Time to get outside! I woke up (still in White River Junction) at 0515 and worked on uploading my photos to Shutterfly. It was snowing lightly. At 0645, I went to breakfast in the lobby and then packed up for my day outside. I drove across the Connecticut River and went to Men of St. Joseph at Sacred Heart (0815 to 0915), Next, I made my way to my condo to pick up some items. After that, I set out from home to complete my three planned hours of Backyard Winter Bird Survey for NH Audubon. They asked volunteers to look for different types of birds in their backyards on February 11 and 12 - when I signed up a few weeks ago I thought I only needed to stay home all day to record my sightings. However, since I was recently displaced from my condo, I had to get creative. My first stop was at the Greensboro Ridge Natural Area, where I walked the trails (also checking them for downed trees as part of my volunteer position with Hanover Conservancy) between 0930 and 1030. The temps were in the high 30s. Before the water leak incident derailed most of my plans, I’d thought about attending a wine tasting event at Farm-Way in Bradford (VT); I decided to stop by during a break from other “outdoor Saturday” activities and head up there (via I-91). I arrived at around 1145 and located the special table the Montview Vineyard had set up - they had several selections of their unique offerings from which to choose. My favorite was their Vermont Sangria because of the maple syrup infusion. In fact, it was so good that we are probably going to this Vineyard If you come to visit me! I bought a bottle to take home and then walked around inside Farm-Way for a little bit. Back in the car (1300), I ate lunch I'd packed (snacks) in the car and talked to Mollie on the phone. Following VT/NH-25, I crossed back into New Hampshire and used NH-10 and River Road (Orford) to reach the Edgell Covered Bridge (Lyme), where I hoped to be able to observe more birds. I ended up spending an hour there (1330 to 1430) and saw lots of interesting birds. To identify them, I had to constantly consult the internet (sounds, pictures, descriptions of habitats). Still, many of them looked familiar from the time when I was very young and my mother loved Birding. It was clear and cool and I didn't see any other people. Afterwards, I drove south to Hanover and spent more time bird watching at my condo (1445 to 1545). After logging three hours, I felt pretty good about how the Backyard Bird Survey was going! Next, I headed south to Lebanon and attended Mass (1600). Afterwards, I went to Shaw's in West Lebanon to get another one of their great free items. Finally, I drove back to White River Junction and ended my day at the Holiday Inn Express. Before forgetting about it, I went online and recorded my volunteer time for Hanover Conservancy. I ate dinner in the room (1830). For the rest of the evening, I read books and watched movies until bed time (2300). What a great day outside!
