Saturday, November 9, 2013

November's Brown

It is early November. A huge typhoon slammed into the Philippines yesterday, the biggest hurricane in recorded history. Last week there were snowstorms in the middle of the U.S. Weather has been somewhat tame here in NH lately, though yesterday we did have a few snow showers (nothing that stuck).
The water level is high from the beaver damming and the new home the beavers have built is quite sizable. They have also been actively cutting down some tall and sturdy trees. We have started to wrap some of the trees by the front road to prevent gnawing.
Yesterday the wood ducks flew off from Beatitude Pond when I went down to look and see why there were ripples on the surface of the water. First the females flew away, closely followed by the males.
Plants are now various shades of yellow and brown and have gone to seed.
I have planted all the garlic, hoping for a good crop come spring.
Rest well, sweet Earth.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Into Fall

I did not post at all last month. Month was busy and flew by. Now it's October and the leaves by the pond that turned red early in the chill of the night have shed many of their leaves, the bright orange and yellows remain. The growing beaver colony has been very active preparing for the winter, with even the little ones getting a gnaw in. They have built a third shelter by the lower pond about 10 feet from the crossing. One day Lindley and I heard the scratching noise of one of the beavers hollowing out the inside of the new den. What will they do with the two previous ones?
Wood ducks still visit every morning and fly off in with loud shrieking sounds if we so much as put one footfall below the halfway point of the driveway.
I saw a shiny black salamander under a log I had pulled up to inspect. I had never seen one like that better.
We had over a week of warmish dry days, but now the bitter chill of fall has settled in so walking around outside is not quite as pleasant.
Floods continue in different parts of the country, but we have been spared here in the NE. Less active hurricane season.
Snow in the Midwest already.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

August has been more fall like than summer like for the most part with some hot and humid days scattered between, but nothing like July and not nearly as wet. Days are warm and dry and nights cool and crisp. Vegetables are finally growing properly and we hope we will have a harvest from all varieties of plants by the time all is said and done.
One things I noticed is that hydrangea everywhere is much lusher than normal...just coincidence or due to climate change, I do not know. The blossoms are over sized. We have also had a good crop of fruits this year, especially blueberries and blackberries and the bears have been eating well. Lindley has seen a mother bear with cubs twice. The beavers also have a brood and the little ones are finally big enough to come out of the lodge and eat on their own. They are so tiny, but they are feisty and already know how to use their tails to slap warnings when scared.
It seems like just yesterday that we were saying goodbye to the colder weather and winter...now we must start gathering wood again for the winter months ahead!
In the meantime many parts of the country have either been suffering from extreme rain events and flash flooding or wildfires, but still not too much attention paid to climate change information in the mainstream news.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Into August

I only posted once in July. We had some very hot days in July after much rain then the temperatures began to moderate as did some of the rains. The beaver tries to stuff up the new culvert every evening, but so far no overflows. We did have  a sink hole that developed in the wetlands crossing and Lindley fixed that up and I finished it up.
August is now being August with black and blueberries ripening, black eyed Susans dotting the landscape...sounds merging into cricket sounds from the trilling of the tree frogs. Fish are getting bigger and animals that like to feed on the fish are coming more frequently to the ponds.
Lindley found bear scat in the back. They are also feeding up while their is plenty.
Lots of Japanese beetles this year.
Other wild life sightings recently:
scarlet tanagers
cedar waxwings
Northern strike
pine warblers
kingfishers
swallows
chipping sparrows
pickerel frog
worm snake (front garden)
lots of dragonflies



Thursday, July 4, 2013

Flashflood puts our town on the map

For several days up until July 3, we had record amounts of rain in the Western part of Nh and several towns, including ours, were declared disaster areas due to the flood damage.
Water from the beaver pond started to run across the driveway during the wee hours of July 3rd and we awoke to two streams, one larger than the other, going across the lower driveway from the beaver pond into Beatitude Pond. In an hour it had widened and deepened so we were unable to cross. We were stranded for the day.
Towards the end of the day our plowman, also a  town road road crew person, came to assess the situation.
Today it has a fix for now, but not sure how it will hold up in the the next extreme weather event.
I noticed the beaver had tried to dam the new river last night before it was fixed.
Today there is a new culvert and new sand and gravel. Meantime much sand has been washed into Beatitude Pond...not great for the wildlife!  Hoping to find better solutions for flood mitigation and the funding for it.
Wildlife sightings: Lindley saw a turkey with 14 littles ones on the front lawn today.
Another turtle wandering on the driveway, but this time up by the house! We canoed out back and enjoyed watching and listening to the birds while Lindley fished.

Here is a photo of the river that formed across our driveway before repairs...about 3 feet deep.


Saturday, June 29, 2013

"I can see clearly now the rain is gone..."

Wow! I thought we had a lot of rain earlier in the month, but yesterday took the cake. I was working from home and one minute it would lighten up and be peaceful and the very next the skies would darken and dump tropical rains on flora and fauna...so thick I could not see beyond the front lawn.
I was concerned about the ponds over topping the culverts. This would under mind our crossing and potentially cause serious problems.

The beginning of the week temperatures had soared in the mid 90's, leaving us all feeling faint and irritable when in non-air conditioned places. Here at Beatitude Pond we rely on Mother Nature to cool us down. Fire flies have been illuminating the nights, rain or shine. Meanwhile states in the West continue to experience record high temperatures. Everyone there is suffering.

