For the first time since 2000, when I started volunteering for Mountain Birdwatch surveys, I have not been able to complete a route. I went up to Mount Mansfield this week, spent the night, but had to call it quits with too much wind in the morning. When this has happened in the past I have found time to go back and try again. This year I just won’t be able to do that. Rough. Not only do I not have the benefit of doing it, but someone else will have to cover for me. I guess, however, that with multiple routes over all those years, it was bound to happen.

It was not a waste of time. My son came with me this year. We drove up the road to the visitor center and parked at the ski patrol hut. Vermont Center for Ecostudies, who hosts the study, has been given access by Stowe Mountain Resort to stay the night at the hut. We hiked from there up to the survey route where we completed counting spruce and fir cones as part of the survey. We got to get in a good hike and see some fine views. We watched the sun drop low in the west from the ridge, just the two of us there.

Walking back to the ski patrol hut we watched the full moon rise while we heard Bicknell’s Thrush and Swainson’s Thrush and Winter Wrens and Robins singing. It was a beautiful evening and I felt grateful to be up there.

We slept little but rose at 3:30 anyway. The forecast called for light winds at that hour but the winds were not light. We sat for twenty minutes at the first survey point in the mostly darkness, looking and listening. We heard some birds but the wind made the results questionable. We headed toward the second point and stopped before heading down the challenging part of the trail. We waited. There are only so many hours in the morning and I did some math. Unless the wind died right quick we would not be able to finish by 8:00. The wind did not cooperate. 

We walked up to the ridge. We watched the sun rise, just the two of us up there. Then we split. In Stowe we ate, groggily, some hot breakfast at McCarthy’s. The home fries were some of the best I’ve had. So it was a great day–time with my son outdoors in a beautiful place, plus great home fries. That’s a win. And the survey? Someone will volunteer. And I’ll be back next year. My son even said he wants to come back with me. Like I said, a win. 

So I kept up looking for cameras after my first four and then second four days of trying to notice security and surveillance cameras that catch my image without my consent. Here is my summary.

Tuesday

I worked at two different middle schools but made no other stops.

Traffic cameras: 12
School cameras: 9

Total cameras: 21

Wednesday

I worked with students at one high school. I also made a stop at a health food market.

Traffic cameras: 14
School cameras: 8
Store cameras: 10

Total cameras: 32

Thursday

I worked with students at a different high school. I stopped at a gas station to get a cup of coffee.

Traffic cameras: 11
School cameras: 12
Gas station cameras: 6

Total cameras: 29

Friday

I met with students at a high school. I stopped to fuel my car. I went to a drive-through car wash. I attended an evening event at my town’s school.

Traffic cameras: 11
School cameras: 12
Gas station cameras: 6
Car wash cameras: 2

Total cameras: 31

This makes a total of 113 cameras for the four days. Over the twelve days of my experiment looking out for surveillance cameras I was captured at least 258 times. This does not count cameras that I may have passed more than once or cameras that I simply did not notice. I tried to be alert for any camera I might pass. That is no easy task, however. As I mentioned in previous posts, it takes practice and an observant eye to spot every camera. There were some over these 12 days that I noticed for the first time after passing them on previous days. I am confident that are some I did not see at all.

Security cameras have two purposes–to capture images of activity that may be useful to see after the fact, and to act as a deterrent. Most of them, I suppose, do some of both. I am more aware now, and I am done looking for them. I feel that I will see cameras more often than I did before, but sometimes I will just not notice. That was my hope.

I had planned to continue this experiment for at least a couple more days, but to be honest, I just forgot. I went into several stores over the weekend where, I am sure, I might have spotted more cameras, had I looked for them. I was too busy with my errands, however. So I called it good after twelve days. Not exactly a scientific experiment, but enough for my own purposes.

