Jackson The Weather Dog, Faithful Companion For 14 Years, Passes Away, Leaves Loving, Joyful Legacy

Jackson as a puppy, spending his first full day living
with his dads in St. Albans, Vermont, July, 2011.

Jackson Ebenezer Modereger Sutkoski, loving companion, best friend, terrorizer of lawn mowers connoisseur of carrots and an all around Good Boy, passed away Monday, April 21 at the age of 14. 

Also known as Jackson the Weather Dog, he was instrumental at helping me with morning weather observations and supervising the work.
  

Born in southeastern Vermont in the spring of 2011, he came to live with us in St. Albans on July 26, 2011, quickly becoming our happy go lucky partner in crime.

Jackson's likes and dislikes quickly became apparent, though his likes far outweighed everything else.  His super power was finding absolute joy in the simplest of thing, and encouraging us humans to do the same.

Even though Jackson didn't love cold winter weather,
he was willing to ignore the chill if it meant
playing games with sticks he found in the yard. 

His joys included rolling in the cool grass during the summer, or, in the winter, rolling in the snow, eating the snow, or chasing snowballs around the yard. 

However, he hated snowmen, and demanded they be knocked over if one should appear. 

Jackson also loved taking walks around the property with his dad Jeff, as they checked out the plants, the trees, and what animals have bee around. 

Jackson also always looked forward to his daily excursions outside with Jeff to go get the mail. 

He also loved hanging close by his sister Tonks, who came to live with us in 2014 until her passing in May, 2023. 

In the evenings, Jackson would watch TV with us,  getting his well-deserved neck scratches and scrounging for any crumbs on the floor Matt or Jeff happened to drop.  Later at night, he'd sleep peacefully on our bed, safe between his two dads. 

He loved to eat, and the big events for Jackson each day was when Jeff fed him his breakfast and dinner.

Jackson always encouraged us all to roll in the grass
under shade trees on hot summer days. 

His favorite food was carrots. One of Jackson's most thrilling tasks was helping his dad Matt thin the carrot crop growing in the raised beds during the summer. 

He'd quickly dispose of the too-small carrots that Matt pulled out by quickly eating them. 

Jackson also helped Matt with various garden work, like planting zinnias, weeding garden beds and warding off hungry rabbits. 

With a low, menacing growl and a quick chase, Jackson would scatter the rabbits, forcing them to flee into the woods,    thus saving Matt's perennials from being eaten away. 

The rabbit thing was part of Jackson's efforts to make sure everything was in the proper place in his world.   He'd bark his disapproval if dad Matt parked his truck in the "wrong" place or untidily left a pile of sticks or brush in the yard, or some errant birds trespassed on his lawn. 

A boy's boy, Jackson was fascinated by trucks and lawn mowers. Especially lawn mowers. In one dangerous incident, he crossed a busy highway to guard a lawn mower a neighbor had left near his front stoop. (We installed invisible dog fencing right after that incident).

Jackson on patrol, keeping hungry rabbits out of the
gardens around his St. Albans, home, as seen here
in July, 2021. 

One of his favorite pastimes was having Matt repeatedly push a lawnmower (with its engine off) down a hill so he could chase and bark at it. 

He loved people, especially children, and could always melt the coldest of hearts with his soulful brown eyes and furiously wagging tail.  

He didn't like being alone. Jackson  howled in disapproval if we had to leave him only for a short time. 

When Jeff or Matt returned, it was all kisses and hugs and neck rubs. He would even make his dad Matt lie down on the floor when he returned home so he could rub against him, and the canvas bag that Matt always carried. The canvas bag was Jackson's "girlfriend." 

Jackson was always helpful and patient as dad Matt went outside to check the morning weather. Jackson hated being rained on, but tolerated it for the few minutes he had to go outside. Like his dads, Jackson was also not a fan of winter cold, and liked to stay in his warm and cozy house. 

He was always an optimistic dog, bouncing back from injuries and health crises with aplomb. In his older years, he couldn't run and jump like he used to, so he'd go out on the deck to watch the world around him, like his late sister Tonks taught him to do. 

Jackson doing his best to try and melt an unseasonable
late season snowfall in April, 2022. 

