Beautiful Day and a Plea for Help

 Such a gorgeous day! We are in for a stretch of pretty nice weather after some rainy, cool and gloomy days that, however disagreeable they were, gave us some much-needed rain. Our friends in Florida, on the other hand, are getting more rain than they can handle.

Sometimes life is like that, too - suddenly we have way more thrown at us than we can handle, and that has happened to my friends and neighbors, Barb and Mike Pupino. Barb was diagnosed with cancer some time ago and has fought valiantly to keep going, but finally had to give up her job at White Market in St. Johnsbury. Mike has been disabled for some time and Barb has been his caregiver. Now, they both need care.

I received a GoFundMe notice yesterday with more sad news - in addition to everything else,the Pupinos are losing their home here on West Shore Road. I can't imagine what they must be feeling,having to deal with all of this, and I'm anxious to help in some way, so the GoFundMe option seems appropriate for me. I know other neighbors have stepped up in other ways as well - our community is very caring and generous. By clicking on the above link you can read a little of Barb and Mike's story and, if you can, contribute some much needed financial assistance. Every little bit helps.

I hear that one of our Joe's Pond Association members, Chris Hebert (Clubhouse Circle) plans to run the entire 93 mile long rail-trail this weekend. He will do it solo except for being accompanied (for safety's sake) for short distances by other runners, relay fashion. He plans to start his run on Friday night and estimates it will take about 20 hours. 

I don't really understand the passion runners have, but that's because I never did it except of necessity, and then mostly when I was much, much younger, and cows, horses, pigs or chickens were probably involved, or I was late for dinner.  I hope Chris makes his goal without injury or incident. The weather should be pretty good. I imagine a lot of the trail will be shaded and, at least through the Morrisville, Hardwick, Walden, and Joe's Pond stretches it will be considerably cooler than at either end of the trail. I wish him well - it may be a first for the trail. I haven't heard of anyone else running - or even walking - the whole length of the trail, but I'm sure some people have hiked it - and certainly some cyclists have done the whole trail. I'll try to have pictures and details later.

I just noticed we are getting our road honed today. Good timing - after the rain. I expect it will be pretty dusty for a while until it gets packed down again, but it's a small price to pay for smoother roads. 

I finally got the covers put on my walkway posts the other day. I've had the vinyl sleeves for at least a year - maybe longer, but with other construction going on, I didn't want to bother with them. I found a really nice young man, Brenden Greaves, a St. Johnsbury fireman who says he likes to keep busy so does carpentering and handiman stuff in his off hours. Brenden came on Tuesday and they were done in no time, and look really great. I took these before and after pictures - I'm very pleased with the look. Brenden is also retouching the stain on my porch - but between the weather and being on duty at the fire station, that job may take a few days.

Enjoy the day, stay safe, and be happy.