Early Birds Get the Goods

We held a yard sale for the first time ever last weekend.  We put up signs on the street and put an ad in the local paper- still, I wasn't sure what to expect and sort of thought we might end up twiddling our thumbs most of the time, with a few friends stopping by here and there.  But after 2 days, we are experts at hosting a yard sale.  Here's what we learned:

1. It's all about the Early Birds.  Our sale technically started at 9AM; that's what all the posters and the ad said.  However, people started coming at 7:30 AM.  Not just one or two people, either.  Mobs of them!  Ninety percent of everything we sold was sold before the sale even technically opened.  I guess this "early birding" is standard operating procedure unless you say "no early birds, please" in your ad.  We definitely didn't care, but were just surprised by how many people did that.

2.  Forget about Sunday.  No one goes yard sale-ing on Sunday.  We had thought that Sunday might be good for us, as we live across the street from a church with services on Sunday morning.  But I guess everyone put their extra dollars and change in the tithe plate, since almost no one came by when church let out.

3.  Never assume people won't want to buy something.  You never know what strange things people will want.  Price things to go, and they'll go!  We made over $500 selling stuff we didn't want anymore, and some of it I was sure would be going to the dump when we were done.  Nope.

Besides the yard sale, we (and Grandma Sally, who brought down tons of stuff to sell too) made it to Spring Ledge Farm, Philbrick-Cricenti Bog, Aiden's t-ball game, and Low Plain too.  And the Windy Hill Art Show, which featured some beautiful artwork done by little Miss Haley-Doo and an adorable dance performance too.  "A Chicken... Ain't Nothin' But a Bird" is still stuck in our heads this week!

Science Nerd Central

It's Science Nerd Central around here lately.  I'd like to blame that on Aiden, but let's be honest... the reason he's so into this stuff is because Andy and I love it and can't wait to show our kids something new and cool  all the time.  This weekend we started off with a bird banding demonstration at Massabesic Audubon Center.  The weather did not look promising, but as it turned out, it stayed dry from 10-noon for the whole thing. The licensed bander, Jay Barry, was great- he was so happy to show everyone what he was doing, all the steps from catching the bird to weighing it, taking measurements, sexing and aging it, banding, checking for ticks, and releasing it again.  The mist nets were set up right in front of two feeders, so we caught resident feeder birds, for the most part, but some great variety: song sparrow, house finch, goldfinch, pine siskin (late!), chickadee, titmouse, and even a downy woodpecker.  There was another girl there, about Aiden's age, who was just as into it as he was- it was funny to watch the two of them race around following the bird bander from the nets to his banding table and back.  I felt like we should tell her about the birding camp Aiden is going to this summer.  Haley loved the captive raven (broken wing) that they have at the Audubon Center- she spent most of her time hanging out by his cage and trying to get him to croak at her.  She's still on the fence about nature most of the time- she loves to be outside and get dirty, but tends towards shrieks if a bug lands on her.  We're working on her...

House Finch

Pine Siskin

After bird banding, we had an awesome sushi lunch (Happy Mother's Day to me!) at a Japanese place in Manchester, and then headed to Amoskeag Fishways.  This is basically a fish ladder at a hydro plant on the Merrimack River that they have turned into a nature center to highlight anadromous and catadromous fish populations.  When we arrived, they still hadn't raised the grates to let the herring, Atlantic salmon, and shad climb up the ladder.  There was one herring and a single salmon that you could see from their underground viewing of the ladder chambers, but those had been around all winter and were waiting for the gates to open too.  So, not as cool as it could have been, but we definitely learned a little about our migratory fish populations from all of the interpretive displays.

On Sunday we did a crazy amount of yardwork and prep for our upcoming garage/yard sale next weekend. But we also found time to collect a mucky water sample at Low Plain so we could look for protozoa and other little beasties under our new microscope.  Wow!  I hadn't done that since Limnology class in college, and now I remember how much fun it is.  Andy, Aiden and I were basically fighting for the scope to see all of the cool things we were finding.  Daphnia (water fleas), paramecium, euglena, rotifers, desmids, spirogyra, copepods and lots and lots of things we couldn't even identify with the very lame $5 book I got with the microscope.  Time for a better textbook/guide, and also time to figure out how to hook our *supposedly* digital microscope up to the computer screen so we can all watch at the same time!  In true science geek fashion, Aiden immediately asked to create a sketch journal of all the creatures he's seen under the scope.  He was working on it at about 9:30 tonight when we finally had to go in and tell him "lights out."  Even scientists need their sleep.

Low Plain Mother's Day Hike

You would not believe what's living in here!

Oh say can you see?

When we learned Aiden's Montessori class would have the opportunity to sing the national anthem at a NH Fisher Cats game, we signed him up right away. How cool is that?! I don't even know anyone who has sung the national anthem at a baseball game, unless its my cousin Jeni who sings with the Boston Pops. The Fisher Cats are a minor league farm team for the Toronto Blue Jays, and their stadium is brand new and right on the Merrimack River in Manchester.

