June in Vermont

June 3-15, 2026                                                              Most Recent Posts:
Moose River State Park                                                 Flat Tire Slows the Trip
St. Johnsbury, Vermont                              Pretty Sure Google Killed My Phone

I tried to do an entire month in one post and paid dearly for it as when I went to post it, Live Writer made me take all of the way too many pictures out and put them back in one at a time as it gave me error messages in random order for each photo. But here it is, let me know if it was worth the number of hours it took to redo the entire post.

In addition to the small size of Moose River Campground and the river itself, what I like most about being here is this area and all the things I love to do here.

Its main street is filled with gorgeous houses.  So it’s a wonderful place to go walking and get some exercise as are the side streets off of it.

The United Community Church has a labyrinth in its yard which I love to walk at the end of my walks around town usually on Saturday morning after going to the Farmer’s Market.

The gorgeous Athenium Library is a frequent stop for me.  It is simply beautiful and has wonderful programs.   Since I have been here for the summer before, they graciously gave me a library card.  It’s SO wonderful to be able to check out real books and set my kindle aside for now.

This room is through the door on the right in the picture above.   I just love the  curved staircase.  The library’s adult book discussion group is held in here if the RSVP ers are a dozen or less.   June’s read was Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaughey.    Everyone had read it and amazingly everyone liked it.

If a book you have put on hold comes in, they wrap it in brown paper and put it on this cart with your name on the spine for you to pick up.  It’s like getting presents at Christmas!

The architecture of down town (Railroad Street)  is wonderfully detailed in ways we sadly don’t do anymore

Of course I also love the local bookstore, Boxcar and Caboose.

Every Saturday morning I start my wanderings around town with the Farmer’s Market.

There seems to be something different every week.

And boy does Vermont have ponds and lakes.  There are more than a dozen within 45 minutes of the campground.  I’m absolutely serious when I say each of them has at least one pair of loons.   These pictures are a combination of Molly’s Falls State Park and Kaiser Pond.   Between the rains and the crud I got with its endless cough, I was only able to get to each one once.  Really have to make up for that in July.  Enough rain……enough coughing.

And here are the loons in front of the sign warning not to come near the nest.

I can spend hours watching them and hoping to hear their call.

I have never seen a loon doing the back stroke before.

Fishing

 

Taken with my zoom lens.

Not loons   but beautiful even if they are mallards

I hike at Dog Mountain, home of the Stephen Huneck Gallery, on several days in order to watch the blooming of the Pink Lady Slipper.  

I join the pack when I’m here for the summer and get this get Huneck art key or dog tag.

Gallery on the left, Chapel on the right.  From the rear.

You can read about the chapel at the website link above.

Many wildflowers to see on my hikes.

and ferns galore.

Foam flower precedes the blooming of the Lady Slipper so I know when I see them that I’m not too late.

Seems odd to call this butterfly the White Admiral.

And here they are, the stars of the show.   the showy Pink Ladyslipper.

Other fun spots on the trails at Dog Mountain.

Dogs are off leash here at Dog Mountain and there are tons of tennis balls for them to fetch and this pond to swim in.

It’s an outstanding setting.

And here’s home sweet home for the summer.

My favorite spot by the river.  Notice the rocks on the edge.   Those disappear when it rains which it has now started doing.   You can see the difference in the river level in the video at the end of this post.

Reading a book about Cape Cod while sitting by the river in Vermont.

Other books I read this month were:  The Midnight Train by Matt Haig,  The News from Dublin by Colm  Toibin,  Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McGonaghy, Transcription by Ben Lehrner,  Whistler by Ann Patchett, Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, The Astral Library by Kate Quinn and Land by Maggie O’Ferrell.  I full expect some of these to be on the Booker, National Book or Pulitzer lists for this year.   Have you read any of these?  What would you think about my doing a separate blog post each month about the books I’ve read??

I also sometimes do yoga mornings in this spot.

In June there were two potlucks, this one with the Seasonals who are here from May to October and  were kind to invite me.  They are here for 5 months, I’m only here for 3.

