- Hurricane Sandy came and went without any harm to our little town. We lost power for about 6 hours on that Monday (the day NYC was hit really hard) and there were high winds and rain, but really, that was it. It was almost as if Wilmington and NYC swapped places from last year during Irene. Here, it was stormy but we were safe. In New York, things are as they were here last year, but there are many, many more restaurants, stores, and people that are displaced. Hopefully one year from now everyone will be back on their feet the way that (for the most part) everyone here in little Wilmington is.
- I drove to Keene, NH yesterday (not that far away - about a 45-60 minute drive) to do some shopping, and while I was there, snow started to flurry on the road. It was gray, rainy, and gross. I can't recall if this is the first snow of the year or not, which to me is insane. Every other year, there has been a magical "Ah! Snow!" moment in my life. This year, it seemed as though one minute it was fall, and the next minute it was slushy, gray, cold, and snowing. Don't get me wrong - winter here is beautiful, usually. But there was something about it yesterday that made me feel very... snuck up upon.
- Wow! All I talk about is the weather!
- Garret and I were jogging in the woods two days ago when I saw a large figure ahead on the path. I stopped and squinted, wondering if my eyes were playing a trick on me. Then it moved. It was indeed a MOOSE! A giant, giant, giant moose. I gasped and it ran away. It was very cool to see, but they are not the friendliest of giant creatures, so I'd rather not have another face to face encounter with them.
This was my first real encounter with "big nature" on the ground. Sure, we've had a lot of dramatics with bears over the past couple of months, but my viewings of them were always from our second floor balcony. This moose was on my path. Kind of scary, and a good reminder not to just run into the woods by myself all the time (as I am wont to do).
- Garret thinks that the moose sighting completes our list of all of the weird wildlife we could see here. We have so far seen stray:
- Turkeys
- Chickens
- Pheasants (? Maybe? Big Seuss-like bird)
- Geese (who hasn't, though, but...)
- Deer
- Salamanders
- Mice
- Chipmunks (woah! slow down, exotic!)
- Bears
- Moose
- FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!! Four colly birds three french hens two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree...
WAIT! But did you know that that lyric is "four colly birds"? I just learned it while googling the lyrics for accuracy. Oh my. I have been saying "Four calling birds" my entire life. Embarrassing!
In case you are headed to Wikipedia to find out what that means the way I just did, here's a colly bird! When you click on it from the song lyrics, it brings you to the "common blackbird" entry.
In other news: Happy Birthday Garret!
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UPDATE: The jury is out on that colly/calling thing. Some sites say colly, some say calling.
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