tamarack

Significant leaf drop here from white ash and white birch, not much from other species, but this is very early. Colors are earlier than average too, despite the mild temps and no mornings below 38°. Yesterday was the month's 10th sunny/mostly sunny day, already a day above the September average (which is the most for any month here) and today looks like #11. Most sunny days in any month was 17 in March 2021; March average for sunny days is 8.6, 2nd highest here.

Significant leaf drop here from white ash and white birch, not much from other species, but this is very early. Colors are earlier than average too, despite the mild temps and no mornings below 38°. Yesterday was the month's 10th sunny/mostly sunny day, already a day above the September average (which is the most for any month here) and today looks like #11. Most sunny days in any month was 17 in March 2021; March average for sunny days is 8.6, 2nd highest here.

SNJ family read that feeding the hens their 'fresh' eggshells can lead to the critters eating their own eggs, so the shells get baked before going to the coop.

The latest "Forest Trees of Maine" booklet includes only bitternut (Carya cordiformis) and shagbark hickories, with the former only in a very limited range in far southern Maine. Looks like today will be our 10th sunny one in 15 days. We've never had a month with 2/3 of the days being sunny or mostly sunny. If the dryness continues, we may set another driest, to go with February (and Dec, March wettest as the precip rollercoaster continues).

About the same size if it's shagbark hickory.

We had 82/84 on Aug 1,2. Those are the only 80+ maxima since July 17. Maybe add a couple next week?

AFAIK, there's no hard evidence of a breeding population of mountain lions in NY/New England, but the road-killed animal in CT years ago was traced (by DNA) to west of the Mississippi. The one confirmed (by hair DNA) mountain lion in Maine since I moved here 51 years ago was in Cape Elizabeth, perhaps the least wild community in the state. Obviously a released pet; maybe its owner got tired of buying $100+ in meat every week. Mountain lions are very reclusive, but there are enough hunters, hikers, foresters and game cams out there that a breeding population would likely be revealed, by sighting or by the species' characteristic treatment of deer kills. (Or by the CT "method".)

In the forest, Northern red oaks usually have big crops at intervals of 2-5 years. Open-grown oaks (like a yard tree) can have big crops year after year.

I have a book "The Week Maine Burned", which details what happened that October. It describes everything about the fires, southern Maine and Bar Harbor, but unfortunately no maps. PWM had recorded no measurable rain since September, rural folks figured the fire season was over, and many were burning trash/brush. PWM temps: 10/23 83 35 PWM's warmest day so late in the season. The Kennebunkport fire burned to ocean's edge and its spot fires torched a small island 3/4 miles from the shore. 10/24 59 26 A dry CF with strong winds (G50+) arrived, switching wind from SW to NW such that the relatively cool flank of the East Brownfield fire became the roaring head and traveled 30+ miles, wiping out a couple of villages and burning over 100,000 acres. It came within a mile of connecting with the K'port fire footprint. 10/25 65 20 Record cold for the date Fires were finally under control on the 27th-28th. "found the deer - doe with little forked antlers still with velvet" t You sure about that? Yes. It was the 3rd velvet-antlered doe I've seen but the only one with forks. 1st one came in late November 1979 on T18R12, about 10 miles NW from Allagash village. It stood in nearly the same spot (lots of tracks in a very small area) as I took 30 minutes to still-hunt to within 40 yards of the critter. It had 7" spikes, definitely a doe and its vulva was quite moist - made me wonder if she thought I was a buck sneaking toward her. Gamiest tasting of any deer I've killed. 2nd came on opening day 1980, shot by a co-worker on T15R13, about 20 miles SW from #1. Its spikes were velvety and 12-14" long. 3rd was in 2014 in New Sharon, 6-7" with 1" forks. I've read that antlered does occur about 1 in 25,000 (odd that 2 such anomalies occurred so close to each other), and that the ones with velvet antlers are fertile. The much less common does with polished antlers are sterile.

In October 2008 we had a nice buck ram into the driver's side of our Outback, $1,900 worth, six days before the start of the firearms deer season. We were headed northwest at 40 on the way to church and the deer was running northeast at 30. Car was drivable so we continued on our way. A local fellow retrieved the deer about 1/4 mile from the road, after getting permission from the proper folks. Six years later on the same road (a mile to the east) I had an adult doe unsuccessfully try to cross in front of me the day after the regular firearms season - -Sunday after T-Day - as I drove home following the evening meeting. The deer pitched into the ditch but got up and ran into the woods. LEO told me to contact a game warden in case I could find the critter and get it tagged. Next morning I easily followed tracks in the snow and found the deer - doe with little forked antlers still with velvet - about 500' off the road. Got at least 90% of the meat I'd expect from an undamaged animal as I had slowed to 15-20 before contact. Expensive deermeat ($1,500+) but tasty. Did not get any opportunity to harvest deer the normal way in either season.

