Return to Winter

 It has been cold, wet and raw today, and finally, about noon, we began to see snow flakes. Now, at 1:30, the ground is white and snow is sticking to everything. Not unusual for April. I took the photo on the left a few minutes ago; the photo on the right was taken on April 27, 2010! I'm sure there are many more Aprils just like this - so many times we have had snow that crushed the daffodils and disappointed all of us who thought spring was here - or at least "just around the corner." But the daffies will survive, and so will we. It's a great day to stay indoors and read. 

My biggest problem today is a bum left elbow. I think it's "computer elbow" or maybe "laundry elbow" - a close cousin to "tennis elbow". Who knows. It's painful, but Tiger Balm helps, and if I don't move it  much, typing isn't painful. I wanted to show those of  you who may be returning to Vermont what you may be coming home to. At least there is open water at the pond and we have a promise of warmer weather coming Monday and Tuesday. In the meantime, I know several Joe's Ponders arrived this past week, so I say to you - Welcome Back! 

 We expected the snow. Jamie took winter tires off all their vehicles last week, and I got my car washed on Thursday. That almost guaranteed the weather would change. We're both glad we don't have to go anywhere today. I washed my car about a week ago using the garden hose and a sponge mop I keep for that purpose. My car had only been washed perhaps twice all winter, so it really needed it. I got lots of mud out of the wheel wells and from underneath and did the best I could on the body. However, when it dried, there were still muddy swirls and spots I missed, even though I went over it a couple of times. It actually looked pretty bad - really, worse than as if I'd left it alone. Embarrassing, right? After all, it was still mud season and cars looking like they'd been in a mud-bog contest are normal. Why call attention to myself with a bad wash job? So when I went into St. J. Thursday, I put it through the car wash - and now it would take a dire emergency to get me to take it out today in all this mess. I still have my winter treads on though. I run them all year. It's a short period, maybe three months, that we can depend on not having either mud or snow on our roads, and I'm not planning any long trips this summer, so putting a few extra miles on the winter treads won't matter. Anyway, I like the security.

As you know, work on Route 2 in West Danville has resumed. I recently came across an interesting bit of information about U. S. Route 2. In the 1800s, there was no road between East Cabot and South Cabot. There were roads leading to each from high on Danville Hill - Last Road went to South Cabot, and Danville Hill Road came out in East Cabot. The main route between Danville and Montpelier was either over Cabot Plain, following the Bayley-Hazen Road, or over Danville Hill, into Cabot to connect with the Old County Road to Calais. According to Hemenway's Gazetteer, it took 45 years of town objections and court proceedings before permission was finally granted to establish what became  Molly Brook Road from East Cabot through South Cabot, Peterville, and on to Marshfield. After that road was established, it became the major route for travelers to the central and western parts of the state. It avoided the steep hills of the former routes, but took away considerable business in Cabot Village. 

The road was renamed Theodore Roosevelt International Highway in 1919, and the final section to be paved was from Danville to the Cabot town line. This was completed in 1927. The highway has had numerous changes over the years and is presently undergoing the final stages of the most recent improvements that spanned about five years.

The late Barbara Carpenter was fascinated by old roads and researched and mapped what she could find in Cabot, dating them and locating residents at the time when she could find them. Some of those roads have changed very little over time, while others were "thrown up" by the town years ago and their location is now lost in vegetation. Barbara's map may be the only record of them left. We miss her. She was a wonderful researcher and writer - and a dear friend. 

Now I'm going to retreat to my recliner, put on some music, and give my old elbow a rest while I watch the snow drifting by my windows. Everything is covered in white - it's lovely, and I'm sure when all of this melts, the grass will be green and tree buds ready to burst, having been replenished by the "poor man's fertilizer." (Yes, apparently there is truth in that old saying!)