June 11, 2011 - Arden turns 2!

Well the weather was grim, but we were having a blast celebrating Arden's second birthday!  Those who could gathered at Adam and Stacy's place to watch the boys enjoy the day!  Hope you have fun looking at the pictures!

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Plum Island and Whites Pond - June 4, 2011

Pileated Woodpecker feeding young

Canada geese

King Bird

Cat Bird

Hi Everyone-
Back to the great outdoors!  We decided to visit Plum Island and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.  This is an easy spot to get to and you can drive along looking for birds.  As long as you stay in your car, they go about their business.  There were many Kildeers, King birds, Boblinks, Cat birds, terns, egrets, male and female turkeys, warblers of many descriptions, one scarlet tanager, one osprey, Canada geese and more!

And of course, we had to stop at Whites Pond on the way home!  We met up with Peter Alden who had a bird club with him.  He's always fun to talk with!  The Pileated Woodpecker babies were still in the nest although they look like they might fly soon!  We were lucky enough to see the parents feed them twice.  The heron

It was a very windy day, but we had some good bird opportunities never-the-less.  Here are a few of our favorite shots from the day!

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Damage Assessment - June 2, 2011

Tree trimming crews in to help remove tress so power can be restored and roads traveled.

Planes flipped over by the winds

Top half of a house missing

house completely leveled

one house gone, one standing

I had a real privilege today.  Devastating tornadoes ripped through western MA yesterday killing 4 people, injured many others and destroying peoples homes.  Power was out to around 40,000 customers at the peak of the event.  I got to go up in the helicopter to help assess the damage to the power system.  Our crews are doing an amazing job restoring power as quickly as they can safely work.

It really saddened me to the devastation to people's homes.  The Red Cross is collecting donations if you are moved by any of these images.  They are a great way to help!
Cheri