New Hampshire – Page 26 – New England's Narrow Road

Fall Photos, Not What You’d Expect

Like most people, I look forward to Fall with it’s gorgeous array of color, but this year things were different. At first I thought it was just that I lived in a new place, but I heard others complaining about the lack of reds and brightness that we usually see here in New England. Fall got off to a slow start and then suddenly it seemed to pop. And then just as suddenly it was gone – of course then there was the storm which not only removed leaves, but whole trees in that one unfortunate section of the northeast. They are still cleaning up from it. We got close to 2 feet of snow and were lucky in comparison.
Also, I was a bit distracted by all the home repairs going on, so this Fall was a bust. Maybe I’ll be around next year, and the colors will return. If so, I’ll plan to get some good photos.
So I’m sharing my Fall photos, but they don’t contain the lovely color of previous years.

Signs of Fall at my place include bright yellow mums (now dead after being buried by a freak snow storm), stacks of wood and mushrooms.

Foliage Season Winds Down In New Hampshire (newenglandsnarrowroad.wordpress.com)
Fall Color Around the Country 10/11/11 (naturalhistorywanderings.com)
Some Fall Cheer (at Last)! (leberpr.com)

Relocating a Little Bat

This little bat was hanging out up in the eaves of my house and he had to be removed when the guys were doing the siding. One day when Brandon was here working, he asked me if he could hook up the hose to spray the eaves where he could hear squeaking. He said that they had just had to deal with bats at another job and spraying water made them leave.

It took a while – and I was inside, but the bat finally came out and was cold, so he put it in a box and brought it over to the sun in the driveway. I felt bad for the poor little thing who had a nice place to sleep and suddenly he was sprayed with cold water! But I can understand why the guys didn’t want to work with a bat in their faces.

The little guy crawled out and sat in the sun for about 20 minutes and then flew away. I was watching him from inside with my binoculars and he’d shake himself and flap his wings and then suddenly he flew off across the yard and into the woods next door.

I hope he finds a new place nearby to hang out. I like the idea of having bats around for bug control.

New siding – before and after.

I Love Bats (lelandscott.wordpress.com)

Feeding Wildlife: Squirrels Getting Fat on Bird Seed

When I first put out bird feeders this year at my new place, none of the birds seemed interested. For days no creature even came near any of the seed and I put out good stuff! I buy “Chickadee’s Choice” which has sunflower seeds and nuts of all kinds, and that is usually gobbled up by many types of birds as well as squirrels, but there were no takers.

I also had one packet of suet (store bought, not my homemade stuff) and nobody seemed to want it either. Now, I love feeding the birds and have done so since I moved up north in 2005, but I’ve never seen birds ignore my offerings!

Just when I was planning on saving a bunch of money this winter because I would not have to buy seed, they began to notice and started eating. The squirrels came first, little piggies that they are. I haven’t seen a red squirrel, but there are plenty of fat (and getting fatter) gray ones.

I was also excited to hear, and see a pair of cardinals right outside the front window – and they have returned almost every day. For the 3 years I lived in my rental house, before moving here, I saw a cardinal only one time and I always thought that was strange. Now I will try to entice them to stay around, if I can convince the squirrels to share.

Birds, Squirrels and the Unanticipated Political Squall (backslashbacklash.com)

Photo Carousel of Makeover Progress

I’ve just discovered this photo carousel link that WordPress offers, and it’s pretty cool. This one includes pictures of my home renovations: new garage doors, new windows and siding.