Christmas Eve in Barton

St. Paul's Church on Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!

(I thought it has been long enough since my last post in March!)

Beavers on the Move

What you would have seen when walking in from the road.

Last October the beaver from the bog had some sort of population explosion. The kids had to move out and make their own house. They chose to move across the road to our side. There is a huge culvert that drains water from a low lying grove of tamarack and apple trees. It is less than a quarter mile from the house. John noticed in October that the area was flooded. Deeply flooded. So he went to check it out. That's when he found the new beaver dam across the culvert. The new pond was about four feet deep and filling quickly. We would have a huge problem if there was a heavy rain or if the future finished dam broke. It could wash out our driveway, the culvert and the road..

John manually clears out the dam from the culvert.
He is standing on top of the new dam.
Note those 6 foot tall fence posts marking the culvert.

The new beaver pond.

John spent a lot of time and effort in clearing the dam from the culvert. He did it one Sunday morning and for a few weeks after that, once a week, because the beaver kept repairing the damage. The beaver seemed to give up at that point and did not rebuild.

But after nearly six weeks of quiet, they rebuilt the dam. This time, they built it deep inside the culvert, under the road, where neither John nor his tractor could reach it. John then called the town road agent, Clem, who had installed our culvert. Clem sent the town road crew that very day. They used the town's huge backhoe and hauled out the new, heavily fortified dam. Then they installed a heavy road grate to prevent the beaver from ever entering the culvert again.

The new heavy grate blocking the culvert. Note those same fence posts from above.

Below are some photographs of the damage in the same area. We returned on a hike in December to see what was going on. The damage was quite extensive. The area was trashed (in a nice, beaver sort of way):

This is what that new beaver pond looks like now. It is drained.

The remains of a lodge that was being built behind the dam.

Many trees were only partially cut or were being considered for cutting. This tree will die.

The beaver may have been discouraged. They may even have despaired. But they were never threatened. After the town blocked the culvert, they continued to cut down trees on both sides of the road and built a new lodge where it should have been built: in the beaver bog. This is the fourth lodge across the road now. It has new canals and trails, and new log slides going into the water. I'm glad the trees, such as they were, are gone, because now the view of the bog is clearer.

The new lodge. Where it should be.

The funniest tale of these beaver has not yet been told. In January, I went for my monthly hair appointment and heard the strangest story from my hairdresser, who frequently drives by on her way into town. She was driving by one day about noon and saw by the side of the road a big beaver. He was waiting for her to drive by, looking both ways before he crossed. And what did he have in his mouth? A reflective road side marker that marks the culvert so that the town road crew does not damage it with the plows. The beaver had cut it down and was taking it home to decorate his lodge!

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The World's Longest Cadillac Parade

 

On August 17, 2011, Barton hosted the world's largest Cadillac Parade, which kicked off the Orleans County Fair at Roaring Brook Fairgrounds in Barton. The parade was over an hour long and lots of fun as the entire town turned out to view it. Lori Seadale organized the parade, and I don't know how she did it and did it so beautifully. The library and stores in the village closed as the cars rolled by. My camera battery died, but young friends of mine saved the day and ran into the library to get my other battery for me. I was going to post only my favorite Cadillacs in this post, but there were too many to show, so I give you the slideshow of all of the cars that I photographed (I shot over 250 of the 298 cars in the parade). 

The Cadillac Parade was the world's longest parade of Cadillacs. The Guinness Book of World Records was on hand to count and certify the achievement. The record was easily broken, but the count of 298 would have been bigger except some cars overheated in the parade and never finished the route. I heard that other Cadillacs were late, and there would have been almost 350 cars but for these problems. But the day was a wonderful success and I am amazed by Lori's efforts and achievement! Congratulations!

You can read more about the parade here:
Guinness Book of World Records
New York Times
General Motors Cadillac Press Release

You can view individual photographs here.

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Three Photos

Relics of sawmill on Route 5

I was on a photography jaunt (for wind tower photos in Sutton) one day in July when I took these three photos. This old sawmill is south of Barton on Route 5, before the Underpass Road. I thought it was the old railroad station for South Barton but I have been told it was probably a sawmill. Let me know if you know.

Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

I continued home and ran across Patti fishing off a bridge on Route 5. Just as I walked up to her, she pulled in the brook trout you see here. She is using this photograph for her profile pic on Facebook now and says that the fish was great at supper that night!

Another boulder yanked out of the back yard.

I finally got home and found that John had found another boulder under the earth in the backyard. He needed these chains to haul it out. You can see our back road on the right in the photo. The boulder is now at the corner of the back road, the big lilac and the wall going down to the backyard. Buddy and Oscar often nap next to the boulder because it is so large it creates cooling shade for them.

It was a good photo day.

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More Views of the Wind Towers

Underpass Road, Sutton
July 12, 2011; sky extremely hazy; 55mm

Same spot, closer view; 55mm cropped

Closer view still on Underpass Road; 250mm

Route 16, Barton, overlooking Crystal Lake
July 12, 2011; heavy haze and overcast; 55mm

Closer view from Route 16.; 250mm

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Fourth of July Fireworks in Barton

The fireworks were shot from a different location on Crystal Lake, Barton, Vermont this year and their altitude was low. These photos were shot from my bedroom window, which used to be the perfect spot to shoot them. But this year, you can see the trees, and even power lines, in many shots. It was a disappointment for me. I used a tripod and a remote shutter, f11, ISO 200, manual focus, bulb. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

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Sugaring in Barton

A Barton sugarhouse

Because we couldn't find any sugarhouses that were boiling sap on Maple Open House Weekend, I asked local maple producers, from whom I always buy my syrup, if they would allow us to photograph in their sugarhouse when the weather allowed them to cook. They kindly agreed, and we visited on April 3rd. The harvest was late this year, but plentiful. The syrup made here is the best, but because of sugarhouse thefts in Franklin County this year, the farmers asked me not to identify their farm.