He was still a happy pup to the end.  This morning, Jackson told us it was time to say goodbye.  He died peacefully, painlessly and quietly, with his dads by his side, bidding him a loving farewell.

Jackson is survived by his dads, Jeff Modereger and Matt Sutkoski of St. Albans, Vermont; aunts and uncles Lynn and David Jenne of West Rutland, Vermont; Laurie and Bennie Carrara of Shrewsbury, Vermont; and Brian and Michelle Modereger of DeSoto, Kansas. 

Jackson was pre-deceased by his sister Tonks back in 2013. He was also pre-deceased by his grandparents,  Red and Pauline Sutkoski of West Rutland, Vermont; Don and Lois Modereger of Yankton, South Dakota and aunt Donna Stengle of Yankton, South Dakota.

In lieu of flowers, Jackson asked that, if possible, consider adopting a pet from your local shelter.  Or if adopting is not possible,  he suggested donating money, material or time to your favorite animal shelter. 

Jackson also asked that you do what he did in life: Just find joy and friendship anywhere you can find it, and always be friendly and gentle. 

Autumn Be Damned: THIS Is Peak Foliage Season In Vermont

You might have seen me write enthusiastically about this time of year in past springs, but I can't help myself.  

A rainy spring afternoon Wednesday in my St.
Albans, Vermont yard. Even "bad" weather is
simply gorgeous this time of year. 

So, I write about it, take photos and shoot videos two of which you can see at the bottom of this post.

We're now experiencing what I regard as "peak foliage" here in Vermont. 

No, we're not having a super duper early autumn. You can relax. It's just that the moment when everything blooms and turns green in Vermont is simply magical. 

I just like this spring peak foliage even more than the one in the fall. It's in many ways more beautiful than fall colors. And bonus! There's not so many tourists blocking the roads.

In a way, I'm glad that the total eclipse of the sun that drew perhaps 200,000 people to Vermont hit on April 8, not May 8. Early April is not Vermont's prettiest season. At that time of year, the trees are bare, the grass is still mostly brown and there's lots of mud underfoot.

Now that we're into May, the gorgeousness of the season is all around us, everywhere you turn.

Flowers after a rain storm this week in my St.
Albans, Vermont yard,. 

The hayfields are the most luxurious green imaginable speckled by countless yellow dandelions. 

The farms in the Champlain Valley now have the same quality, color and texture of a red carpet look on an A-list celebrity created by one of the world's top designers.

If somebody like Christian Siriano should ever come to Vermont for inspiration, now's the time to do it. 

Every routine thing we in Vermont do this time of year feels like a special treat. 

Driving home after work into Franklin County the other day, I noticed all the multitudes of sugar maples, with their job of providing us with sap and syrup done for the season.  

All those maples seemed to be celebrated by unfurling billions or trillions of tiny leaves, which will eventually grow into the thick lush greenery of summer. The way all those baby leaves glistened when backlit by the sun looked like an immense green fireworks display. 

Brand new sugar maple leaves in St. Albans, Vermont. 

Pulling into my driveway in April and early May, I'm greeted by an audience of happy yellow daffodils, bobbing slightly in the breeze as if delighted that I had arrived. 

It's an optimistic time of year in the world of nature. This natural green hopefulness is a refuge from the human world, the one with way too much war, cruelty, hypocrisy, insanity and stupidity. 

I usually get up in the morning pretty early, often around or a little after dawn to let Jackson the Weather Dog outside to update himself on how spring is progressing.

Full light hadn't hit yet, but the yellow daffodils and deep blue hyacinths glowed in the early morning dim light, as if  powered by some internal electric current. 

The robins at that hour give us a chorus of happy morning music. Somewhere, a cardinal's loud "shpur schupr" call echoes across the yard. That's only outdone by the caw of a crow atop a poplar tree, inviting a couple crow friends over the enjoy the morning.  

Forget turning on the TV morning news for updates on the latest madness in Congress, or the war death toll, the latest dumb criminal trial, or the convenience store holdup. 

The early morning spring birdsong, the beautiful organic aroma of blooms and mud and new growth, and all that green punctuated by colorful flowers is all the news I need this time of year.  

It is a little sad that nature is the only island of sanity in this world. But I take what I can get, and embrace it. You can't ignore such a special time of year. 

