Our weekend has ended as usual, with a downpour. Saturday was very nice, and I hope everyone was able to get outside and enjoy it. Fred got the lawn mowed, I got the front of our tractor garage painted - only the front had been primed. Today, Sunday, we hurried off to the Village Cemetery in Cabot to get photos of the damage done last week to some of the gravestones. The photo here shows part of the cemetery. The damaged stones were out of the picture on the right, and behind Fred as he took this picture. It seemed to be a random thing, as if several probably young men had galloped down the hill knocking down markers here and there as they went. As someone said to me when I questioned why anyone would do such a thing, "The dead can't hit back."

We found at least 20 stones overturned, some of them badly broken. Many were in the older section of the cemetery, with dates ranging in the mid 1800's. The Village Cemetery was opened in 1820 and is still used. I've put together a slide show of the damaged stones: Cemetery Damage, Cabot VT

Most of the stones damaged were very old and therefore, vulnerable. Years ago markers were slim slabs of either field stone or quarried stone, rarely polished, and most set into the ground without much of a base beneath them. Fred took photos of the damaged stones and I recorded what I could of the lettering on each, and when we got home I was able to locate them in my records and complete the information. We may have missed one or two, but I think we got most of them.

I'll run through a list of the names: Isaac Hills, Lucinda Lyford, Jane Walbridge, Emmaline Jacobs, Lucy Perry, Paul and Goldie Hopkins, Eliza Clark, Henry Morse, Ann Adams, Laura Cutting, Ida and Hiram Walker, William Haines, John Smith, Ann Lyford, Dr. Parley Scott, Charlotte Russell, Lucy Keniston, Mary and James Heath, Willie Smith, and one we couldn't read but we think is part of the Farr family lot. There may be a few names you'll see on the slides that I didn't mention here because you can plainly read the stones.

Let me know if I can be of any help in further identifying any of the stones damaged. Everyone is quite concerned that this has happened.

We're into another soggy day here at Joe's Pond, but we've been promised a nice weekend - for the most part.

I was glancing through a stack of newspapers this morning, catching up on clipping sudoku puzzles and crosswords for when I'm watching TV, and checking through news items, when I came across a very nice item about Joe's Ponder Linda Garey receiving the first Dr. John Elliott Community Service Award at NVRH. Linda works in the operating room at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital. Sarah Garey, Linda's daughter who is also a nurse at NVRY received an award for 10 years of service. Congratulations to Linda and Sarah.

Linda and her husband, John, have a home on Otis Drive here at Joe's Pond.

I got my newsletter from Burr Morse at Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks today. Something Burr mentioned led me to do a little research on maple products, and in so doing I came upon "birch syrup" made in Alaska. I thought this was pretty interesting. It takes almost three times as much birch sap to make a gallon of syrup as it does maple, and sounds like the taste is different. I thought you might like to read about it, so here's a link: Birch Syrup

You know how it is when your mind starts to wander and you have a little time on your hands - so then I began to remember my father talking about "birch beer" folks used to make years ago. We used to make root beer every summer, but as I recall we bought a special syrup and mixed it with yeast, sugar and water and then set it in the cold water in our spring house. During haying, I was often the go-fer sent to fetch a few bottles my father and uncles on a hot day. We kids weren't allowed to drink it, but sometimes my mom would buy ZaRex - the concentrated flavored sugar syrup that came in glass bottles with a little handle on the neck. My favorite flavor was lime. I remember watching the transparent swirls of the syrup as it colored the cold spring water a lovely bright green.

Years later, when my own children were little, a huge treat for them was to stop at the root beer stand on the Barre-Montpelier Road for a "baby beer" whenever we were in the area. The stand was only open during the summer, and there were wails of disappointment if we got there too early in the spring or too late in the fall and found it closed. Having a soda of any kind was a treat for them. Being a farm girl, I made milk the rule for my family, and they never objected, but having any soda drink was a special event. I still drink milk at least twice a day, and miss it if I don't have it.

Jamie just came to get Fred to help him turn the Correct-Craft hull over so he can scrape and paint it. He and neighbor Luke Persons pulled the motor out of it the other day (it's an inboard) and Jamie is excited about refurbishing our family's 1962 woodie, "Raja" - again. I can't count how many times the boat has been re-done, but it's been quite a few. Jamie said it'll look great and be all set for next summer. It's a plywood hull and surprisingly light once the motor and shaft are out of it. We all still love that old boat, so I'm delighted he's taking such good care of it. A whole lot of kids learned to water ski behind it. With only 70 h.p., it worked perfectly, even towing five or six kids. That was before many people were using slalom skis. Now we have plenty of high-powered plastic boats around for water skiing, and "Raja" is used mainly for long, slow evening cruises around the pond. There's something special about the steady chug-chug-chug of the inboard motor as you take in the scenery and chat. A boat ride at that speed can take about two hours if you go around all three "ponds" and hit all the coves. That's not counting stopping to chat with other boaters or people out on their docks. Summer on Joe's Pond. Can't beat it.

