Lucked out. Made my day. But, I made some of that luck myself. I was driving past the lake ~2:25pm today when I saw two large, distinctively colored birds perched on the ice. Kind of had a hunch that they might be eagles. So, I TURNED AROUND, came back, parked across the road & walked over.
One the eagles took off when it saw me approaching — though I was a good 400 yards away (or thereabouts). The other one stayed, oblivious.
I have seen bald eagles before, in N.H., Maine & Arizona. But, it is always a TREAT. I was happy. Glad I turned around.
This is just a PORTION of a deer. One leg and a bit. NOT what is left from a roadkill. Definitely looks like what was LEFT after the rest was ripped and EATEN. Maybe coyotes and we have coyotes and foxes.
I first saw these remains 3 days ago. It was fresh then, with a tinge of blood and no snow. But, I couldn’t take a picture that day because it was raining cats & dogs and I was trying to keep my phone dry.
I didn’t go past there yesterday. I did NOT expect to see the remains there today. Caught me by surprise. WOW.
Well I wanted to share with you. Keeping fingers crossed. The deer we rescued was very weak.
I try to swing by the beach MOST DAYS — year-round. Today was no exception. Swinging by the beach is part of my morning 4-mile, 2-hour, leisurely amble. Today, for a rare change, I didn’t have the dogs. They had walked 2 miles & I had taken them away. I was on my own.
As I approached the beach I could see this ‘black’ blog on the lake. Too big for a loon. My phone/camera has an AWESOME ZOOM. (Smile). It was a deer.
I have never had luck trying to call N.H. ‘Fish & Game’. So, I called 911 & asked for Alton Fire — & specified it was not an emergency. They were very nice.
Then I went back to the road to guide the fire trucks. While waiting I saw an ‘Alton DPW’ truck, with two of my ‘friends’, driving by. Flagged them down. ALL THREE ENTRANCES to the beach were chained off. So, they walked … Then a Green ‘Barnstead’ fire truck appeared. They had heard the call PLUS had someone from Barnstead call it in too.
I explained about the chains. Said I thought one of the chains had an ‘Emergency’ padlock. They didn’t have keys for such locks. So, they just cut one of the chains. I was impressed.
Alton Fire came in force. They launched their Airboat from the boat launch on Rte 28, on the other side of the Lake. Rest is history & you can see the pictures.
We thought the deer had broken its front legs. Not so. They had to use a noose, on a stick, to eventually to ‘drag’ it to the beach. We feared the worst.
I was LUCKY enough to get a call that said “Go outside & look at the Sun“. I am grateful.
No sunset, per se, to speak of (i.e., no red/orange skies). JUST this GLOWING BALL OF RED.
Yes, must be the smoke from the wildfires in Canada. I had also heard, earlier, that it had been hazy. I had not noticed that during my two-hours of ambling this morning.
It sure rained a lot today, but until we saw the news at 6pm we had not realized that we, in ‘Alton‘, N.H., had got 5″ of rain. It really did bucket down. Wow. A part of one of our major roads, Route 140, was washed away. Check this TV report.
Though I had walked by the beach this morning (below), in the pouring rain, I hadn’t gone to the beach itself. I was trying to stay as much as I could under tree cover to get some shelter. I then heard the beach was flooded. I had to go see. I did. Pretty spectacular. Yes, the water will recede.
I for one do remember another Summer of HIGH LAKE WATER such as this. 1998. This is approaching that. In 1998 we had ‘NO WAKE’ on all the New Hampshire lakes even on July 4. Boaters were not happy. I don’t think we have got to that point yet — though we have to be close.
Well, I walked for 1 hour 45 minutes in that rain. I did. I did. Here is proof. I was soaked!
It felt like it was the best fireworks in many years — better than last year. But, your memory plays tricks when it comes to fireworks. All said, it was satisfying — & that is what counts in the end.
Definitely MORE people than last year. That was palpable. But, it wasn’t packed & the traffic was light. I got my accustomed spot, on the bridge, dead in front of where the fireworks go off, at 8:55pm, without any problem. To be fair there wasn’t that many people on the bridge.
The weather was PERFECT. No rain, not even clouds. It was a spectacular evening. We really lucked out.
The fireworks started, BANG, at 9:20 (per schedule) & finished at 9:38. 18-minutes. 2 minutes shorter than last year.
We had more FOUNTAIN like displays & the crowd loved it. See images above.
But, for the fountain displays it was very much your typical Alton July 3rd firework show. We are used to it. We know what to expect. Nothing too spectacular, just an average, ‘low budget’ production. Also to be fair, Alton’s MAIN firework display is reserved for August for ‘Old Home Day‘.
It was the accustomed staccato, boom … pause … bang … pause … boom … pause, display culminating in short, climatic finale which this year was a tad shorter than usual. However, people loved it. It was much appreciated.
It was good. I am glad I went.
Thank YOU Alton (though, as a taxpayer, I did my bit to pay for it).
Saw it, around 10:25pm on the way back from the ‘Alton‘, July 3, fireworks.
It was spectacular. Had to stop the car to take some pictures.
Then, further down, I had to go past ‘Merrymeeting River‘. Even before I got to it I could tell that the view of the moon had to be ultra special. There were about 3 vehicles stopped. They too were taking pictures. I stopped too, but unlike the others I pulled off the road. Enjoy.
Though I had to attend a ‘Laconia Rotary‘ meeting I made it a point to make a quick detour to see if it, i.e., the poor, lost, baby turkey, was still around. It was. I was happy & relieved.
It had NOT eaten any of the bird seed I had gone out & put last night. But, that is OK — as long as it is fine. I will continue to check on it daily.
