Bogieblog

Not Living Off the Land

Like my poor tomato plants haven't had enough to deal with - what with the wide temperature swings and the grasshoppers feeding on them like mad. Last night we got 1/2" of rain in 8 minutes. On top of that, we got a couple of rounds of hail that came down so violently that the ice balls were bouncing back into the air 2-3 feet.

I am so glad we don't depend on the garden to eat because we would definitely starve this year!

Further Explainations

This was supposed to be a witty post, but since I haven't had much sleep for the last week, witty is not how I feel, or how this post will read. Hell, I'll be lucky if it's even remotely readable.

So last week, it was in the 90's - both temp-wise and humidity-wise (okay, a couple of times the humidity levels got down in the 80's). I knew the clothes would take a while to dry (we don't have a clothes drier, so everything is hung on clothes-racks, unless it is actually nice enough outside to hang them on the clothes-line, but since it has rained every day, except 3, since it quit snowing, everything has to be hung downstairs to dry - hey, I warned you that this may not be readable), but couldn't figure out why all the clothes on the lower rungs were actually still wet (not damp, but wet) after hanging for two days.

After looking at the floor under the hanging clothing, and seeing that it was "dew covered", I thought it was because the basement was at 76 degrees - lower than the dewpoint, which meant my clothes were raining on the floor, then when the moisture would evaporate, was being caught back up by the clothes.

Cleanlines Counts

If yours is anything like mine, your computer monitor's screen could use a good cleaning. There is a great product out there, evolved especially for this problem, that I don't mind giving some free advertising to.

Thanks to Blakavar, from Siflay Hraka, for finding the perfect solution!

Another Meme

I got tagged by Rita with a meme to list 5 things I miss from childhood:

1. Fluffy (cat)
2. Butterscotch (cat)
3. Midnight (cat)
4. KC (dog)
5. Campfire Girl Camp

A list of her links, remove one, and and someone else:

• April
• Connie
• Walls Come Tumbling Down
• Res Ipsa Loquitur
• Bogieblog

Now I gotta pass the darn thing on

• Bod (because she is new and it's the first rotton thing I can do to her)
• Wichi Dude (because there couldn't be a nicer BiL)
• Cop Car (I don't want to hear about pet dinosaurs either!)
• Buffy (because she wanted to be adopted into our family)

House of Mush and Mold

In a couple of days, we will see what sort of reconstructive surgery the house needs vs what insurance will actually pay for. Should have removed that useless window last year (or before) instead of planning to do it this year. Of course if the foundation for the back of the house is sliding, as it appears to be doing from the angle we have, it doesn't make that much difference at all.

More details later.

New Blogger

The person that has put up with Billy for so long is now blogging herself. Go and say a big "Howdy". Now mind your manners and be nice. We have plenty of time to show her our true, degenerate selves!

Walking On Out

Yesterday, we put in a full days work in the 90+ degree, 75+ humidity factor, miserable day (I have the sunburn to prove it - ouch). I made the executive decision that we would have dinner elsewhere so we could get into some air conditioning (and bonus, I wouldn't have to do dishes).

I told WS the plan, and he said, "It better be someplace with air conditioning." I assured him that that was my main intent, so he was happy.

So, after taking cool showers to get off the worst of the funk, we headed into town to Nonnies, a fairly new Italian restaurant (it's been there less than a year anyway). We get to the restraint just ahead of another couple and enter the bar portion of the place. It is hot in there and I see fans set up to move the air around - not a good sign.

The little sweetie (as my dad would say) comes up and asks us how many for dinner. I indicate "two" and asked her if it was cooler in the eating area than where we were standing. "Oh certainly. He has set up 3 air conditioners and several fans."

Belmont Stakes 2005

Yesterday, at 0-dark thirty, I woke up to someone's alarm beeping. I woke up thinking "What the heck, it's Saturday, no alarms should be set."

It didn't sound like my alarm, but I turned to my clock and found that I couldn't see the numbers. Darn cat must have pushed it around again. So I started feeling the top of the dresser until I found the clock.

Then the realization hit me - I couldn't see anything. I don't mean my normal massively fuzzy sight - I mean I couldn't see anything at all. No nightlight from by the back door, neither of our clocks, not even the very faint glow of power strip lights from the den.

