Bogieblog

Million Mile Monday

Both WS and I participated in Million Mile Monday by riding to work. This year it is open to riders of every type of biek (usually it is only HOG members that can submit miles). If you rode on 6/27/11, even for just a couple of miles, go log in your miles. Miles have to be logged by 5PM on 6/29/11. When I logged in my miles, 1,195,867 had been accumulated.

At last we had nice weather, got up to 80 and was sunny, so not only did I ride to work, I rode the long way home, logging in a total of 84 miles, where normally it is 70 miles round trip.

Last year there were over 4 million miles logged, I'll have to check back on the 30th to see if they surpassed it.

UPDATE: Riders logged in 4,376,470 miles for Monday.

Uggh

Worked lots this week (including yesterday). Been raining since Wednesday morning. 20+ degrees colder than average (average is 70's most years) So far this season, our average daytime temp is more like 55 for this spring/summer. Windows have been closed since Tuesday and it's cold enough that I feel like starting the wood stove (no dry wood so that won't work). Getting used to wearing long sleaves during the day. No tan yet - even on the driving arm.

Clothes won't dry so we smell mildewy (have hung clothes outside 4 times this year - 3 of those times I got the clothes in before it rained again). Grilled 5 times since getting a new grill in early May - 3 times in the rain (including last night). Roses are blooming, but with the cold and the wet the blooms are just balling up into a nasty mess.

Nothing worth blogging this week.

At least we are doing better than those poor people in North Dakota!

Kitten in Hamster Ball

This bit of cuteness and fun brought to you via Jim, over at Parkway Rest Stop.

A Day At Weirs

This being the last weekend of bike week, we went up to the Weirs to see the sight and look for a few items (sunglasses etc). As we were packing up the bike, it was cool, dark and starting to drizzle - par for our weather in NH for this spring.

However, once we got on the road, it dried out. Then, just after we found a parking spot for hte bikes, the clouds moved on out and the sun made an appearance. We shed clothes and went walking about the boulevard.

 
There were plenty of people there to take in the sights:

 
Obligatory pics of the members of our party of bikers (L-R: Ray, Jimmy, WS):

 

After looking at bikes and finding the odds and ends we were looking for, we went cruising around the Lakes Region. Ray headed home as Christine had not come with us, and he had told her he wouldn't spend all day out.

 
We rode for quite a while, then stopped for lunch in Wolfboro (at 2:30), then headed back around the lakes some more. Just north of Meredith, we ran into a bit of rain. We pulled over onto a side road to put on rain gear, and the heavens let loose. It was pouring hard and I was standing under a tree, trying to get a little protection (which was working), when the wind whipped up and lightning started - not a good combination to be standing under a tree, or climbing on a bike. Just then, I heard someone yelling, and I looked at the only house in sight. There was someone on the porch motioning for us to come on over. WS and Jimmy got on their bikes and I just ran. The nice family had an empty spot in their garage that the bikes fit into and we stood in there talking to the Father, Mother and college-age daughter.

Meanwhile, the wind whipped up so hard that the deluge was going sideways. Mom and Dad decided it was time to shut down computers and the TV (good idea, with the lightning getting very close). As they got everything shut down and came back out to chat, the hail started. After about 20 minutes, the storm blew over. We thanked our hosts profusely (sorry, we didn't exchange names, otherwise I would give them a true shout-out here) and left while it was still lightly raining. About 10 minutes down the road, the sun came out and everything started drying out.

We stopped at Laconia HD (which is Meredith - don't know why), as I had a certificate for a free T-shirt. They had tents from vendors set up for the biek week festivities, so we toured the diffferent products (custom wheels, handlebars etc.). We finally headed back home and were about 20 minutes away when once again, we were caught in rain. This time it was without warning as it was coming form a very innocuous looking cloud. We got off the highway and pulled off the side of the overpass to once again don our rain gear. We waited for the worst of the rain to stop, then continued our ride for home.

We had a great time, saw some neat bikes, rode thru beautiful scenery, and met some nice people. Had a lot of laughs over (an in) the rain. I'll take a day like that any day.

Bike Week Doings

WS took off several days during the bike week. He picked the best two days, where there was actually sun during the day. However, he had great weather for the hill climbs on Wednesday and took pictures. The competition is at one of the ski areas in Gilford.

 

And there was great weather Thursday when they closed the Mt. Washington auto road to 4-wheel traffic and only bikes were allowed up. This is the first time he has been able to see much; usually it is cloudy and foggy on the top of the mountain (when he is there, anyway). He was happy that the sun came out!

