will be spring.  I wasn't too proud of my thoughts - after all, I'm a Native Vermonter and we are sworn to relish nose pinching, cold, long winter days and desperately cold, wind-howling nights. But I admit I appreciated today, a lovely break from the bitter cold.  The sun was bright and warm, but not warm enough to melt any snow, although it may have settled the five or so inches we have on the ground a bit.  We can expect rain this weekend - or perhaps sleet and a messy mix in the higher elevations.  I guess it's going to be one of those unpredictable winters.  This is a picture of Fred's brother, Tom and his wife, skiing earlier this week at Beaver Creek, Colorado, where Tom is a ski instructor.  Tom said they've had some really cold weather out there, too, but they have plenty of snow and skiing is great.  They are both Native Vermonters.

We went to West Danville this morning and got some pictures of the Walker cottage.  There was more than normal activity today as they were working on the roof and when we went by there were several vehicles with roofing materials and equipment.  The place is coming along nicely.

West Danville was pretty quiet when we were there, but there is evidence work is going on at the Joe's Pond Country Store.  I wonder if they will keep the name?  We've been told there may be a bicycle rental store there in addition to the diner.  At Hastings, things were quiet except for a few folks like myself stopping in to pick up mail.  We were meeting the mother of a young man who is taking our old printer and wants to try to get it working.  I think he's a student and his mom teaches at Sterling College in Craftsbury.  His mom told us he's "a tinkerer" and wants to be an engineer, so this could be a great project for him.   I had a nice note from him tonight thanking us for the printer, and saying he hopes to get it operating soon.

This is the time of year that Woody goes a little berserk because there's so little going on inside or out.  Fred tied a gadget onto a piece of string and hung it from the "catwalk" overhead in the kitchen.  We found out quickly that Woody's sharp little teeth can cut through the thick string faster than we can re-tie it.  Today we gave him some empty cereal boxes to play with and that kept him occupied for quite a long time.  One thing about cats, though, is that they have spurts of high energy, then crash.  They know how to live well:  brief exercise - long naps. That's why they are so serene.

THE ICE IS IN!!!

Finally, as of today, Joe's Pond has finally closed over, fully iced, we think for the duration.  This has to have been one of the latest "Ice-Ins" we've had, and we have all been wondering what was keeping the ice open on the eastern shore of the pond.  We will probably never know what forces of nature (or not) were at work over there, but it's something of a relief to have the pond finally solidly frozen.  That isn't to say it's anywhere near being safe for ice fishing, skating or snowmobiles - absolutely not!! It will take more very cold weather to bring the ice to a depth that is safe for sports activities of any kind.  Thanks to Diane Rossi for sending this gorgeous picture, proving the steam is gone, and the open water calmed under a film of ice. 

Surprisingly, there is still open water on the east side of the pond this morning after a sub-zero night.  We are mystified about this.  Of all possibilities to have open water, that would be about the last because it is not as deep as some other areas and I'd think the water would tend to cool off faster than where there is a larger mass of water.  Maybe the water on that side warmed up more during the above freezing days because it was shallow and that's why it's taking longer to freeze over again.  But other shallow spots are well frozen, so that doesn't figure.  I guess we need to consult an hydrologist.

My back thermometer was reading -10 degrees at about 9 a.m. today, and the overnight low I had on my weather station was -9.8, so it was cold, but pretty normal for January.  Now they are talking January thaw next week.  Really.  

I came upon this neat old photo of Mr. Shute and the mail stage in Cabot, taken probably around 1918.  This was adapted for winter with skis on the front, and enclosed body where the mail was kept and people could ride.  The stage picked up mail at the Marshfield railroad station and also at Walden.  There was a stage going from West Danville to Marshfield, as well.  Service was somewhat intermittent in those days; a lot depended on the weather and whether the roads were passable.  Here is a brief history I wrote in answer to someone's request some time ago for information on mail service in Cabot:  

Cabot had no post office until 1808, the same year regular mail service began.  Henry Denny carried the mail on horseback from Montpelier to the Canadian line, through Cabot, Danville, Barton, Lyndon, etc., returning by a different route that took him through Craftsbury and Hardwick.  The round trip took about 10 days.  Mail was left at residences along the way or at central locations in the villages.  Nickerson Warner was the first postmaster in Cabot, but because he lived too far off the postal route, he hired Leonard Orcutt (1779-1854), a farmer on the route, to distribute what mail the carrier had not already handed off along his route.  Mr. Orcutt would take the mail to church with him (at the Center of Town Meeting House) and distribute it there. In 1814, Jeremiah Babcock (1777-1855) was appointed postmaster, and because he lived close to the postal route, kept the post office in his home.  Mr. Babcock resigned in 1820 and his son, Harvey, became postmaster. A Mr. Cate, of Plainfield, carried the mail on the same route as Mr. Denny, also on horseback.  The post office was moved to a store in what is now called Lower Cabot. There were various route carriers, all on horseback, until Deacon Eliphalet Adams (1781-1826) initiated a stage.  After Adams, Deacon Kellogg ran the stage.  By this time people had moved into the valley forming a sizeable community north of Lower Cabot, which is now Cabot Village, and around 1834 George Dana was appointed postmaster. Dana removed the post office to Cabot Village where it has been since, with the exception of one year when it was returned to the Lower Village. The post office in the Village was in Elijah Perry's store.  From 1830 to 1860, as the stage service and roads improved, the mail was delivered about three times a week.  In 1860, mail began to be delivered daily from Montpelier; the route from Cabot to Danville still had deliveries tri-weekly.  In the 1870's, rail service to nearby towns made Cabot's mail service much more reliable and an easier task.  I believe Lower Cabot had a post office again starting about 1870, and I don't know how long it remained open there, but Cornelius Smith (1810-1880) was postmaster.

 
Benjamin Franklin was appointed postmaster general in 1775.  In 1863 free city delivery began, and in 1896, free rural delivery service began.  For a time some areas had mail deliveries twice a day, but in 1950 that was reduced to one a day.  Zip codes came into being in 1963, and in 1971 the United States Postal Service took over.  There's more on-line - just Google USPS.