Pam – Page 121 – New England's Narrow Road

White Hair in Our Bird’s Nest

small bird's nest — Nest Made of White Hair

A few years ago, when we were renting a house in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, this little bird’s nest fell out of a tree. We found it in the backyard. The amazing thing about it was the fact that we knew what material was used to build some of it. There are white strands around the inner top part and we knew they must have come from the horse next door.

An old, pure white, horse lived just up the road and we could see him from our yard when the leaves were off the trees and some little bird used his mane or tail hair to build it’s nest. It’s just amazing that little birds can build such intricate little homes to raise their young. Each Spring they lay eggs high above the ground in swaying branches and hope to survive the strong winds and downpours to see their babies hatch. Some don’t make it, but I hope the ones in this nest did before it was flung to the ground for us to find.

Watch at Cornell University in NY – live stream of a Red-tailed hawk nest with 3 chicks.

Saying Good-Bye to Winter

winter snow at lake — Winter at Gregg Lake

I guess I am on of the few who hates to say good-bye to winter. It’s only because I despise the season that follows. This is the time of year when people in the cold climates are craving Spring. Why? – I don’t know. Well, yes I do. It’s the end of shoveling, ice and plowing bills. One thing I am particularly happy of is the fact that the huge logging trucks have stopped.

I will also be glad to not have to clean off my Tahoe and thaw out the doors on snowy mornings to take my son to the buss, but Spring, when living on a dirt road, means super slick (worse than winter) driving and the other day I couldn’t even get to the bus stop due to 2 cars off the road. With snow and ice, salt and sand helps the road, but what do you do about slippery mud? Deal with it. That is all. I am hoping to move and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to live on a dirt road because of this season.

Next the bugs will begin to show up. Winter is such a wonderful “bug free” season. And the bugs include the hideous ticks and black fly monsters. I sure look forward to that!

I suppose that if I had a yard to look forward to working in I would be looking forward to Spring too, but without a garden to plan, Spring means nothing to me. It just depresses me to see the magazines come and read all the blogs that talk about theirs, but I read them anyway in the hopes that maybe next year Spring will be a good time for me.

Spring makes me whine – a good reason to dislike it. Pass the cheese.

Being In A Slump (whatsbuggingmetoday.wordpress.com)

Staying Busy in the Midst of Winter

I keep a journal and don’t write in it often. I would like to say there are new and exciting things going on in my life, but there just aren’t. I applied to my back to get pre-approved for a mortgage so I can stop renting and was told I need to wait six months since my divorce was just recently final, so that is on hold. I am working on getting my taxes together – which is always exciting. I’m hoping to get them done for free again this year by the folks at the River Center, where I met my tax guy who came to my house and I paid him in cookies – no kidding! My deck is buried in snow that is more like cement, and my face hasn’t been in the sun since the last time I walked across the parking lot into the grocery store a week ago. All this is very boring, I know.

I also began using a day planner for my work. The trouble I am having is that I never seem to get the lists finished and they carry over day after day. I get sidetracked easily and must have a touch of my son’s ADD. I always check my e-mail first thing and see what my recent store sales look like. Most everything is selling from Sandpiper Wedding and I attribute that to the fact that the blog is being updated every day by my daughter. Updating daily will bring more views, and more views transfer to more sales. It’s also filled with images of beaches and tropical things. Maybe that is the reason for the views.

So goes life in winter. Just keep plugging along.

This is A Lot Of Snow!

lots of snow — This was before the last foot of snow fell.

I took this picture looking out my front window toward the steps leading to the front door. That was a few days ago and we have since had another 8 or 9 inches fall and then a couple inches of slushy stuff today. Not to mention that the roof dumped it’s load just this afternoon. In fact I am heading outside with my son to shovel, even though I am not quite over the flu. This is the most snow I’ve seen here in a while.

The problem is that there is no easy way to shovel it when the mounds are as high as me. In fact I usually throw it and then watch it tumble back down into the path behind me. At this point I am just trying to keep the doorways clear and a path shoveled for the oil guy to make his delivery hook up at the side of the deck. I always find it difficult to show snowfall well in photos. It helps to have a person standing beside the piles I suppose, but there was no one to do so.

The new plow guy did do my mailbox this time, which was a very unexpected surprise. Digging out the mailbox is one of the most difficult jobs. In fact my son is annoying me so he will be shoveling alone while I make supper. That is an even better idea.