Category: The Seasons

The storms on Thursday were even worse than Hubby and I could have imagined. When we woke this morning, we heard on the news that our area had been devastated by the torrential rain. We’d gotten 4.2 inches of rain in 35 minutes, so you can imagine the chaos this caused. Maybe you can’t. I certainly had never seen anything quite like this. I hope you will take a moment and watch this video of what the storms did to our community.

As we walked along the broken roads, with our neighbors and fellow towns-people, the smell of tar was everywhere. I could never in my wildest dreams have imagined this. Paved roads, twisted and broken like peanut brittle! There were trees standing there, but their roots were completely exposed and will need to be removed. Many homes will need to be gutted and repaired. I can’t even count the driveways that will need to be rebuilt, and how did we make out?

As you saw in Fridays post we had lost many pieces of fruit. However, when Hubby and I went out and started to carefully examine our crop we found that the 3 hail storms that went through had decimated the fruit that was still on the trees.

Oh, we’ll be able to make apple sauce, and we can make peach and plum jams, but there will be no premium fruit from out trees this year, and that has saddened us.

That’s okay. There is always next year.

You would not believe the storms that went through here on Thursday afternoon and evening. The wind blew with gusts up to 50 miles an hour and 4.2 inches of rain fell in a very short period of time. Our power went out sometime during the first of three hail storms, and has been out ever since.

The really amazing part is. We never lose our electricity. In fact a few years ago when Hubby insisted we purchase a generator, I scoffed at the idea. We have, however used the generator a few times and had lights when no one else has.

Like right now.

We watched with horror as the hail fell and the peach tree that is full of beautiful blushing peaches seemed to bend with the elements. We still don’t know the full extent of the damage and probably won’t until tomorrow.

Honestly this has been one of the wettest, stormiest summers I can recall since I was a teenage on Cape Cod and it rained literally every day, thus killing the tourist business for the entire summer.

Lest you think I am making too much of this I need to tell you that many roads here have been washed away, and I think it will take a lot of time, work and money to get the roads back into passable shape.

So what is forecast for the next week? If you guessed thunderstorms, lightening and lots of rain, then you would be correct.

I was out in my garden today before the storms started and noted that my summer squash and zucchini plants all have root rot from the rain. I may get a few more vegetables off of the vines before they completely die, but it will not be long. I fear the cucumbers are a loss.

Ah, Mother Nature is a fierce woman to deal with! After all, “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”!

**Update**

Here are a few pictures just taken outside in our orchard.

This is our MacIntosh tree. It probably sustained the greatest loss of fruit.

See all the little apples on the ground?

And below is our beautiful peach tree. I couldn’t see any breaks, as we have it heavily supported, and the loss of fruit is low. I just hope that once the fruit ripens and we can take the weight off the branches that it will spring back to life.

I’m a New Englander. I was born here, in Wareham, Massachusetts. I spent the first 20 years of my life in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. When I was in my early 20’s I moved to New Hampshire with my first husband, and lived here until I was in my late 30’s. At that point Hubby and I thought that perhaps Southern Florida would be a nice place to retire, and once we sold our home here, we moved to a beautiful home in Punta Gorda.

We lived there, quite happily for 6 years, until I reached the point of not being able to handle the Florida “seasons”. You see, in Florida it is almost always HOT. Not only that, but the humidity is tropical and that will just kill you.

We had a small yard and I decided that I could mow the lawn and tan at the same time. In order to do this I would wear my bathing suit, a hat, drink a six pack of diet iced tea and top it all off by jumping in our pool to cool off. The mowing took me one hour and was done every 5-8 days.

I also learned during this time that Florida had several other “seasons” which one must learn to handle. Besides the “HOT” season, you have the “Rainy” season. There is also “Fire” season and “Tornado” season and “Hurricane” season.

It got to be that I felt I was constantly fearing one of those “seasons” with little to no break.

This girl needed to come home.

So Hubby and I sold our home and we drove our motor coach up north, built our house and have been here since 1999.

Today we have had tropical humidity, which led to terrible storms. I mean terrible. Just south of here it appears we have had a “Tornado”. Many homes are damaged and there is a report of one fatality.

So I ask, is there really any place that is perfectly safe to live?

I think not.

Perhaps the best one can do is find a place that you love, and enjoy what you do have.

For this New England girl, it’s the mountains and the oceans and the four wonderful seasons known as Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall!

Life is full of beautiful moments, and we never know when they might appear. The best we can do is be prepared at all times with a camera or perhaps a sharp eye, so that the beauty of nature doesn’t just pass us by.

Recently I witnessed two totally beautiful parts of nature. I was also lucky enough to run outside with my camera and take these two pictures to share with you.

