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I’ve mentioned a number of times the unusual amount of military helicopter traffic over Acorn Abbey. I think I may have a clue. On Thursday, 36 hours or so before Hurricane Irene came ashore in North Carolina, there was a westward parade of helicopters, all following the same course (though at a higher altitude than usual, probably around 7,000 feet). Then today, after Hurricane Irene had safely passed by, there was a eastward parade of helicopters on the opposite course.

It seems very likely to me that the military was moving aircraft stationed in eastern North Carolina to another military base to keep them safe from the hurricane. Then they moved them back. As far as I can tell, if you draw straight lines between all the military bases to the east and west of me, none of the straight lines pass directly over Acorn Abbey. A straight line from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in eastern North Carolina to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, looks like the best match. Maybe the aircraft alter their course to stay north of the much more densely populated Winston-Salem and Greensboro area.

These clouds over my place on Friday produced no measurable rain.

Continuing with the subject of abnormal and dangerous weather, Elizabeth Kolbert has a piece in the June 13 & 20 issue of the New Yorker on the recent extreme weather and how it is exactly what has been predicted as a consequence of global warming. The article is free to non-subscribers.

I finally broke down and bought a new camera. Well, not a new camera — an eBay camera. It’s a Nikon D1X, which Nikon stopped making in 2004. They were Nikon’s top of the line and quite expensive when they were new, with a list cost of almost $6,000. But professionals now consider the D1X obsolete, so good ones can now be found on eBay for less than $300.

The camera did not come with a lens. I also bought a lens on eBay. I took a chance on an oddball lens — a 28-200mm zoom lens. It’s a telephoto lens, but it also doubles as a “macro” lens for close-ups. The lens seems to be well suited for nature photography, which is mostly what I do. I haven’t tried it out yet with food photos. That will be a challenge.

My old camera is a Kodak DC265, an early digital point-and-shoot camera from around 1998. It’s a testament to the old Kodak that I’ve been able to use it for this long. But eventually the bad habits of lower-end cameras become unbearable. They shoot whenever they feel like it, rather than when you press the shutter button. It’s impossible to take multiple photos in rapid sequence. You’re stuck with one (sorry) lens.

But the Nikon D1X is a very different story. It’s ready to use the instant you turn it on. When you press the button, it shoots. If you hold the button down, it will take take three pictures per second and keep shooting (essential for action shots). It’s what the professionals all used not too many years ago.

I’m still figuring out the camera, but here are some early test shots.

Ken’s van, parked in the storage area above the garden

Ken has departed with a one-way ticket for Coldfoot, Alaska. It was a miserable 95F outside yesterday when I drove him to Winston-Salem to catch a bus for the first leg of his trip. I couldn’t help but quip that heading for the arctic is what a sensible person would do right now.

Ken put out ads to try to sell his celebrated van, but there were no serious offers. So Ken is still the van man, even if the van is in storage for a while here at the abbey.

I believe Ken plans to write about his adventures at his Spartan Student blog.

Photo by Ken Ilgunas

The groundhog population at the abbey has grown by at least two. We’ve seen them several times, not behind the house and garden where Mr. Groundhog usually appears, but in front of the house along the road, as though they’re living in the rabbit patch. Ken took several photos of the two baby groundhogs, as well as a video.

Ken’s blog is here, and this is a permalink to the groundhog post. Ken also has posted some nice photos of spring growth at the abbey.

Not that I’d ever want Acorn Abbey to be a bed and breakfast, but even if I did, the health department would never give me a license. Cats are not allowed in B&B kitchens.

Lily is almost as nosy as Ruth, one of the chickens. I easily convinced her that she doesn’t like spinach, but she still wanted to watch and get in the way.

Photos by Ken Ilgunas

I’ve commented before on how much helicopter traffic there is in the sky above Acorn Abbey. Usually these helicopters are Huey-size military-looking helicopters, dark gray. Yesterday while Ken and I were working in the yard, there were three Chinook helicopters. We were not able to get a photograph.

This morning, though, I heard a helicopter approaching and ran out with my camera. I caught this Chinook helicopter seconds before it vanished behind the trees.

These helicopters always fly at very low altitude, usually east to west.

That military helicopters frequently fly over North Carolina is not surprising — there are three Air Force bases in eastern North Carolina. But what puzzles me is why we see them so frequently at low altitude over the abbey.

My best speculation is that the helicopters are on training flights, on visual flight rules. We usually see them in good weather. The sky is overcast this morning, but the ceiling is high. When pilots are casually cruising on visual flights rules with no particular place to go, they like to fly toward what is visually interesting. So my guess is that they’re attracted to the unusual mountains in Stokes County — Pilot Mountain, Hanging Rock, and Sauratown Mountain. Also, from looking at a map, it seems to me that if a helicopter from, say, Pope Air Force Base wanted to fly toward the nearest mountains, it would head northwest toward Stokes County.

I found a news report from 2009 about Chinook helicopters landing in a rural field near Raleigh. The military bases said they knew nothing about it.

The first daffodils finally opened yesterday. For some reason, my daffodils bloom later than other daffodils nearby. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s a slight difference in the genes of my daffodils. Sometimes I think the air is a bit cooler here, because Acorn Abbey sits down in a small valley surrounded by ridges. Maybe cool air collects in this little valley, though it sure doesn’t feel that way in summertime.

I planted 50 pounds of daffodil bulbs in the fall of 2008, so there is no shortage of daffodils.

Ken models my new pith helmet.

I have several sun hats. The main problem with sun hats is that, vents notwithstanding, there’s not enough air circulation around the top of the head. I’m hoping that my new pith helmet, ordered from VillageHatShop.com, will solve the problem. It’s a helmet rather than a hat, so the hat is suspended from a band that fits around the head. There’s an air gap between the band and the hat. When there’s a breeze, you can feel cool air on top of your head. And when there’s a bigger puff of wind, it whistles through the hat.

Pith helmets get their name from the material they’re made from — a natural material like cork. The hat is light but sits firmly on the head. I forget that I’m wearing it.

The vegetable plants that we started from seed are three weeks old today — cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and celery. When they were 16 days old, we transplanted the “sponges” from the starter dome into soil and peat moss cups. We ended up with 100 baby plants in peat moss cups, too many to fit under the grow light. We put our strongest plants under the grow light and moved the remainder to the south-facing bay window. All of them are doing fine. So far, I think the plants that have only window light are doing as well as the plants under the grow light.

When we move these plants outdoors will depend on the weather, but probably around March 15.

Next week we’ll start the seeds for the summer garden — tomatoes, squash, and so on.

These 30 plants were our culls. They’re now living in the bay window without a grow light.