On Wednesday January 10, 2018 we traveled to Lincoln NH to visit the Ice Castles with M.J. McCauley. We left just before noon and got lunch on the fly at a little diner that Mark likes.  We started with delicious onion rings! (Similar to the Howard Johnson’s rings) and M.J. and I got the beer battered haddock. After lunch we drove to the chalet at Mitersill in Franconia Notch. We unpacked the car and got settled in. Then at 4:30 we drove back down to Lincoln for our five o’clock entry time at the ice castle. This was just after sunset. The weather was chilly but not as brutally cold as it has been.

We bought our tickets online and they have staggered start times so it doesn’t get too crowded inside the ice castle. We were lucky and went on a school night so it wasn’t too crowded. There were a surprising number of things to do and see inside so we all thought it was a worthwhile experience. The music and changing light colors were fun.

Ice Blocks

Ice

Fountain

Throne of the Ice King (cold bottom)

Troll Cave

Some Rooms had Ceilings and Some Didn’t

After we finished at the ice castles we went to the Common Man in Lincoln for dinner and went back to relax at the chalet.The next morning we had pancakes for breakfast with coffee from Costa Rica. After breakfast we went shopping in Littleton. We stopped at Chutters for licorice for Mark, a bookstore, quilt shop and the league of New Hampshire Crafts store. We got a delicious Thai lunch and antiqued in Littleton and Northwood on our way home. It was a very pleasant day and a half and good to get away.

For those that need to know, this is what three pounds of assorted licorice looks like:

Mark and Wink

 

There is no easy way to do this post. Meg and I have a contest to see who can get the best bird picture. The only criteria we have is you have to be able to count the tines on the feathers. So gentle reader your vote is important and only votes for Mark count. This is the bigliest contest and I have my best people werkin on it. Vote once and vote often………….

Mockingbird

Bluejays

Squirrel

Finch

Cardinal

Junko

Bluejay

Female Cardinal

Bluejay

Dove

Junko

Cardinal

Male Cardinal

We had a lot of fun taking pictures of these birds.

I have a Christmas blog to do and then back track to more vacation blogs.

Most of these pictures are Megs.

Meg, Mark and Wink

NEHiN

 

 

 

Why does ‘Nuttin Evah Happen in NewmaHket?’ It takes three things to provide a suitable wildlife HABITAT: Food, Water and Cover. This is our Winter Habitat. The birds and animals in our yard are a delight.

FOOD

We provide supplemental feed via our bird feeders but there is also substantial natural food available for the wildlife. We have supplemented it by planting berry bushes and trees. Also our main back yard is planted in pasture mix.

VIDEO HERE

Female Cardinal

Bluejay

We maintain  bird feeders at one end of the hummingbird and butterfly garden. Sometimes it is a chore to fill the feeders.

Bird Feeders

Woodpecker

VIDEO HERE

We looked on the internet on how to feed crows. The internet suggested putting down dog food so we started using puppy food for small dogs. The crows are a little timid but come around. We see the crows almost every day now but the bluejays and English starlings also like the dog food so the crows don’t always get it.

Unfortunately the seagulls also like the dog food and will mob the scene.

Seagulls

VIDEO HERE

Looking for a meal

WATER

There is a natural fresh water spring in our lower yard. The snow consistently melts in that area and the wildlife take advantage of it.

VIDEO HERE

We also maintain a heated bird bath on the lower porch for the birds. The squirrels take advantage of it as well.

Mockingbird on Heated Bird Bath

VIDEO HERE

VIDEO HERE

 

 

HABITAT

The yard is four and a half acres with over two hundred feet of waterfront on Great Bay, an inland estuary draining into the Atlantic Ocean. We get tides that can be eight and a half feet high. When the tide is out a mud flat is exposed on our beach front.

Estuary

There are lines of trees bordering the lot on the East and West and to the North as well. There is supplemental cover near the shore and a pasture area.

Hanging in the Alder Bush

Cover in the Trees on the West Side

So you can see why {Y} it is natural for NEHiN. Unfortunately for me, Meg says if I do a winter habitat blog I have to follow it with a spring summer and fall blog.

All for now…..

