We've had another spring day with some rain, sunshine, warm temperatures that are now falling, and we've lost most of our snow.  As far as ice is concerned, there still seems to be plenty of that on some of the back roads as well as in the pond.  We will be getting the block for the Ice-Out Contest out perhaps tomorrow, just in case this crazy weather continues.  So far the very cold stretches between warm spells has kept the ice depth pretty stable, at about 15-18 inches.  However, better safe than left standing on the shore with no way to get the block onto the ice, so we'll do it earlier than normal.  It should be an interesting year for the Ice-Out Contest!

Last night, after the rain had stopped, our cat, Woody, teased to go outside.  We always set a little kitchen timer so we can let him in on cooler nights rather than his having to go through the kitty door into the garage.  When the timer went off, I went to the door to let him in, but at first he didn't come.  I called him and in a few moments he came bounding around the corner from in front of the deck and raced into the house at top speed - looking about twice his size.  His tail was HUGE!  He was very animated, but I got a quick picture of him just as he was dashing past me.  He raced through the house and finally went down into the basement - I think he was checking to make sure whatever it was that had frightened him was not in the house.  He calmed down soon, but we'll never know what it was that was out there.  I have a suspicion it may have been his cousin, Rico, Jamie and Marie's feisty cat.  They have never liked one another, and if they tangle, Rico always leaves Woody somewhat bloodied, in spite of the fact Woody outweighs Rico by a fair amount.  Since we don't know what was out there that confronted Woody (it could have been a skunk!) we're just happy no harm was done except Woody got all haired-up.  I apologize for the fuzziness of the picture - Woody was on the move, and so was I!

It's a really nice spring day here today.  I'm showing a temperature of 50 degrees in the sun, and 43 in the shade.  There was about half an inch of new snow overnight, bringing the total on the ground on our north-facing slope to 1.5 inches - but there are bare spots and of course the snow is compacting and melting under the sun today.

In spite of the warmish weather, Diane Rossi spotted two pickup trucks at the lower end of the big pond near the fishing access this morning.  Whoever those people are, they are very brave - and maybe a little foolish, except we did have zero weather night before last.  

I had this e-mail from George and Pat Parizo (Sandy Beach Road) who have a home in Springfield, Vermont:
  It was announced this week in Springfield VT. that Trout River Brewing Company has started production in the Fellows Gear Shaper factory Building on River Street (Black River) In Springfield VT. It will take four to six weeks before their first brew of Rainbow Red Ale ( other brand brews to follow) hits the market. It will be available all over Vermont.   At this point they do not have a tasting room but will be adding one as the business ramps up. It’s nice to know that the Trout River Brewing Company still resides in Vermont and owned by Vermonters.

Looking out the back window of our house in Springfield I see small patches of ice surrounded by young green grass! Very strange indeed. Temps @ 57 deg. Pat and I were in Blacksburg Virginia last week end and they had more snow on the ground than we have had here all winter. I have not put the snow fighting equipment away yet but keeping my eye on the lawn mowers.

George Parizo

I was pleased to learn that Trout River is ready to brew again, now in Springfield.  I don't like to see Vermont companies moving out of the state.  Some of you may remember that they closed the pub in Lyndonville in 2014 and said they wanted to concentrate on brewing.  I found this site about their quest in Springfield: Trout River  It's too bad they couldn't have found a spot in Lyndonville or St. Johnsbury, but I'm glad they found what they were looking for in Springfield and will remain in Vermont. 

It was a pretty nice day today with a good bit of sunshine and it  warmed up to 30 degrees or so.  Last night (Friday night) was cold - the thermometers at our house were all just about at the zero mark.  I had a trace of snow in my measuring tube this morning, but that may have been from snow blowing around rather than actually snowfall; it is hard to tell.  Tonight isn't going to be as cold, but we're getting some weather by tomorrow afternoon, with the usual mix of snow, freezing rain, and rain.  We can't seem to get out of that cycle.

As I've been going through old issues of the North Star published in Danville in the 1800's, I've noticed there was a big push to build canals in order to have easier transportation of goods throughout the northeast.  In 1824 a committee was formed to look into the feasibility of improving the navigability of the Connecticut River from Barnet, Vermont to Hartford and Middletown, Connecticut.  There were already a series of locks along parts of the river, but there were also sand bars and other impediments such as falls and narrows that made navigation difficult.  The plan was to clear at least a three foot channel for steam powered boats.