The big day turned out to be gorgeous, with 80 degree temps and a lovely late afternoon sun on the field. The NMS kids, dressed in their school tshirts, filed out to home plate and sang away- I thought they did really well, considering our national anthem is not the easiest song to sing. Our only complaint was that we weren't able to see their faces well since they were facing the outfield. Once the "home of the brave" was belted out and the game began, the kids could finally shake their nervousness and enjoy a rare evening out with their friends, hot dogs, cokes, ice creams, and yes, even basebàll. The adults played a high stakes game of "moundie" which I will not explain on here (due to the fact that it will make us all look ridiculous) except to say that it involves lots of singles and a part of the baseball game that no one else pays any attention to. Anyway, it was a fun way to lose $20.

Here's how I know it was a perfect night: as we were walking out of the stadium, we stopped to look at the view of the Merrimack River and there, about 30 feet away, was a big bald eagle perched in a tree with the sparkling water behind him. A bird-nerd's sign that we need to hit a few more Fisher Cats games this summer!

Soaking in Springtime

The weather has been picture perfect for the past two weeks, and we have spent every free moment outside. As I'm writing this, the rain has finally come, and it's pouring down a much needed drenching over our gardens and lawn...but that two week stretch sure was nice.

Last weekend we enjoyed the return of t-ball season. This is Aiden's last year of t-ball- he isn't seven yet, the cutoff to play baseball with actual games against other towns- but he's an old pro at t-ball by now. He knows all the drills and is almost a little bored, other than the fact that we had to buy him a brand new glove since his hand had outgrown the tiny one he's used the past two springs. I'm afraid the parents all love t-ball more than the kids, since it gives us all an excuse to socialize outside on a sunny weekend morning, big mugs of coffee in hand. Total bliss as long as there's a breeze to keep the black flies away.

Haley was invited to one of her first birthday parties last weekend too- her friend Liam's third. It was at Beech Hill Farm, which has lots of animals and activities for kids, as we'll as delicious homemade ice cream in about a million flavors. Haley is always asking me for banana ice cream for some reason, and I usually have to tell her that is not one of the choices, but they had it at Beech Hill. They even have Twinkie cake ice cream, despite the fact that you can't even buy twinkies anymore! (Not that I buy twinkies, ha ha). In the end, Haley chickened out on the banana and chose strawberry ice cream, but she had a great time with her school friends.

On Sunday, we spent the day organizing the garage and gardening, and then went to a local friend's Cinco de Mayo party in the evening. Aiden and Haley ran around like whirlybugs with a whole group of their Windy Hill and ex-Windy Hill friends while the adults had margaritas and some delicious potluck Mexican offerings. It was a perfect way to close a beautiful weekend.

Aiden's class also went to visit a local wind farm last week.  Andy chaperoned.

Break Week, For Some

Aiden's spring break was last week, so we asked Grandma Chris - had to really twist her arm, as you can imagine - to come up and stay to help watch Aiden while we were at work. Actually Aiden and Haley both got some special days with Grandma, so it worked out perfectly. On Haley's days she and Grandma played with play dough, had tea parties, dug in the sandbox, blew bubbles, went to the playground, and walked to arctic dreams for ice cream. On Aiden's, they got books out of the library and read together, spent a whole morning making a Garfield pillow, did some raking and yard work, got Aiden a haircut, and walked to arctic dreams for ice cream. On Friday, Andy, Chris, and both kids went to a family cooking class at King Arthur Flour where they made their own lasagna noodles and cooked an entire Italian dinner for themselves. Aiden is getting to be an old pro at making pasta, and Andy and I have been pricing out pasta makers on Amazon. Fresh pasta is so yummy!

I should say that through a good part of this week I was totally gone, running my annual new land steward training at work. The training was at a camp in Freedon, NH, near the Maine border, so I had to call home to hear about all the fun I was missing. They did save me a nice helping of lasagna though!

When I finally made it home late Saturday, grandma Chris was already on her way home, but I was so glad to squeeze my kiddos and Andy again. On Sunday we drove down to the sea coast for a "rocky beach/sandy beach" trip. Both rocky beaches (Aiden's favorite since he loves to explore tide pools) and sandy beaches (Haley's favorite since she loves to have sand tea parties) can be found in close proximity in Rye, NH, so it's a frequent destination for our family. We hit the tide just right for the tidepooling, and found all types of critters like green crabs, marine worms, sand eels, amphipods, snails and live mussels and clams to examine up close in our bucket. The salt sea smell in the fresh breeze was intoxicating- I was breathing it in in huge lungfulls and just realizing how much I have missed the ocean over this long winter. At the Seacoast Science Center, we added starfish, urchins, and sea anemones to the list of critter close-encounters, feeling around in the touch tank. One of the staff turned a sea urchin on its back and showed Aiden how it can use its tiny extendable sucker feet to right itself... It took a few minutes but was very cool to watch!

After a big seafood lunch -during which Haley enjoyed her first lobster- we headed to the sandy beach at Wallis Sands. Haley served me salt tea with sand sugar while the boys played paddle ball in the surf. When it got too chilly to sit on the sand without our jackets, we packed up and headed home... Little Doo was asleep as soon as Andy turned the key in the ignition.

Believe it or not, Monday was still vacation for Aiden. His last day, and parent teacher conferences. He and I took Kimball dog hiking up Silver Mountain in Lempster, a belated birthday treat for dergus. We enjoyed the hike and had sweet mountain tea and hard salami & cheese crackers for lunch on the exposed summit. Not many black flies yet, but a few here and there to signal a warning of things to come. Flies or no flies, I know we'll be busy getting outside and getting dirty!