Videos:

I planted tons of daffodils around my St. Albans property over the years. You can't welcome spring without daffodils, so I went all out. Following video also has a brief cameo from Jackson the Weather Dog, who was studying the effects of a sunny day on daffodil growth.

To view video, click on this link, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Next up, various glimpses of spring in Vermont, as our surroundings develop endless shades of green, with other wonderful pops of color. Again, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that:

Longing For Color: Photo Shows Exactly Why We Look Forward To Spring

A beautiful spring evening in my St. Albans, Vermont 
back yard. Photo taken on May 5, 2023.  Click on the 
image to make it bigger and easier to see. 

The snapshot photo in this post was taken in my St. Albans, backyard on the evening of May 5, 2023.

As far as composition and artistry and all that, the photo isn't much. But this time of year, I can't help just staring at it. 

The colors! As we are in this especially drab, gray, relatively snow-free winter, you're going to want to click on the photo, make it bigger and stare lovingly into it. 

The greens, with the speckled blue sky and the pops of yellow from the daffodils just bring such joy and, I don't know, ahhhh.

In three months or so, we will be free from this imprisonment of monotonous gray, brown, and dirty white.  With any luck, by early May, our surroundings will look something like the photo in this post. 

By the way, if you want more spring images to warm your heart, I've added a video to the bottom of this post. 

Anyway, sure we had blue skies for a change on Sunday, which were extremely welcome. But by February, we all wait desperately for the color that true spring brings. 

Click on the photo to make it bigger and easier to see. The late afternoon/early evening light and shadows in the photo bring out every possible shade of green. It helps that the tiny new leaves have that tender new born sort of bright baby green. 

You can see that the lawn could stand a mowing, but that tall grass looks so luxurious.  If I'm not mistaken, Jackson the Weather Dog that evening spent quite a bit of time rolling around in that grass. Which was a great idea. So I joined him. 

Whether you admit it or not, you would have done the same. 

 Check out that sky.  Sure, the beautiful blue skies on Sunday were a nice switch from the weeks of gloomy overcast we had, but Sunday's sky was still a cold, winter blue. 

The springtime blue sky in the photo has a benevolent, warm feeling to it. The scattered clouds complete the painterly feel of the atmosphere. They also have a vaguely unstable look to them, as if promising some springtime showers. 

You might guess from the photo that I like daffodils. Those pops of yellow just make me happy every spring. I have varieties that bloom early, mid-season and late to keep the show going. 

My only regret is I only have about 600 or so daffodils planted on my property. I wish I had thousands. Worse, I ran out of time to plant additional ones this past autumn. Well, there's always next year.  

I have lots of photos of my springtime gardens. My excuse for having the photos is it helps me plan improvements to the property. 

But frankly, I spent an embarrassing amount of time in February looking at those photos as entertainment. Just to take my mind off winter. Even winters as mild as this one has been.  

I know many people like winter. There's a lot of reasons why people would. But those green spring days and evenings  are absolutely heavenly. If there is a heaven, I hope it looks something like what's in the photo.

Video: Spring images from 2023. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Vermont Strong: Joy In Seeing Businesses Reopen After Horrific July Flood

This is a sad scene inside Bear Pond Books in 
Montpelier during the devastating floods in July.....

 I'll be the first to admit Vermont has a long way to go to fully recover from the catastrophic floods we had in July. 

The rallying cry after the flood has been Vermont Strong, and I don't think I've ever heard of more accurate catchphrase. 

We have been working together to clean up, repair, and get people back in homes, and businesses reopened. Keep it going Vermont!

A case in point is downtown Montpelier. The whole downtown was flooded, and dozens of stores, restaurants and other enterprise were devastated. But these businesses are reopening, and that is bringing joy to everyone, I swear.

A perfect example is Bear Pond Books. It's been there in Montpelier since 1973, and over the years has become a beloved independent book store and gathering place.

 Back on July 14, I posted a sad photo from inside Bear Pond Books, showing a ruined copy of climate activist Greta Thunberg's book, "The Climate Book" dejectedly floating in muddy waters inside the flood-destroyed store.

I was delighted today to see Bear Pond Books post on social media with much happier photos. The store re-opened on September 1, and a giant flood of shoppers - not water - invaded the store. 

....and here's the much happier scene inside 
Bear Pond Books when it reopened September 1.

