Bogieblog

A Different Sort of Hummer

While I was transplanting perinnials from the driveway planter box to the planter box under the fence. I saw something that I've never seen before. It was feeding off the blooming chives and at first glance looked like a hummingbird. But it looked strange for a hummingbird, and I was fairly close and it was unconcerned, so I looked closer.

Indeed what I saw was a hummingbird moth. The strange coincidence was that a friend and I were talking about them Saturday night. She had seen one at her aparment in Mass., and I had never seen a live one but had done some research about it for a friend last year on her 'baby hummingbird".

Memorial Day

It is Memorial Day, which means that it would be nice if everyone would take a moment to think about those that have given their service or even their lives for our country. If not for them, we might be living very different lives today. I wish to thank every one of the men and women that have served, or are currently serving our country.

Sgt. Hook has a memorial up for those that have lost their lives in the war on terror.

Themes

One thing I love, when the Wonderful Spouse is gone, is the ease of the meal preparation. See if you can pick up the theme:

Friday night I added some leftover taco meat and shredded cheese to some leftover refried beans. The mixture was heated up and then topped with salsa and sour cream. Mixed all together this was used as an excellant bean dip for corn tortillas.

Saturday night I had a big bowl of bagged salad to which I added cheese, bacon bits, and broken up bits of a leftover hamburger that was in the fridge. For salad dressing, ranch dressing and salsa were added in equal parts. Lunch that day was the leftover bean dip from Friday night.

Last night I had a big bowl of bagged salad to which I added cheese, bacon bits and leftover taco meat. For salad dressing, ranch dressing and salsa were added in equal parts. Lunch that day was the leftover hamburger salad from Saturday night.

Lunch today will consist of the rest of the taco meat added to some more bagged salad (or a piece of leftover steak sliced into the salad) - either of which will have cheese and salsa added to it.

At this point you are probably picking up "salsa" or "cheese" as the theme. You would be wrong; the theme is meals in which only two dishes get dirty (a bowl and a fork - or spoon in the case of the bean dip). Technically if I finish the taco meat up, that meal will actually consist of an extra two dishes (the plastic container and its lid). Yes I know that if WS were gone for much longer I would run out of leftovers and actually have to cook something, but even then it might consist of one skillet and another fork.

WS should be back sometime this evening, so I need to get something out of the freezer for dinner. Hmm, maybe I'll just make a pizza (3 dishes) - LOL!

Not Quite Vegetable Gardening

I spent several hours both yesterday and today planting about 50 of these below the pathway that is below the flower boxes, which are below the fence (are you confused yet?). In the process, I had to put in 7 - 6' landscape timbers, which was not plan A. Plan A was to pull out all the weeds in that area (which, just to confuse you more is just above where the fruit trees are) and plant the phlox, then just use bark mulch to control the major weeds around the phlox. But, things never go the way they are planned around here, so I went to plan B.

The weeds had such deep root systems that I had removed all the soil to about 8" in depth. I had to build that depth back up with decent soil. That area is on a very steep hill, so I figured the soil wouldn't just stay in place - thus the landscape timbers. Actually I think the timbers are a good thing since they will (hopefully) keep the Wonderfull Spouse from weed-wacking the hell out of the new plants! I am hoping that, as a rapidly spreading plant, the phlox will soon drape over the boxes and start crowding out the weeds. I am sure that WS hopes so too since that would reduce his weed-wacking duties.

Tomorrow, I will probably be digging up some perinnials out of the flower bed between the uphill and downhill parts of the driveway. These will be transplanted into the last planter box, below the fence, that still needs to be filled. The plants in the driveway flower bed have been amazingly anemic the last couple of years. I am convinced it is because tree roots have found the nice soil that I provided and are leaching all the nutrients away from the perinnials. So, I will provide the perinnials with a new home with nice soil and no tree roots.

Sometime soon, I will be digging up some rasberries from a friends house, and transplanting them into the vacated planting area. Rasberries seem to compete well with tree roots, so I don't think there will be a problem, if you don't count trying to contain them in one area - and not letting them get too out of hand as a problem.

I am still debating whether to plant the vegetable garden tomorrow. The nights are still getting down into the upper 30's and lower 40's, so I will probably wait until next weekend before I put the vegetables out. I just added bat guano and dehydrated manure in the garden area today, so that would give WS an oportunity to rototill and get that stuff blended in with the soil. Provided, that is, that it dries out some, which not likely since it supposed to rain Tuesday and Wednesday - and it's still pretty flooded soggy moist now (even after 2 days of sun and 25-30 MPH winds).

At some point the planting will end, but there are a couple of other areas that also need work (new areas that we have torn up), so that point is not likely to get here soon. Ah well, it keeps me off the streets and out of trouble anyway!

Stupid Question of the Day

I was looking up Maiden Pinks on the Internet because I actually remembered what I planted (and where) for a change, but wasn't quite sure what type of plant it is (diathus apparently). Anywho, I was looking at what type of sun it likes, and the site says "Full Sun". Then there is a note later on that it needs shade in the hottest part of the day. Um, isn't that called "Part Shade"?

Irritations

So I was doing the normal Satureday run-around and everything was fine until I got to the bank to deposit my last unemployment check, cash a pet-sitting check and pay the house payment. The bank was closed. There was a sign up that said they closed on 5 PM Friday and wouldn't re-open until Tuesday. There weren't any signs like that up last Saturday when we were at the bank (WS can't get direct deposit from his work).