Plus $2 for the "agent", though I paid my $14 electronically. I'll wait if/until I put one on the ground before seeking another. With the huge amount of anydeers for my zone, there may still be unclaimed permits on Thanksgiving (when we plan to be visiting the grandkids in SNJ). Much less haze than yesterday but it's not all gone. Met fall at its best. And my upper 40s guess for today's low was too cool - it was halfway between 50/51.

At 1 PM the tallest dew of hourly-reporting NH sites is 62. Closer to the chicken coop, Laconia's dew is 59.

He'd set the house on fire as he ran out the door. Saw one like it on the basement floor this morning and took care not to step on it. Orb weavers having great fun between the posts holding up the porch. Barely dipped under 50 this morning. The low here on the 1st was 61, 2nd was 51 then 11 straight sub-50 minima. Month precip 0.09", temp running 2.4° BN but that will end during the next 7-10 days.

No clouds here but no blue sky, either, just smoke/haze.

BTV had a modest 2.65" during that period. I did find that Hanover, NH had nearly 3.5" on July 31 that year. Maybe it was a non-regional event, like the storm that flooded Jay, Maine on 6/29/23. They had 4-6" in 2 hours and at least one bridge there hasn't been repaired even now.

Longest traffic jam we've encountered was on the west slope of the Kanc in early October 1990. We hit the stoppage not far below the Hairpin and spent 2 hours to go 7 miles. The first mile took 26 minutes; we played leapfrog with 3 college age ladies on foot, and they weren't walking fast. Fortunately, we were in no hurry, the colors were great, the temp was near 80 and we just put our 5-speed Cavalier in neutral, rolled down the windows and coasted those 7 miles. Once we got past the access road to Loon things cleared up. We think that the jam came about when they closed the peeper lifts.

Here's a suggested route: Head up I-93 to Littleton then head east on US 2; the 'measured mile' straightaway in Randolph offers a wonderful view of the Whites dead ahead, maybe overnight in Gorham. From there take Rt 16 north thru Berlin and the 13-Mile Woods to Errol and continue on 16 into Maine at Wilson's Mills. Maybe scoot down to the Upper Richardson boat launch (less than 1/2 mile) for a view of the hills across the narrow part of the lake. Continue on 16 to Rangeley then do a right-left zig-zag onto Rt 17 - another 5 miles toward Rumford one can stop at the famous overlook on D-Town. There are a couple of turnouts with parking though it tends to draw crowds during leafpeeper season. Maybe stretch your legs at Coos Canyon, a roadside rapids on the Swift River. At Rumford one can go east to Rt 4 then down to the Maine Turnpike, or go west to Bethel (better views) to Rt 26 and south to the Pike. Just watch out for all the peeper-buses. A shorter alternative in Maine is to take Rt 26 at Errol and drive thru Grafton Notch (maybe stop for the short walk to Screw Auger Falls on the State Park), thence thru Bethel toward the Pike. If you are a skier, you could drive up the Sunday River Road (off Rt 2 just east from Bethel) and see if the ski area is blowing out the mice from their snowmaking machinery.

Farther north, over 23 Octobers we've had measurable in 6 (tops: 6.3" in 2000) and 10 with trace(s), leaving 7 flakeless.

Same 38 here. Temp was down to 43 by 11 last evening with as many stars as I've seen since last winter, so it was a bit surprising that the low was only 5° further down. Maybe a 35° diurnal range today?

Estcourt Station, Big Black, etc. Stopped at 40 here, lowest so far. Maybe we finally crack the 30s tonight?

Our lawn looks decent after a mowing and is fine for grandkid play time, though some would be horrified by the clover, crabgrass, etc. component. Pellet gun. That's our medicine for squirrels robbing the bird feeders. Half charge of the Crossman is just enough to sting the critters without even knocking off some hair.

101/79 at NYC, their tallest minimum and mean in Sept, though 9/2/53 (102/77) was their hottest for that month. 0.05" overnight, month has 0.09" and not much in sight for a week-plus. Maybe it will be like Sept 2000 when the 1st 29 days had only 0.15". Would've easily been the driest month I've measured anywhere but a gusty northeast storm dropped 1.14" on the 30th. Lost power for 10 hours, first good test of the new Generac.

Looks like the wolf spiders we see around our place. We have no problems with them unless they're working near the hummingbird feeders (which were taken down for the season today).

Not until Wednesday here, and GYX' 7-day forecast has AN by then, but a +5 mean isn't a real torch.

Finally had a look at the east half of our woodlot - had to await some knee therapy first - to see how that portion had fared in the winds of Dec 18. Saw very little damage and what had tipped was in places we had not entered during the 2013 timber harvest. That operation produced 50 cords of hardwood pulp/firewood and 160 cords of fir (plus 3 spruce trees) and 90% of that fir was cut on the east half - made a difference. Most of the trees lost in the west half were beyond where I had painted trees, as the fir was big but too sparse (3-5 cords/acre) to ask the chopper to extend another thousand feet farther from the log yard. Saw considerable deer sign but neither scrapes or rubs; the latter should be appearing now as it's time to shed velvet.