The first was taken a few days ago as the sun was setting. I looked outside and noted that we were having a light rain. I grabbed my camera and went to the back door to find this rainbow.

I wish it had come out a bit better, but I think if you click on it and see the larger size picture you will be able to see the rainbow a little better. I felt a lightness and a warmth when I saw it. It made me think of happy times on Cape Cod when I was a child. We had many rainbows there, and not too many up here in New Hampshire where I live now.

The next picture I took last night as the sun was setting. I glanced out the front window, I saw this and grabbed the camera and ran to the front door. I took several pictures, but I liked this one the best. It’s amazing that as quickly as the moment arrived with the vivid colors, they were gone and darkness fell.

Yes, life is beautiful!

We noticed today that the birds had once again discovered the Cherry tree. Each year we watch for them and that is the time that we break out the net and go through the rather difficult task of “netting” the tree.

This year Hubby has a new ladder

and this had been quite a help, although both of us are a bit scratched from the branches of the tree rebelling against our work. But the tree is netted and those pesky birds will just have to do without our cherries, which will be ripe around the 10th of July!

Fritz was out “helping” us.

But it seems he got a little bored after a while.

We did get things done in the yard, although the dachshunds remained inside during this process. You see we lay the netting on the ground, and just imagine what three dachshunds and their little feet would have done to the netting! Fritz has a sort of yard savvy. He knows that he needs to stay clear of certain things, and he sits up there on the hill, under his peach tree.

Eventually Kimmie came over after she got home from school. She watched what we were doing and since she looked so cute in her dress I took her picture.

So now the sun is setting and another day has gone by. Today was a good one. Nice weather, chores accomplished and birds outwitted for another year!

Yes, it is Motorcycle Week here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Motorcycles of every shape and form are roaring the streets of our community. I think this year is not quite as crowded as last year, due to the cost of fuel, and perhaps also the cost of food. Have you noticed how the two have both increased?

Anyway, during Motorcycle Week, I try to stay in and not venture out too much. There is a lot of traffic and you just cannot get the hum of the motorcycles out of your head.

Today while getting the mail I saw the best bike couple yet. Mr. Biker had a dew rag on his head, a gray beard that grew half way down his belly which was sticking out of his pants. He had tattoos that covered his body so I wasn’t quite sure if he had a tan or not. His Biker Babe, was sitting behind him with a tube top on. She had breasts to rival Pamela Anderson, and a belly nearly as big. She had a couple of rather tasteful tattoos on the top of each breast and shoulder. Her hair was bleached white blond, with black roots and she had pale lipstick on and was smoking a cigarette! Oh yeah. They sure made me smile!

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Today was Weight Watcher day and so I HAD to go out, and I HAD to drive the busiest road between two towns. *gasp*

I made the trip there rather uneventfully and had the best news. I lost another 1.8 pounds bringing my total to 40 pounds lost! Needless to say after the meeting I was on cloud nine!

Then I decided to go to the grocery store to get some fresh vegetables. This required me to drive another 10 miles on a very busy road (also under construction) to our market.

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I was driving quite carefully and was caught up in traffic when I noted a box van truck on the other side of the road. Almost before I could think about the space in back of it, some genius on a motor bike raced out in front of my car. I slammed on my brakes and pulled over into the brake-down lane. I missed him!

Just as I let out a sigh of relief, he turned and flipped me the bird! I wanted to run after him. I wanted to remind him that when a motorcycle goes up against a car, the bike usually loses. I wanted to tell him that life is precious, but he was gone in a flash.

I was shaken, but continued on my journey and actually got all my shopping done. Despite the influx of tourists into our area, it seems none of them were shopping today.

I got home, put the food away and then, finally took a long, deep breath.

I’m not going anywhere now until Sunday. Hopefully by then the crazy ones will have departed.

I was tagged by Miss Fabulous, regarding the top ten things I am looking forward to this summer. I will tag anyone who wishes to join with us in the happy anticipation of warm weather and sunny skies.

Here, is my list.

1. Swimming! In our Puppy Pool.

2. Swimming in our lake.

3. Grilling our meat, chicken and fish.

4. Playing with the dogs in the yard.

5. Gardening.

6. Canning the things that we grow.

7. Hiking.

8. Playing in the rain.

9. Beautiful Sunsets.

10. Cookout Parties.

And what are you looking forward to this summer? Whatever it may be, I hope you enjoy your summer as much as we hope to enjoy ours!

It was 95 degrees here today and humid as well. So, we brought out the “puppy pool”! We filled it up and we all hopped in and cooled off. Not much got done, but we sure had a good time playing in the yard and in the pool!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com