New Hampshire – Page 34 – New England's Narrow Road

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)

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.

I Love the Snow, But Not Today

I do love watching the snow fall and it sure is falling today, February 25, 2011 in New Hampshire. South of here there has been a mix of rain and freezing rain, but it’s been all snow – all day – here. I was out earlier to shovel off about 5 inches since they say it is heavy (yes, it is) but I am under the weather today and certainly don’t want to go back out. It’s warm enough for the snow to also be sliding off the roof, so I have that to shovel on top of the 5 or 6 inches that has come down since I was out before.
Also the plow guy will show up at some point and I’ll have to move my car.
So I usually don’t mind the snow, but when I am sick I would rather not have to deal with it.
My side of this duplex gets lots of shade and I’m looking at this snow and thinking it will be here until June.

Will You Count The Birds For Science?

Chickadees — Image by Oregon State University Archives via Flickr

This is the weekend to help scientists keep track of wild birds as you participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. From February 17th through the 21st, many people throughout the U.S. and Canada will be counting birds at the park, on a hike or in their own yards to help inform the folks at the Cornell Lab of Orinthology and the Audubon Society of what birds are up to. The information is then logged in online (or you can get a paper tally to mail in if you don’t have a computer).
Why should we help? As you can imagine, no one group could possibly keep track of what all the birds are doing, so they enlist the help of bird watchers – expert and not – to help get the information from the various areas of the country. The counts can help with migration answers and tell scientists how the winter has affected the bird population and other useful info.

The count is simple to take part in and will take 15 minutes only, or you can count for longer. All information and answers to questions can be found at their website (link below), but basically what you will do is count the largest number of each type of bird you see at any one time and then report it for that date. An online questionnaire will ask where you are located and what the location is like. Were you at a public garden or in a desert? That type of thing. I used to be part of Project FeederWatch where I counted birds all winter and sent in my counts each week. That is another worthwhile endeavor and I enjoyed it.

On the GBBC site there is a page just for kids and getting young ones interested in birds is a wonderful thing. There is a poster to down load, and a page of photo contest winners.

Don’t worry if you are not an expert at distinguishing which bird is which, they answer that question too, and don’t worry if your birds seem boringly ordinary, they still want to know what you see.

Visit the Great Backyard Bird Count page and get started doing your part for the birds.