New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Rain, rain go away.

Friday 05/04/2012

After nearly 6 months in a drought here in NH the rain has come when I really haven't wanted it. Go figure. The Suncook River finally has a decent flow have no more than a trickle all winter and spring. The local brooks are also looking more like May brooks. My son is home for a few days and this rainy week has put a damper on our fishing plans. We had hoped to go deep sea fishing for cod and haddock Friday but the stormy weather prediction has scuttled our plans. I talked to a friend who was out yesterday on a party boat out of the Merrimack River and he said seas were very rough although the fishing was good. I don't enjoy the pounding of a heavy sea all that much and he said he took a real beating yesterday. My son did go out with his best friend last Saturday to a local native trout stream and found it nearly dried up and the fishing was the worst he has ever had there. So at least the trout are appreciating the rain.

Still I worry about the lack of ground water that would flow into our brooks for weeks before the summer jheat.My rain gauge read over 3 inches when I arrived home last Sunday from a week away. Not much for downpours since, just a constant drizzle and scattered showers. Plus it has been way too cold and damp to enjoy the outside like I had hoped for.

Today I went to the funeral of as close friends mom. She was 92. I have always been keenly interested in her stories of WWII. She was a staff sergeant on General Eisenhower staff during the war. Lee McGuire is her name. She was in the room during the signing of the German conflict in the famous "Little Red Schoolhouse". I was always in awe of the contributions she made during the war. In fact she wrote the names on the placards of each of the generals who sat around the treaty table at the signing and collected them afterwards. Her family still has them. She was such a link to that war, one that has fascinated me my whole life since I was born just after the war. Any ways a wonderful lady to have known.

Spring, after a couple of weeks of below average temps, has kind of gotten back on schedule. The leaves are just now finishing coming out on the trees around here. This is the typical timing for most years. Some things are back to blooming on schedule. And blooms that were early three weeks ago have been on hold for going on a month now. Some of my daffodils are still in bloom and the lilac is just coming into full bloom now. Mother Nature has balanced out the spring pretty well.