Above is a work camper with a Farmer’s hand tan.  I’d never seen him with his sleeves rolled up before.    And to the right is Mac the popular mascot.

There was a second potluck for Father’s day but apparently I took no pictures of it or of the Bingo game that afternoon.  I LOVE Bingo and won 3 out of 9 games but not the big prize at the end unfortunately.   I did get this picture of the notice on the porch.

And this picture of Mary the campground owner and creator of the sign who did not want her picture taken.

As for the rain, those of you who follow me know that I got flooded out from this same site twice in the summer of 2024.  I went west in 2025 and they had a drought here.  So severe you could walk across the river and the grass was brown.  

This year we’ve had multiple days of rain in June and my mat and picnic table got swamped as you can see.   But so far (fingers crossed) no flooding.   Check out this video for the sounds of the river.  You can see most of the rocks are under water now.

Probably more of the same in July but I’ll let you know then.

Flat Tire Slows the Trip

May 19-June 2, 2026                                                Most Recent Posts:
On the road and                                          Pretty Sure Google Killed My Phone
Moose River RV Park                                  Plant Strong in Black Mountain NC
St Johnsbury, Vermont

I left Virginia on Friday May 29th intending to be in St. Johnsbury Vermont on Monday June 1st to spend the summer in a familiar spot much cooler than Virginia.

It was to be 3 over night stops and 2 stops for gas at what was then $4.599 OUCH!

This time instead of boondocking all 3 nights, I stayed the first two in RV parks. with full hook ups.  You can see they were quite aesthetically different.

I was on the home stretch toward my last overnight at the lovely Vermont Welcome Center when the traffic on I-83 pretty much came to a stop.  We crept along and then my TPMS alarm went off saying  leak in driver’s rear inside tire.   I’m stuck in lanes of traffic with no where to pull over or off..

I won’t bore you with the white knuckle frantic phone call time before I could get off and amazingly find at the end of the interstate ramp THE PERFECT place for an unexpected overnight for a 56’ pair of vehicles on a Sunday night. By the time I got there the tire was reading 8 lbs.  It should be 100 lbs. 

Thank you to the town of East Fishkill NY and the NY department of transportation for putting this park and ride in the perfect place for a desperate woman with a rapidly going flat RV tire.   I had no idea where I was going to be able to park when this miracle appeared.

Remember it is now Sunday. (You would think that after all these years I should know better than to do a multi day drive over the week-end.)   I was now able to use the internet and my phone to contact one tire repair place after another each one referring me to the next because 1. they didn’t have road service 2. their road service didn’t work week-ends 3. they didn’t do “truck” tires.   I finally found one and the dispatcher said they could be there in an hour or two but “in full disclosure” (she must have said this 4 times) it would be $325 an hour “port to port” which she explained is from the minute their tech left their facility to go get a tire that would fit Winnona until the minute he returned after finishing the work.  If I could wait until tomorrow afternoon, their morning was fully booked (really?),  it would be cheaper.  OR here’s another number.   I comprehended that she didn’t really want to send anyone out but that turned out to be perfect.

That other number led me to Joe of Dutchess Tire Center who agreed that I’d save at least $400 if they came out tomorrow MORNING.  Joe is a wonderful man who did sent Dustin another wonderful and very knowledgeable man out to look at my problem.

Dustin wasn’t there 5 minutes before saying that he didn’t think the tire was ruined but that the valve stem on the TPMS was leaking.  Sure enough that’s what it turned out to be. 

How would I have known if he had told me the tire was no good and would have to be replaced by the $400 Toyo he had brought with him.  I wouldn’t have but it was clear that he knew what he was doing and was an honest man.  He checked that tire every which way from Sunday.  Took it off the rim, sprayed it with I have no idea and determined that it was fine but he would replace the valve stem and he had one that would work perfectly.  He was there at least 2 hours not including his time to come and go.  The bill was $250. 

If you are ever near East Fishkill NY or Poughkeepsie where their store is and need help, be sure to call them.

Thanks Joe and Dustin for making me a happy camper again.