My image, whether up close or though a car window, was captured over 20 times per day on average over those 12 days. The lesson for me: be good, be aware, but also don’t worry about it. I don’t know that I feel safer because of all those cameras but I understand that they can be useful. I’m no Libertarian, but I’m not sure I like it all that much. It is the world we live in, however. This is Vermont for Pete’s sake, even if I am popping in an out of its most populous city. I can’t imagine how many cameras might be peeking at me if I lived in a large city. I will take 20 per day. I guess.

At noon today it was still -2 degrees. Not warm. It also was still snowing like crazy. It also was blowing. The wind chill reading was about -15 degrees. School was cancelled today, which means I work from home. It has been a gift, despite the rescheduling I will need to do. I have gotten lots done that I would have had to do late today or simply to put off until another day. I still have time to get more done, too.

At first light it was snowing hard. Even once the sun was well over the horizon (or I assume it was over the horizon), it was hard to see. I could just make out the barn across the field. You can barely see the snow plow turning onto our road in the photo above.

I was hoping to get out and ski at some point today–take a few loops around the field. It is awfully cold out there, however. I will go out. I need to take advantage of the snow on the ground. I can’t imagine I will last too long, however, not today but I may stick it out just for the beauty of it. When the snow swirls and sticks to the trees and susurrates under my skis I feel a peacefulness that is hard to find otherwise.

I have the wood stove fired up so it feels warm peaceful inside at the moment. Outside, the snow piles up. The wind tosses the snow around and occasionally buffets the windows. Birds find the feeders and then hide in the trees, a little more out of the weather. This weather offers a visual reminder of how lucky I am to have this home. It’s not a day to be out for long.

UPDATE: The high temperature today was -1 degree. I did go for a ski, was outside for just under an hour. It was cold. My eyelashes got crusted with ice from my breath and the wind was blasting from the north, but it was fun. The snow was perfect. Maybe I can sneak in another one before dark tomorrow.

Last weekend we headed to Boston for a quick visit, just one night. We went to take advantage of our New England Aquarium membership. We had gone last April and bought a membership as it was the best deal for multiple visits. We figured we would head down there before it expired. We did have a great trip to the city. The trip home, however, was a long one.

The first issue was our van. That van has been a trusty vehicle. We love the van. It is easy to load, holds a lot, is versatile. Overall, it has done us right. But this time, when we got into the city, when we started actually driving in traffic, the transmission stopped working. We’re talking hit the gas and it does not produce forward motion. That made it a challenge to maneuver, or to get out of the way, or to get where we needed to go. Overall. it was not doing us right.

We managed to limp to our hotel and then had to deal with getting a tow and finding a place to which our vehicle might be towed (OK, really my wife did all that while I took the kids to the aquarium, but we’re a team, right?). We would have to figure out how to get home but that would be manageable. It turns out that my wife’s sister had come down to Boston from Vermont on the same weekend. Perfect! They have a big car and could give us a ride! It would mean heading back to Boston some time soon to get the van, but hey, details to figure out.

So Sunday when it was time to go, we all piled into one car and started driving north. We had planned to leave by noon as poor weather was forecast. We wanted to miss any freezing rain or sleet or snow. We ended up leaving more than an hour before noon. Still, we were in for some trouble.

We crossed the line into New Hampshire just fine, with light rain starting but then BOOM, as happens with freezing rain, the road was suddenly slick. We quickly found ourselves among ten or so cars off the road, smashed by each other and spun around. We weaved through that but passed more cars in the same situation. And more. It was a skating rink, for real. We kept crawling forward. At one point, however, we watched a big old sedan spin completely in a circle and then slide toward the exit ramp nearby. We headed toward that exit and kept going. There wasn’t much choice.

That exit turned out to be the longest onramp ever to a different interstate highway. We inched along that but then found ourselves headed south instead of north, but before we could get very far we saw flashing red and blue lights ahead. Traffic was stopped so we just pulled over. That wait was close to an hour before we could move again. We ate candy and trekked to the woods to take leaks. Once we started moving we took the next exit we could and headed into Manchester to find some lunch and to take a break.

