Mr. and Mrs. Carl Shields, former residents of the area, have returned home to Bristol, Conn. after spending the summer at their cottage at Shin Pond and also enjoying the Island Falls Summerfest activities, which included the Island Falls Alumni banquet. They plan to return in October to close up the cottage for the winter.
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Wood, from Wilton, N.H., spent several days recently at their cottage on Upper Mattawamkeag Lake, preparing the cottage for the winter and also visiting with their aunt, Riva, and visiting different places in the area. Alan Chamberlain has returned home to West Point, Va. after spending the summer at the family cottage on Lower Mattawamkeag Lake.
It seems as though the cold weather, arriving early, is sending a signal that it is time to go to where it is warmer and has no snow and ice. The big crows have finally returned back to my backyard and so far, have only seen the gray squirrel once while the crows were there.
He did make a half-hearted attempt to attack the crows but seemed more interested in trying to find something, as he dashed around with his nose to the ground looking everywhere. Probably forgot where he had stashed some chestnuts, or something.
On Sept 7, I had a grandstand view of something I had never seen before. While watching the golf on television, I noticed a movement in my back lawn and when I looked out, there were five deer, grazing peacefully, two big ones and three small ones. The big ones were a doe and spike-horn buck and three fawns, All stayed down back for 45 minutes or so, then the fawns laid down for a nap, followed shortly by the doe, who chose a place to lie down near the woods where she could keep an eye on the fawns. The spike-horn kept on grazing for another 15 minutes then he, too, decided it was naptime.
They were still there when it got too dark to see them clearly. Sure wish I had had a camera. And a couple of days later I had two does and two fawns grazing all over my front lawn in late afternoon. There was no passing traffic to spook them so they were there quite a few minutes before the does charged off down back and the fawns followed soon after. So, I have finally gotten a lot of activity in my back yard and now with cold weather will be taking out sunflower seeds for all my feathered friends.
