New Hampshire – Page 50 – New England's Narrow Road

Staying Warm and Happy New Year!

I’m not sure I get the point of having a wood stove in the basement. It seems like the house would be nice and warm much sooner if it was upstairs.
Not that I have any choice, but it seems goofy to have to heat the basement first for little reason. I know that the heat rises and I am sure it helps, but I don’t think it would be my choice, but the living room is way too small for any size stove so it had to go in the basement.

For now, I run (okay- walk) up and down the stairs a hundred times a day to turn the dampers on my stove, play with the coals, add wood and check the temp. At least I am getting some exercise since the days are too cold for walks lately.
The cat (Richie) follows me up and down each time so I will probably trip over him at some point….

snow covered wood pile — My Snow Covered Wood Pile

My outdoor woodpile is quite frozen and piled with snow (thanks to the snow sliding off the metal roof) but I managed to get some pieces and threw them in the back door to dry out.
I read one time that wood makes you warm twice – the handling- cutting, moving, stacking, lugging and then the burning.
At least I finally figured out to put the temperature guide facing the stairway so I could just glance at it from up in the kitchen… duh…I catch on eventually!

Happy New Year to all! I will be watching the Stooges marathon tonight with my son. I hope you will be doing something just as exciting. 🙂

Animal Tracks Preserved

Taken last year, this is one of my favorite winter photos.
My son and I were at the lake and found these tracks. They are frozen prints leading across the thick ice all the way to the other side. We’d had a warm spell where everything turned slushy and apparently an animal of some kind – can anyone “read” these tracks?- had walked across in the slush and before the prints vanished, they froze.

At first I assumed it was a deer that made this trail, but since they are in a straight line, I’m not sure. I turned the photo into a postcard and as I’ve said, it’s one of my favorites.

Snowfall and Metal Roofs

We got a bunch of snow last Wednesday. I shoveled off and on all day between digging out the cars (I don’t have a garage) and clearing the deck and steps.

The house I rent has a new metal roof, which my landlord loves becuase now the snow just slides right off…and it did. Overnight the entire load of about a foot of snow slid off the roof – it’s loud too! So I woke up to find that my cleared deck was loaded with a couple of feet of firmly packed snow.

My son helped me clear it, since my back was aching from the day before, but my wood pile is half burried as well and there is no more using the front door – just the back. But the roof is clear!

Playing With Cosmos

Cosmos flowers are one of my favorites to photograph. These grew in my yard over the summer – I started them from seeds in early spring and they grew into small trees!
I love the look of the petals and the white ones are my favorites.
The seeds are easy to collect and use the next year too. See more of my floral photography at Big Blooms