About the same time, the great canal from Lake Erie to Albany, New York was being built.  That opened for shipping in 1825.  Vermont was fortunate to have Lake Champlain on its western border with New York state and the somewhat navigable Connecticut River along much of its eastern border with New Hampshire, but east-west travel between those two waterways had to be over land, and the terrain was harsh.  There were several ambitious plans to connect Lake Champlain with the Connecticut River which would be a more or less southern route across the state.  At the same time, investigations were being conducted to find a feasible route in the northern part of the state to connect Lake Memphremagog with the Connecticut River by way of the Passumpsic River.  It was first thought this route would run through Irasburgh, Albany, Craftsbury, Hardwick, Walden and Danville, to Barnet.  The plans didn't specify if Joe's Pond would be part of the route, but I expect that was the idea.  Another plan in 1826 would use the Nulhegan and Clyde rivers to make the connection.  The committee called their plan "an object of National importance," in the interest of "the inhabitants of Vermont and New Hampshire and all persons concerned in the prosperity of this section of the country."  


Steam engines had been around for a while, but they weren't used in boats until the early 1800's.  Even then, there seemed to be some serious flaws in the boilers, for they often exploded and boats would sink in flames within a matter of minutes.  However, steam power was far better than rowing or depending on wind, and they could carry a much bigger pay load, so were much in demand.

In the late 1800's the Mineola, the first of several steam-powered excursion boats, was launched on Joe's Pond.  One such craft, run by Frank Lovejoy of St. Johnsbury in about 1906, was advertised as "connecting every camp around the pond with the train on schedule."  The train stopped not only at the station in West Danville village, but also at the north end of the pond for guests at O. B. Flint's Lake View Farm and Park, so the boat making regular trips around the pond to take people to and from the train was a great convenience.  We will have more details about this in the book presently being worked on.

One of the most fascinating stories of those early years is the log drives down the Connecticut.  The Connecticut River was commonly used to transport lumber from the northernmost regions of Vermont to the more populated areas of New England.  Here is a picture of a typical log drive years ago.   I'm not sure how river traffic was managed - I wouldn't want to be in a boat downstream when those logs were released - but one way or another, they must have shared the waters.  Here is a short quote from Robert E. Pike's piece published in the Atlantic Monthly magazine, "Log Drive on the Connecticut":

The Connecticut River drive was the greatest one in all the Northeast. No other river was driven for so many years, no other drive went so many miles -- four hundred down to Hartford, two hundred and fifty in later years to Holyoke and Mt. Tom. It was more than an ordinary log drive; it was practically an institution. The first long-log drive went down the Connecticut from the head waters in 1869, and every year thereafter until 1915. After that, pulpwood was driven in four-foot bolts until 1929. Over on the Androscoggin, the Brown Company still drives pulpwood, although the last of the long logs came down in 1930. Since then the riverman has been out of work.

If you have a little time to spare, click above on the link to Pike's article.  It's a great read.  
 

Isn't it amazing how news gets from one place to another in this day and age?  I had a short e-mail from Andy Rudin in Philadelpohia with a link to this video taken by Jesse Laroque, who now lives in St. Johnsbury area, of a river near him yesterday.  We were in St. Johnsbury to do some shopping this morning and went up to see son, Bill, at Thurstan & Dimick Auto on Memorial Drive, next to the Passumpsic River.  The water always overflows at least a couple times a year in that spot, near St. Johnsbury Center, but this time Bill said he moved all their autos back from the road to higher ground and they were marooned until late-afternoon when the water began to recede.  I got these pictures of the road and their entrance.  The top picture is south of the Passumpsic Bank building, seen from the front in the distance; the bottom picture is the driveway to Thurston Auto and the back of the Passumpsic Bank building.  Everything seemed to be pretty much back to normal now, but Bill is anxious to get the ice blocks out of their yard so he can get cars displayed there again.

We got 2.5 inches of new snow overnight, and it blew around a bit today, with the temperature in the teens all day.  It's going to be a cold night, and then temperatures will begin to moderate again.  We just need to be ready for the next onslaught - of whatever is in store for us.

BARRE DAY

 BARRE  AREA  DAY

 

                        IN   FLORIDA

                            (RAIN OR SHINE)

 

 

    NEXT WEEK    3-2-2016    AT NO. JETTY PARK AT

 

NOKOMIS BEACH, FLORIDA.     PLEASE ENCOURAGE

 

ANYONE YOU KNOW THAT MIGHT BE INTERESTED, TO

 

ATTEND.    WE WILL PRAY FOR GOOD WEATHER.

 

11:00  TO  3:00...........BRING YOUR LUNCH, BEVERAGE,

 

AND LAWN CHAIRS.            WE  HAVE  NEW  YOUNGER

 

INTERESTED  PEOPLE  JOINING  STANLEY  TO  BE  IN

 

CHARGE.      WE  SURE  WISH  WE  COULD  BE  THERE.

