Debra LaValley's Blog

Summer Fun

This summer has been very warm and very humid. However, the last week of July was very pleasant. Michael and family were here from Oklahoma, and once again rented a cabin at Newfound Lake. Aunt Mary Jane and my sister Mary Beth also rented the cabin with the private beach at the same location. The weather was wonderful, and I visited four times. It is only about 40 minutes from my apartment. My sister Jackie came with me twice and once my Aunt Sheila went with me. It was very nice visiting with family. Hammocks do not cooperate with me getting in or out – so with a couple of “Spotters,” I made it in and out of Rachel’s hammock. Michael snapped this photo with my iPhone. Newfound Lake is always beautiful!

Also, Highway View Farm/s (aka Crete’s) corn is now out! It is the best corn on the cob. There is nothing like fresh and tender corn on the cob slathered in real butter and salted! Yum! (I am wearing my Jimothy tee shirt. Jimothy is the new sensation – a cute raccoon with a short-spine syndrome who lives in Seattle, WA. He is the cutest little critter. I Love Him. I have done a couple little paintings of him for fun. I kept the first one and the second is about finished for my sister Jackie.)

I hope everyone is having a great summer! Take care and keep hydrated! 🙂

Happy 250th Birthday to the United States of America!

Preamble of our Constitution:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

U.S. Constitution | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress Link to the full document for your reading pleasure. 🙂

Declaration of Independence of 1776 announced: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

We are not perfect, but I am very proud to be an American. May we continue to improve during the next 250 years and never forget our history.

Wishing everyone a fantastic 250th celebration of our country’s birthday! God Bless, America and all her people! Together We Achieve More!

Beautiful Downtown Penacook, New Hamphire all decorated for the 4th of July!

We are in the middle of a heat wave. It is horrid. Yesterday was the peak with temperatures in the 90s and dew points in the 70s making it feel into the 100s. Yuck! It is not my cup of tea! I would rather have snow! My AC is cranking and today it is currently 91 with a feels like 99. Dew point is 72! Just plain nasty out. I will be staying in my Ice Cave 🙂

Stay cool everyone – and remember to hydrate! (Tomorrow is not going to be much better but will be in the high 80s instead of 90s.)

Have a great 250th Independence Day Weekend! Be careful and safe in this heat!

Thoughts of Summer Food & My Dad

Happy June, everyone! My dad was born 6/15/1934. I remember him manning the grill and habachi most summers. The scent of burning charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid filling the air. We grew up having many cookouts and picknicks. Whenever we had hot dogs, my dad would ask for the “Salary Salt” (aka Celery Salt) to sprinkle on his hot dogs. He also LOVED Vidalia sweet onions. He would always say they were “so sweet he could eat them like an apple.” They are delicious, but I don’t know about eating them like an apple. Pictured above is my recent rendition. My hotdogs are vegan hotdogs that I cooked on my stove. I sprinkled then with celery salt (it is good on hotdogs), and chopped up a Vidalia onion and sprinkled on top. I used regular yellow mustard on this day.

Summer has not officially arrived yet, though it certainly feels like summer with temperatures and high humidity. Not my type of weather. I am an autumn person 🙂

Here is a photo of my parents from some years ago outside of Beech Hill Farm ice cream 🙂

I hope everyone has a great June! Stay cool & hydrated. Try some celery salt and Vidalia onions on your hotdogs and think of my dad.

Happy Star Wars Day!

Yes, I am a Star Wars geek! I have decorated my apartment, of course. I also am wearing a Mos Eisley tee-shirt. It is a fun day.

Here in New Hampshire the temperature reached the low 70s which was very nice. It was extremely breezy and the pollen count is wicked! Things are popping. By next week, we will be seeing a lot more green! Tomorrow may reach 80 degrees. At least, it is not humid. I don’t like temps much higher than mid 70s – especially if there is humidity.

I spent over an hour today at the local eagle’s nest that I monitor. I saw both adults. They were both coming and going. There is at least one eaglet that I finally snapped a photo of on 5/1! I am hoping that there may be a second in the nest. Spring has certainly sprung!

In the above photo, the female eagle is feeding an eaglet.

Wishing everyone a great day! May the Force Be With You!

Happy Spring!

Spring has sprung and bald eagle nests are active. The local nest that I monitor for NH Audubon is currently in incubation stage. I am hopefully that hatch will be happening soon (maybe a week or two). It is always exciting to watch the eaglet(s) grow and learn to fly. We had about 2 inches of snow yesterday (Poor Man’s Fertilizer). It was melted by the end of the day.

I hope this finds you all well!

Spring is getting closer!

We still have a thick ground cover of snow. I would say a foot at least. It will be a while before we see green grass and flowers. At least, it will be lighter longer now. I don’t enjoy the time change and wish they would just leave it alone. I don’t know if that will ever happen. Oh well! Enjoy your day!

(The graphic is another ChatGPT image that I created.)

Get Out the Cowbells! The Winter Olympics Have Begun!

I love watching the Olympics – especially the Winter Olympics! It is strange since I went skiing once and will never again; was always a terrible skater. I had to pretty much crash to stop and never could go backward. I went cross country skiing a few times, but snowshoeing was more my style. However, I really love watching all of the winter sports (from my couch)! Figure Skating is definitely my favorite. I have a couple Moen Olympic Cowbells. One is plain and the other is from the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics (an EBay purchase many years ago). I also have many Olympic pins in a box somewhere.

I am actually watching Pairs Figure Skating Short Program as I type this. It is snowing outside and it is extremely cold here in New Hampshire today, and it will be colder this evening and into tomorrow. Wind chills in the double digits BELOW Zero predicted! Perfect weather to stay inside and watch others frolicking in the snow in Italy!

Wishing everyone a great weekend! For those who like football, enjoy the Super Bowl tomorrow. I have never been a fan of the sport and luckily neither was my dad so we didn’t have it on at home. Once in a while, my dad would watch the Super Bowl even though he didn’t really know the rules, etc.

Below are more ChatGPT Calico (Maisey) images with her enjoying various Olympic Sports that I created.

Sometimes – You just have to take what you get!

The weather has been very nice the past few days! There has even been sunshine! I drove around in hopes of seeing the local eagle pair or any interesting creatures. The best that I saw was a squirrel running across the street in front of my car! Luckily, I had time to slow down so he made it safely to the other side of the street! You never can tell what direction a squirrel will go!

When I got home, I sat on my couch. I noticed a flash of sunlight hitting the glass marble hanging from chimes I have out on my front porch. I grabbed my iPhone and snapped a few photos. I liked how the reflection was captured in the marble. It wasn’t a majestic eagle; but it was something interesting captured in the ordinary sights of a beautiful winter’s day.