 
Obviously he went with a couple of buddies - Jimmy and Ray.

They even missed the thunderstorms on the way home Wednesday, chasing the rain, but only having to deal with the wet roads. I, on hte other hand only got to see the drizzle when I left home, and the thunderstorm as I was coming home (and, naturally, in the 50's). 

Thursday was a nice day all the way around, not just as the guys went up to Mt. Washington. I even got to ride in to work and see the sun on the way home (with a quick stop in Antrim to take care of some cats).

Friday, the guys didn't have anything planned. Good thing as it rained all day. It has been so dark, cold and rainny most days that the sunniest part of our lawn is beset by mushrooms.

 
This is about 1 square foot of the yard and it has 5 mushrooms. The rest of the yard pretty much looks like this. We have never had mushrooms grow in this area of the yard before, only in the areas that get a bit of shade. So, I'm thinking that this is a function of all the dark days we have had (pretty sad when most days I leave in the dark and get home in the dark, and the darkness is not a funtion of the time of day). Hopefully more sunny days are on the way.

Father's Day

To HH:

fathers day graphics

Congrats

Congrats to the Bruins for winning the Stanley Cup!

Blogged from my Android phone.

Early June Blooms

We haven't had a very good year in the flower gardens. Sure, things are blooming, but they aren't as nice as they usually are. We had a cold, wet spring, whcih is probably the reason the blooms haven't lived up to past years. That being said, there are a couple of plants that look better this year than they have in the past - all pictures taken on June 7.

Fringe Tree (Old Man's Beard) - a native plant that I planted a couple of years ago. This is the first time it has really bloomed. The plant to the right of it is a Fragrant Abelia, which was planted about 3 years ago.

The Cotoneaster has been around since we put the fence in (2003). It blooms every year, but this year it is more consistant and doesn't have the patchy appearance of blooms that it normally does.

 

I finally have iris starting to bloom. It was funny, when I took these pictures, they were the only two iris open, 2 different colors, in two different gardens, on different sides of the driveway.

 
Behind the yellow iris is the Wine and Roses Weigela. It looks much better as a backdrop to the picture than it does when looking directly at the shrub. I had to wack it back last fall when we were haveing the house worked on, so it's doing the best it can, with what it has.

The vegetable garden is doing well, I'll have to get some shots of it to share with you later.

Unrelated Notes

Bikers, welcome to Rain Week in New Hampshire. Formally known as Laconia Bike Week, it is locally known as the week that it will, with rare exceptions, be cold and rainy. We had been toasty warm, but right on cue, Saturday (the first day of the rally) dawned wet and with 60's for the high. Same is expected for today. Rain will be on and off thru Tuesday night, Wenesday and Thursday look okay (except late day thunder storms).

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I found the bath mat. Someone (or something) is messing with me. I found the bath mat in the fresh sheets when I changed the bed on Tuesday. It wasn't just in the cabinet with the fresh sheets, it was wrapped up in the fitted sheet,

I do not do towels and sheets on the same day. They don't even dry at the same time. Sundays are towel days and they hang on the racks until Tuesday. Tuesday is sheet day, where I have to make room on the racks, by putting the towels away.

Not only that, but, the bath mat went missing two weeks ago. BUT, it was found in sheets that I had washed last week. we only have 2 sets of sheets so I can't be mixing up dates here.

It's a conspiracy to make me think I'm going crazy!

My bike was in the shop last week to have the front lowering springs put in (drops the front about 1") I met WS at work (the shop is in Concord) and we started the shuffle of getting 3 vehicles home. He had picked up my bike out of the shop, as I wouldn't get to Concord until after the place closed. WS had ridden his bike in, so our first trip was riding both bikes home.

We were behind a line of traffic on 202, when everyone slowed and started edging toward the right. We did the same and noticed people in the oncoming lane, edging toward the middle of the road. We were probably doing about 40 at that time (in a 55), so there must have been some obstruction in the road (as opposed to an accident).

Sure enough, when we got closer, we saw a large turtle (probably a snapper) doing it's own version of the 50 yard dash across the road. I don't think I've seen a turtle working so hard to make some speed. I'm not sure if it was because of the traffic, or the heat (it was in the 90's so the road must have been pretty darn hot). It immediatly brought to mind the pictures I've seen on nature shows, showing the mad dash of freshly hatched turtles from sandy beaches to the ocean - just this was on a much larger scale, turtle-wise.

Yes, this has a happy ending - the turtle made it safely across the road.