Debra LaValley's Blog

I wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! Let’s all focus on our blessings during the holiday and every day! I am very thankful for my family and friends! Love you all!

November Night Sky Ablaze!

November is usually very gray and dreary but not so on November 11th. Many areas in the US and around the world were graced with a wonderful display of the Aurora Borealis! I was able to get fairly decent photos in my back yard right in town, and we have a lot of light pollution in the area. I was able to see the northern lights with my eyes! Of course, the camera in my iPhone captured the colors even more brightly. These pictures are right out of the camera. You can go to my Flickr photostream to see more of the photos. It was such a treat to see them. It is very exciting, and I did not mind braving the wind and cold (windchill was in the low 20s). We were supposed to see them again on the 12th; but Boscawen had too many clouds. I am just happy that I was able to see them on the 11th.

Keep Looking Up!

Happy Godzilla Day!

Who knew? I love Godzilla, and yes, I do have quite a few Godzilla figures. I also have a Godzilla bank that when you put a coin on top, Godzilla comes out of the sea (to music) and grabs the coin and pulls it into the deep. Yes, I am still a child at heart. The Godzilla on the left is the 1954 Godzilla, and the small glow in the dark Godzilla is a 1955 Godzilla. I bought him in Salem, MA last month. I was there the 5th through the 8th! What a fun experience! I have downloaded a few photos below.

I hope this finds everyone well! Happy November to all!

Awww – what a cute baby mouse! Funny how cute they are when they are outside. I took this photo over where I view the local eagle’s nest. I do not find them cute this time of year when they get into my house. Maisey (my cat) fails to deter vermin from wanting to find a comfy spot in my apartment. My apartment is in a house built in 1840 and has a dirt cellar. When the nights start cooling down, it has not been unusual to have a tiny rodent visitor (better than a rat)! A couple nights I saw one scurry across my living room just before I was heading to bed. I put out some mouse traps (live capture). I baited with peanut butter. After a couple nights, I caught the little beastie. I took it in the car for a drive to the woods far away from my house and set it free. It has been a week or so, and I have the traps still out. Luckily, I have not seen any more signs or had any in the traps. I won’t be surprised if I do get another, but it won’t hurt my feelings if I don’t.

Happy Autumn to all of you! Take care!

Lift-Off

The local nest that I monitor for the NH Audubon Society had a successful year. They had one eaglet and it fledged a few days ago. This morning, I stopped by the nest again, and the fledgling was out on the limb from the nest vocalizing. It probably was hoping for a food delivery. The parents are most likely close by and will be monitoring the juvenile before they head out on their own. I was happy to actually see the fledgling fly this morning. Yesterday, it was high in the nest tree. I watched for well over an hour, but it did not fly off while I was there. It is always great to see a successful fledge. There was not a successful hatch last year.

I hope everyone is having a great summer! Enjoy!

Happy Summer!

Here in New Hampshire, we have been having some steamy weather. It is not my favorite. I would rather have it cold than hazy, hot, and humid! As I stay inside with the AC, I have been playing with my ChatGPT apt. I created the above image which I call The Ole’ Swimmin’ Hole. It has been fun playing. My sassy calico Maisey has been the star of many of my creations. I wouldn’t mind being at the swimming hole today! July arrived with even more mugginess! Ugh 🙂

July has its share of fun! I love SHARK WEEK and SHARKFEST that will be on television this month. It is certainly more entertaining than all the repeats! Family will also be visiting this month! It will be great seeing those who live out of state!

July is also Summer-ween! It really is a thing 🙂 I am all for Halloween type themes any time of the year!

Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful summer! Stay cool!

It was a dark and stormy Saturday . . .

Greetings from the great Water World of New Hampshire! It seems as if it has been raining forever! May was one of the rainiest May’s on record, and today marks the 12th consecutive Saturday with measurable rain. It seems as if measurable is about an inch or 3 by the height of the river, streams, and ponds! The mosquitoes, blackflies, and ticks are loving it! There certainly is no shortage of any of those beasties! The grass is a lovely green and everything is in bloom!

Usually, I would be out and about looking for photo ops, but not today. I was also hoping to check in on the local eagle’s nest that I have been monitory for NH Audubon for years. The pair has one eaglet that appears to be about 4 weeks old. I had not seen it until a week ago.

The eaglet will be growing quickly over the next couple months! I will be sharing photos of its growth as the weeks go by.

I hope everyone is having a great Spring!

PS – the image of Maisey watching the storm, I created in ChatGPT from a photo that I took of her watching the rain.

Florida Vacation!

I had a great time on my Florida vacation with my friends Tim & Dianne and their daughter Megan. I hadn’t been on an air travel flight since November 2019. It was a bit warmer than I would like but only a couple days were oppressive. We spent a day a Kennedy Space Center then spent four nights at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort that was quite lovely! Our last two nights were at Universal’s Loew’s Royal Pacific Resort. We had never stayed on site at Universal before. It was nice to be on site. These were the hottest days too and enabled me to get back to the room mid-afternoon. We were able to ride E.T. three times! It is one of our favorite rides. Most of the old favorites at Universal Studios are no longer there. We had a good time though. We took a group shot at E.T. inside the closet with him. I was then talked into scaling the steps and getting on the suspended bicycle for the classic bicycle across the moon shot! I bet there haven’t been too many people 67 years old doing that! LOL! At least, I am only a hair over 5 feet tall.

FYI – On 5/8, when we were at Vero Beach, we watched the Falcon 9 rocket launch. The link below is my video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/PHqz2QzhTXg?si=tlKIWQx7YnirtDNV

Hope everyone is having a great spring!

A first! A short-tailed Weasel

About a week ago, I was watching the local eagles when a brown blur peaked out from behind a tree from me. I was surprised to see my first NH weasel in the wild! It was running around very fast trying to get away. I managed a few fairly clear shots.

No eaglets yet – but any day now!

Happy Spring, Everyone!

Rabbit Rabbit and Happy April Fool’s Day!

Happy Spring too! I hope everyone is having a great spring! The eagles are incubating at the local nest. I will be posting updates as time goes on. Last year, they did not have a successful nest. Hopefully, the nest will have a successful hatch! I missed watching the eaglets grow last year.

Enjoy your day and watch out for pranksters! 🙂