Pam – Page 114 – New England's Narrow Road

Foliage Season Winds Down In New Hampshire

fall foliage — Fall Foliage Near a Summer Home

At first it seemed like the leaves were never going to change. What happened to foliage season? I was at the bank a week ago and a friend made a comment to the teller about how stinky the colors were this year. I realized that it was already the middle of October, and she was right, where was all the glorious color? It should be just about going by at this point.

Then my sister told me that she had heard that the change was about two weeks behind schedule. Probably all the heat we had confused the trees. October has been quite warm and is still pretty nice.
Suddenly it seemed like the leaves changed all at once – at least in my area. It was looking good, but not extremely impressive if you ask me. Of course I am living in a new area now and not near Gregg Lake where I love to walk and get photos this time of year.
I wanted to get some pictures near my new home, but have honestly not done much walking. I walk on paved roads now, not dirt, and there is no lake nearby and I miss the lake. It’s just not quite as scenic, but still pretty in it’s own way. So my intro picture is an old one. It was taken in 2008 I believe, before the ice storm broke up those colorful trees you see behind that house.
A couple of things have kept me too busy to notice much else. I have a lot to fix on my new house before winter arrives so I am dealing with repairmen constantly. And my online job has been giving me headaches with all the changes being made and the updating to do. I love working from home, but there are many things I don’t have control over, and in the internet world it seems that changes and updates are constant.
I am always learning new things and I guess that is good exercise for my mind.

Sorry, but all these photos are of years gone by. If you live in New England I’d love to hear what you think of the season’s color this year.

My New Little Deck

It’s not quite finished, but this is my new, little deck off the back sliders of my house. I haven’t been able to go out this door since I moved in back in July because there were no steps.

Now I have a pretty place to sit and enjoy the outdoors and I can get to my small backyard a lot easier. Railings will be added in a week or so when the materials come in, but it’s usable and I love it!

My Real Life Money Pit

Damaged front door — Welcome! – good luck getting in the front door.

I wanted a house of my own more than anything, and for the past four years I have worked hard to come up with a down payment to get one and amazingly enough, I am now a home-owner.

Did you ever see the movie “The Money Pit”? The couple moves into a big, beautiful house and then it begins to fall apart – in a big way. Well, my situation is not that bad because I bought my home knowing it had lots of problems, but it is definitely a money pit.

One thing I knew was that the basement was wet, and my first focus was on fixing the water leaks. Come to find out, the front steps were the problem (in the front anyway – there is another leak at the back). Water gets in where the stone steps meet the rotted siding of the house, and apparently that has been a problem before because there is a worthless piece of metal laying across the area where it leaks. Someone tried unsuccessfully to fix things and ended up doing no good at all.

So once I moved in, I was in the basement with big towels soaking up the puddles after every rain. Then Hurricane Irene was on the way – (oh yes, this is my typical run of bad luck). Two days of heavy, hurricane rain was forecast. My basement would become a swimming pool if I didn’t do something. So black plastic, duct tape and heavy slate was what I used to rig this “tent” over the leaking area.

And it worked! All throughout the rains and winds of Irene, the plastic held and the basement stayed dry. (I really lucked out and did not get hit badly in my area.)

Now, whenever rain is in the forecast I go get my piece of plastic and rig up the tacky black tent over my front steps. Fortunately I have another front door that I can use near the garage. I am working on having the siding replaced and that should take care of the leak, but until that happens, this is my solution.

Someone also has previously painted the inside of the tub and the paint is now peeling off. At least it hasn’t fallen through the floor.

Finding Firewood For the Wood Stove

One of the most difficult things for me to do since moving to the northeast is finding firewood for my wood stove. Actually finding it is not hard, but finding good wood – split nicely and seasoned – is what I’ve been having trouble with.

A couple years ago I called up a guy from a newspaper ad and he was happy to deliver a truckload for a reasonable price. Once I began stacking it, I realized that the pieces were about as big around as tree trunks. Fortunately I had a big wood stove, but still, some of the pieces were just too big. I don’t use an axe so there was no way I’d be able to split them and lugging them was back-breaking. I wasn’t too happy.

Now I’ve sold my old, mid-Moe stove and replaced it with a new Jotul that is quite small, but perfect for my little living room fireplace. I definitely need decent size pieces of wood and not tree trunks. But where to find good wood? I asked the guy who came to fix my chimney and roof, but he didn’t know because he cuts his own. That is usually the answer I would get from any guy I asked. “I cut my own”. Now, I can’t even imagine having a husband who would go out and cut all the firewood needed for a season himself, so any of you ladies out there who have a guy like that – be grateful! But that didn’t help me.

Then I took a walk the other day and ended up passing by my neighbor’s house and they were – you guessed it – lugging wood that had been dumped at the edge of their yard. So I asked where they got it and now I have ordered my own cord from Northern Lights Landscaping in Milford, NH. I won’t be getting it for a few days, and then I’ll see how I like it, but the woman who took my order over the phone said it’s cut 14-16 inches which is perfect.

I guess the only advice I could give about finding firewood is to ask around (if you find people to ask!) or go with a company (such as landscaping) who has a reputation to uphold. They will want you to be happy, even though the wood may cost more.

Now I am deciding where to stack it for easily bringing inside during the winter. It’s a new place and this will be a first time winter, so it will be trial and error. At least I’ll have some wood to burn.