 

                            LOVE  AND  BLESSINGS  TO  ALL,

 

                                        

                                HOMER   AND   MARGARET

 

     REMEMBER...ALWAYS THE 1st WED. IN MARCH

The heavy rains have made a real mess of things all over the state.  In our area, rivers and brooks are running very high, many over their banks by this afternoon, but hopefully will be going down overnight as things freeze up a bit.  I measured almost two inches of rain at about 8:30 this morning (Thursday), and it has rained quite steadily most of today, so there could be another couple inches tomorrow morning - plus I should have some snow to measure.  

We had to go to Burlington this morning and the Winooski was running very high with lots of fields flooded along the way.  We later learned that portions of Route 2 were closed, along with other roads, but the interstate was high enough not to be effected.  Here is a map showing closures.  (Click here.) 
   
There was flooding in Lyndonville, Route 5 in St. Johnsbury Center area was closed this afternoon past Thurston & Dimick Auto Sales to Hospital Drive, the Passumpsic was over it's banks in St. Johnsbury so some of the folks at the businesses near the river like KATV where Jamie's office is left in the middle of the afternoon so they wouldn't be stranded, unable to get out, and the Lamoille way over it's banks in Hardwick flooding Dan Keene's auto business.  The pond has a lot of water in it, and more will be flowing in off the hillsides during tonight, but because it's in the 20s and expected to be in the teens by tomorrow, the flow should subside.  WCAX covered the flooding in tonight's broadcast.

I think the roads will probably be open by Saturday and most things will be back to normal so the Kingdom Animal Shelter Yard Sale can take place as scheduled.  If I hear otherwise, I'll let you know here.  Or give Nancy a call at 249-3199.
  
Andy Rudin sent these pictures of the spring flowers popping up at his home in Philadelphia - he wanted to cheer me up, knowing our weather has been pretty dreary lately.  It's nice to think about real spring coming and right now we are not looking forward to April showers, but some really warm sunshine would be nice to go along with the bare ground we have . . . but we know we have at least six weeks more of some kind of winter ahead of us before we see much of these kinds of buds happening.  Thanks to Andy, though.  I like thinking ahead to real spring.

We have sad news today.  Linda Livendale's mother, Joyce Noyes, passed away on Sunday.  Linda and Charles recently purchased the Bare cottage on Route 2, and I'm sure Linda has many friends here at the pond who will want to be in touch with her.  Her address is:  9W Skylark Terr., Barre VT 05641.  Our thoughts are with Linda and her family. 

Our weather has been what I'd call "awful" all day.  We've had rain, sleet, and freezing rain making a real mess out of roads and washing away what little snow we had.  Our hillside is not quite bare yet, but I expect it will be by morning.  There is more rain in the forecast for tomorrow, although it may freeze up overnight, and tomorrow's temperature will be in the mid to high 40s before the thermometer will head downward again to near zero Friday night.  From then on we might have more "normal" weather with warmish days and cold nights for a few days.  The roller-coaster weather pattern that has been the rule all this winter continues.

The Town of Cabot was out late this evening sanding and salting the roads.  There is still ice on the roads from the last rain we had, and although we got about an inch of wet snow overnight, that has all washed away, along with much of the sand that was on the road, so back roads may be very slippery.  I haven't walked Jamie and Marie's hill for a few days - just too icy.  Besides that, today was too darned wet.  

With all this rain, Larry has decided to wait to put the Ice-Out block and flag out.  There will be a better time to do that, I'm sure.  Garey Larrabee at Hastings Store told me yesterday lots of people have been wondering when it would be out and are watching for it.  It really is very early to get it out.  Last year we put it out on the first day of spring, March 20.  Of course, last year was a lot different that it's been this year.  We had plenty of snow and continuously cold weather from December on without even a break for a January thaw.  Some years it's been after April 1st when the block went out, because usually the weather is just too cold and there's absolutely no sign of melting going on.  Not so this year, and I guess that's why people are thinking it should be there already.  We are confident we have plenty of time, even though it sure looks like spring right now.  We'll keep you posted. 

In case you are wondering how our ice is doing here at Joe's Pond, Diane Rossi sent me this picture a few minutes ago.  This at least verifies that the ice is thick enough to hold a pickup truck.  Fella Buttura reported recently that he watched a fisherman drilling through the ice and estimated the auger went down about 18 inches.  We had a report of 14 inches a couple of weeks ago, and in spite of some rain, we have had mostly pretty cold nights.  Last night was in the single numbers, so I guess we could still be making ice.  It isn't spring here at Joe's Pond quite yet.


The weather looks nice today with bright sunshine, but the temperature is still only about 16 degrees, and I think there's a pretty brisk breeze - but again, my wind gauge is frozen, so I can't tell speed or direction.  I can see movement in the tree branches and bushes in the back yard, and when I went out on the front deck earlier, it was definitely windy.  I didn't think to pay attention to direction, though.  I'm going to try walking up Jamie & Marie's driveway this noon, but other than that, I have lots to do here at my computer. 

