Bogieblog

Boring Stuff

Yesterday we dropped WS's bike off at the Harley Dealer for storage. My bike is cheap enough that storing it in the storage unit out in the woods is no big deal - WS's bike gets pampered because it isn't.

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I wish Typepad would just leave the dang template alone. Now it takes me 3 steps before I can start typing a post. Used to be 1 step. Posting pictures takes 4 steps - it used to take 2. Plus, it is slower than death when I am typing. Backspaces are slow and other things take more time than they used to. I understand that I have a 5 year old computer, but dang it it is powerful enough to run AutoCAD without a hitch, and I have a fast cable service, so these things are a part of their service apparently. Oh, and if you cancel an action, the cursor goes to the beginning of the post instead of staying where I put it. This thing is just plain beginning to irritate me.

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While we were dropping off WS's bike, we looked at the bikes on the showroom floor (as we always do when we are there). They had a real pretty FLTXXDRRNNT (OK, so I made up the letters, I don't really know what it was), It was a 2003, that had almost everything I want; bags, windshield (not a fairing), ISO grips, crash bars engine guards, floorboards and it was a dark blue. The crash bars endinge guards coupled with it being old enough and cheap enough made it so if I drop it, it would be no big deal. The only things missing are heated grips and a narrower seat thanwhat is on it. Too bad they wouldn't give me enough in trade for my bike to make the swap feasable (no, I didn't ask, but since I still owe, I'm guessing not). Ahh well, one can always dream and drool.

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We've had a nice stretch of weather; in the 40's and 50's. One morning it was 19 when I left the house, but it warmed up nicely after taht. Too bad I didn't get out of work until after the sun set. I really dislike when they mess with the clocks!

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Nothing else of interest going on around here, just wanted to post something for this weekend.

Hunting Season

Late yesterday afternoon the neighbor came over asking for WS's help. Seems he got himself an 8 point buck on his last day of vacation. He asked WS to help him drag it out of the woods and the use of WS's truck to haul it to his house. Now it is on WS's wood-hauling trailer so that the neighbor can take it into the station for legal purposes this morning.

Should be good for a couple venison steaks in our freezer - mmm, mmm, mmm!

Looking Forward to Sunny Skies

Today is a very exciting day for us - we should see the sun this afternoon! Last time I saw the sun was last Sunday, when we went for our last joy ride of the season (we both rode to work Monday and Tuesday). But it has been severely cloudy since then (not just cloudy, but with very dark clouds). I heard rumors that the sun shone for a short time on Wednesday, but couldn't confirm that myself. We finaly got 1.5" of rain yesterday and once that system moves out we are supposed to have sunny skies.

It's bad enough that with the time change I leave the house in the dark, get to work in the dark and get home in the dark, the least that could happen is I get to see some sun on the way home (at least for the next week or so - then I will be leaving work in the dark too).

Autumn Cereal

It's been pumpkin and squash season here for quite a while. I got a pumpkin last week and made up some "cereal" that I take to work and heat up for breakfast instead of my usual oatmeal. As usual when I make up a recipe, I didn't measure anything, but really, I don't think you can really mess this up too much.

• 1 small pumpkin (I used a small, non-sweet, decorative type but you could use a sugar pumpkin). If using a sugar pumpkin, the amount of maple butter might need to be reduced.
• Couple of pats of butter or margerine (don't substitute olive oil for this)
• Maple butter - I used about 2 TBL for the whole pumpkin. You could probably use a bit of maple syrup (the real stuff please) or if on a strict diet some maple flavoring and Splenda (or sugar substitute of choice)
• Dollop of Vanilla
• Dollop of imitation Rum
• Almond slivers

Cut the pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds. I leave stringies in there, but that is a personal choice.

Place in a baking dish and add about 1" of water.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or so

Remove from the oven and let cool for a bit then scrape the meat out of the hull

Combine all ingredients and stir until the butter and maple butter is melted and everything is well combined.

Eat a bowl of it while it is still warm! This makes 5-6 hearty bowls full.

Make sure to eat leftovers warm - the heat brings out the taste of the vanilla. Some people would be tempted to use pecans instead of almonds. I strongly suggest staying with the almonds - they keep it lighter tasting so it is more appropriate for breakfast or a snack in the afternoon.

For nutrition / calorie reference click on the following links: Pumpkin (raw), Maple butter,

Just Shaking my Head

So let me get this right: They stop, or severely curtail testing for the swine flu this summer (point A).

Then, out of the blue the guestimate of swine flue cases and deathes has been tripled (point B).

How in the hell do supposed professionals get from point A to point B?

Even weather guessers use a lot of data to make their predictions and get it wrong on a regular basis. Now we have health guessers using no (or low amounts of) data to what? panic the populace that can't get the vaccine anyway? and to what availe?

Idjuts, just plain idjuts.

Stressed

Just a few pictures to show you what a tough and stess-ladden life our animals live:

   Fuzzy laying in front of the woodstove.

   Prince on the (forbidden) couch. Note that he has his own blanket (to keep the dog hair off the couch) and that he has managed to position one of the pillows perfectly.

Yep, our pets are stressed out.