I now knew that the noise was my alarm and it wasn't going to be easy to shut it off because it belonged to the UPS that is located behind the printer stand in the den. I laid in bed for a couple of minutes, hoping the power would come back on and save me the hassle. Hardy-har-har-har, the joke was on me. I would have to get up and take care of the darn thing.

Heavy clouds had come in that night, so there was no moonshine or starshine to be had. It was totally and truly dark. The only flashlight that I sm ever sure of the location to, is the on that is plugged in next to the woodstove. I took the route that was least likely to have dogs toys strewn on the floor, and of which I would be least likely to mis-judge my position; the kitchen route instead of thru the living room.

After that, I had to thread my way between the dogs' water trough and the kitchen table/chairs. For the grand finale, I had to reach behind the wood rack (and its various acutraments) to get to the flashlight. I could see the little light glowing, but I had failed to pick up my glasses before coming up the stairs, so could not see enough to tell me where the last of the obstacles were.

Weather Suckage

It has been Hazy, Hot and Humid for the last week - except that one day that it was in the low 60's. It has been way too hot to do much of anything. Daily (except the 60 degree day), we have had afternoon/evening thunderstorms, that don't seem to cool it off any. Heck, the night time temps aren't getting as low as our highs were for the last 5 weeks. It would have been wicked nice to actually get some days in the 70's and low 80's before jumping straight into the high 80 and mid-90 temps!

Between the abrupt change in temperature, powdery mildew (from the previous 5 weeks of damp and cool weather) and the grasshoppers, none of the vegetables and a lot of the other plants aren't happy campers. Late spring bloomers started to have a go at it, then gave up and shut down the blooming early with the heat we have had. On of my rhododendrons half-heartedly sent out flowers for about 3 days - the other rhody set flower buds, but they never opened.

My parrot tulips were just getting large enough to send up bloom bearing shoots, but they have ended that cycle without bothering to do that. The bleeding hearts had a pretty good showing last week, but they are starting to die back from the heat even though they are in shade most of the day.

The summer bloomers have been caught by surprise and haven't the foliage to support a lot of blooms. It looks like the only things that will bloom well are the irises and lilies - and really, what can disturb their growing seasons except transplantations?

This season has been so rough on the plants that I am even considering, gasp, fertilizing them! That is a sign that things are really bad since I believe in the plant-em and see-if-they-survive theory. I don't have time to baby them, so if they can't make it on their own, they don't belong in my garden. However, with the stressful weather, I truly think they need an extra edge and will probably get some organic stuff to help them out a bit.

I tell ya, the weather gods are laughing at me!

Mileage

An interesting thing happened last weekend when we went to visit some friends. We were called something we have never been called before. Oh, each of us has been called words that have started with “A” and “B” and I know I’ve been called the “C” word – but I don’t recall ever having been called, either with or without the Wonderful Spouse, the “T” word.

It all came about as JR was talking about seeing a friend off his, Keith, who had flown in from

California

. JR hasn’t seen this person for 15 years (maybe it was 18 years – doesn’t really matter). This person owns his own small business, so I assume puts in lots of hours at work. It is also important to note that JR has not flown, driven or walked out to

California

since he moved away, so the onus is not completely on Keith.

According to JR, the reason Keith hasn’t been out here before is he is tight with his money. Note – money is not tight for Keith, rather Keith is tight with money – and the evidence is that Keith hasn’t come out to

New Hampshire

before this. JR goes on to comment to WS that, “Keith is the only person I know that is tighter than you with money.”

Now I realize JR had had a few beers. But he certainly wasn’t in too rough a shape to recognize that we are the people who have: given him loans (no interest and pay us back whenever you can); given him a stereo system that was in perfect working order and only a couple of years old (which he is still using), because his stereo died; given him chairs to go with his kitchen table; given him 1^st or 2^nd dibs on any furniture we were planning to get rid of; always gone to his place with our own soda or beer so we don’t drink his; always gone to his place to see him because he can’t seem to be able to find the road to our place.

He also knows of other friends that we have done those exact same things for. But, we are tight with our money. Yep, Okay, whatever you say JR.

So that is the current running joke at the Bogie household. We have gotten a lot of

mileage out of it, such as “Sorry,  I was squeaking so loudly I couldn’t hear you.”

Yes we are rather simple people, why do you ask (and why are you staring at us like that?)