A Special Message

It is wonderful to see bright sunshine for more than a couple hours! Today is very bright, but also very cold. The temperature is only 19F, but there is a brisk NW wind that sends the "feels-like" temperature into the single digits. I made a quick trip to put some last-minute cards into the mailbox and although I enjoyed the sunshine, I was really glad I had my furry earmuffs on and didn't linger to enjoy the rays.

Just about every town in the area is experiencing additional work and stress due to weather concerns, so please be patient as you drive over less than perfect roadways. I mentioned earlier that there was evidence of large trees having been cleared from Cabot Plains Road - the same was true along West Shore Road when I was out yesterday. No wonder the power was out! I'm just amazed things got back to near normal so quickly, Kudos to all the road crews, power company workers, and others who helped. 

There was a message posted on Front Porch Forum this morning that I appreciated and want to share with you. Please bear in mind as you read it - the Cabot Highway Department consists of only two men - Sidney Griggs and Aldo Nunn. The town has been hoping to hire another person but as yet the position has not been filled. I don't know how many miles of road Cabot has to keep, but it's a lot; and with the ever-changing, more severe weather challenges we've had recently, there is far more work than man-hours to cover it all. From Road Foreman Sidney Griggs last night:

Good evening Cabot. What a week it has been and it's only Wednesday!

First off, if you see a hazard in the road and you can, call the town garage or better yet call the town clerks office. Most likely we are out in bad weather sanding, plowing, cutting trees, watching for water going where it's not supposed to and won't be at the shop to answer the phone. Be mindful when calling to give a good description of the hazard, whether it's blocking the whole road, part of the road, or most importantly if it's wrapped up in power lines. This will help us prioritize the hazards as sometimes we have multiple hazards at once, making it key to have as many details as possible. It's very appreciated as we cannot be everywhere at once and may not know of certain hazards.

Monday, on top of the rain we had and minor flooding, we had multiple trees falling into the roads. Aldo and I spent the better part of Monday running around town clearing trees out of the road and checking the water level of the two brooks that run into the village. We kept the brush we cut on the edge of the road because we are planning to come back and clean it up with the chipper once we get caught up on our other more weather dependent work.

Be assured it will not stay like it is now. My plan Monday was to spend the rest of the week clearing brush and cleaning up the edge of the roads. However it kept raining, and raining and with that, mud ensued. So again, plans changed. We have spent the last two days trying to smooth the roads back up to the condition they were in before monday. With the fluctuations in temperatures it has been difficult. We made it around to the worst spots we had. There are plenty more ruts around, but the road surface is now very hard due to temps getting down in the teens last night and tonight. Have no fear folks, it looks as though it will warm up and rain some more next week. With that being said, I'm hopeful we can get around to smooth the rest of the roads up enough for us to have a decent surface to plow and travel on for the rest of winter, if it ever truly shows up.

Sorry for the long winded message, but hopefully I've cleared up any questions you may have had and given a little insight to what we have been dealing with.

As always we are appreciative of your patience while we do the best we can.

Thank you and have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.