Life in Antrim

No escaping NH...

Well, I'm supposed to be halfway across the country right now (about 30,000 feet up) on my way to California...but as you can see from the photo I took driving back from Manchester's airport, Mother Nature had other ideas.

So, I'll try it again tomorrow. I think the family will be hoping for another day of fog so as to cause my trip to be canceled instead of just delayed :-)

If you click on the image, you can see a larger version...

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

As you can see, the first snow came on Thanksgiving. Here is Mikey standing in front of a leafless oak in our front yard. He and his friend David are especially enjoying the white stuff, although they would have preferred a bit more :-)

We technically did have a little snow mixed with rain a while back, but so little our Thanksgiving weather wins the "time to break out the snowblower" award.

We have flurries again today, but nothing that will force me back outside...

The first frost of Autumn 2005...

I'm not out of shorts yet...but today was the first day since spring we've had frost on the ground. I took this photo quickly stopped on the side of Elm Avenue (coming back from an almost daily run to Dunkin' Donuts)...

40 days and 40 nights...

Okay, so it hasn't quite been 40 days and 40 nights, and nobody has encouraged me to go on an ark :-)

However, it was big news last weekend how there was a bunch of flooding in New Hampshire. It affected all around us, but didn't hit Antrim very badly.

Well, that's no longer true thanks to this weekend's heavy rains. The photos (in order) are of our closed road (leading to people having to turn around in our driveway), the creek in our woods, pumpkins floating in the distance at Tenney's farm, and water attempting to take out a bridge downtown that is in the midst of be replaced from a previous wash-out.

If you click on any of the pictures, you'll get a larger version.

Other "news" that I'm aware of is that part of the Greg Lake damn has washed away (the top maybe?) Also, two of our friends are now accessing their house from an old logging road because the bridge leading to it is no longer safe. Should be interesting in the winter :-)

But, compared to some other recent natural disasters, we can't complain. And Mikey loves the water...he might still be out there playing by it if I didn't make him come in with me :-)

WWWWWWiiiiiiinnnnnnddddyyyyy....

I've grown to enjoy them, but one thing I had to get used to here in southern New Hampshire is the wind storms -- one of which we are in the midst of right now.

The good news is that it blows all the bugs away, so you can go outside without getting eaten alive :-)

Can you believe it?!?!?

We may have gotten an inch of snow, and school has been cancelled all over! Yes, it's going to get worse later in the day (it is snowing lightly right now)...but jeez...

I'm sure I'll be breaking out the snowblower tomorrow morning (or maybe late today) though...

(Presently 22.3 degrees Fahrenheit...)

28.6 degrees Fahrenheit and flurries

It was getting nippy in my office...so a short while ago I turned on the propane stove downstairs.

Now, I look out my window and see flurries...

Relative humidity

Because I want to easily be able to report to you, my faithful blog reader, the current temperature here in Antrim, I purchased a slick thermometer from Radio Shack that has a remote station. It's actually been abnormally warm since (e.g. right now it is 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit)...but another feature of the unit has actually stood out. It measures relative humidity...which has been up over 90% for the past couple days (it says 98% right now, but the manual says it can only measure up to 95%).

Cool. Wet. Humid. Vacation in Antrim!!! :-)

First use of the snow blower...

We had enough snow yesterday and overnight to warrant my using the snow blower today. It was my morning exercise -- and yes, it actually does require some energy to use it :-)

Too cold for the dogs...

We went to take the dogs for a quick walk yesterday...but they didn't make it much past the end of our lawn. Both dogs started lifting their feat funny, and neither complained when we went back inside...

:-)

It was 3 degrees this morning when I checked. I'm debating turning on the propane stove right now as it feels a bit cool here in my office...

7.2 degrees Fahrenheit

Now I know why I was sooooooooo cold shoveling. It would have been even colder than the 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit it is now (it was still dark when I started). I am not a wimp!!! :-)

(Actually, I was only really cold when I started...a little exercise can take care of the chill pretty quickly.)

Oh, did I mention it's also very cold?

I forgot to mention...it is also very cold and windy...something that made my shoveling a bit nippy...

Nothing communicates how cold it is better than the poor freezing squirrel munching down on some sunflower seeds I refilled this morning...

If you click on the image, you'll get a larger version...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I was just about to write that this was our first "real" snow this year...but as I think of it, while I was away in southern California there was a decent amount of accumulation. If anything, I'm wondering if the town fathers will request the Lion's Club stop meeting for the remainder of the winter -- the last snow was on the 7th...postponed (due to that snow storm) until tonight :-)

Kind of a wimpy one though -- shovel only. Yesterday I did get the snow blower in place for future ones...

If you click on the photo you'll see a larger version...

More flurries...

We have flurries outside...with minor snow predicted over the weekend. My beautiful wife says even more is due Monday-ish...

Sunlight!

It seems like weeks since we had a day with "full" sunlight. It's very cold (Michelle said it was 13 degrees when she checked), but it's not gloomy :-)

Flurries

I can't say I expected it...we have light flurries in Antrim right now...

I'm preparing for a trip later today to southern California. Darn! :-)

Quack, quack...

Although it's a very slimy day in Antrim, all the various bits of water I saw while bringing Jenn to school were beautiful in their engorged state...rivers, marshes, ponds...

If only our house had a tin roof, I'd be in seventh heaven :-)

In your face Accuweather!!!

In yesterday's post I noted that I didn't think that we'd really get any accumulation, but Accuweather.com said 3 to 6 inches over night. If you click on the thumbnail you'll see I was right :-)

Snow!!!

Based on looking at last years blogs, the first snow was back on October 22nd (although the first accumulation was on the 23rd). As you can see, there isn't a whole bunch on the ground right now, and I don't expect a whole bunch.

(Hmmm...Accuweather.com disagrees with me. Their forecast for today: "Cloudy and cold with a little snow and rain, accumulating a coating to an inch." Tonight: "Considerable cloudiness and cold with snow much of the time, accumulating 3-6 inches." Perhaps we'll see who was right with a picture tomorrow.)

And speaking of pictures, this is the closest one I've gotten of one of my favorite birds, a Downy Woodpecker. I probably like the Hairy Woodpecker (pretty much the same bird but larger) slightly more...but I think you can still see why I enjoy seeing them so much.

It would be a better image...but generally the only way to get critter-photos is through window glass (as this one was).

If you click on either thumbnail you'll get a larger version.