The first thing you notice when you walk into Mr. Leete's showroom is the sound, it's almost like rain, but not quite. It's the sound of a room full of antique clocks, mantle clocks, banjo clocks and grandfather clocks. Each one coming form a different time, some from as far back as the early 1800's some far less old. The thing they have in common is that they work now, and work well. Thanks to the hands of Thomas Leete who has a deep understanding and appreciation for these clocks. In an old barn in Moultonborough Thomas has several clocks and pieces of furniture in random stages of repair or disrepair. While paint is drying on a dining room chair he heads to his office to dig up an old reference photograph of a particular Daniel Pratt clock from 1838, and in between he deluges me with interesting facts and lessons on the mechanical workings of numerous clocks hanging in the barn or showroom. At the end of my visit I realize that I have just had a Phd. level course on the history of clocks here in America.

Mike Allain is a logger that works along the border of Maine and NH, this day it's in East Madison, NH. What's interesting about Mike is that he is harvesting trees for a local lumber yard, 12 miles from where the trees are cut. These 80 to 100 year old trees are being trucked to East Conway, NH to "Home Grown Lumber" and processed into flooring. Mike has worked for years with the mill owner, Steve Morrill. In the early days it was out in the woods together, now Steve runs the mill and Mike supplies the some of the logs. Home grown lumber is one of the few mills in NH that is "re-discovering" wood that was typically thrown out, as well as sending bark, and chips to Ossipee, NH's wood fired power plant. Planks at the outside of the tree, containing numerous knots are now not thrown away but processed into usable flooring, increasing the usable percentage of the tree. By keeping the harvesting local, processing local and working with new ideas this local mill is keeping the carbon footprint of its finished goods down to a minimum, and making the most of our natural resources here in New Hampshire.

There's plenty of skiing outside of the usual resorts in NH. Grab a map and head out to the Kancamagus Highway or north of the Notches and stretch out without a groomer in sight.