New Hampshire – Page 44 – New England's Narrow Road

Old Cellar Hole?

A couple weeks ago I was walking my neighbor’s dog and happened to glance into the woods and saw what looked like a hole. I went in to investigate and found stone walls in the ground. It looks to me like an old cellar hole.

I have no idea what this is, but looks like maybe a structure of some kind was once here and this is what’s left of the basement. Of course the locals would most likely be able to tell me about the place, but I don’t know too many people here so I’ll just guess for now.
I went back with my camera and got a few photos of the area. I noticed all these smaller rocks together in one area down the road from the cellar hole.

New Hampshire is known as the “Granite State” and there is no shortage of rocks here, but all these smaller ones together in a pile is odd.

I found this rusted thing … yes, that is my scientific name for it… in the cellar hole.

leaning trees — Forever Leaning Thanks to the Ice Storm

As I walked home on the 4-wheeler path, I took some pictures of the trees that still show signs of damage from our December 2008 ice storm.
These small trees faired pretty well considering the huge ones that toppled over or broke from the weight of the ice. It’s really amazing how powerful some freezing rain can be.

First Hummingbird Spotted – May 10th!

This morning I saw the first hummingbird of the season at my feeder.
My sister, in Mass., has had one for a week or so, but my feeder has remained empty. I always try to remember to put out the feeder around the first of May in case they are in the area.

hummingbird food — Time to feed the hummingbirds

I prefer to have plants in the garden and yard that will attract them, and for many years I never used a hummingbird feeder, but I no longer have my beautiful gardens full of red monarda (which they love) and other flowers to feed them, so I have to have a feeder.

Here’s the mixture I use if you are wondering.
1/2 cup sugar to 2 cups water.

I put 1/2 cup of sugar into one cup of water and heat it in the microwave until it dissolves.
Then I pour it into my blue (16 oz. plus) plastic container with a lid and add another cup of cold water.

I only pour a little at a time into the feeder and change it every other day. The remainder is stored in the refrigerator.

If you LOVE hummingbirds, I just read a beautiful page full of wonderful PHOTOS documenting a hummingbird nest with 2 babies. Her photos are awesome.

I struggle to capture a good photo, but here is the one I took this morning. My new feeder in the picture to the left, has a glass center and I like it much better than my old feeder shown above.

If you are planning to buy a feeder, I suggest getting one with little perches of some kind. This one came with the perches not attached and at first I didn’t put them on, but the birds seemed to need them and usually sit on them while they drink.

It Must Be May in New Hampshire

Generally, I love where I live in south-western New Hampshire. But at the end of April and all through the month of May the black flies are plentiful and annoying.

I pretty much write off the entire month of May as lovely weather to look at from the safety of indoors. It’s a shame that just as the sun begins to get warm and the days are longer and everyone wants to be in the yard doing something, these little bugs make life miserable.

You would think it’s no big deal. They are just tiny flying bugs. I lived in Florida for 27 years and believe me I saw some nasty, awful creatures down there, but nothing was as horrendous as these flies.

They buzz your head and fly into your ears. Wearing long sleeves and a hat helps some, but they crawl up under the hat and into the sleeves and gloves, etc. and BITE! The bites are itchy, but not right away. In fact you can’t really tell they are biting until later.

That’s when the welts begin to appear with a horrible itch. My bitten ear is swollen and red and I have a lump the size of a quarter on my arm.

Hence, the net. When we first moved to NH, we saw people wearing nets over their heads in Spring … and laughed at them! Now, it is how I dress to do any type of yard work this time of year. Even so, I am not safe outside for long. Inevitably I end up with a new welt someplace.

The photo is a self portrait from last year. I took it of my reflection in the slider.

Happy Spring! (And don’t come to New Hampshire in May).

Does Snow Kill Black Flies?

Today it’s snowing and I am hoping that this cold day has caught the nasty black flies off-guard and will kill them off.

Yes, it’s April (almost May) in New Hampshire and that means we can start getting a good arm work out whenever we go outdoors. It’s known as the NH wave.

Already the biting bugs are plentiful and making any outdoor chores unpleasant.

You might wonder why I have two eggs in my intro picture and it’s because I had to watch my neighbor’s chickens last week while they were away and I get paid in eggs. It has nothing to do with the rest of my post, but I like to include photos. So now I have lots of eggs, bugs everywhere and a rambling post.

At least the snow has quit falling.

I worked on this picture of a cool looking moth yesterday. I had a customer ask me for something special and this is part of the order I fulfilled. The moth was in my driveway last year.