Bogieblog

Oiling Up

Yesterday morning I decided it was time to oil the wood floors. It can be tough to tell from pictures, but the difference always amazes me. The first picture is the livingroom from the pellet stove (before is on the left, after is on the right). I have circled where scratches were evident before oiling

The hallway is even tougher to show, but if you look at the white spot that is circled, that is paint drops that I didn't get cleaned up in time and then couldn't get off. The combination of grapeseed and orange oils soften it up enough for removal without damaging the wood. I had a lot of paint splatters that I was able to remove.

The office is pretty easy to see. My chair is used a lot since I have been working from home. The floor shows it in the left picture. I had to oil that area a couple of times, but got it back to looking nice. I'll need to remember to do that area more often than the other areas.

Oh yeah, and the house smells like oranges with a hint of rosemary.

Watching the Big Dogs Work

Went to visit friends from NJ as they visited their property in Winchester, NH. I have gone over a couple of times in the last 2 years to help them clear and stack brush, while others cut trees down. They have been disappointed that the company they hired to remove stumps and rocks, then grade hadn't been up to do the job yet. 5 minutes after I arrived, a machine showed up and started working. The land owners were really happy with this surprise.

I don't know what algorithm Typepad uses to upload a group of pictures, but even though they are numbered, and I clicked on them in order, the order is all messed up. I don't feel like re-ordering, so it is what it is. I also don't feel like going and turning those pics to right side up. It annoys me that this is the only website that shows landscape pics sideways when they are uploaded.

Am I Trailer Trash Now?

Since getting down to having only 1 vehicle, I've been able to store pellets in the garage, so I can hold more than the 3 tons that I keep in the basement (I use 5-6 tons per year). I handle each of those tons twice just to get them home as I've loaded the bags into my vehicle, then unload/stack them in the house/garage. So, what could make my life easier?

A trailer would mean that I handle each ton once for transport. That would be great, plus I could use a trailer to transport full sheets of sheet rock or plywood (those are about 4" too wide for the Explorer to carry). Renting a trailer would not be practical or cost efficient. At the same time, buying a trailer new, is not cost efficient either - especially one that is rated for carrying a ton.

So, I have been keeping an eye on CL and FB Marketplace for used trailers. Tuesday night a home made trailer popped up that is made from the frame of a Chevy pickup. It would handle more than a ton and at 6x8, is small enough that I can park it in the yard. It also came with a couple of 8' boards with railing brackets installed for use as ramps. He even threw in what looks like a brand new strap to strap the ramps boards in as a safety measure. Total cost, $425, less than 1/4 of what a commercially available trailer that can handle a ton costs.

Wednesday night I went to look at it, and it followed me home, literally.

Yesterday, besides mowing leaves, I cleared out invasive roses and other brush from the ditch between my property and the former swamp. The load was small enough I could have fit it in the Explorer (just barely), but it was a wet, stinking mess and I decided to keep that crud outside of my truck. I wrapped the crud tightly in a plastic sheet so I wouldn't lose any of it on the road and irritate drivers behind me.

I really like that it has the stake sides so any of the sides can be removed for easy loading/unloading. That is unlike most of the commercial trailers they make nowadays as the side rails are welded on and the back is a 6-8' ramp. I also like the larger car tires instead of the 13-15" wheels on most commercial-made trailers. It travels well behind the truck. I never fully appreciated how wide the Explorer really is since I have to really crane my neck to see the sides of the trailer, which is 6..5' wide.

Now I just have to get my brain wrapped around backing up. I'm sure I was quite entertaining to the others at the dump's brush pile as I navigated, renavigated, re-renavigated :)

Well, It's Happened

The government mandate has hit where I work. Being a government contractor, all employees are required to be vaccinated - even those who work from home full time. Employees have until the end of November to accomplish this and provide proof, or provide proof that they are excluded from the mandate for health reasons. Although I am vaccinated so don't have to worry about it, I disagree with the mandate. My company has no choice, so I'm not faulting them, but the government.

We thought we had a worker shortage before with all sectors of the economy having a hard time filling positions in NH. I can hardly wait to see how many voluntarily leave my company, and how many people have to be fired when all is said and done.

At the same time as mandated vaccines, the government hasn't seen fit to open the northern boarder to fully vaccinated people yet. Sure, they can fly in, but they can't cross by land or lake. This makes absolutely no sense and does nothing but punish northern states who depend on commerce and tourism from our northern neighbors. Additionally, a lot of families reside across the boarder from each other but can't see each other. If vaccination is so great, why won't we allow vaccinated people in by modes other than air travel (which by definition, you are forced into close contact with others so more likely to come in contact / spread the virus). Argh, this just makes my head hurt wondering where logic is.

Fall Clean Up

We went straight from A/C season to heating season this fall. about 10 days ago the coldest morning was in the 50's, while most were in the high 60's. Since then we went to lows in the 40's and highs in the low 50's without any sun for solar gain. I used the minisplit to provide heating at night for a couple of days, but on Wednesday got the P43 unpacked from storage and it has been keeping the main floor warm. since then. Yesterday the high was 60, and there was some sun, so the pellet stove didn't run for 10-12 hours.

Sunday I picked up the last ton of pellets from the local store so I now have almost 3 tons in the basement and 2 tons in the garage

I also got the leaves mowed on Sunday. I mowed leaves again on Tuesday and Thursday, with plenty more left in the trees.

I mowed the neighbor's yard yesterday. The grass was still short enough that it really didn't need mowing, but since I wanted to mow his leaves in his back yard, I did the whole thing.I also started up the snowblower to make sure it was good after sitting since March. I added Seafoam to the gas before attempting to start it. I did have to prime it a couple of extra time before it would start, but it ran well and I let it run for several minutes to clean out any gunk in the lines.