The West Danville History Committee recently got some very nice photos from some slides Jane Larrabee had, and I've been sorting and working with them this weekend. The top picture is from 1954 when the public beach was opened in West Danville.  Folks are lined up for a BBQ.  Otis Brickett was on hand serving.  

That looks to me like Nate Morrill in the middle picture, but I can't be certain. We haven't identified many of the people in the pictures, but it's interesting to see how everyone is all dressed up for the event.  No shorts or bare feet, many of the men wore hats and suits, and the women all carried handbags.  

This bottom picture is how that same area of the beach looks today.  Sixty years makes a big difference in lots of ways.  Now shorts, jeans or slacks are the uniform for most women and almost nobody wears stockings. Men wear ties and suits for business or perhaps funerals and weddings, but never for a BBQ - unless he happens to be giving a speech, I suppose.  

The beach today is lovely.  There is a shelter and plenty of picnic tables and places for trash.  There are large maples for shade and a grassy area separate from parking space.  The West Danville Community Club oversees the beach area and does a very nice job.  The memory of the boat house, stone shed, ware house, lumber stacks, railway station and tracks that ran parallel to the pond grows dimmer with every year, but there are wonderful photographs and stories to tell to help preserves some of those memories and the history. 

Hi Folks,

On Saturday, Feb. 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., we will be having a Yard Sale at Butler's Bus Service on Red Village Road in Lyndonville.  This is to benefit the Kingdom Animal Shelter.  Perhaps you would like to come and browse.  It is always a very good fundraiser for us.

If you have items you might like to donate, please let me know and we can make arrangements for me to come and get them.  Thanks so much for considering this. 

Thanks.

Helen Morrison, 563-2488

A little of everything "weather" going on here this weekend.  Yesterday we had a little rain, a little sun, and last night a little snow.  Today the temperature is hovering around 30 degrees and the weather is "undecided," some misty rain, some snowflakes and the promise of more weather to come.

We had an interesting adventure yesterday.  A few weeks ago we had a surprise phone call from a friend we hadn't seen in nearly 30 years.  She had lost her husband a few years ago and told us she had remarried last summer and invited us to visit her and her new husband at their home in  Brookfield.  

We had put their address into our GPS, and allowed ample time, according to GPS, to get there at the appointed 1 o'clock for dessert.  As soon as East Montpelier, we knew the GPS was wanting to route us a different way than what our friend had given us by phone.  But typically, "it will adjust," we said, as we continued towards Montpelier to access the interstate.  It did, but it was insistent that we take Exit 4, not Exit 5 as our friend had said.  Unfortunately, the explicit directions I'd gotten over the phone with Elaine had been left at home, and all I could remember was Exit 5.  Again, "it will adjust," we said, and took Exit 5.  From there we had no alternative, thanks to my memory lapse, so we decided we sorta had to go with the GPS.  The views were spectacular as we headed down to Williamstown Gulf on Route 14.  In Brookfield village, the bridge is closed.  Had we been able to cross the bridge, we would have arrived at our destination within a minute because it was only half a mile away up the hill.  However, we had to find an alternative, and GPS was little help.

We finally found their place, but only after an interesting journey down a really muddy back road that ended in a snowbank because it wasn't plowed all the way, and asking several individuals - only one of whom knew the area well enough to help.  

There was about as much snow on the hills above Brookfield as we have here, but the roads were thawing and very slushy and slippery.  Not quite winter and not quite mud season.  We found this flock of turkeys enjoying the mild weather and sparse snow cover as we headed up one of our "wrong turns."

We had a lovely visit, some delicious mince pie (Elaine is a professional baker) and an added plus was that her son, that we hadn't seen since he was about 10 years old, dropped by.  We were surprised to learn Elaine's husband had connections to Cabot (small world!).  What fun.  

On our return trip, we went into Montpelier and found a car wash to get some of the mud and slush off our car before heading home.  West Shore Road was still very solidly frozen fortunately, so we didn't waste washing the car off.   Spring at Joe's Pond is a bit behind Brookfield - no surprise there, I guess. 

Diane Rossi tells me Larry will be putting the block and flag out for the Ice-Out Contest sometime this week.  That is good news - then we just wait to see what Mother Nature has in store for us.  The ice seems solid enough for now, at least in most places where the fishermen are.  But spring could come any time now - or not.  That's the fun of living in Vermont, especially this winter.

Here's a good deal for someone:
Jane - We are selling our 6-burner Kenmore Elite Stainless Steel BBQ Grill (photos attached) and I wondered if you might post it to the blog for us?