I arrived at the Vermont Guilford Welcome Center on all 10 working tires at about 3:30 after filling up with gas just outside of Hartford CT.   I probably could have driven the last 127 miles to Moose River but I didn’t want to get there around 5:30 and have to set up after a 291 mile day.   So here I am.

You must be asking yourself, with all the open parking spaces why are those two diesel trucks parked, with their engines or whatever it is running,  right next to that poor RV.   My question exactly!

I got myself some dinner, walked around the lovely grounds for some exercise and inside the wonderful building.

Perfect spots for a picnic.

The very friendly staff are happy to have you spend one night in their parking lot and even filled up my gallon water jug.

Inside are great showcases for towns and business in Vermont as well as unlimited literature, maps and anything else you could possibly want.

Thank goodness I have ear plugs so I got a fairly decent night’s sleep and on June 2nd, only one day behind schedule,  parked in site 15 at Moose River Campground for a summer of hiking, kayaking, bingo and other fun.

My summer backyard.  Pretty sweet spot.    Let’s just hope it doesn’t flood.

Pretty Sure Google Killed My Phone

May 2026                                                               Most Recent Posts:
Greenfield Mountain Farm                Plant Strong In Black Mountain NC
Virginia                                                             In Virginia for Spring

May at the farm turned out to be mostly food and hiking along with the Google mess, bothersome doctor appointments and unwelcome visitors.

The Google mess was a total aggravation that took nearly a week, too many hours, too many phone calls and a visit to the T-Mobile store in Charlottesville to resolve.   One perfectly normal day, I watched as my phone did a reboot I hadn’t asked for.  From then on it would not come back to the home screen.  Thus it was useless to me.   I spent HOURS googling what to do.  I did everything suggested and nothing worked.  So I took the phone in to the store where the technician redid all things I’d already done and declared it would have to be replaced.   WHAT??   I didn’t do anything and I have to replace my phone?

The speculation was that google had done an update that went awry.  Thus it was Google’s fault but is there any way to contact google to force them to make it right.  Not that I could find.  So T-Mobile kindly ordered me a new phone, or at least new to me, exactly the same model I’d had,  Google Pixel 6 and charged me $5.   I should have up graded to a newer phone but I really don’t want all the AI on them and was leaving town shortly and didn’t want to have to deal with potential problems in the outback of Vermont.

On to the food.

Most common breakfast:  spinach, banana, oatmeal, flax seed, chia seed, umla, frozen fruit and oat milk.   It really is delicious and keeps me satisfied for hours.

Sample lunches and dinners.   Sometimes I make enough for both meals.

Beautiful skies.

Wild flowers blanket the fields.

The grass has to be mowed.  Not sure why I look so happy about it.

The hiking is always wonderful and better now that I have mowed a path through the grass to hopefully decrease the tick possibilities.

Some days the weather is wonderful and I eat outside at the picnic table.  Other days it is in the 90’s HOT and HUMID and I wonder how that can be in May and if I should have moved north sooner.

But once I went with my friend Pam for Mexican food and margaritas.  Actually hers was a pina colada and even better than my frozen strawberry margarita.

Despite my attempt at heart healthy eating and my daily hikes or kayaking, my blood pressure is too high so I got to wear this gadget for 24 hours.  It confirmed, my blood pressure is way too high.   So now what?

Last post I showed my lovely Peony in bloom.  I put 3 in a vase and and this is how they looked when they wilted.  I think they are still beautiful.

We’ve had enough rain to encourage the mushrooms.  This one is bigger than my hand.

The woods are beautiful.  Wonderful for hiking.

Delicious easy dessert, cored apple slices with nut butter and chocolate granola sprinkled on top.

End of the month wildflowers in the field.

One of my very destructive, very fast moving neighbors that I cannot catch in a Have-a Heart trap.  Here he is brazenly walking into the yard.  Picture is fuzzy because I’m taking it through the window.   I am getting so frustrated I wish some one would shoot them.   They are living under my house and shed.

The thing in Winnona’s air vent is a beginning wasp nest which was much easier to get rid of than the groundhogs.

Time to move away from the heat.  My last view of the flower filled fields on May 28 as I leave for Vermont for the summer.