Mark, Wink and Meg

 

 

 

 

We went on a fall cruise from Venice, Italy to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2017. Our first stop was in Sarande, Albania where we elected to go on a bird watching tour. Our guide was Taulant Bino who has a PhD in Ornithology and is a lecturer in Ecology at the University. He kept a log of all the birds we saw and it is at the end of this blog. He could identify the birds by their calls.

We disembarked the cruise ship in Sarande about twenty kilometers north of Butrinti. It is a world heritage archaeology site with a series of ruins, Greek, Roman and Venetian. On the Google map below is a nature preserve shown in green. Our first stop was along the shore of the main lake. There were a series of aquaculture stations raising oysters and fish. Then we took a ferry to the South end of the park and walked out to the shore. We then went to a marshy area and finally to the archaeological site. We finished the day with a snack and a cold beverage.

Aquaculture

Little Egret catching a fish

We only spent a short time on the lake front and we moved on to the canal. The land on the far side of the canal is drained and used for agriculture most of the year. During bird migration season it is allowed to flood to provide habitat for the birds.

We took a quaint ferry across the canal and walked to the shore along the canal.

Wheatear

There were cattle grazing on the drained fields.

Cattle

There were a lot of people either fishing or gathering bait to fish. The bait were small sand shrimp that lived in the mud along the side of the canal. They either fished with fishing poles or hand lines. I did not see a fish caught.

Fishing Bait

Common Sandpiper

Cormorant

Stonechat

Spoonbills

So we walked down to the shore and there were many birds there.

Great White Egret Catching a Fish

Shore Birds

Grasshopper and Butterfly

We left the shore and went to a swampy area.

Swampy Area

Spider Webs

Dragonfly

After the swamp we went to the archaeological site. The earliest ruins were Greek, followed by Roman followed by Venetian.

 

Greek Theatre

Roman Additions (Note aqueduct and town on other side)

Current Inhabitants

Yellow Wagtail

Eurasian Robin

Venetian Cathedral

Grey Heron

It was a very successful day bird watching. Taulant Bino was an excellent guide. He was most knowledgeable.

Table of Bird Sightings

More later.

Mark, Wink and Meg

 

 

Well nuttin continues to happen in NewMahket. We are enjoying our quiet bucolic existence. We sit around and just enjoy the sunsets and the weather.

The birds and animals still chill in our yard.

We have multiple bird feeders in the yard. The cover for the small birds is the Tupelo tree which had a tough year and lost several branches in a wind storm. The tree doesn’t offer as much cover as it used too and we have opportunists willing to take advantage of it.

Hawk (red tailed)

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Yesterday we got our first snow of the winter. My guess is it was about six inches. There was a story left in the tracks in the snow. It showed that there were multiple deer passing through the yard and a fox left tracks at the bird feeders. The little birds were hungry and so were the bigger birds.

Eagle on the Point

So it can be hazardous to be a small animal on our yard.

This snow may actually last until Christmas. We are expecting another one to three inches later this week and then a big cool down. We’ll wait and see as NEHIN.

 

Mark and Wink

 

I haven’t posted in awhile, partly lazy and partly preoccupied. We went on another trip, this time for thirty days starting in Venice. We flew to Venice and spent five days in an Airbnb and then got on a twenty five day cruise on Holland America’s Westerdam. The cruise departed Venice and sailed through the Peloponnese Islands, then to Western Italy and Spain terminating in Fort Lauderdale USA. Unfortunately my father died just as we arrived in Italy. It turned out that I missed his funeral because they needed to do an autopsy and there was uncertainty to the timing of the funeral.  Then I got a bad cold on the travel home and only started feeling better around Thanksgiving.

It has been so long since I posted that I have almost forgotten how to do it. I plan to ease back into the blogging starting with the pictures we’ve taken since we got home. Then I hope to do a few travel blogs. So here goes: Nuttin Evah Happens in NewMahket!

Doe a Deer

We saw the first buck we’ve seen in awhile chasing our does but I wasn’t quick enough to get his picture. He was somewhere around a six or eight point.

The cedar waxing wings have passed through on their way south.

Cedar Waxingwings

We are getting the winter birds visiting the feeders. I saw a mockingbird a twice but no pictures 😦 .

