Summer Weather and Other News

Wow! Yesterday was a beautiful day - bright sunshine and hot! I'm not sure how high the thermometer got here at Joe's Pond, but in Montpelier, it was 82 at about 2 o'clock; and by the time I got back to Joe's Pond, my car was reporting 80 degrees, and after some errands in Danville, I got home at 3:30 and it was still 78. A tad too hot for me so quickly - I need more time to acclimate. Consequently, I was bushed by the time I got inside, and spent about half an hour recouping in the recliner on the porch, enjoying the late afternoon sun and sounds - especially the water pouring into my pond! My pond is nearly open, and I expect by tonight it may be completely thawed out. I might even hear a frog! Wouldn't that be nice. I might spend more time in that comfy recliner today!

But now, I have updates for you. The flag and block for the Ice-Out Contest are beginning to tilt, but the ice around the setup looks pretty solid. It's pretty early for it to go through. The first pond has lots of open water, but yesterday afternoon, there still wasn't a channel all the way from the narrows to the dam. The upper narrows has been open for a while, and there is open water stretching well into the middle pond, and some open water where culverts empty from the Route 2 side, but not all the way to the lower narrows. Still plenty of solid ice there. The big pond isn't showing much open water yet, but Gretchen Farnsworth sent this photo yesterday, showing that there is open water stretching out towards Pearl Island. I expect the channel may be well past the island now as the thawing process no doubt continued during the night. Everything is progressing about as usual. It's difficult to know what the condition of the ice is at this point, but I'm betting it's getting pretty soft. I may hear from Bob Mackay soon, and will let you know more then.

Henretta Splain is still working on logging tickets. She sent this photo of the pile of paper tickets, the ones that people can fill in on line or can print and send in the mail. This is a substantial number of tickets - they are light, writing-paper weight stock, so there are more in that pile than you might think. We should have a count of total tickets sold fairly soon. 

When I drove along West Shore Road yesterday afternoon, it was good to see a familiar sight - Ray Rouleau busy cleaning up around his place. He and Cindy arrived at Joe's Pond yesterday, and Ray was already breaking up deep snowbanks so they'd melt faster, and cleaning road dirt off the few patches of his lawn that are visible. More Joe's Ponders will be coming "home" soon, and it's always great to see activity around the pond. 

Yesterday I visited a friend, Marie Thompson, formerly from Cabot, who now lives in Montpelier. She is in a lovely assisted living facility, and I enjoyed meeting some of the staff and other residents there. I discovered I share my birth date with one of the residents, Betty Barberi. This is the first time I have actually met anyone who was born on the same day, month and year that I was. I'm sure there are thousands, but it was great fun to meet Betty. We decided we should celebrate with a glass of wine  when our birthday rolls around in October!

Marie is an artist, and her apartment is filled with lovely paintings - some unfinished, but she said she always finds new inspiration to paint. I admire that - I sort of "hung up" my artist's brushes many years ago, and although I shuffle my supplies around, I never seem to be able to actually start a painting. Of course, I've painted hundreds of feet of lumber for my porch and other household projects, but haven't put a brush to canvas in years. The closest I have come was an afternoon about a year ago spent painting with granddaughter, Tangeni. I'm hoping to carve out time to get back to that soon. Marie is an inspiration. It was lovely seeing her again.

Our weather is a bit more temperate today - my outdoor thermometer that's in the shade is registering 66 degrees. That is a good temperature for working outside, but the ground is still very wet, and I have large patches of snow in lots of places, still. The snow is going rapidly, and things will begin to green up soon. I notice a tinge of green on lawns a few miles away from here, and some hardwood trees in the distance are looking a little hazy and softer, which means buds are beginning to grow. Of course, that signals the end of maple season. Time passes, seasons change. Enjoy one day at a time.