New Year Greetings!

 

We are closing 2023 with a dusting of snow on the ground - finally! We have had lots of rain this final month of the year and aside from flooding earlier, the consistently drizzly days with absolutely no sunshine except on an occasional day for a few minutes just to tease us, has left everything very soggy, especially back roads. There are potholes, mud bogs, puddles and very soft shoulders that remind us of spring mud season. Our road foreman in Cabot keeps apologizing to townspeople for not being able to fix the roads. He says heavy machinery or trucks loaded with gravel will either sink out of sight or do more damage than good on the roads. Hopefully in the next few days the temperature will cool enough to firm up the mud and then they can get out there and fix some of the holes and trouble spots.

I went to Hardwick to meet an old friend, Lindsay Townsend, for lunch on Friday. Brickett's Crossing Road was really bad and there were a few times that I was really glad I had good tires and all-wheel drive. On the way home I considered staying on Rte. 15 to West Danville and coming home via West Shore Road from Rte. 2, but I knew West Shore Road isn't great, either, so I decided to use the shorter Brickett's Crossing Road again. I didn't get into trouble, but it was slow going and I doubt it saved me much time.

After lunch on Friday I went to Craftsbury to see another friend, Sally Goodrich. We had a nice visit and it was good to see her. She is always smiling and happy - and she was looking forward to being with her family this weekend. There was a very large St. Bernard/Great Pyrenees mix dog visiting the residents when I got there and of course he wanted to make friends with me - but those dogs are drool machines, and even though his owner continually mopped his chops with a slobber towel, I got slimed a bit. He was a handsome fellow except for all that dog slime.

I have been researching the military service (Civil War) of my great grandfather, John Bolton. He had the misfortune to serve with the 9th Vermont Infantry Division that was defeated and captured at Harper's Ferry in September, 1862. He had just entered the service that July and like most of the other recruits, had very little training. However, it wasn't for lack of training that the Union troops were so badly beaten; their commanding officer, Col. Dixon Miles, was apparently a poor strategizer and a drunk, among other shortcomings. According to what I've been reading, he repeatedly ignored orders from his superiors and found himself and his men in an impossible situation, surrounded by Confederate units. He chose to surrender rather than fight. The Vermonters and other regiments under his command were ready and willing, but reluctantly followed Miles's orders and were captured. I'm slowly piecing together the rest of John's service experience as records show he wasn't discharged until December, 1864.

I have been systematically cleaning out files, hoping to put some order into all my notes and saved articles, clippings, and photos. Usually I can find things eventually, but sometimes it takes a day or two of rummaging around either in paper files or on my computer. I have this thing that pops up on my computer every day, "Memories of Your Day" or something like that. It displays five or six different photos each dayand according to what I've learned, the photos are selected using AI so no human actually sees them, and they are all from my computer - somewhere. Almost every day there is a photo shown that I just do not recognize. I think it's a trick to get me to sign up for this ap to "see more" of my "memories" to find out about the mystery photo, but I'm not opening that up! I just don't trust it. 

So tomorrow I'll probably start the New Year off the same as every other day - here at the computer, researching and writing - or reorganizing! That is NOT a resolution. I don't make those. I never made New Year's Resolutions, and I'm pretty sure if I did, I wouldn't keep them very long. Like just about everyone else, life gets in the way of good intentions and I don't want to end up feeling guilty because I failed in my resolve.

I hope the New Year brings you happiness and comfort when you are sad, love and warmth when you feel lonely, safe harbor if you become lost, and above all good times with family and friends.