tamarack

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.

Closer to 75/60 than 85/70 for Sept 5. (According to the CLIMOD site for Chatham)

When we lived in Gardiner, we occasionally saw a "honeydipper" truck with the logo, "We're #1 in the #2 Business". 9 AM and it's still cloudy, an anomaly for the month so far. Jupiter (I think) appeared extra large and extra yellow on the eastern horizon as I walked the dog after Chiefs-Ravens.

Years ago, I helped a friend get that kind of relief, using a piece of steel wire, burning thru by repeated heating (with matches) and twisting. For my 2 hammer-blow nail-smashes, middle finger and later the thumb, I was too wimpy to try such things and lived with the pain.

Nice places to toss the football with your kids. However, one could do that on our "lawn", which is only ~50% turfgrass but green and level. We've lost about 20% of our 1/10-acre lawn, as it's mostly shaded out beneath the 3 apple trees and the 2-foot-tall fir I transplanted 26 years ago is now 40 feet tall with a 20-foot branch spread near the base.

While I worked up north, a young lady from St. Francis was widowed twice by woods accidents. First fellow had worked with me on boundary maintenance my first winter there (1976) then decided that driving a skidder was better than scaling logs for Seven Islands. His low-slung Timberjack got stuck on a big log, and as he tried to wiggle it off it rolled, and he was caught half in/half out when the machine tipped over. A couple years later the chopper who had bought my old Nova for woods commuting had lodged a big cedar in another tree. Rather than using the skidder, he tried cutting the tree that had caught the cedar. Never work under a lodged tree! Today makes 4 sunny days this month, and the one PC day (9/2) had more sun than cloud. 3rd straight morning in the 40s, though more like 48 than the 41/43 on Tues/Wed. The warm forecast for 8-14 looks impressive, but by then our average temp has dropped 9-10 degrees from peak summer.

There used to be a monthly Northern Forest Forum meeting in PQI, attended mostly by foresters and loggers from Maine and NB, occasionally from Quebec. A presentation by one Quebecois showed 'befores' and 'afters' from some grotesque chainsaw injuries. (Fortunately, the 'afters' were repairs rather than burials.) The worst was when a chopper fell onto a large, pointed stump-pull, the wood driving into him under the chin and coming out one cheek. His chum sawed off the spike, which was still in place when the poor fellow got to the hospital. The 'after' was remarkable, with only some discolor on that cheek, and the other dozen or so less spectacular (but awful) wounds, were also healed well. So far, I've never been cut by a running saw, but I've nicked myself when filing a few times since buying a (used) saw in 1977. A chopper from Allagash had an active hawk nest near his wood pile, and as he was climbing onto the pile to merchandise before starting his saw, one of the hawks stooped on him, causing him to drop the saw then fall on it for 17 stitches.

Rat traps, baited with PB. When I worked up north, an old house next to our office trailer was demolished and its rats infested both the trailer and the detached garage, entering the latter by chewing a hole thru the rubber gasket. First trap out there caught 2 at once and we nailed a few more before a short-tailed weasel (in full ermine coat - it was February) took up housekeeping. I brought in all the traps and the 4-footed "trap" ensured that we never saw another rat.

Yesterday's 64/41 was 8° BN, the largest negative departure since April. So far this year, we've had only 2 double-digit negative days, 10° BN on 3/23 in the 22" dump and 11° BN on 1/19 when we hit -12, winter's very modest coldest morning. We've had 36 days of 10+ AN, including 13 of 15+ and a +21 in Feb. Not many daily warmth records (except for minima) but unrelenting lack of cold.

Can be nasty in the shoulder seasons when frozen is not in play, but it's probably given me more snow here than I've lost due to downsloping, and it's great for pack retention.