The Plowmen by Robert Frost

A plow, they say, to plow the snow.
They cannot mean to plant it, no--
Unless in bitterness to mock
At having cultivated rock.

Frost Heaves

Frost heaves are not a symptom of intestinal illness afflicting snowmen. They are a seasonal affliction on the suspension of our cars, and the bane of town road agents everywhere in NH. Moisture gathers under the pavement, freezes, thaws, refreezes and so on. It buckles the pavement, creates sinkholes, forces gaping cracks and just generally makes a tame country lane into a safari adventure, but without the elephants or the mosquitos. They come later. The mosquitos. Not the elephants.

I had my first major run in with frost heaves this year on my way to pick up something from a friend this evening. Loudon road between Pittsfield Rt 28 and Loudon Rt 129 was something else. I couldn't run the car much over 25 mph without endangering the car or my daughter riding in the back. I told her to buckle her seat belt, as we would be experiencing some turbulence. She said, "I'm already buckled in Dad." The joke was lost on her. It was just as well. I had to clench my teeth to keep them from clattering. It made it hard to laugh.

It's March. It's only going to get worse. By late April or May things will have smoothed out a bit. I love NH.

The photo was borrowed from a blog I found of someone who likes to take pictures of NH. Feel free to visit. She has some nice things.

Animalia

I was meeting with some friends yesterday in a place with some big big plate glass windows. We were all very surprised by a loud crash when a fairly sizable bird smashed with a fairly sizable amount of force directly into the window. The bird died shortly thereafter. As best we can tell, it's a Cooper's Hawk. What a beautiful bird! It's now stored in our freezer while we try to find someone who might like to preserve it thru taxidermy. Museums, audobon society or maybe just some taxidermist who needs a bird to work on.
Last week I had to stop to let a beaver cross the road. This one survived...barely. He seemed to be in no big hurry, but then I'm not sure he really could go any faster. Nevertheless, if several generations of beavers are going to go about crossing Route 4 on a regular basis, I sure hope natural selection works quickly to help them develop adaptations that will increase their survival rate. The "waddle along and lets hope their headlights pick up my silhouette in time to stop" strategy seems to me to have some real shortcomings. I had not realized the beavers are so big. This boy was easily a yard long from nose to tail.
Our pet skunk has been at it again. He live under our shed. He comes around at night and digs holes in the yard looking for grubs and whatnot and if we leave the trashcans unsecured, he is pretty good at helping himself. It's no big deal but we have to be a little careful about stepping onto the deck after dark in the summer. Don't really wanna surprise that critter. So now we're going to be getting a dog in the next few months. I'm not sure how to train that pup to avoid the skunk. I'm thinking the skunk is gonna have to move, but I'm not quite sure how to go about it.
I have not had to stop for a moose yet this year, although I did last year.