This grill is a professional grade grill with a side burner and rotisserie... it is 10 years old and should have some parts replaced inside, but they are all still available at Searsparts.com ...plus we have some replacement parts as well that we never had to install... it works just fine the way it is, but should be refurbished a bit to be top notch...

New this grill was $2600 and we are asking $750 for it (or B/O) ... it is very heavy but rolls easily on a deck... comparable ones now run about $3300.

We will be hapy to offer the grill for $550 to any JPA member!

E-mail Evelyn and Ray at: rloonnest@fairpoint.net
or give them a call at 802-563-3083.

We're in winter mode again with everything frozen up solid.  I'm betting there are no holes in the ice this morning except those bored by fishermen, and the ones from yesterday are well frozen over.  We have 5 above zero with a little weak sunshine and a few fine snowflakes in the air.  I say "fine" as a description of size, but even these flakes that come in swirls more like fog that momentarily dim the sun are a "fine" addition to what we have on the ground.  I have 1 inch at my backyard post and a few bare spots on our mostly east facing hillside.  A sad state of affairs that will cause the winter of 2015-16 to be dubbed "the winter that couldn't get started," unless March turns things around. 

I found this in my e-mail this morning.  I'm sure some of you also had it from Homer Fitts - but for those who aren't on Homer's mailing list, I thought you might get a smile out of it, even though it isn't typical of this year:

  WHY  I  CAN'T  LEAVE  VERMONT

          It's Winter in Vermont

         And the gentle breezes blow

         72 miles per hour & 52 below

 

         Oh how I love Vermont

          When the snows up to your butt

          You take a breath of winter air

          And your nose is frozen shut.

          Yes, the weather here is wonderful

          So I guess I'll hang around,

          But I would never leave Vt.

          Cause I'm frozen to the ground.

I don't know who wrote it - I didn't find anything on line about it - but whoever it was knew Vermont as it normally is.

We had minor water problems on Monday during all that hard rain.  The ground was frozen so the water had no place to go as it came down from our roof and the surrounding hillside, and puddled at our basement door, finally coming over the threshold into the basement.  Not a calamity, but it kept us busy for a few hours Monday night channeling water to the drain and scrambling to remove furniture and rugs in its path.  By morning the water outside was gone and there was a sheet of "cat ice" suspended over the walkway.

Woody, always on hand for new and exciting goings-on, investigated,

  and decided he'd have no part of thin ice.  Smart cat! 

 

I've had a reply from Diane Rossi, who will have the Ice-Out setup in front of her house on the west shore in a few more weeks, and she said there is no sign of weak ice or open water.  In fact, she said that there was a pickup truck out on the ice during all the rain we had yesterday.  That would no doubt be an ice fisherman who would have first-hand knowledge of the ice depth; but still, I wouldn't want to risk taking my vehicle onto the ice anywhere, any time this year.

We'll try to find out how much ice there is.  Short of going out there, it's fairly hard to find someone who knows, but perhaps we'll come across someone.  For now we are thinking the ice has not been seriously compromised by the recent warm weather.  With deep cold coming at us again, we will probably be gaining a few more inches this week and then another thaw over the weekend, or at least some nasty weather predicted with possible rain or freezing rain.  The see-saw effect continues.

Someone has asked if the ice looks the same on the west side of the pond where our Ice-Out Contest block and flag will be set out, as on the west side where Nancy Buttura observed open spots earlier today.  The ice on the west side seems to be solid.  I checked the web cam as soon as I got Nancy's message (at noon) didn't see any holes then, although I could see with I thought was probably ice patches where water on top of the ice has frozen.  I just checked again (using Internet Explorer to log onto our website) and except for a spot very close to the shore where Rossi's well overflow runs into the pond and keeps the ice from freezing, the ice looks solid enough.  I'll ask Diane and post her response.  In the meantime, Nancy reported a couple hours ago that the holes are getting smaller, so they are freezing over again.  That there are open spots proves the ice is very unstable this year and it is probably best to stay off of it.

We will be watching the weather and the ice closely and if we think it's necessary, we'll get the block out earlier than normal; but we hope we don't have to do that as there still is a good chance we'll have lots of snow that would bury the lines and also there is a  chance that someone could get tangled in the lines with snow machines.  We'll keep everyone posted as the weather changes over the next couple of weeks.

I just found this message from Nancy Buttura over on the eastern shore of the pond.  She had written it at about 9 o'clock this morning:
"I just took this picture looking out my kitchen window.  Looks like a big hole in front of Cahoon's camp and, another hole, not as big, in front of Rudin's.  Hopefully they don't grow any bigger.  -Nancy"

That ice sure doesn't look very solid, even though our temperature has been below freezing all morning.  There was a lot of water from rain all day yesterday, so there's lots of runoff coming into the pond that will erode the ice from underneath as well as having melted some from the top, having been in the high 40s.

