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.

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

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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!