November in Vermont

Below are excerpts from Ellen’s journal. She has kept her Walden Hill Journal going since we moved from Illinois. We hope you enjoy reading them for a vicarious experience of Vermont.

Nov. 1, 2006 We’re starting off November with the welcomed warmth of the sun. Early morning rays beam through the clouds as a small vee of geese fly north (?) across the CT River Valley. It’s a relatively mild 41° morning. A high of 50° yesterday, melted down most of the snow with only small patches remaining. We ate some delicious, sweet chard, harvested in the snow. We’ll probably have one more supper from the garden chard unless it finally succumbs to one frost too many. For now, the colder weather has broken down its toughness and brought out the sugar and milder flavor of the chard. I still need to harvest the kale which is much more frost hardy. One great advantage of waiting for a hard frost is that those well camouflaged tiny green worms have died and fallen off the chard and kale.

Nov. 10, 2006 I returned from FL yesterday after a pleasant week with mom and my sisters, celebrating mom’s 85th birthday. My nature highlight was a trip to the Okaheelee Nature Center for a close up look at 3 owls and a red shouldered hawk. These birds of prey have either been injured or raised as pets originally so cannot survive in the wild. A great horned owl, barred owl and very melodious screech owl were out to be observed. The screech owl certainly did not live up to his name but serenaded us with a petite rather pleasant warble. The great horned owl, however, made quite a ruckus. He evidently is one of the birds that has imprinted on humans, much to the detriment of his disposition. Meanwhile back home, I was pleasantly greeted by a balmy 50° day. Today was a bit cooler but sunny so we completed some more outdoor chores. Jeff emptied the bird houses and brought out a very elaborate nest with lots of feathers woven in. I’m just relieved that the town listers don’t take bird houses into account in our overall assessment. Not only do the houses have a spectacular “bird’s-eye” view but the construction of this particular nest was top quality. We ended our work outside just as the sun quickly dropped below the horizon, highlighting the poplars in a warm, orange glow.

Nov. 16, 2006 Mild, wet weather continues. Highs have risen well into the 50’s with 40’s during the night. It may not feel like November but it sure looks like the dreary, dark month that is November’s claim to fame. Nightfall comes early and quickly. We were helping Tom saw up a large chunk of maple that a pileated woodpecker had weakened and succumbed to a summer gust of wind. The rounds are stacked to season over the winter. We started around 3:30 but soon found ourselves finishing in the dark. A very enthusiastic, high wailing coyote chorus reminded us that it was time to head in and leave the woods to the nocturnal prowlers.

Nov. 17, 2006 High, gusty winds and driving rain last night provided a good test for our new chimney cap. So far, it looks like we’re staying dry. It’s already 57° this morning after a low of only 48° and a high of 61°. There’s just a tiny patch of blue but otherwise, thick clouds prevail. We seem to have an over abundance of very pesky cluster flies this year. Tobey the cat is eating her usual share of them but just can’t seem to keep up with the large supply. Jeff has taken to keeping a fly swatter handy in the computer room. It’s one of the warmest rooms in the house and attracts the large buzzing flies which lethargically drop into one’s hair, tea cup or in Jeff’s case, beard. I leave my slippers turned face down at night to ensure there’s room for my feet in the morning.

Nov. 20, 2006 The temperature is staying in the mid 20’s today, much more appropriate for late November. We’re still not seeing any sunshine but the cloud layer is thinning at the horizon, revealing a dusting of snow on Mt. Moosilauke. I was able to pick some small new chard leaves to add to our chicken broth last night. That along with some garden carrots, made for a very tasty, sweet soup. I had already harvested the kale that sent out a second leafing after being defoliated by caterpillars earlier in the summer. There was enough for a large pot of Vanna’s delicious Green Soup. Both the chard and kale were much improved after several hard freezes. I’ve removed the wire mesh so the deer can nibble on the remaining stalks. Two deer were grazing on the lawn several evenings ago and will hopefully return now that the impeding chicken wire is gone.

Nov. 24, 2006 It’s a brilliant, clear starlit night. The waxing crescent moon glowed a bright yellow-orange as I headed up Rte. 2 this evening. Thanksgiving weekend has been very mild with temperatures well into the 40’s. Short sleeve working weather is a rare November treat. Unfortunately this warmer weather is causing terrible winter colds and Jeff is suffering badly with his second in just 4 weeks. Nights have chilled out in the 20’s but with full sun all day today, we had no need of the wood stove. We’re still working on burning last year’s wood. I took advantage of the mild weather to bring in another wheelbarrow load of kindling, gathering most of it from the remains of the large maple limb that came down. It’s a tight squeeze in the garage for now but we’ve got lots of wood to get us through the winter. It may not have been a scenic, snowy Thanksgiving, but it sure was a flavorful one. Fortunately turkey with all the trimmings and pumpkin pie taste good no matter what the weather decides to do. At our Tampico, multigenerational feast, I learned more about our very fancy, plumed bird’s nest. Tom, the mailman, had previously identified the rather large feathers as chicken feathers which makes good sense since we have free-range hens across the road. Then on Thanksgiving, Steve added a bit of interesting info as far as the way the feathers were located, cascading over the top rather than in the nest. He showed me a small bird’s nest with similar feather arrangements, that had been recycled by a mouse for her nest. I’ll need to peek under the feathers in ours to see if any telltale mouse pellets remain.

Nov. 27, 2006 We saw several days of sunshine this long weekend but are back to the gloomy overcast that usually claims November. Winter sunshine is always welcomed to cheer up the shortened days, but it is an especially rare sight in November, so doubly precious. Our “resident” deer were out grazing on the lawn shortly after dark last night. We got a closer view of the pair which appear to be a doe and this year’s fawn which is about 3/4’s her size. They quickly disappeared into the tall field grass.

Nov. 30, 2006 We’re ending November with record highs of 57° on Walden Hill. That’s a 20 degree climb after a low of 37° this morning. Although there was leftover October snow on the ground when we started the month, there has been no actual snowfall. I do believe that’s a first in our 10 year experience. The weather forecast is for colder air to swiftly move in as we turn the calendar over to December. Our snow thrower has yet to be used but is serviced and ready to go. We have however gotten lots of good use out of the wheelbarrow which is normally well tucked away by now. We took an afternoon stroll on Walden Hill Road and needed to remove jackets and hats on the return climb. Darkness by 4:30 is the only sure indication that we are indeed heading towards the winter solstice. Even with the reluctant sun now set, it’s still 53°.