There's hope ...

There was so much publicity about the moon that I was quite excited about seeing a larger-than-harvest-moon moon.  Well, moonrise was a great disappointment.  Looked like any old fall harvest moon. 

But this morning!  This is the moon at 6:30 am! It was HUGE and golden.  Because the house faces west, I see far more moon-sets than moon-rises, and this was far different from the usual pale orb.  This not the picture I wanted.  After I took this one on the Nighttime setting, I tried to fool the camera, using the Fireworks setting.  It was so much lighter, and so much better composed, and ...  camera shake.  Then I read the book, which said to use a tripod.  Rats.  So this  picture has to do. 

The snow is melting, slowly, which is OK because the sump pump is keeping the basement water to a mere inconvenience.  The snowplow pile is still 6 feet tall, but the snowpile by the front door is almost gone.  Look! 



No, it's not

When I went to bed last night, it was snowing lightly.  The wind woke me up at 3am, and I looked outside.  The snow was heavier, and really blowing.  This morning there was over a foot on the ground, and it was drifted to over 2 feet in places, including my porch steps and in front of the stovewood pile.

• I worked from home.
• The State of Vermont started with a 2-hour delay, and sent everyone home at 1pm.
• Norwich started with a 2-hour delay and later announced that people who didn't come in would not be penalized.
• Parts of I-89 were closed at various parts of the day because of traffic accidents.
• In western VT, two major highways were closed for miles because of snowdrifts on the highway.

If I'd had to find the sump pump hose today, it would be truly difficult. No  pictures.  It's too awful. 

My college room-mate in Ohio has crocus and daffodils coming up. WAAAAAAAAAH!

Can winter really be ending?

After a snowy, cold winter with the bright sparkling days that winter-lovers dream of, we have the dreaded March rain.  With three feet of snow on the ground, it's been raining off and on (ON, in a serious way, as I write this) since early evening yesterday.

Three or four years ago I had a sump pump put in because 2 days of very heavy rain melted 3 feet of snow in 24 hours and put 10" of water (rain plus snow melt) in the basement.  And not until this year have I thought I needed the pump in a serious way.  But the forecast looked like a repeat of history, so I went to Central Supply for a sump pump drainage hose, which would carry the water away from the house.

Like any project I take on that requires unfamiliar parts and tools, this became an adventure, but it ended well.  The rain pours, the snow melts, and the giant ice sculpture at the back of the house has fallen off the roof. Best of all, the sump pump works!

But wait, there's more!  I bought a seed packet for the garden!

Herewith, Bloomsdale Long-Standing Spinach from High Mowing Seeds in Wolcott, VT

As soon as I can get into the garden, these seeds go in! 

But wait, there's more!

When my friend Jeri lived in Morris Plains, she was downsizing and gave me a giant among aloe plants.  Made you think of Audrey* ... But it has liked Vermont.  Last year it was in decline.  It was throwing up baby plants, and the main plant was tipping itself over, and its big leaves were withering. It was outgrowing its pot, but there was no repotting it because I have no room for a bigger pot.

So when Mike and Kate came to visit, we unpotted the aloe and cut out all the baby plantlets, and cut the taproot back hard. Very hard. There was nothing to lose - without cutting it back I'd have to compost it.  If it died, I'd have to compost it.  If it lived, well ...

"It's alive! It's alive!"** The aloe has confirmed its rejuvenation by, for the third year, sending up a flower stalk as its annual sign that winter is almost over.  I hang small ornaments on it at Christmas, and you can see a pottery maple leaf hanging on it now. Jeri, I love this Green Monster, and I thank you every day for bestowing it on me.



*"Little Shop of Horrors" - for a truly magnificent stage Audrey, see this image
**"Frankenstein", 1931

Town Meeting 2011

Town Meeting is a venerable New England tradition. Way, way back in the day, in rural states, where a resident could barely get to the state capital, all politics was very local.  Since local residents were taxed to support town affairs, the decisions surrounding budgets and supported activities took place annually at a meeting that was open to the entire citizenry.

In Vermont, Town Meeting is by statute the first Tuesday in March.  Generally the snow is still on the ground and spring farm chores are several weeks away.  If we are lucky, it's not mud season yet. Often this is the start of sugaring.  Most important, Town Meeting is a chance to rid yourself of Cabin Fever, by getting out of the house or off the farm, and visiting with friends and neighbors that you may not have seen since Christmas.

It used to be that at Town Meeting town and school budgets were discussed and voted on by line item.  Thrifty and tax-dollar-conscious Vermonters, as well as those with an axe to grind, would drill down into the budget and question expenditures and amounts. Town Meeting could go all day, and if there was a lot of contention, could be adjourned to the following day. However, long, tiresome and sometimes acrimonious meetings began to affect attendance; and while an employer cannot deny an employee a day off for Town Meeting, an employer does not have to pay for the day.  What if someone is on a business trip? And many Vermonters who winter in the south aren't back yet.

In any case, because towns have become more aware of including those who cannot attend the meeting, Brookfield and many other Vermont towns now use the ballot box to approve budgets in substance.  The budget is mailed out 2-4 weeks in advance of Town Meeting, an information meeting is scheduled, and people show up there for discussion.  Voting takes place on or before Town Meeting Day.  Most towns also allow line items to be adjusted up or down at the Meeting, despite the contradiction between voting on something and then changing it while the voting is happening.  Well, that's how it works.

The line item that generated most discussion at Brookfield's Town Meeting was the $28,000 to be spent on repairing and repainting fences at the town's five cemeteries.  Vermont law makes towns responsible for the maintenance of cemetery fences and for "perpetual care" of cemetery grounds. Brookfield's fences are in a sorry state, and people had complained. One selectman had taken charge of this issue and had received an official pamphlet outlining the law from the office of the Secretary of State.  It turns out that the law recognizes that fences keep out wildlife and farm animals, who might damage grave markers. Today, though, farm animals are few and far between near our cemeteries, and the most damage to fences comes from snowplowing!

An astute resident asked if the law prevented the town from removing fences (thereby removing responsibility for maintenance) if animals were not a problem. No one knew. Someone asked whether the town would be able to erect new fences at a later time if animals became a problem.  Most people assumed so (common sense) but no one knew.  We needed more facts to make a good decision.

Now we had a parliamentary problem.  A motion to accept the line item was on the floor and had been seconded.  If the motion were to be tabled, it would be unfinished business until Town Meeting 2012. Someone finally suggested that we vote down the line item, and then (when new business came on the agenda) move that the selectboard further investigate all the town's legal options regarding cemetery fencing and bring those facts to Town  Meeting in 2012.

So the line item was voted down, and the charge to the selectboard as approved! This may sound trivial but it's not.  Every dollar the town spends comes out of townspeople's pockets, and not too many of us have extra dollars.  While we were conserving fencing dollars, we approved funding a project by a local non-profit group whose aim is to create a community center in the Old Town Hall, we approved matching funds for a grant the Fire Department was awarded, so that they could rebuild the engine of the pumper, and we authorized contributions to several social service agencies that serve Brookfield residents.

Town Meeting is the day when we can think about what we need for our town, now and going forward, and determine the best way to have those needs served. (And we elected a woman to the selectboard for the first time in many, many years!)