Autumn at the head of Apple Valley

I think autumn is about the best time of year up here. Here are few reasons why I feel this way. The trees are starting to turn orange and gold, the air is clear and crisp, and the wooly bears are out in force.

House front repairs.

I am very nearly finished, for the moment, with the front of the house.  The repairs to the front of the house required lots of tearing apart, chiseling,out rotted wood, making new pieces including planing to thickness and shaping profiles by hand or with machines, and lots of nailing and screwing parts in.  A lot of measuring of angles, compound angles and guessing what was there before it rotted. All this took place in the 14 feet between the end of the left porch and the small porch on the right [see first  photo below to understand  the area I'm discussing]. The rest of the photos give some idea of what I encountered and the repairs.

below.]

Jean Cherdack becomes famous ........... sort of

My wife Jean, has become something of a celebrity. Yesterday she was interviewed by the local NBC station and today she made the front page of one of the larger Western Massachusetts papers.http://www.gazettenet.com/news/8542927-95/hilltown-volunteer-organization-lends-helping-hands-to-families-with-newborns

Spiders, moths, and COYOTES!

I haven't mentioned much about the wildlife here lately. On a small scale we have an incredible variety of moths and spiders around this house It seems that almost no two of either class of fauna are alike.

On the large scale our area of Ashfield is home to at least one sizable pack of coyotes. For the past three nights they have been hanging around our property often within what sounds like 50 feet of the house. They tend to produce a rousing chorus of howls, yips, barks, and what sounds eerily like laughter, soon after moonrise.

Two years ago they killed a cow and her newborn calf in a neighboring pasture. I have yet to see them. Our younger and more savvy cat has been out on nights when they have been in the area, but we kept her in last night. We make sure our older, slower cat, Natalie, is in at night.

A Trip to the White Mountains

With the front of the house sort of finished, I took few days off to hike in the White Mountains. I hiked up Mount Lafayette and Lincoln on the Franconia Ridge on Wednesday and then went over to Mount Garfield and back on Thursday. Stayed both nights at Greenleaf Hut which is about 1100 feet below the peak of Lafayette. Both days were beautiful and the views were superb. From any of these mountains there are awesome views of nearby peaks and ravines as well as a sea of distant ranges in nearly every direction. Friday I went back down into the notch and up to Lonesome Lake to get a view of Lafayette and the Franconia Ridge from the west. I highly recommend this area to any of you who love scenery and hiking.

I learned some good news on this outing: I can go almost as quickly up hill as down. I learned some bad news on this outing: I am almost as slow going down as I am going up. All told I ascended about 9,000 feet on this trip and was not much worse for wear because of it. On the other hand, I descended about 9,000 feet on this trip ( naturally) and can barely walk now.

Franconia Ridge

Greenleaf Hut. It sleeps about 48 in bunks.