Winter Preparation

Today was the perfect day to get last-minute outside work done. There were a couple of very brief showers, but they didn't last long and it has been warm enough so it wasn't uncomfortable getting a little damp. Most of my chores like cutting back flowers and mulching were done by Susan Socks several weeks ago. Yesterday I mulched a few leaves to use in my small kitchen composter and brought into the garage the salt, shovels, and scoops I'll need this winter. Jamie and Marie came down today and put away my lawn furniture and Jamie winterized the lawn mower and brought the snow blower out from under the porch where it was stored all summer. We're ready for snow! Almost. I still have one tree to wrap against winter wind damage. This is a slow-growing evergreen and if not protected with a burlap wrap, the needles turn red and drop. I think it was meant for a warmer zone!

I removed three bird nests on a beam under my screened porch. There were many robins around last spring and I assumed they raised their young there. However, when I took them down today, one had three eggs and another had one egg in it. Why the parents abandoned those nests, I can't imagine. I doubt that it was the activity on the porch, but it may have been. I will try to discourage birds from building nests there next year. I'd cleaned off several first signs they were building, but like with beavers, I couldn't keep up with their determination to build.

I had take-out from Danville Inn and Restaurant with friends last night. I ordered the roast pork, and it was just perfect. There was way more than I could eat at one sitting, so I'm looking forward to a "rerun" tonight with the leftovers. It was very pleasant, and so nice to enjoy a meal without having to cook or clean up lots of pots and pans afterwards. This Friday night dinner routine of "dinner out" with friends is great -- and better to do it now than a little later when the wind is howling and snow is blowing!

I'm also preparing for another winter reporting precipitation and weather conditions to CoCoRaHS. In addition to the measuring tube and snowboard out on my deck, I also take readings daily from a weather station inside that records the temperature, humidity, and wind direction and velocity. It is a battery-operated unit with a remote sensor and anemometer outside, etc. Recently it stopped working and I replaced the batteries and got it synchronized again, but only the temperature and humidity were registering. After conversations on line with tech support at LaCosse, it was determined that the anemometer was simply worn out and not functioning. Unfortunately, the unit is so old they no longer have parts for it, so I had to get a new unit. They did offer me a very generous 40% off deal - and I was happy to accept that. My new unit will be here sometime next week. I'm excited to get it - the old one was always a pain to get set up - so many functions and buttons. This one is simplified but will give me everything I need for my reports. Also, I'll install the anemometer in the back yard someplace where I can reach it. The old one was on the roof. Fred put it up for me, but I'll find some other spot for it now; he didn't mind climbing, having been a lineman stringing wires on telegraph poles for the railroad as a summer job when he was in college, I think.

I noticed the other day that there are cottages for sale here at Joe's Pond I hadn't known about. One is the Bushey cottage at 3310 Rte 2W that is undergoing lots of renovations, but the looks. I see work going on there whenever I go by. Rob and Nicole Begin's place at 3448 Rte 2W is also on the market.

At the northern end of the pond the Bona property on Channel Drive is for sale. That is a really nice spot. I believe Walter Ruf's place on Meadow Lane has been sold. So many changes. 

The renovation on the Molinaroli-Robinson property on W. Shore Road is progressing nicely. They put on a third story addition. Being on a very steep incline, that third story is just about road level. I wonder if they will have an entrance on that level. It would make sense to me to do that - and maybe have the main living space on the upper level with bedrooms below. The view would be spectacular! Anyway, a lot going on this fall, as usual. Builders are busy getting their projects closed in so they'll have comfortable winter work.

Also, some of you may not know that Barre Avenue has been greatly improved. That road is now used year around, and the original road was not built for that. It has been ditched, graded for better drainage, and will be easier to plow and maintain now. 

I was over the class-four Bayley Hazen Road yesterday from the Cabot Plains Cemetery to Rte. 215. It gets attention from the town about once a year and the rest of the time the homeowners are responsible for keeping it. Twenty years ago there were only hunting camps on that road. Now there are at least half a dozen year-around homes and several seasonal cottages sprinkled in the woods and fields. Much of the road hasn't changed over the years - it is narrow, sometimes rocky and muddy, but it has a certain charm, especially when one remembers that Revolutionary War soldiers and later Cabot's first settlers traveled that exact same route. I always enjoy being on that road - so much history there.

Cousin Ora sent me this cartoon a while back and it made me chuckle. Since Halloween is coming right up and lots of "good ol' boys" like these are tuning up their pickup trucks to go deer hunting, it seemed appropriate to share this with you again.