I'll mow my yard today - although about 1/2 of that will just be for leaf pick up. My front yard doesn't collect leaves so I haven't shortened any grass there during my earlier leaf mowing.

Living Room Project Almost Done

As soon as TSC opened up yesterday morning I was there to pick up a ton of pellets. Made two trips to load them in the Explorer and then stacked in the garage (really nice not to have a vehicle in the garage anymore so I have room to store pellets now).

The ramp to the back porch has grown a good crop of algae and moss in the last month or so. That is saying something about how much rain and just general humidity has been around because until mid July of this year, my area was still in a drought that started June 2020. The ramp was getting very slick when there was only a hint of moisture so I decided it was a good day to deal with it. I sprayed it down with Odorban (a cleaning agent that is also an algeacide) and scrubbed off as much as I could. Then I went to Abuchon's and got some Wet and Forget and applied it.

I mowed the first crop of leaves Wednesday evening and had planned on more mowing for Saturday. But everything was wet from the rain Friday, and the dense fog until mid morning Saturday, so I decided to work on the living room. One project left was installing baseboards.

To the side of the pellet stove and the doorway into the kitchen

The wall in the foreground is brand new for this summer. That wall used to only have the electrical outlet that is down toward the hall

To the left and right are parts of the livingroom. I also did the hallway. On the left side, the bathroom door had been moved. The piece on the far side of that door isn't actually nailed in since I will eventually be ripping out the other door casings so I can make them match the darker colors I am using. In the right foreground, there used to be a door casing to the hallway (and at only 3' wide, the frame and casing took up real estate and made it look extremely tiny). I filled in the hole in the wood floor a couple of weeks ago as the frame for the casing went down to the subfloor.

The only thing left to do in the living room is to trim out the "windows" that look into the stairwell. Still trying to get the stain right for the interior pieces as those are different material than the frame parts are, so it won't happen overnight.

Not Your House Bud

The neighbor's cats hang out in my yard all the time (pictures taken 8/31/21). These cats live across the street behind my house.

On 9/3/21, I saw this

Although the cats "can" get into the fenced area, I've made it so they have to work at it and they haven't been inside this summer (that I am aware of). Actually, this is the only cat that has done so - its buddy hasn't and the other neighborhood cats have not either. IDK, maybe it was looking for Rita, which I have not let out this year. Spot was intrigued and the "not my cat" stayed there until Rainey showed up a minute later. Rainey's face always shows such an attitude, that I don't blame the "not my cat" for skedaddling.

Painting

Got all my main floor ceilings painted, along with the wall between the living room and stairs (both sides). Also painted crown moulding for the living room and re-installed it. It is tough getting the crown moulding lined up by yourself, but it can be done. I also had to cut some of it down as the sheet rock I had installed back in 201 was thicker than the original sheet rock (yes, it has been that long since the crown moulding has been totally installed).

This is the bedroom ceiling. Amazing the difference between the formally white ceiling tiles and the white chocolate paint.


This bedroom wall has been unfinished since early 2015 :D. I must have run out of paint. I was amazed at how well the paint I bought earlier this week matched the old paint.

Crown moulding installed in the living room.

Voluteers

Last weekend, while I wasw mowing, I saw some unfamiliar flowers along the drainage ditch on the south side of the house. Since I didn't have my reading glasses on, I couldn't see them well, so later went out to take a better look.

Much to my surprise, they were volunteer turtleheads. Now, I have turtleheads in the shade garden and in the new raised garden that both reside near there. But they are not that pale color, so they aren't wanderers from the domesticated plantings. Another curious thing is that they were blooming before the domesticated variety. Picture of where the shade garden turtleheads were in the shade garden

The plants in the raised bed only have buds but no blooms yet, so I don't have a picture of those. but I do know they are a hot pink

So, the volunteers appear to be a true wild flower, and this link shows them to be white with just a blush of pink. The white turtlehead is said to be the chief plant host for the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly larva. I do see those butterflies around my gardens, especially around the black eyed Suzies. However, those butterflies could just as easily be Harris' Checkerspots, which like flat top Asters, which there are an abundance of around here too. Heck, I could have both types of butterflies for all I know.

I'll have to remember next year not to mow / weed wack those volunteers down.

Short Trip to PA

Last week I took a trip to PA for work. Three of us drove there on Monday, stayed thru Wednesday about 1pm, then drove back. Since none of us were the going out type, we fit all our sight seeing in during the drives. We got to go thru some amazing corn and soybean farming country in PA as the GPS took us around an estimated 26 minute traffic backup due to a MV accident on the highway.

On the way back I took pictures while going over the Hudson River Bridge

While I was away, remnants of hurricane Henri hit. Of course since it was traveling over land, it was downgraded to a tropical storm and I'm not even sure it had that designation when it got to VT and NH. Regardless, it dumped some rain.

My pet sitter did a great job and kept me informed of her cat sightings. Rita is the only cat that deigned to make an appearance when Anne was here (she made a total of 4 visits). Since Rita was a rescue that I took in when she was about 7, she must have been socialized  during her younger years. Although she isn't the type to seek out attention from strangers, she quickly settles down when they are around.

Of course the two youngsters have only seen a couple of other people in their lives, and those have been people doing work on my house, so they don't tend to be sociable. That being said, at times I have put them in the cat pen in the living room while others have been here, so they also aren't terrified. This is illustrated by Anne saying that she could hear them chasing each other on the main floor while she was cleaning the cat boxes in the basement. I would just about bet that, at times,  Spot was lurking around watching Anne since she is very curious and adventurous.

It was a good trip with the cats and birds well taken care of, so I couldn't ask for anything better than that.