NH Tornados?

In New England the only natural disaster we usually expect is a snow or ice storm. In the summer I never think, "gee, that thundercloud looks like it might produce a tornado... better get in the bomb shelter..." But last week a tornado buzzed around the state of NH for about an hour, causing lots of damage in at least 6 different towns. Only one person was killed, which is actually pretty amazing considering the swaths of destruction we've seen in aerial photos in the newspapers.

I was at two of the Forest Society's properties in eastern NH (Effingham and Freedom) this week that had some tornado damage. The pics are below. We had a youth work crew all set to camp at one of the properties on the night of the tornado, but thankfully, they were delayed at the Seacoast and decided to come up the next day. Two huge white pines came down exactly in the clearing they were supposed to camp in. Buy a lottery ticket, kids...

Mountains and the Sea... all in one state!

We are starting to really like New Hampshire! This weekend we drove to the Seacoast (what NH-ites call the state's small shoreline sandwiched between Mass and Maine), which is only an hour and 15 minute drive from our house. On the way we stopped in Newmarket, NH, which is a very cute town but that wasn't why we stopped. For reasons unknown to science, three Mississippi Kites (a hawk that usually prefers climates like Mississippi's) have been hanging out in Newmarket all summer. In fact, two of them are breeding and have a nest with a chick in a big ol' maple tree on Main Street, Newmarket. When we drove by we knew exactly where the birds were because there were about 10 geeky birders hanging out on the sidewalk with huge spotting scopes pointed up at the tree. We were excited to get our first lifer since our trip to Arizona in March.

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Wallis Sands State Beach

We didn't.

We spent the morning at Wallis Sands State Beach, and Aiden got his first taste of swimming in the surf. He was a little apprehensive at first but once he got the hang of it he was racing into all the breaking waves with reckless abandon. We tried to coerce a nap on the beach towel, but it wasn't going to happen (overstimulation!) so we drove just down the street to Ordione State Park. There isn't a sandy beach here, but there's a neat science center with lots of ocean fish tanks, a huge playground, and miles of rocky tidepools to explore. I think Aiden liked it at least as much as the sandy beach.

Tidepools at Ordione State Park

On Sunday we decided to do mountains instead of the seashore, and hiked up Mount Kearsarge with Aiden. He actually hiked up himself (except for some really steep bits that we had to carry him over) and was pretty proud of himself at the top. There was absolutely no view except of the inside of a cloud, but we snacked on lowbush blueberries before heading back down. The berries were so good we stopped at Blue Moon Berry Farm in Warner (again, but hey, I didn't get to go last time) and picked 11 lbs of huge berries. We froze about 9 lbs so we can have fresh berry smoothies for breakfast all fall and winter.

Starting with a bang!

Ledge on the south slope of Mt. Monadnock, looking out at Gap Mountain (another SPNHF property). Someone told me Mt. Monadnock is the second most climbed mountain in the world (after Mt. Fuji).


I started my new job with the Forest Society (SPNHF) on July 14th. Today (Jul 24) is my first day off since then, and I'd say I've spent about 6 hours of the past 10 days in the office. The rest of the time I have been visiting SPNHF properties with staff or land stewards, scoping out trail work, or conducting trail maintenance. It's been intense, but I happened to start just a few days before SPNHF's annual "Monadnock Trails Week," 5 days during which volunteers from EMS, NH State Parks, SPNHF and the local community come together to repair damaged or degraded sections of trail on Mount Monadnock. We worked the whole week on the White Arrow Trail, mostly fixing or creating waterbars (drainage structures). I have never moved so many rocks! All of the SPNHF Land Management staff are completely exhausted after 5 days of hauling tools, digging ditches, and setting rocks in the hot, humid drizzle (it was a pretty nasty week weather-wise). We were too tired to make an extra hike to the summit of Monadnock, but we did whip the White Arrow trail into pretty good shape! Below are some pics from the week.

More Visitors :)

Hot on the heels of Grandpa Deegan's visit to NH, all the rest of the grandparents also came down/up to see our new place. My parents dropped off a load of our stuff (almost the last one) and stayed for a few days to help out with our list of chores. That included mowing our rather large lawn for the first time... it was so long that we ended up having to rake up the cut grass, much to Aiden's delight. He was a big helper that day.




It was a hot weekend so we took Aiden over to the town beach on Little Lake Sunapee for a swim. Ok, we wanted a swim too ...




Then Grandma Chris and Jeannie arrived for some quality time with Aiden. I started my new job the same day they arrived, and worked my first 10 days straight (more about that later), so I wasn't around for very much of the fun. Judging from the pictures, it looks like Aiden had a great week playing in the yard, swimming, and berry picking.

Jeannie and Aiden

Aiden not wanting his picture taken

A little driveway lacrosse

Gardening

Sunapee State Park

Highbush Blueberry picking in Warner, NH

The Big Boy Bed

One of the MANY transitions Aiden has had to endure lately (he's such a little trooper!) is a switch from his crib to a "Big-Boy-Bed." I think he knows he's supposed to sleep on this new contraption, but he spends a lot of each night snoozing on the carpet in his new room. For now, we just go in and scrape him up off the floor and tuck him back in a few times every night. Until he gets the hang of it...

Fourth of July weekend

We spent half of the holiday weekend up in Vermont at the Lake Champlain camp, and the other half continuing to work on our new house in New Hampshire. We did the fun part first (of course) and met my parents, Andy's Dad, and the Allens and Zepps up at the lake. When we woke up at the camp on the 4th of July, someone left a little flyer announcing a little "parade" on Kimball Dock Road at 10 am. So a few of us, including Aiden, walked the half mile or so over to Kimball Dock to check it out. It was a true grassroots Independence Day parade, is the best way to describe it. As far as we could see, the five of us were the only spectators. Everyone else within about a mile radius was in the parade. You didn't have to have any extraordinary talents or props to be in this parade! Just walk, cycle, or ride whatever vehicle or animal you can find. We liked "Betsy Ross riding the John Deere" best.

The parade began at 10:01 on the dot, and we hooted and clapped for everyone who went by. On our walk back we passed a woman on a bike who yelled "Where's the parade?" "You missed it!" we yelled back! It was 10:05.

This tickle torture was ordered by Uncle Dan and delivered by Grandpa

We spent the rest of the day eating, swimming, and relaxing. Mostly eating. Andy and I made some ribs in the smoker, and we all had sangria and relaxed on the porch. Aiden loved the "Big Water!" as he calls the lake. He likes swimming but mostly the jumping in and splashing.

Here was our high-tech pyrotechnics display. The guys lit some sparklers on the lawn while Aiden watched with mild curiosity (what are they doing, anyway?). Woo-hoo!

We made our obligatory early morning pilgrimage to Dead Creek on Saturday, so we could not see a Virginia Rail again. Works every time. We did see a snappy snapping turtle though.

Then, back to our new place in NH for more painting, unboxing, and furniture assembly on Sunday. Grandpa Deegan (officially "Dad-da" to Aiden) had a great time playing with the little man and got a TON of work done to boot. THANK YOU!!