The Edge of Elderly Housing

Gretchen and I decided we will need a more easily accessed driveway in our future. This decision has been a difficult one, for it meant altering the landscape in a big way.  We have to remove many trees and eliminate the cooling shade and privacy. After two months (years) of painful discussion we are almost ready to build our combination pole barn/carport/and woodshed.

The house as it has been since the early 1980's

First, we hired Christian to remove two of the more difficult pines. He climbed and dropped 4-foot sections.

Next, our neighbor Garth brought in his excavator.  He was the man with a vision.

The changes over the first week have been amazing and shocking!

I disassembled the woodshed but left the "Covered bridge" in front of the door.

Garth did an excellent job in how he shaped our difficult "double slope".

The small pile in front of the house is our "leftover" cookstove wood, all moved and stacked by Gretchen. The green tarp is the full sized wood also "leftover" from last winter.  Everything had to be removed from the woodshed.

When we took the entryway off, the house changed (circa 1978).

Watch the telephone pole. It was in a very difficult location.

Next the wood chips and compost to hold the soil

Here are the two driveways merging onto the road. If you look closely (double click to enlarge), you can see the red flags marking the woodshed wall.

Very rough projection of the roof line.

We have a cement crew on hold till we get things straightened out at town hall.  Do we need a permit?  Or, not?   Stay tuned.

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The Edge of Green

April was an unusual month with morning temps ranging from 27 degrees on the 28th to 61 degrees on the 17th. Blossoms formed and then just sat there for much of the month. Both the pear tree and the apples finally opened around the 21st.

The maples started to leaf out too.

Choke cherries still hadn't opened.

The ferns couldn't wait.

The beech leaves all seemed to fall in early April giving a great background for the emerging Canadian Mayflowers.

Any ideas on this bee or wasp? He was just under an inch long hunting for small insects on our "spring" toothed harrow.

One of my favorites .

"Sow your........" very prolific this year.

Then a paddle on Hermit Lake in Sanbornton 4/2. A remarkable day for Painted Turtles. I counted 128 of them. 

  

 

Click on the photo to find the 10" Painted Turtle. This beaver lodge is over 6' tall!

           The daily changes in the shades of green, makes Spring
                          my favorite time of the of the year.

The Edge of Winter: January 6, 2012

As a friend stated: "You don't look a day over 65!" -- and that's the truth today, January 6, 2012.

I'm starting this blog with photos from November 2011, not long after a snowstorm had dumped over 16 inches on us. We thought that snow might stay until Spring, but it didn't.

First, on the Pemigewasset River I saw these Canada Geese hanging out on the Jenness' pasture.

Next, on Nov. 6, I kayaked Hermit Lake and spotted this painted turtle warming itself in the sun. This is the latest in the year I have ever seen a reptile in New Hampshire outside and on the water.

December:  The new green house still produces greens even though we've had three nights of temperatures in the single numbers (Farenheit).

We've had some unusual birds during our unusual (warm, snowless) December. This goldfinch has strange coloration, more like summer than winter.

Then, there's the Red-Bellied Woodpecker. It's not a great name, seeing there isn't one red feather on its belly.  These woodpeckers migrate north now with our warmer winter temperatures.

Gret and I spent New Years Eve at home with a small bonfire in the upper garden. Follow the spark:

Here's the garden the day after.

The New Year is time to throw out some of the useless "stuff", like these skis I broke on the summit of Mt. Cardigan in 1988 while skiing with David Roth.  He had Bush Whacker skis.  I used duct tape, the best thing to have in an emergency like this.

The Christmas bird count was January 2. The ground was basically bare and frozen. Our biggest surprise was a cut worm crawling across the ice on the driveway at the fish hatchery.

As for the birds, it was an average year for our count. Our favorites were these Hooded Mergansers on Calley Pond in Sanbornton.

Gretchen and I spent my "65th" birthday up north, after my eye appointment.  We had a fun day at the Basin at Franconia Notch, then on to the bookstore and diner in Littleton.  Luckily we missed the politicians stumping for next week's primary.

What's interesting for me is to look at last year's records at this time.  Once again we had very light snow cover, yet lots of water in the ground. 

All species strive to survive and adapt to the changes in the weather and the environment.  These "rock doves" are doing just that on a frigid January day.