The First New England Snow

Tonight, I encountered the first New England snow. It is quite strange to have snow in October; my friend told me that it is a first time in a decade that it snows in October here.

The snow began at 9PM. I noticed it when I went back to my dorm after peer tutoring. When I came back, I took my camera and then went out again with Dash (my dormmate) to take some pictures.

It is very cold now. The temperature is about 8 C highest at noon and -1 C lowest at night. The temperature when it snowed was 1 C.

The snow melted readily and there was only a glimpse the next morning.

A Glimpse of Fall

After the Fall term began for a month and a half, trees in Exeter begin to turn red and orange. The weather is now cold everyday even sunny days. The current highest temperature is 18 C. Rain still occurs approximately 2-3 days a week.

The trees here in Exeter are not that beautiful. Only few trees change their color. Most of the trees are still green and won't turn red but will discard their leaves immediately. Some of them also turn black and brown instead of red and orange.

 Another notable thing during the fall is the increasing number of squirrels and chipmunks. They have to gather acorns as many as possible before snow begins to fall.

Boston Trip

The previous weekend was the Parents Weekend during which I had a three-day holiday. Most students had their parents come, but there was little chance for international student. The international students assembly then held a trip to Boston on Sunday.

I attended this trip without knowledge that TS54s from BA also visited Boston on that day too. I was informed in Sunday morning when Mind told me that there were many TS54s coming to Boston. When I knew that, I immediately contacted Beam to get her phone number and P' Punch's.

The bus from PEA left at 11.30AM and arrived at 12.30. I managed to met Chris Brown, P' Punch, Wijit and Jom at China Town Gate. Then we all went to Prudential to meet Sea and Jay and headed to Pad Thai Cafe.

After we had lunch, we walked around that area for a while and went to Cold Stones and Cheese Cake Factory. Then we went to drop Beam at Grey Hound Bus station. After that we went to buy some food at China Town and headed to my bus.

 

I departed from TS group and went to movie theater with Exonians. I watched Contagion, but I finished before time, so I sneaked in another theater and watched The Thing for 20 minutes too.

After the movie, we headed back to campus and arrived at 9.50PM. It was one of the most wonderful weekend in PEA for me!

Apple Annie

Today Farm&Garden Club held a trip to Apple Annie. It is a large apple farm near the school that is owned by a PEA teacher, Mrs. Lu. We went there at 9.45AM, so that the sun was not too strong.

Apple Annie

Our mission was to pick up apples to donate it to farmers in NH. Mrs. Lu let us pick Enterprise Apple, which is a new GMOs clone. It is very disease-resistant. It is the very first time that this clone is picked, so it was a great opportunity for Farm&Garden Club members. 

Enterprises are not opened to public yet!

 Picking enterprises

The plants have been planted for only few years, so they are so small compared to other clones. 

After that we continued to pick apples from red delicious clone, which is a lot bigger than enterprise. The plants have been planted for 25 years, so they are enormous and produce so many apples.

 Red Delicious

 Picking Red Delicious

Then we selected good apples from dropped ones to make cider and to discard the bad one. After having done selecting dropped, we went back to farm's store and had donuts and cider. Then we took a glance on cider-maker machine before heading back to PEA.

 Farm's Store

Dropped Apples

Cider-maker Machine

Biking Brickyard Pond

After going to Brickyard Pond several times, today I managed to explore the pond thoroughly. The pond is about 7 minutes biking from PEA. It is a small pond that many people visit to fish. 

Pond Overview

Pond Entrance Bridge

There is a diversity of plants and animals in the pond. In the water, a species of aquatic plant dominates. On the land there are many species of mosses. There are also some mushrooms because of the continuous rain in the previous days.

 Mosses and small trees grow over water

 An amphibian

 View of a small creek

 A Spider

 The Sun reflected over the clear water

 A tiny mushroom; note its size compared to sporophytes

 Mushrooms

 Dominating Aquatic Plants

 Unknown Underground Plant

A Mushroom

CPs Update

CPs Update!

After transferring plants to a new environment, I notice that sphagnum moss are dying. It turns white but I cannot find the reason. I introduce a new technique to prevent more problem by using a plastic sheet to cover the terrarium order to maintain humidity.

1. D carlifornica
This one grows rapidly. It produces a new pitcher every week. Also I notice that there are two growing spots now! The pitchers are turning red because of artificial light. Hope that they will become entirely red soon.

2. D carlifonica
This one is still uncertain. The new pitcher does not fully develop and seems to abort before mature. It becomes black from the tip and develops slowly. I think there is a problem with rooting system (the plant came almost without root!).

3. N ramispina
The pitcher plant is growing well. After a brief shock after transferring, it resumes growth. The new leaf is bigger than old ones because of Osmocote.

4. P moctezuma
This one grows steadily. Nothing special.

5. D adelae
The initial plant is almost dead. It slowly deteriorates and turns brown. However, the new offspring are growing well. Because of the new technique, they produce more dew daily.

6. D musipula
The plant is growing well but it still cannot overgrow sphagnum moss.