JLfromNH

Return of the robins

Well, here it is, nearly the end of June, and I have been engaged with a persistent nester-wannabe in the form of a robin. In spring of last year, I spent some time discouraging a robin attempting to build its nest on the motor of my garage-door opener. After some blocking tactics, the robin finally gave up and I was safe for the summer.

Well, once again this past May, nest building commenced once again on the door-opener motor (the same one since it’s a two-car garage). Since all robins look alike to me (forgive me for being prejudiced) there was no way to tell if it was the same bird or not. Robins only mate for the summer, then break up once breeding season is over. Interestingly, it is the female only who engages in nest building. I assume the male stands by and tries to give directions and maybe provides nesting material. But I suspect it was the same bird as last year.

I used the same strategy as last year and activity ceased, or so I thought. A few weeks ago, the garage-door motor in that part of the garage began malfunctioning, so I called the garage-door repair service people. A nice young man showed up, who was thorough and seemed to know his stuff. He cleaned out some remaining debris from the motor, checked its connections but could see no issues. The problem turned out to be the button on the wall which I use to open the door. It apparently had a short, so he replaced it and all was well.

It wasn’t until a day later, when I had left the door open for a while during the afternoon, that I discovered nesting activity had resumed with a vengeance.

In a startling short space of time, the robin had returned and resumed building, I’m guessing at warp speed, for after chasing it off, I swept the above large ball of grass off the motor. It was already well shaped and ready for the mud addition for the interior. Talk about persistent! I would have thought that the robins would have already been involved with a nest they built somewhere else, but I suspect there was a nesting failure, so they were starting over. And of course there was this ideal spot they already knew of!

So I’m back to keeping the garage doors closed until such time as I think it may be safe. I hope.

Have a happy and safe July!

May Flowers, courtesy of April Showers

Now past Memorial Day, I look back on how spring has been progressing in my neck of the northern New Hampshire woods. As usual, my personal obsession is with the flowers I see appearing. Along with a generous amount of dandelions, strawberry flowers, Canadian mayflowers and both violet and white violas have burst out of the front lawn. The back lawn has a glorious cluster of forget-me-nots, mostly blue but with a few white and pink ones sprinkled in. It gives me a good excuse for holding off on mowing the lawn.

Wildflowers appear in the patches of woods in my neighborhood.

I spotted this lovely patch of wood anemones just a short ways up the road from where I live.

Star flowers, Canadian Mayflowers, bunch berry and a solitary pink lady slipper have bloomed in the wood behind my home. The single flower of the lady slipper was a pleasant surprise as the plant had not put any blossoms for at least three years, something I attributed to the prolonged dry spell we had been having in northern New England. But the generous rains of last year must have given it a boost.

While technically a wild flower, I managed to convince a few trout lilies to grow alongside the foundation. Their yellow flowers, bowing their heads towards the ground, put on a quiet but pretty display along with large lavish green leaves.

Flowering bushes decorate many lawns around the neighborhood. Along with the forsythia and azaleas, there are flowering crab trees which seem to be putting on an extra lush display this spring.

But of course my all time favorite is the fragrant purple lilac bushes. Their wonderful odor conveys the essence of springtime as nothing else does for me.

This bush is popular enough so that the nearby town of Lisbon, New Hampshire has a Lilac Festival every Memorial Day weekend, rain or shine.

Now on to June! Happy springtime to all.

April Showers

Been under the weather the past week or so. Don’t have too much to write about but I do have some pictures.

Bright yellow jonquils are making a nice showing this spring. Rains have been adequate and the flowers obviously approve.

day lilies growing near foundation of house

By the south facing foundation are growing my mother’s daylilies. I have no idea what variety they are but they are an attractive orange when in full bloom. The warmth of the house foundation often starts them early, poking up through the mulch as early as February though they wait until it gets really warm before they really get going.

The patch of day lilies in the center of the above photo are actually growing out onto the lawn and will need to be dug up. The trick is to find a spot on the front bank where I can place them, as I have already done this several times with previous ‘escapes’.

It’s raining again today with thundershowers. Here’s hoping April showers bring more May flowers.

Happy May!

Spring Equinox Tidbits

Well, last month the main topic was the abnormally warm weather we’ve had this past winter. That continued to be the case right through March up to and a bit past the Spring Equinox. Then this past Saturday, winter decided to take one last whack at us. Beginning early in the morning, a fine snow began falling at a great clip, rapidly accumulating. Weather forecasters had already put out the winter storm warning so I was stocked up grocery-wise in case I was snowed in. There had been a snow-fall several days before of about four inches.

By the time the snow had tapered off Sunday morning, there was sixteen inches of fresh snow on the ground on top of what we already had. Some places got as much as two feet. In all, I think we got more snow the first week of spring than fell all winter. Global wierding indeed.

Robins must listen to the weather forecast as they showed up in the front yard, the day before the storm, filling themselves up on berries from my two hawthorn trees, dislodging some cedar waxwings which had begun to feed.

The robins still had their winter plumage, which consists a large white patch at the base of their tails, spreading up to their abdomens, giving them the look of wearing their long undies. Being larger than the waxwings, they dominated the trees, though a few pine siskins and a house finch managed to sneak in a few bites.

Several weeks prior to this, I saw several small flocks of geese migrating overhead on their way back north. Thanks to the mild winter, there is open water for them to land on when they stop to rest. Lake Winnipesauki had ice-out declared on March 17, beating the old record of March 18 set back in 2016. Never mind what the calendar says, spring seems to be coming earlier every year. To add to the wierdness, Easter falls on the last day of the month with April Fools Day coming the very next day.

Now the weather has warmed above freezing again, melting away the snow. It should be mostly gone by Easter, just over a week after it dumped on us. A solar eclipse will be happening on April 8, but given how mercurial the weather is here, it may be cloudy when it happens. What next?

Well, here’s to hoping April won’t be too crazy. Have a happy Easter.

That Time Of Year Again

With March beginning near the end of this week, has come the time when I begin deciding what to plant. Seed catalogs usually begin arriving around Thanksgiving but continue on through the winter. It’s fun to look at them but I really can’t get into the mood for planting until the days have grown noticeably longer and the weather begins to warm.

This past winter has been light on snow and mild (relatively speaking) in temperature. Decades ago it was routine to see below zero Fahrenheit temperatures often days at a time. Cold snaps of this sort could be counted on to show up at least twice, if not more, at some point during the winter, usually in January or February.

Thermometer showing below zero Fahrenheit

Not this winter. While it came close to zero degrees Fahrenheit several times, the sub-zero temperatures have been strangely absent. For northern New Hampshire this is beyond unusual. Officially we’re at Zone 4b on the USDA hardiness zone map as it currently exists. But unless we get some seriously frigid temperatures over the next two or three weeks, this winter’s temperatures have suddenly bumped my area up to a zone 6. This may just be an unusual winter but it makes it hard to plan when to plant and what conditions I am likely to expect. That’s always hard anyways but these wild oscillations really play havoc with any gardening plans.

Still, I’ll go with the old standbys which I like, such as potatoes, peas and carrots. Those tend to be pretty reliable. I’ve bought Swiss Chard seeds, something I’ve always had difficulty growing, but hope springs eternal. Light snow this winter may very well mean a dry summer, so the drip hose will be coming out, especially if I plant potatoes and carrots as well as wax beans, another favorite.

I also bought a seed packet of Pinwheel Marigolds this past week and got a good laugh when I read the back of the packet.

If they grow the way it says, I will have to call my brother over with his chainsaw to cut a few blossoms for me. Not sure what I’ll do for the vase.

Have a happy Saint Patrick’s Day and a productive March.

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