Recent wildlife sightings:

Another turtle (painted turtle) attempting to lay eggs in a nest she dug on the crossing....she dug several holes.
A hawk drying her feathers off after a rainstorm high up in a tree.
A bullfrog, awaiting prey, perfectly still on a log, except for its breathing (on close inspection).
A wood duck.
Blue admiral butterflies taking their turns eating salt on the driveway.

Friday, June 21, 2013

June Monsoons

The first part of June we had quite a bit of rain...not warm rain, but cold rain, which didn't do much for some of the vegetables we are trying to grow (like squash, pumpkins and cucumbers). Carrots, lettuce, peas and onions are doing pretty well, though.

The Western states have been in drought.

Wild life continues to abound by the ponds:

today...spotted a mangy looking coyote on the path down to the waterfall...Lindley saw him
last week Lindley say a snapping turtle covering her nest on the crossing. We are keeping an eye on her nest.
I saw the mallard duck with three offspring walking across the crossing. We have since seen her swimming with them on the lower and beaver ponds.
We saw Northern Strikes trying to mate.
  • Lots of ant hills everywhere - lawn and driveway.
  • Swallows
  • Cedar waxwings
  • A lone turkey hen wandering in the front yard for a couple of days.
  • A big garter snake moving slowly across the driveway in the sun.
  • The beaver crawling up a  large boulder by the driveway (an amusing sight)
Now it's the first day of summer and feeling quite summer like. It's been dry now for the last few days. Squash finally beginning to perk up.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Recap of May

Wow! I didn't post all May. The first half of May was mostly dry and sunny I worried about the peas that I had put in the garden as only a few came up. Hand watering didn't help too much. Everything was dry and dusty and we all suffered from allergies.
End of May we had a lot of rain and pow...all the leaves came bursting out. Violets are quite plentiful this year. I saw some by our brook and they are very long stemmed.

Wildlife sightings:

wood duck pair frequently
hooded Merganser couples
bobcat scat on Beatitude Pond dam
beaver - and beaver baby and mom! 

This past week the dragonflies have finally begun to be more plentiful...we were were worried
the Canada goose couple came for a visit this week

Plants -

lichen in general seems to be growing at a faster pace.


Saturday, April 20, 2013

The Frog Voices have returned - April 17th

Today it was ice out on Beatitude Pond. The frogs have returned in full voice. The sound is delightfully deafening. Welcome back!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Welcoming back the beavers

The male beaver is now out and about much more. The last couple of evenings we have gone down to the ponds after dinner and called him. He comes right over and gives us a quick look with his poor eyesight...and lingers for a minute...as if to wait for a fresh branch. We have greeted each other like old friends.

Other creatures who have made a return:

two wood ducks
male mallard duck
assorted phoebes

Monday, April 1, 2013

Easter weekend 2013

Traveled up to the White Mountains for the weekend. About as much snow left as here in Western NH. The pond is full of thaw and open spots. Can spot some beaver activity here and there. I saw the beaver out chipping away and something off in the distance.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Last Day of Winter - Nor'Easter

We had yet another Nor'Easter this past week...the day before the official start of spring. Stayed warm inside as the snow swirled and fell throughout the day and evening...some 12 inches of new snow fell here. Today finally there is bright sunlight and the winds have died down. The snow is starting to melt. I snow shoed over a portion of the pond in search of animal tracks of which I found many nearby the beaver den and the rock Lindley called Rock of Ages. Some kind of cat prints (I assume bobcat) and perhaps prints made by the mink we saw on Tuesday in the middle of the snowstorm.
One of the animals had made little tunnels through the snow into the running water below. Climate scientists say the warmer air has been blocked from getting to us, prolonging our winter here. Meanwhile the arctic continues to be warmer than normal and the ice melting faster where it shouldn't.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

March Thaw - Finally

We are full swing into March and finally up in the Lake Sunapee area we are getting a late winter thaw. It has been raining all day this Town Meeting Day 2013. The critters outside devoured two-thirds of the seed I put a couple of days ago. The driveways and dirt roads around town are deeply rutted and slippery with mud. The sugar houses have begun to process maple sugar.
Our last snowstorm on March 7 brought us about 8 inches of weight snow, but the day after the skies cleared, the temperatures rose and the snow began to quickly melt. Still lots to go before the woods and backyard are clear, but I can feel the spring coming.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

The rest of February was quite snowy. We had at least three other big storms. The snowbank at the end of the driveway is piled high over our heads. Since the last storm, on Wednesday of last week, I haven't seen any animal tracks in the forest. Perhaps they are waiting for a thaw, hunkered down somewhere.
Only the chickadees and gray and red squirrels have ventured out.
Lots of tree have come down this winter.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Nemo Has Come and Gone

It began snowing here at approximately 7 a.m. Friday, Feb. 8th and stopped today, Saturday, at around 12:50 p.m. It was light at first, but during the evening and overnight hours it was snowing 1-2 inches per hour. The storm stretched from New Jersey to Maine and went inland as far as Vermont and New York State. Connecticut received the brunt of the snow...and along the coastal areas it turned into a blizzard because of high sustained winds.
We have about 20 inches by us...fluffy, bluish white snow, etched by the bruising winds.
I read an article in Think Progress, which suggests that climate change could have made the right conditions for such a rare heavy snowfall to occur.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Jan and Early Feb.

We have had a little more snow than last year, but not much more...some extremely cold days in January followed by an unseasonably warm day then back to normal seasonal temps. In other words...lots of fluctuations!  The warm day was followed by wild windy weather. One large dead tree fell across the pond after refroze as the cold front came through. To our South it spawned tornadoes.
Now it's February and we are looking at two back-to-back snow storms...one a Nor-easter.

I walked up the back and saw prints of turkey, deer and possible a small bear?