Dove, Bluejay and Cardinal

We currently have a flock of English Starlings with a few Red Winged Blackbirds migrating through. My guess is that there are several hundred of them. It is kind of fun to watch. We were putting the gardens to bed yesterday and they were swarming around us. And yes we missed October and November so it is a little late to be putting the gardens to bed but the weather has been nice for it.

English Starlings

They stock pheasants on farms here for hunting season. Every now and the one shows up in our yard. Safe from hunters but lots of predators.

Peasant

We have a little bit of a mystery as last night some critter dragged something up to the heated bird bath causing it to drain. Mark suspects it was probably a raccoon washing its food.

Bird Bath

Wink’s amaryllis bloomed which brightened our day.

Wink’s Amaryllis

Today didn’t start too well either. For some reason the furnace quit working and we woke up to a cold house. We have some small in wall heat exchangers and we have them working overtime to warm the house up. Fortunately it is sunny out so that helps warm the house. Just as a bonus the kitchen clock also stopped working.

Next blog: Bird Watching in Sarrande, Albania.

Mark and Wink

 

 

NEHIN! It has been quiet around here. The house work is finally done. The yard work is under control. So nothing new to report. The deer, turkeys and skunks have been regulars in our yard…

Turkeys and Deer

I took some video of the deer grooming.  VIDEO HERE!

The skunks have been around as well.

Skunks

So we continue to muddle along.

Mark and Wink

Since NEHIN, we thought we would take a break and go to the annual League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair. We attend regularly but missed the fair last year due to travel. There are demos, live music and all sorts of juried crafts. It was a busy day for us. There were also fun things for the kids to do.

Craft Fair

Painting Demo

Sculpture

Blacksmithing

Kids Activities

Woodworking

Raku Pottery

Carpentry

Glass Blowing

Wink ordered a hand rail for our front steps from a blacksmith and Mark fell in love with a flying heron weather-vane. Wink also got a  glass vase and some earrings. All in all, a day well spent.

Meanwhile:

NEHIN

Nuttin continued to happen in NewMahket and I have pictures to prove it.

Great White Egret

Great Blue Heron

You can compare the sizes as we saw all three birds together.

Another day in Newmarket.

Mark and Wink

 

“Nuttin Evah Happens in NewMahket,” this is my mantra. Next thing you know I have another hundred pictures to sort through.

We have been seeing three Great Egrets recently. They seem to migrate through here and this seems a little early but we would have to look through the pictures to verify but I am too lazy.

Great Egrets

We no sooner get the gardens cleaned up when we get some unwanted help gardening.

Squirrel Eating Flowers

Groundhog

Skunk

Deer (beauties)

We visited a heron rookery on our way home from the farmers market yesterday and stopped to take a few pictures. I think we will revisit the rookery later in the day in  hopes of seeing more birds.

Heron Rookery

We are seeing a hint of fall already even though there are still almost two months of summer left.

Hints of Fall

Our entry way continues to evolve…

Welcome to the Moeller’s-the home of the dreamer and the curmudgeon?!

On Sunday we continued our culinary adventures at the Farm Bar and Grille in Dover NH. They had good food and live music. We enjoyed ourselves and brought a friend.

Seafood for Mark and friend and Pulled Pork for Wink

NEHIN

Mark and Wink

We have had a busy first week in August in NewMahket where nuttin evah happens. After a hectic spring and getting caught up in July, we finally got around to mulching our gardens. It took two truckloads of mulch and a crew of seven. The yard looks in good shape now. I managed to find some poison ivy I didn’t see when we were clearing one of the gardens. Oh bother!

Gardens

Unfortunately the gardens were not the only things needing attention. One of the draw backs in living near the ocean is wood rot.

Wood Rot

The bird channel has helped cheer us up and keep us entertained.

Woodpecker

Juvenile Red Bellied Woodpecker

Monarch Butterfly

Turkeys

Fawn

Eating Mark’s Apples

Our anniversary number thirty six was August 1st and we walked into town for breakfast and grilled a steak for dinner.

And August isn’t even a week old yet!

Mark and Wink

NSFW – Cybil Costume Change

Cybil