Bogieblog

Comparisons

mASSBACKWARDS brings us some interesting numbers in comparing the states of New Hampshire and Massachussettes. Be sure to scroll clear to the end and find the difference between what the states' Senators are paid.

Thanks to The Weekend Pundit for pointing out the writer and the post

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Via Jay at err, JimSpot

Hummingbird Antics

The hummingbirds are a delight to watch this year. We now have at least 3 (WS says 4, but I've only personnally seen 3) of the wonderous fliers visiting the feeder. There is a mature male and female pair, which I believe are the same pair that set up camp here last year. There is also at least on young female (her colors aren't as bright which leads me to believe she is young).

Hummingbirds don't like other birds at their feeders, and it is no exception with this set. If one of the mature birds is around, he or she will try to drive off the younger female. However, they don't attack as hard as they did other birds last year, which leads me to believe that it may be one of their young that followed them up from their winter home. If the adults' attacks don't drive off the young female the first time, there seems to be an uneasy peace while they sip from opposite sides of the feeder.

All of them have been hitting the feeders hard for the last week or so, which leads me to believe that eggs have hatched and they are trying to keep up with the demands of the youngsters. One of the females actually let me be within 4-5 feet of the feeder as she sipped her meal. I stayed very still while she was there (I had been watering plants on the railing) and was delighted at the close-up view that I had. She was nervous enough that she never perched on the feeder - just fed as she hovered. Fortunately there weren't any cats around to make sudden moves to scare her off.

Speaking of cats, I watched the mated pair buzz Shadow on the deck last night. He was just sitting there while they made a run at him then split to either side of him at the last second. They must have done this before as he just sat there calmly and watched them - didn't try to swat them or anything. Indy however, is so facinated by them that she likes to crouch on the deck railing underneath the feeders. Of course, the hummers won't come by the feeders then (thankfully, she's not a fast cat, but she could get lucky if she decided she wanted one of them).

The humming birds are entertaining to both WS and me. What better way to pay us back for constantly refilling the feeders than to give us a good show?

Trip Time

The Wonderful Spouse is starting to get stuff together for a trip he is taking next weekend. He will be leaving Friday night and returning Monday night. Sounds great doesn't it? Except, it's not a pleasure trip and it will be a grueling one at that.

He is hightailing his way to Kansas (in reality, he is driving - I just wanted to use the word hightailing), to pick up some stuff from his Mother, and then he will be driving straight back. That is a 1,300 mile trip - 1 way.

Last fall his mother was moved from an assisted living apartment complex to a nursing home. Her memory is failing so badly that she can't be trusted to take medications correctly (even when put into "pill packs", and family members checking on her daily) and she was also forgetting to eat. It was a hard decision for her and the family, but one that had to be made.

Her belongings were distributed according to what was in her will (with her full knowledge and approval). The Wonderful Spouse's part of the distribution is an old "Secretary" hutch/desk. Although it could be shipped, WS doesn't want to trust it to a shipping company, and I can't say I blame him. He will also be delivering an old computer to his sister, who wants one just to be able to email family members. I still have Harry's old computer, that he gave to me last year because it wasn't working (and which I reformated in order to get working again), and figured that would be fine for the light duties that would be expected of it.

So, he will be driving down to drop off the computer and pick up the hutch as well as picking up some items for his brother - the one who lives here in NH. WS has a buddy that will help him drive the distance so that he can drive straight thru. Unfortunately just having 3 1/2 days to make the trip means that he won't have much time to visit family, but he will see his mother for a while and get a night's sleep at another brother's house.

We actually discussed him taking my new vehicle since the items will fit in the back and he won't have to worry about rain. However, he decided that they will be travelling at high rates of speed, and that would not be particularly good for the truck during the break-in period. So he will be taking his pickup with lots of tarps and some Rubbermaid totes to put his Brother's stuff in.

Hopefully they will have good weather and traffic won't be too bad next weekend (wishfull thinking, but one can always hope!).

New Vehicle in the Works

So I drove a new, manual shift, 4x2 Xterra last night. The shifting pattern was to my liking and there was no banging of my elbow off the seatback every time I went for 2nd or 4th gear. I picked out my top two choices in color; silver/gray and a bronze/gray, called "Granite" (appropriate for the Granite State no?). I gave them a bit of cash so now the search will commence. Salesguy will call me sometime on Monday to let me know how the search progresses. Naturally, he wants this all to happen before the end of the month (plus the cash back incentive probably goes away at the end of the month), so time is a bit tight for that schedule.

Now I have to contact Circuit City to have them take out the stereo that WS had gotten me for Christmas, and have the old stereo re-installed. I really don't have a use for the new stereo, but figure that I'm not giving away a brand new system - and it may come in handy in the future.

I will be emptying out my 4-Runner of everything this weekend (after it quits raining), in preparation for trading it in. I also have to find the title to it. Fortunately, I have a general idea where it is at, so the search area won't be too wide.

Domesticity

When I bought my new iron several weeks ago, I just couldn’t believe the range of prices on irons. I thought it couldn’t really be that tough – it just needs to heat up and put out steam every once in a while. Having a non-stick surface and a water squirter were also desirable – but really, they’re not all that complicated. So, I bought an iron that had a nifty feature; a retractable cord. By coincidence, this iron also happened to be one of the cheaper ones (somewhere in the mid $20’s - but others were up in the $80’s).

Guess I should have done as much research on irons as I have on vehicles! The cord retraction isn’t that great. In fact, I usually have to push the cord in and hope it goes around its little bobbin. The steam feature is such that you can adjust from no steam to a lot of steam - or so the theory goes. Actually, the steam comes out at will (even when it is set at “none”) or doesn’t come out at all even when it’s set at “full”. What’s worse is that when it forgets to steam, it just lets out big burbles of water on an irregular basis. Nothing like ending up with clothes that are wetter after ironing than they were coming out of the washer!

I don’t remember which model the iron was, but I will be staying away from anything with the name GE on it for a while.

Blinking - Explained

Starting with Monday: Mr. Salesguy called and left a message on my cell phone. He is lucky that I even realized that he had called since I rarely look at the cell phone; the only reason I noticed was the Wonderful Spouse happened to call me while I was on the was to take care of some evening pet-sitting critters. Anyway, I listened to the message and he said that they could drop the price. I called the salesguy back and he was with another customer, but I did tell him that I wasn’t buying a vehicle to turn around and buy six hundred dollars in tires.

Blinking

Seems the Salesguy trying to get me to buy the Nissan Xterra is starting to blink. I'll give an extended version later, all I have to say is that it is looking better and better that he will get a sale.

Comments On

I've turned the comments back on. Hopefully they have been off long enough to discourage the characters I have attracted lately .

WooHoo!

How cool would it be to fly into space? The latest SpaceShipOne flight test flight has brought that dream a little closer to reality for many of us (not that I would ever be able to afford to buy a ticket for a space trip, mind you).