I wonder if the big holes Nancy is seeing are in the same general area of the open water so late this fall.  I'll ask her.  In the meantime, I wonder if the ice fishermen are at all worried; and in addition, what does this warm spell mean for our Ice-Out Contest??

Just checking in to update anyone interested in the weather we're having here at Joe's Pond today.  Since I posted to the blog at about 9 a.m this morning, we have had mostly rain ranging from misty to pouring, and nearly all of the 4 inches of snow has been washed away already.  The thermometer is showing 40 degrees and there's a strong south wind.  My wind gauge is working again and even though our house is somewhat sheltered, even from the south wind, it is spinning pretty wildly.  I just checked the web cams at Rossi's (using Internet Explorer as my browser)  and their flag is flying pretty much straight out with wind blowing up the pond. 

The temperature should begin to settle back down soon, but there's no snow in the forecast until possibly this weekend, and then it is likely to be a mix of snow, sleet and rain.  

I didn't walk today - it was raining hard at about noon when I would normally go, and with the possibility of the rain having washed away the snow that had improved the footing on Jamie and Marie's icy driveway, I decided I'd rather not take a chance on taking a tumble and breaking something.  Road crews on the main highways are reporting the roads are "baring off," but there may be spots that are still cold and if we get more rain, they could ice over quickly if the salt mixture has washed away.  Tricky.  

What a difference a few hours make!  We've had about 4 inches of new snow (whoopee for skiers and boarders!) that turned to freezing rain, and now seems to have tapered off.  The temperature is 30 degrees and there's a wind, but my wind gauge is frozen, of course, so I don't know what direction it's coming from.  It's stuck on "west."  Conditions like this are a little scary because there is a good possibility trees that become iced over will take out power lines.  So far, so good, though, and the temperature is supposed to rise into the 40s today.

Two accidents at Burke Mountain yesterday, one skier killed when he lost control on the Big Dipper; another had an injury, but I don't know how severe.  I happened to hear both calls on my scanner. 

Fred is out snow blowing, for only about the third time all winter.  This is heavy, wet snow and the blower (and Fred) have to work extra hard to take care of it, but both seem to be doing well so far.  Woody and I watched from the window for a little while, but then it didn't seem fair to be so comfortable inside while Fred was working hard, so we are both otherwise occupied, now - Woody is sleeping on his bench in the living room.  I went outside to do CoCoRaHS so I can send off measurements of snow amounts and water content.  We have a solid 4 inches of new snow, compacted by the sleet and rain and with a pretty firm crust on top.  I measured .47 in. of precipitation in the measuring tube and a core sample yielded .37 in.  Other measurements throughout Vermont this morning are Sheffield with 4.5 in.,  Waterbury and Waitsfield both reporting 4 inches new snow, and everyone else much less.  Nobody has much on the ground, but this will help.  I noticed the wind seems to be out of the south at a pretty good clip.  As the temperature continues to rise today, my wind gauge will begin working again, I expect.

It's a dreary day - the picture at the top of this page was taken this morning through our big picture window that was mostly covered with ice.

Sunny and not quite as cold - I'm seeing 13 degrees on the thermometers here at mid-day.  We are expecting further warmup and nasty weather tomorrow.   We still have only a little snow on the ground here at Joe's Pond, and when we were in St. Johnsbury late last week, there was hardly any on the ground there.  With no snow to insulate, the frost will go very deep this year, I expect.  There will be a rash of frozen water lines of one sort or another.  We are keeping toasty warm and felt fortunate we weren't one of the areas that lost power over the weekend.  In sub-zero temperatures, losing power can be devastating.  

I just came upon an article in a February, 1821 edition of the North Star telling of ships unloading onto the ice in Boston Harbor that year.  The harbor remained completely frozen over for several days and goods from ships were brought ashore by sleds.  Other ports in the area were also frozen in so there was no shipping activity.  Hard to imagine, but apparently 1821 was one of the coldest winters on record - that article compared it to a similar cold spell in 1780.

Enjoy Presidents' Day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's a cold one!  We had a low of -21 last night with a wind chill of -40.  It's still -15, but we have bright sunshine - except for some frost particles that seem to be between us and the sun.  There is a light wind that puts the wind chill to about 26 below.  Fred is out there doing his runs up Jamie and Marie's driveway - he split them up and came in to warm up after three, and has gone out to finish.  I will not venture out until high noon - but it isn't going to warm up much even then; it will possibly get up to zero, but then will go back down for tonight.

Not a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day, but hopefully most folks can stay inside.  We wish you a pleasant day being warm, safe and feeling loved. 

Cousin Ora sent this photo of her bleeding heart bush last spring.  How pretty is that!!
Perfect little hearts on Valentine's Day.
Enjoy.

It's Cold Outside!!

