Taking refuge in accumulated snowfall

Within the last few weeks, the greater Boston area has received a record-breaking amount of snowfall from a series of storms. As part of a larger ongoing project, I've been collecting pictures from the observation tower at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, MA around the seasons.  I thought this series, showing the effect as the snow continued to accumulate, was interesting to observe.  First, on 21 January before the series of storms began:

Next, on 26 January following about 8 inches of snow around the 24th:

And on 1 February, after perhaps over 30 more inches on the 26th-27th of January:

On 6 February, following about another 13 inches on the 2nd and 2 more on the 5th:

On 11 February, after about another 14 inches on the 9th:

On 18 February, a few days after still another fall of about 14 inches on the 14th-15th:

Once it starts to thaw, I expect it'll take quite a while to unwind the accumulation.  Hat tip to the NWS Boston Significant Weather Archive page for convenient access to records; I've applied some guesswork in response to some apparent notable differences appearing between values recorded among nearby towns. In any case, it's been quite a transition to observe over less than a month.

Counting nostalgically ... in octal

I hadn't touched homebuilt electronics extensively since the 1970s, when I'd built a microprogrammed central processor named Irving among other projects, and was intrigued with the idea of wiring together some newer components.  I thought a Raspberry Pi kit would be a good basis for experiments, and am now exploring its possibilities. I was pleased to be able to hook it up to a numeric display module that I'd had in a box for nearly 40 years, to see the display illuminate, patch 8 bits' worth of output connections, and write and download the Python code to make its numbers count.  And, yes, 377 wraps around to 000; I waited to watch that.  There's nothing like a table sprawled with wires and pieces that, collectively, do something.

Snow and a Pileated bonus

New England received a major blizzard this week (though it largely bypassed NYC despite forecasts as models diverged), and we found ourselves in the 30"+ zone.  I dutifully excavated a path through the waist-high white expanse to refill the bird feeder:

I got a nice view of a non-feeder bird today, hard at work during a smaller snowfall:

I've always found the sight of a Pileated Woodpecker impressive, though they've often been easier to hear than see.  From the appearance, though, this tree seems to be a motivating target, so maybe there will be more chances upcoming. 

December is bittersweet

Not much natural color left at this point in the season, and some of what remains is also invasive, an example here grasping around the branches of the tree that it's occupying.

Fall color in microcosm

People travel regionally and from far away to see and photograph fall foliage colors in New England, and it's always a season and opportunity that I look forward to.  I'm used to thinking of the variety mostly at the level of trees or between leaves within a tree, though, which made me find the set of colors within this single hobblebush leaf particularly striking.  My wife thought that it looked like a miniature patchwork quilt.

I hadn't known that dragonflies appear to have cartoon-like faces

... but today I discovered that they can.  Hat tip to the subject for perching long enough for me to be able to capture the image.

Back on a saddle, again; revisiting the Nashua River trail

I've enjoyed cycling for many years, though not as a group activity or at a competitive level.  I'm perhaps the perfect candidate for rail trails, as they're smooth, generally flat, and sometimes scenic.  My cycling routine got interrupted last summer; since then, I've been out and about on foot regularly, often for photography, but I'd been uncertain about how I'd do back on the pedals.  This morning, I decided to try, revisiting one of my favorites, the Nashua River Rail Trail, starting northward from Groton, Massachusetts.

A beautiful clear day; the path leads into nicely shaded woods.

It's almost 9AM in Pepperell, about halfway along the route.

According to the marker, it would have been 108 miles to Portland, Maine by way of the tracks that aren't there any more.

Most bike paths don't offer the small geographic thrill of crossing a state line, but this one does.  There's just over another mile of trail after this welcome to the City of Nashua, New Hampshire, ending at a parking area.

It would have been 39 miles to Worcester, Massachusetts from this point, which is the same marker as seen before, but viewed from the other direction.

The Nashua River is dammed (that's dammed with an "m") just beyond this point.  The trail has many more water views enroute, like this one.

Back to the starting point, just over 18 miles roundtrip.

Not especially quickly, but that wasn't the point.  It was good to ride again.  I'll be back.