Big Birthday Party Coming Up!

 There is a big party being planned for Joe's Pond Association's 100th birthday! Mark your calendars for August 21 - the JPA Cocktail Party that's also a special celebration of JPA's 100 years of service and activities on Joe's Pond. Linda Livendale and Susan Yesalonia sent this message:

Since this year is the 100th anniversary of the JPA, we would like our Silent Auction to be Joe’s Pond memorabilia…I.e. old post cards, framed pictures of the pond, pictures of the loons, aerial photo of the pond, Joe’s Pond sign, etc.   We need to know items beforehand so if you have anything you’d like to donate, please either call, text or email Linda Livendale (802-272-6564, ljlivendale@yahoo.com) or Sue Yesalonia (802-793-3973, Susan.yesalonia1957@gmail.com).

 

Start digging through your photo albums and closets - it's a great time to share and compare memorabilia associated with Joe's Pond. Maybe a wood-burned sign or even a copy of an old photo you could scan and frame and put in the auction for others who might enjoy having a copy. Old maps are always a favorite item, Joe's Pond tee-shirts from out of the past - so many possibilities.

My porch project is moving along - the roof went on yesterday, and at least one side will get shingled today, if all goes well. There will be some finagling needed around the chimney on one side, and a complex gutter situation where the roofs come together on this side (in photo), but Randy has a plan. Drain pipes are ready and all that's needed will be to get the gutters fitted in place so they will catch the rain as it pours off the roofs of the main house. I'm very happy with everything so far. The work site is a mess, and the tracks where trucks have had to go back and forth across the back lawn are getting deeper (and muddier) with every rain storm, but that can all be fixed later. Ben Ackermann still has to use that pathway to get his big equipment into the woods when he starts working on digging the pond, and parts of the lawn may need to be re-seeded again, but that's all ok. There's still landscaping to do. It will be nice not to have the lower lawn so wet once the pond is in and some of the springs on the hillside are diverted into it.

I measured .18 inches of precipitation this morning, and the ground here at my house is fairly soggy. I think we must have made up most of the rain we've been lacking. The trees and grass seem to be still lush and green, but from now on there will be a decline in the growing season for everything as the weather begins to turn from summer into fall. Time has flown by this summer. I saw a Cabot school bus go by at about 8 o'clock this morning - not unlike during the regular school year. I'm not sure what that was about, but it reminded me that summer is nearly over and it won't be long before leaves are turning, and we are heading into winter again. 

 

Hopefully, the nation won't be thrust into another pandemic by fall. I dread watching the news these days - too many people refusing to get vaccinated even though they must see that the numbers are not in their favor, going up rapidly among unvaccinated people. We were so close to having this thing under control - it's a shame people are still not confident enough that the vaccine is safe - and that it works! As I waited in line at a supermarket the other day, I overheard an interesting conversation. A lady was very sincerely telling another woman (both probably in their 50s) that she wasn't getting the vaccine because she didn't trust it and she depended on her faith in God to protect her. The other woman responded that she felt the same way, but when the vaccine was made available so quickly and safety tests done so rapidly, she knew God was behind all of it. How else could it have happened so quickly, she asked her friend. The other woman looked a little startled at first and I wondered if she was angry or just didn't hear, but then I think the light dawned. Her face lit up and I thought she looked relieved. They moved on and I didn't catch the rest of the conversation, but it made me smile. I bet she went home and made an appointment to be vaccinated! Or better yet, maybe she stopped at one of the drugstores and got her shot!!