It's going to be a really cold night - already 15 below at 5:30 and slipping downward still with a wind making it feel like 35 below, according to my weather station.  No night for man or beast to be out.  Bring your pets inside to help you stay warm and cozy.  Just remember, this is what February is supposed to be (more or less).

It's cold this morning - I'm showing -5 on the back yard thermometer, and I think that is about as low as it got overnight.  Tonight will be colder - the temperature is going down throughout the day, according to the forecast.  We do have a bit of a wind, but I can't tell the direction - the gauge is jumping all over, from west to northeast to south and back.  Probably bouncing off the hill in back of our house, so it is likely predominantly from the northeast.

I received news from Homer Fitts that Margaret's sister, Mary Jane Plante, died recently.  Here is what Homer wrote yesterday (Friday):

HI -

    JUST WANT TO LET SOME OF MARGARET'S FRIENDS KNOW THAT HER SISTER, MARY JANE PLANTE, PASSED AWAY THIS AFTERNOON.    WE ARE TO THANKFUL THAT WE WERE HERE TO SPEND MANY DAYS WITH HER AT HER HOME AND THEN AT THE RESPITE HOUSE IN WILLISTON.    SHE IS NOW WITH THE LORD AND SHE LEFT VERY PEACEFULLY.

    THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR LOVE AND PRAYERS FOR ALL OF US.

                        LOVE AND BLESSINGS,

                                                            HOMER

We didn't know Mary Jane, but Margaret has lots of friends here at Joe's Pond who will want to send condolences to her and Homer.  Their address is:  Mr. & Mrs. Homer Fitts, 17 Country Way, Barre, VT 05641.  

Our Rhode Island cousin, Ora, sent this picture of her amaryllis to cheer us up this cold weekend.  She said it opened a few days ago.  Makes us think of spring, doesn't it?

Stay inside if you can, and be careful if you must go outside.  Keep warm and safe.  This brief taste of winter is not sitting well with lots of folks.  I've heard various complaints that it's hard to keep up with the temperature swings and even some saying they prefer winter the old-fashioned way, cold in December and stay that way through March.  Except for a brief January thaw, of course.  I guess lots of us humans find it hard to adapt to the weather craziness we've had this year. The best advice I can come up with is - this is a good day to make a big pot of soup; any kind will do, but I like making "refrigerator soup" using whatever veggies and leftovers there may be hanging out in the fridge.  Throw in a can of kidney beans with some barley, noodles or rice, spice it up a little and enjoy hot soup for lunch!  It'll warm your gizzard.

Colder today, and windy - a little sun, a few snowflakes, and a lot more "normal" weather for February.  More "normal" winter to come, too, but then another warmup, so the roller coaster continues. The sun is dipping behind our hill and the temperature has dropped to zero.  It's going to be a cold, cold night.

I had an answer to my question about "do-tow-do."  Peter Dannenberg, of the Cabot Historical Society, sent this:
 Perhaps it is the French phrase "du Tow du," which translates as "of the tow." 

"In the textile industry a tow (rhymes with cow, unless referring to cellulose acetate which sounds like toe) is a coarse, broken fibre, removed during processing flax, hemp or jute. Flax tows are often used as upholstery stuffing, and tows in general are frequently cut up to produce staple fiber."

Peter reminded me we have lots of flax dressing tools on display at the Cabot Historical Society museum.  Here is a link to a site that describes the process of dressing, or "heckling" flax.  It is likely the merchants purchased the course flax from farmers and resold it to make sacking, a rough, loosely woven durable cloth, or perhaps for tinder or use in cleaning gun barrels.  It was also used as stuffing in chairs or mattresses.
 
This is a picture of one of the flax hackles (or heckles) at the Cabot Historical Society.  The process for making linen was very labor intensive, but since flax was fairly easy to grow, early settlers made good use of it.

We had a comment about the quote a couple days ago that I included about the unwanted species of fish introduced into the pond years ago.  That writer had said that Joe's Pond covers "approximately 1000 acres," and indeed, Joe's Pond is 396 acres.  That's a big difference.  I'll go back to the quote to be sure it didn't become flawed during translation.  In the meantime, I think the old timer who was writing that (in the Vermont Magazine, as I recall)  was pretty steamed about the trash fish getting into beautiful Joe's Pond, so he may not have paid attention to specifics.  
 
This picture was taken as the sun was setting on February 5th at our cousin's in Narragansett, Rhode Island.  Pretty, isn't it?

We were promised snow flurries and that's what we've had.  All day.  Not much has fallen in total, I measured about an inch yesterday, and about the same has probably fallen today, but more is promised over the next few days, and super cold weather in the bargain.  We all knew we weren't going to escape winter, so we'll deal with it as usual.  I'd say we're just about half way through what a normal winter would be, so in another two months we should be into spring for real.