Our bank has merged with another bank (no big names - just local banks) and apparently needed to do some upgrades. That is all well and good, but some warning would be nice. Fortunately I had the housepayment coupon and the check written out to pay it in an envelope. So, I put it in the night deposite box (it is due on the 1st, so mailing it would be no good - not to mention that the envelope they sent with the coupon was for the old payment address, not the new one). I went back around the bank so I could get to the ATM to withdraw funds, since the $5 I had wasn't going to pay for breakfast. Then, I went back to the house to get another envelope so that I could place the checks that needed to be deposited in the night deposit box.

I'm not sure this merger is going to be a happy experience for us. I just got a new ATM card (and new PIN)in April with the old name on it, and they sent me a new card (and new PIN), with the new name on it Friday. The directions say that I can activate it at an ATM. But, the sticker on the card says that I have to call in to activate it any time between 9 AM May 27 and 5 PM May 28th. AND it also says to destroy the old card on May 28. Hmm, Friday was May 28 and I didn't get home until way after 5PM. So what to do? Did that mean my old card would be worthless after the 28th even if I didn't activate my new card? Fortunately my old ATM card still worked, so there was a happy ending and I got my breakfast.

Oh, another aggravation with the bank happened the other day. I stopped at the branch in Weare, which is just off the route that I take home, and found that it had been closed. No warning or anything, it just isn't there any more and the building is for rent. At least I could perform my transaction on-line at that time.

Hopefully they will get their stuff together before I become really irritated!

Impulse Buying

After I got off work yesterday, I went to pick up bird food at the aviary, Target and Walmart before getting home shortly before 8. The only part that really concerns this post, is the fact that I stopped at Target to look for work shoes (nope), socks (yep) and a couple of blouses for work (yep).

I also wandered thru to see if they had a space saving ironing board (nope) and on my way to a check-out counter I passed by the music CD section. I have been thinking how all the radio stations play crappy music when I am on my way home. And the talk-radio stations are just as bad that time of the evening. I haven't remembered to grab any CD's on my way out of the house in the morning, so I have been stuck listening to one Godsmack CD. Now, don't get me wrong, I like the music, but 2 weeks of listening to it has curbed my enthusiasm for playing it.

So, I passed the CD section in Target and figured I would look for something to listen to for the ride home. I found a Metallica CD (Ride the Lightning), but the real gem was a CD called 80's Movie Hits. There's no heavy metal music, or even rock music on it, but it does contain a couple of gems:

• St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) from the movie of the same name and performed by John Parr


• I'm Alright from the movie Caddieshack, performed by Kenny Loggins


• And Ghostbusters from the movie of the same name, performed by Ray Parker Jr.

I had loved these songs when they came out. But, since I wasn't going to buy a whole album to get one song (yes, I meant album - as in vinyl record), I lived without. And of course one album, in those days, cost about on what I spent on one CD yesterday - so those of little means really had to pick and choose their purchases carefully.

Although I spent the first part of my drive home listening to Metallica, I spent the last 10 miles bopping around to the 3 songs mentioned above. They put a smile on my face and probably puzzled some people as I drove by shouting "Who ya gonna call? - GHOSTBUSTERS."

Another Mover

Jim, of Jimspot has moved. As he says, adjust your blogrolls accordingly.

Random Thoughts

Does anyone know why my dogs need out just minutes after we bring them in from the pen? One would think that they had all day, outdoors, to do their "business", but N-O-O-O, that would apparently make too much sense. And yes, they just want out to piddle - they want back in a couple of minutes later (unless of course we are out in the yard with them).

* * * *

In a completely different realm, does anyone know where I can find an e-tailer that sells smallish ironing boards? Ideally, it would be wall mounted - from the long side. I don't have enough room for it to drop down longways. Otherwise, I could live with a shorter version of a regular ironing board.

Now that I am in a company where all the production takes place in a clean-room, they expect me to dress business casual (no jeans), so I need to be able to iron my pants and tops - BLEH! It could be worse, it could be pure business dress, so this is something I can live with.

* * * *

The Wonderful Spouse and the others left for D.C. sometime this afternoon (supposedly around 3PM - when it was raining again). Hopefully it dries out the further south they go since they are on their bikes! Oh, and they plan to attend part of the WWII Memorial dedication that is going on this weekend.

* * * *

While the guys are away Bogie gets to play. Tomorrow I think I will get up and catch up on the blogs I haven't gotten to read this week, go back to bed, get up, start laundry, do dishes, gather garbage, go to the dump and the bank, stop in for breakfast at the local diner then stop in at Agway for dog food before I finally head home.

Oh, Wait, that's what I do every Saturday. Guess I'll have to get a better game plan for Sunday.

* * * *

I got a peek at the New Company's Quality Manual the other day. It was writen over a year ago, but never finalized. All I can say is EEK! I'm having fun trying to get it into a rational order (read - how ISO auditors expect the order to go - pretty much according to the way it is spelled out in the Standard). Another good reason for them to hire me I guess.

* * * *

That's it for now. Everyone have a safe and fun holiday weekend!

Birthday Girl

I would like to say

Happy Birthday

to my sister, Wichi Dude's Dudette. Go on over to his site and wish her a good day!

By the way Sis, your card will be late (I had it in plenty of time, it just got buried in the pile of mail on the coffee table!).