Back to Nature...

Yesterday was a gorgeous, but strange day. Mother Nature decided to change it up I suppose. From the inside looking out it appeared to be a regular, gorgeous, almost summer day. But then Kelsey and I got outside to go for a walk and I realized how windy it really was. So windy, that when I got to the stop sign at the end of our road I turned us around, because I didn't want to be in the road with a large gust of wind.

So we got back inside and Kelsey took a nap. Then she woke up and I gave her a snack. Pretty standard, normal stuff. As she was sitting in her highchair I saw something dark out of the corner of my eye when I was walking from the kitchen to the living room (which parallels the road). At first I didn't look, but as I processed that there's not something usually there, I looked out the window. A HUGE branch of one of our front trees fell down and was basically in the road. I went outside and had to move the thing out of the road as much as I could. But how on earth did I not hear it fall? I was home.. haunted happenings at the Payson house. There's other branches on the yard as well, but not as big. Jeff said, "well I'd say it was windy today"... but how did I not hear it? Oh.. that reminds me.. I must bring back the squirrel story from the archives next week.

So... since Mother Nature was playing tricks on me, I thought it'd be nice to show what else was out there yesterday. We finally did go for another walk and took some pictures of the local flowers.

Earlier in the month Julia, Jeff's mom, Kelsey and I all went down to Damariscotta to watch the Alewives go up stream. They go up a river 50 vertical feet and arrive at the top at a safe place to spawn. I've never seen anything like it. In the picture to the left every curve and color you see is a fish. MILLIONS of fish! They just instinctively know how to get there. Where we went the people of Damariscotta Falls built a "ladder" a hundred years ago or so. They basically built walls on either side of the river that curve and bend creating steps. They also created rest areas for the fish to swim calmly as they make their way up. It goes on for about 5 days. We saw some casualties along the way, but the majority of the fish make it. We walked to the top of the "ladder" (and you have to go through backyards and such. At the very top there is a small opening that the fish come through as they end their journey and enter safety. Kids sit above this opening and cheer as a fish comes through every couple of minutes. It was very cool. Here's a link for more information http://www.netrailhead.com/maine/alewife-fishladder-damariscotta-mills/

Notice the poser in the middle. That's all for today. Off to storytime at a friend's house.

Until next time!