One Bear Pond Books reopening photo really struck me. It showed a crowded store, its restored old hardwood floors gleaming. 

In the foreground, a smiling shopper looks thrilled to be there. Off to the left, a man and a woman appear to be having a joyful conversation. In the background, a sales clerk is happily ringing up what looks to be a woman's many purchases.

It's a wonderful photo, both emotionally and artistically. It shows a piece of Vermont community the way it's supposed to work. The image actually makes me a bit verklempt. 

You can't escape the climate change angle, though. In that new, happy photo, you see a book on display on the lower right. It's called "How To Live In A Chaotic Climate."

Will these newly climate charged severe storms keep flooding Montpelier again and again? 

 If so, what's the future for what I think is the most charming capital city in the United States. Not just Montpelier, but all of us. 

I'm not going to spoil the joy right now. I just need to drive down to Montpelier to stock up on some books, and see what else is open and interesting. For now, I'll celebrate the ongoing recovery. 

 

The Ultimate Perfect Vermont Spring Saturday Leading Toward A Near Perfect Spring Week

Brilliant blue skies, new leaves on the trees. It was 
impossible to not absolutely love the spring 
weather in Vermont on Saturday. 

 In my 60-year life so far in Vermont I'm hard pressed to recall a spring day as perfect and quintessential as Saturday.   

All the boxes were checked.  The sky was a brilliant blue.  The temperature was perfect, rising into the low 70s. 

 A nice breeze came up, helping to keep the black flies at bay and making the hundreds of daffodils around my house dance in the sunshine. 

We are also in what I regard as peak foliage season.  Most people gawk in awe at our autumn foliage. Me included. 

But my favorite Vermont foliage season comes in May, when the forests are erupting with new green leaves. There are too many subtle shades of green in these newly blossoming leaves to count. The way the new leaves glisten in the sun is almost too much to bear.

Let's just say yesterday's weather put me in a really, really really good mood. 

Nothing in life is perfect, but yesterday, and the coming week will be almost as close as you can get. I did note some clouds blocking the sun in parts of southern Vermont and the Adirondacks yesterday, but it was still nice. 

A St. Albans, Vermont garden glistens in the warm sun
on Saturday, May 6. 

Starting today and going through the week, it won't necessarily be crystal clear out there all the time, but the weather will remain absolutely stunning. And peak foliage will continue, augmented by apple, crab apple and lilac blooms that are starting to burst forth. 

We'll see some clouds creep in this Sunday afternoon, but it will still be a spectacular day. Highs will be about as warm as they were yesterday, near 70. A breeze will develop again, so that will be nice. 

Tonight, a weather disturbance might drop a few light showers across southern Vermont but they won't amount to much. 

Then we'll get hit by a weak "back door" cold front.  It's called that because these come at us from the northeast, instead of the west or northwest like normal cold fronts. Back door cold fronts are most common in the spring. 

Late afternoon sun mixed with speckled shade in a
St. Albans, Vermont garden Saturday. 

I think it's because the North Atlantic is near its coldest point this time of year, so it can cool the atmosphere and send cold fronts our way. 

We'll see almost no rain with it, but you'll definitely notice a cool down. 

Nothing dramatic or scary, but we should barely make it to 60 degrees for highs tomorrow and Tuesday. 

Monday night and Tuesday night will get down into the 30s. So if  you prematurely put out sensitive plants, you might want to think about protecting them.

The sunshine and breezes will continue on Monday through at least Wednesday. 

The next shot at any rain comes Thursday and Friday, but even then, the weather at this point looks as if it will stay mostly beautiful. 

Toronto Panda Enjoys, Destroys A Snowman, And Makes Us All Feel Good

A panda in Toronto hilariously dismantles a snowman.

A Toronto, Canada panda bear is making us all smile. 

In the video, we find that zookeepers have built a snowman for our friendly panda, named Da Mao. The snowman doesn't last particularly long, but the fun surely does!   

The video was actually taken at least five years ago, but it has gotten renewed attention lately on social media. Mostly because we need something to give us joy these days. 

The video will definitely fill you with joy, I'm sure as it did me. Maybe it's a lesson on how we all should live - goofy as a panda 

Here it is: As always, click on the video to make it bigger and easier to see