We had hoped the freezing rain would abate while we were stopped and it seemed to. So off we headed in search of I-93 North. When we finally started heading in the right direction again we were relieved, but soon saw a sign that said the interstate was closed ahead. So the next exit was ours. We stopped three times in search of a map, hoping it might help us to see the big picture better than a tiny smart phone screen. Apparently no one carries maps any more.

We slowly drove through Concord and then found I-89 north. We made our way toward Vermont, seeing plenty more cars that had slid into the median or been bashed by other cars. I’m guessing we say at least 30, not counting the ones we could not see behind the rescue vehicle lights. We were tired, a little grumpy, but happy to back in the Green Mountain State. About 8 1/2 hours after we left Boston we pulled into our icy driveway, five hours longer than it usually takes us.

I guess this is why people move to Phoenix. Today, however, the sun has come out and shines on the snow that fell Sunday and yesterday. It is a stunner of a day–blue sky and white highlights in the trees and the mountains. I am happy to be here. We won’t be making that drive again any time soon. Oh, wait, we have to go get the van once it gets repaired. I guess that won’t be so bad if we wait until the weather is clear. The repair should be covered by warranty. And I have a few hours of podcasts to catch up on. As long as I don’t have another drive like the one on Sunday, they should last me down and back.

Sunrise in Bridgeport, Connecticut

I watched the sun rise over the ocean a couple of days this week. I was at a conference in Bridgeport, Connecticut and rose early to walk along the shore. The sunrise was beautiful both days. The sunrise is always beautiful in my book. If I want to start my day with peace, watching the sunrise does it for me every time. I walked the sand and the walkway along the water. It was cool. A breeze blew over the water. It was pretty nice.

I looked for birds and saw lots of them. I saw Brant, a type of goose, by the hundreds. I saw sea ducks and loons. I was hoping to see shore birds but saw none. I did see a mockingbird, however, and an unusual gull, plus parakeets.

Brant

The first morning I was in my car, driving back to the conference, when a bird landed on the grass next to me. I did a double take. There was a Monk Parakeet, green and blue and gray, and then another, and then seven total. I have heard of feral populations of parakeets and parrots, but I had never seen one. And there it was. It seemed a little nutty, but I saw what I saw.

The best photo of the Monk Parakeets I could get by the time I pulled out the camera

It was great to be in a new place and to see new birds, but the thing is, it helped me get perspective on why living here in Vermont is so great. Here is a short list of a few reasons why:

1. Traffic. There is some traffic in Vermont but seriously, it hardly compares. Stopped on the interstate in Hartford? That is a regular occurrence. Maybe traffic might be slow sometimes in Burlington. I’ll take that.
2. Crime. Bridgeport has a reputation, some of it perhaps deserved and some of it exaggerated for sure, but still, I wouldn’t leave my car unlocked there. Is there crime in Vermont? Sure, but again, no comparison.
3. There is beauty on the coast. That park was pretty nice; but open space is just a lot harder to come by. Even in the most populated county in Vermont I can find plenty of room to hike or walk or run without plodding through neighborhoods or looking out on some kind of development.
4. Politics–former governor of Connecticut John Rowland was just indicted for conspiracy. He has already served some time in prison. Crazy state politics I tell you. We had a governor run out in his birthday suit to protect his bird feeder from a bear last year. That is about as crazy as it gets around here.
5. It is just plain old slower and quieter and easier. Driving north on the Wilbur Cross Parkway I was, admittedly, speeding a little. At 60 miles per hour I was traveling at five miles per hour over the limit, but I was the slowest car out there. The pace is just a bit fast and impatient down near the coast. Not for me.

So I am glad to be home. After several days away from my family, I am happy to be with them again. My daughter, in the school play, got sick, so I did not see her performance (missed the first one last night). I did a bunch of errands when I got home, but it was easy and slow and needed to get done. I didn’t mind diving right into our to-do list. I was home.