We Gots Culture

Last night WS and I went to see the symphony. We went to the Star Wars Concert at the Manchester Verizon Wireless arena. A symphony orchastra played music from the range of movies while footage from the movies played on a HUGE high-definition screen. Naration was performed by the guy who played C3PO (the gold colored robot).

I had heard an ad for this concert on the radio and then saw a short blurb about it in National Geographic magazine.

It was an awsome experience that entertained very young kids to great grandparents. If this concert comes to your area, take the chance to go see it - it's well worth the price of admission! The only after affect is that now WS and I have to go back and watch the movies again (and watch the 1 movie that we never saw).

Fuzzy Explaination

I started to answer the question put forth by of "Do you think it is his age?" Cop Car and Buffy within the comments section, but quickly realized it was long enough to make its own post. So here is the answer:

I don't think his age (at least 7 years old) had anything to do with it - Fuzzy has wanted into the house for a long time. Tory has never gotten along with Fuzzy - indoors or out. Shadow has been less than enthusiastic about him (although he just choses to ignore those who displease him - with the occassional theatrical hiss) and the dogs have always been hyper-sensitive to him being in the house when we've brought him in for severe weather. Additionally, Fuzzy is no saint himself - I've seen him start a spat or two with Tory.

However, for the last couple of months I have let him in at the morning feeding and the evening feeding - just long enough to get everyone's food ready and then he would follow his bowl outside. This got everyone used to him being inside. When he was inside during the eye problem, he spent most of his time in the workout room, but would jump the gate before meal times and follow the pattern as if he was outside.

In these situations Fuzzy was always fixated on his food; he didn't appear to be a threat to anyone (plus, they were fixated on their food too). The slow conditioning of getting everyone used to the idea of Fuzzy inside, under non-threatening conditions is why they were all rather blase' about his being allowed to come and go as he pleases.

Don't get me wrong - it isn't all peaches and cream. Fuzzy is not tolerated on the food table at the same time as either of the other cats. However, if he makes the mistake of jumping up there while Tory or Shadow is eating, all that happens is a glare from the offended party and Fuzzy jumps back off. That's okay, Fuzzy is on the food table more than either of the other two combined, so he isn't deprived by any means. The dogs too can become overbearing in their curiosity, or desire to see if they can make the cat run (game of chase anyone?). However, those instances don't happen often and we haven't had any wild chases thru the house.

The most facinating thing though is that Fuzzy doesn't get on furniture (except the food table) - ever. It's not like he isn't perfectly capable of getting on the couch or a chair (he snoozed on top of the cat house and deck railing plenty of times) - but just doesn't seem interested. Perhaps that will change in the future or maybe he's taking his lead from Missy (who never, ever gets on furniture - Prince on the other hand is a couch potato). Actually, now that I think on it, if he couldn't look out the slider, he might get on furniture to window gaze. When cooped up in the workout room previously, he would get on the dresser and look out the window (the lilacs are there and the birds love those trees).

So, there is my rather long-winded explaination on how we got everyone to be calm around Fuzzy so we could let him in full time.

Fuzzy Situation

Fuzzy's eye is better. He completed his antibiotic treatement of Wednesday and is disappointed that he no longer gets a smidge of canned food in the morning (I hid the pills in soft food and he scarfed them right up).

On a happier note for Fuzzy - he did so well inside (and all the other animals acted so nonchallant about it) that he has now become an indoor cat. Sure, I boot him out twice a day, in the morning and evening, for fresh air and to do whatever else, but he is welcome to come in and go anywhere in the house. It's funny though, he only seems interested in the upstairs (except when using the catbox downstairs) and can usually be found sitting in front of the slider. He doesn't want out, he just seems to like the view.

Outside he was a calm but needy cat. He would run up everytime soemone went outside so he could get some pets, He would follow me around the yard waiting for pets. Now that he is inside, the neediness is gone and he rarely approaches us for pets. Some of that may be staying low-key because he is in a new environment and unsure of the new rules surrounding him - we'll see in a couple of weeks.

Now the biggest worry is keeping him from getting too fat!

Late Autumn Color

While waiting for WS to bring down a load of wood for me to stack, I took a gander around the yard to see what autumn colors I could find (the tree leaves are way past the color stage).

   This is a different type of cotoneaster than I normally feature - the leaves don't turn red on the other one.

   Firethorn berries

   Firethorn and Cotoneaster

   Not to be outdone by Cop Car, some of my roses are still blooming. Despite the frosts and the nights down into the 20's, Mary Rose is determined to stretch out the season!

   Mary Rose bud

   Softee struggles to survive - in fact thru most of the summer she seems nearly dead. Then, with the cool of autum (like the summer wasn't cool enough?), she duddenly decides that some leaves and blooms are in order. 

There are other roses still blooming - Home Run and Knock Out have bunches of blooms that just don't show well in pictures. Double Delight has one frostbitten bloom on it, but there are a couple of buds that might mature enough for me to cut and place in a vase if the weather holds out. Plus, it is next to the house, so has a bit of protection from the cold temps.

    The winterberries look funny with just the berries, but once the snow sets in, the berries will be set off nicely.

Hope I have given everyone the ambition to take the time to look for the special colors that come out in Autumn!