I took a chance and walked Jamie and Marie's hill today.  I played it smart, though and not only had my cleats on, but I also took a pair of ski poles.  I don't know for sure, but I think they saved me from taking at least one nasty tumble.  I might have been able to recover balance when one foot did a quick skate coming down the hill, but I was glad I had the poles.  It's amazing how fast your feet can go out from under you on ice.  The snow had covered the ice but it was too cold for it to really stick much, and the ice was definitely not the soft kind I could dig into, so not only could I not see the really icy spots, no matter how hard I stamped the cleats wouldn't dig in - they just turned into a dozen little skates on the bottom of my boots.

I ran onto something unusual today in an issue of the North Star published in 1817 in Danville.  There was an ad by a merchant saying he would buy items such as apples, cider, fulled cloth and Do-Tow-Do.  I am not familiar with "do-tow-do." If someone has heard of it, I'd be very interested in knowing what it was.  E-mail me at janebrown@fairpoint.net.  I Googled for it, but found nothing.  I have some reference books that I'll check, too, but I don't have much hope of finding it.  The item was only mentioned once, and that is odd because in those old papers generally the same ads ran for several weeks.  

The reason I'm searching the old issues for West Danville items is  for the history we're doing.   There were no references to the community at the outlet of Joe's Pond as "West Danville" in those early papers.  Either West Danville folks were living very quiet lives in those days, or the publisher just didn't separate them from the rest of Danville.  I have to rely on names and other clues to figure out if an item pertains to West Danville or not, and it's very time consuming.  There's still interesting stuff in those early issues, though.  I'll share some later, when I've finished searching to the end of 1817.

This suggestion came from a neighbor who read about my icy walk up Jamie and Marie's driveway today:
 Hey Jane Tomorrow when you climb Jamie's take a runner sled - great driveway for that. Luke

Why didn't I think of that??  Great idea.  I think we still have a sled somewhere . . .  If they didn't sand West Shore Road, I would probably make it at least to Rossi's!  

Big Fish!

Look what Kevin Johnson pulled out of the pond Sunday!  It must have been a chore just getting him up through the hole in the ice.  Here's what Kevin wrote:

 Hi Jane,
  Thought I would send you a picture of the Northern Pike I caught yesterday on Joe's - 34" long. A number of years ago (12 maybe??) I caught the first confirmed/known pike in Joe's pond (they were not supposed to be in the lake) and now, as you can see, they are doing quite well (not good news for trout fisherman, as they can grow to over 40" long and eat trout 10"-20" long.   Kevin

I remember when Kevin caught one years ago and his being very concerned that they were in the pond.  One has to wonder how they got here - although years ago, in about 1862, in Hemenway's Gazetteer there was this:

Joe’s Pond covers about 1,000 acres, and was once famed in the abundance and superior quality of its trout; but now, alas! Containing only the voracious pike, sucker, and other of this ilk.  Some 25 or 30 years ago, some very public-spirited and benevolently-minded scamp transported a quantity of these destroyers from afar into Lyford’s Pond, whose waters connect with Joe’s Pond, and has been rewarded ever since with the curses of every decent man in the country.

As early as 1899, Joe's Pond was stocked with walleyed pike.  There were only 40 of them that year, but more were dumped into the pond in 1900.  In 1920 there was a report that Mrs. Wesley Hoffman, of Barre, caught a 3 lb. pike here.  I'm guessing that was a walleyed.

The two pikes are very different.  The northern, if I understand correctly, looks something like a large pickerel and will eat anything that swims, including the walleye; the walleye looks more like a perch and feeds on minnows, and other small fish.
 
I have been told northern pikes are good eating, but they have lots of bones, so you need to know how to fillet them correctly. 

Good catch, Kevin.  Thanks for the picture. 

We are eagerly (some of us) awaiting snow later today.  We have been promised some measurable snow throughout this week and some pretty cold weather, compared to what we've become used to.  However, I don't think the snow we'll be getting will be enough to make a difference for the snowmobile crowd; it's a case of too little to late.  The ski areas may be ok since they have made snow whenever they could and most managed to have at least a few trails open.  Perhaps February and March will prove to be our real winter - better late than never, I suppose.

I walked today, but it was hazardous climbing Jamie and Marie's icy driveway and even worse coming back down.  Yesterday it was warm enough that my spikes took hold very well, but today it was more like walking on little skates.  Tomorrow could be worse because the snow will cover the ice so I won't be able to see it, and it will pack the spikes so they won't take hold.  I may opt to walk the level road tomorrow.  The snow will put an end to the dust storm we get from the frozen, dry road every time a vehicle goes by, and that will be a relief.  I just heard the official forecast on the scanner - 3 to 6 inches of snow over the next three days.