Here's a link to the article in the Times Argus about the fire in Cabot last week:
Times Argus

I reported 1.58 inches of rain this morning. When I signed up to monitor precipitation for CoCoRahS, I needed an "official" rain gauge. It's a 4-inch diameter cylinder with a smaller calibrated tube inside that measures up to one inch and the runoff from the smaller tube is collected in the four-inch cylinder so it can be measured. Long before I got involved with CoCoRahS, I purchased a V-shaped rain gauge that I stick in one of my flower boxes on our deck every summer. This morning Fred read that one as I was taking my official measurements, and the measurements were the same. My neighbor, Elizabeth, has one just like it, so she'll be pleased to know how accurate it is. We'll plan to compare the two often just to be sure, but I'm pretty impressed.

We're expecting someone to come to fix our overhead door today. Suddenly it has become really balky, and although Fred has tried everything he and I can think of to get it to quit doing it's own thing instead of our bidding, but nothing has worked. We can easily operate it manually, but when we're coming up our steep driveway in the winter, it's really nice not to have to stop, get out, and open the door. I know, we're spoiled, but after years with no garage at all when we lived at camp, we really do appreciate our garage - AND it's automatic door which we can usually open from the road as we turn into our drive so it's opening as we sail up and inside without losing momentum - perfect timing.

While we wait for the overhead door folks, we're going to take the wooden swing doors off our utility shed and re-hang them. We have to do this every few years as the building and ground shifts with weather and age. It's getting a nice new coat of paint this year but before we paint the doors, we need to adjust them. Fred's out there now - I'm on my way.

I just learned there were about 20 grave stones tipped over and broken at the Elm Street Cemetery in Cabot Village last night. It is always a mystery to me what possible fun or personal reward there could be for someone to do that. Unfortunately, this happens all too often in towns everywhere. Cabot has had its share of cemetery vandals over the years, and for a small town, more than its share of other crimes, as well. This is a photo taken some time ago of part of the Elm Street Cemetery, also known as the Village Cemetery. It's a lovely spot, very well kept, with some very nice grave stones and some that are very old and fragile. The section in this photo is a newer part of the cemetery. I don't know what section was vandalized.

Last week someone on the other side of town had a scare when an unknown man came to her door and claimed his car had broken down. She didn't let him in, but did let him use a telephone. He asked if she lived alone - she doesn't - and he left, but then returned. There was no confrontation, but she was unnerved. A friend told me about the incident and warned me to keep my doors locked.

There was a fire at a seasonal camp last week on Coits Pond Road in Cabot that has been ruled suspicious. Although we live in a generally quiet and truly beautiful area, there are some incidents like these that mar our peaceful, bucolic existence. So despite your inclination, because you're in Vermont, to leave your home or camp unlocked if you run to the post office or leave for a few hours, think again and lock up, please.

We're finishing off another summery day with some fairly heavy rain tonight. The temperature readings were well into the 80's again today, as predicted. Summer has come late, but we hope it remains for a while. We're over the half-way mark now, heading towards autumn. August is almost here and kids will be heading back to school - summer vacation over. For us at Joe's Pond this year, summer came during the last week of July, and we will now begin watching for the tell-tale signs of fall, the turning of the maples. We have a couple trees in back of our house that are showing signs of color, but I think it's stress from too much water. We haven't been able to walk in our woods all summer (?) because it's been so soggy.

I think we can call this a perfectly splendid day! Sunshine all day long and not a sprinkle to be had. Quite a change. Fred was saying at supper time we haven't had a fire in the wood stove for several days now. Usually about that time we have had a small fire to take the chill off during the evening.

You may have noticed on the Comments Page that Doug Hamilton has a runaway kayak. Keep an eye out for it - it's yellow and about 12 ft. long, and apparently floated off. Give Doug a call, 563-2177 or his son Bill, 563-2165, if you spot it. This seems to be the season for lost and found kayaks. Last year it seemed to be life preservers that got away . . . the year before it was docks.

I want to show you one of the items I inventoried at the historical society Sunday. We believe it to be an early pull toy. It is metal, probably tin, and very rusted. One wheel is missing, and we aren't sure if the figure of the young girl was originally part of it or not. It seems to be the same material and age, and there are spots that look as if she might have once stood on the wagon, soldered in place. It is only about six inches long - the doll is about six inches tall. We have no record of who this toy belonged to or who donated it, unfortunately.

I don't know if this shows up on our new links to town news, but in case it doesn't, some of you may be interested in reading this: www.vermontbiz.com

Good morning (afternoon!) -
We went to St. Johnsbury to meet son Bill and his wife, Monika (below) to have breakfast. Anthony's, about the only place in town except McDonald's to have breakfast, was crowded as usual at 10 a.m., but we didn't wait long for a booth, and it was worth the wait. We saw Dave and Michelle Parker (Joe's Ponders) at Anthony's and they reported the Italian Dinner was well attended last night, with 218 served. Good work, Joe's Pond gang. Dave said after the dinner there was a great show of fireworks from the Hebert/Buttura cottages on Old Homestead Road. Their celebration is going to be an annual event, I guess. The weather was pretty good, so all went well.

Fred just passed this link on to me. After reading it, we were both left wondering how Rt. 2 will be "rerouted through Danville." Check it out and let us know what you think. Post a comment from home page.
Link

I also want to bring your attention to a new feature Fred has added to home page: Links to local news items from Cabot and Danville, with Walden coming soon. These links will take you directly to the lastest news items from these towns that appear in local papers. We hope this makes it more convenient for you to check late breaking news.