The sap is boiled in this big evaporator.

Looking into the top of the evaporator at the boiling sap.

Maple syrup is done when the temperature of the boiling sap
is 7° higher than the boiling point (which depends on altitude).

We prefer syrup made with wood fires.

The smokestack from the wood hearth.

The stack temperature in sugarhouses is 1,000°.
Typically your woodstove stack is about 250°.

The back of the evaporator.

These lines carry the sap from the trees in the sugar bush down to the sugarhouse.

Farmers regularly snowshoe out to the sugar bush to check the lines.
A heavy snow the day before our visit broke tree branches
which fell on some lines, breaking them.

At the sugarhouse is the vacuum pump and the reverse osmosis filter.

An old sugar maple near the sugarhouse.

When the sap reaches 219°, the sugar content is tested again.

When the sugar is perfect, the syrup is filtered and pumped into this container for bottling.

Our syrup at home.
Right: Grade A medium amber that was made on the day we visited.
Left: Syrup from the last, darkest run last year.
The dark syrup is what we use for cooking.

I wish we could tell you where to buy this syrup because it is the best. Each farm's syrup is different because of weather, which run of the season the syrup is made from, the soil, and other variables. This farm makes the best syrup because it has a thick, smooth vanilla butter tone to it. There is also a suggestion — not a taste or smell, not even a hint — of wood smoke. When you cook with this syrup, that sense of wood smoke reminds me of being in the steam of the sugarhouse. Contact me if you want to know where to buy this syrup.

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The Ice Tree

January

Out past our house, on Route 16, is this ice tree. The owners of the tree, I heard, wondered what it would look like caked in ice. So they ran a hose from the pond to the tree and this is the beautiful ice formation that developed. This photograph was taken in January. We are all wondering if the tree will survive the weight of the ice. I can't answer that yet, but you can see, below what it looks like now. It seems like they may have reinforced the tree, also.

April

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An October Flood

The Barton River at the white funeral home on Elm Street in Barton Village.
The electric fence is for the horses that usually pasture here by the river.

We had a tremendous amount of rain on September 30 and October 1. The Barton River flooded over its entire length. I was able to go out on the afternoon of October 1 and photograph the flood as it started to recede. Earlier in the day, roads had been closed because they were covered in water. I did not capture that, but even receding, the water was impressive.

The Barton River flows through the village as it travels north to Lake Memphremagog. It is an old river on a flat flood plain and has many deep oxbows. In some places it looks like a muddy ditch and in other places it is quite dramatic, such as at Highbridge Hill where it flows under the railroad (which I haven’t yet been able to capture).In Coventry, the Barton River Marsh is a natural national landmark.. In 1810 Glover, people tried to change the flow of the Barton River, causing the huge Runaway Pond flood. The river is a popular canoeing trail in the summer.

Elm Street on the bridge looking south.

Elm Street

Route 5 north of the village.

A harvested corn field on Route 5.

Storm clouds are still visible in the north.

Route 5

The B&W Snack Bar, closed for the season, had been totally surrounded by water earlier in the day.

View from the B&W picnic area.

A logging operation on Route 5.

Because of the heavy snows this winter, we are anticipating more flooding this coming spring.

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Quite the Week

Barton Village seen from the Welcome O. Brown Cemetery in September 2010.

It has been a week of disorganization: huge software failures, bad weather, meetings, construction . . . I have been disorganized and frustrated. There was a huge snowstorm here and the awful earthquake in Japan. But now it is Saturday and I can reorganize and move forward. It is snowing quite heavily here (of course), so it will be a quiet, contemplative day. We haven't suffered as millions of other people have suffered this week. For that I am thankful and prayerful.

The fall foliage photographs that I am posting here are from September. After my solo Pageant Park hike, I continued the day at the Welcome O. Brown Cemetery in Barton Village. There are good views of the surrounding hills and mountains, and of the village there.

We are blessed to live in a quiet, beautiful corner of the world.

I was torn whether to photoshop the wires out of the photograph above. I decided not to.

The steeple of St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Barton Village.

When I look at these photographs, and think back of all that has happened this week, I realize how fortunate I am. My problems and frustrations have been put into perspective again, and I pray for the safety and recovery of the millions around the world who are suffering this week.

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Uh Oh

Washed-out shoulder on Route 16.

Back when the septic engineer was testing the soil for the new septic system, they were also paving Route 16 here in Barton. They did a great job and even put in new (although very narrow) shoulders). Then we had the torrential rains in early August that caused our flash flood. On the same walk that John and I took when we found the drowning worm, we also walked down our road frontage and found that the shoulder had washed out in several places.

I really should have called the town clerk and told her. If a car had to leave the road because of moose, bear or deer being out there, they could lose an axle or something in those holes. Now that it is winter, the holes will only grow bigger. I guess I'll call in the spring.

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Engine 202 Again

Engine 202

July 13 was my sister's birthday. I went to her house in Wheelock and we went shopping for perennials at the Lyndonville Agway. Later, I was almost all the way home when I met the train in town as it crossed Route 16. I love being here when the train comes through. At the house, we can often hear the lonely whistle blowing as it crosses the road. This was the second time this summer that I happened to be at the right spot in Barton at the right time! And both times, it was Engine 202 pulling the train.
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