Bogieblog

Smelling Things

On the gardening forum where I lurk, I perked up my ears (figuratively) when I reached the topic for fragrant flowers for someone's new deck. GardeningGirl came up with a list, but was not sure where it came from. On the list were some names that I was unfamiliar with (Evening Stock and Stock) so I Googled "evening stock" and found her source over at OrganicGardening.com. They give a comprehensive list of annuals and perennials that fragrence up the area.

I found that evening stock has a scent that is a mixture of nutmeg and vanilla (mmm, makes me hungry). Stock has a spicy scent too but blooms during the day instead of the evening (plant them next to each other and you can be hungry all day!).

Speaking of scented plants, I have some HUGE oriental lilies blooming right now. They are white/light yellow and look almost like this lily. I wish I knew what they are, but they were replacement plants for some that I ordered and the nursery sold out of (you might think that I would have kept the packing slip so I would have their name - but you would be wrong). They put out massive perfume and really brighten up the shade over where the well is at. I took pictures the other night - but of course it will take some time to finish the roll of film and get it developed.

Hydrangea, Deer and Moose Oh My

On a gardening forum that I belong to (lurk on is more like it, although I do occasionally post to a topic), someone asked about hydrangea and deer.

Apparently deer love hydrangeas - and I have planted 3 of them in the last couple of months. There are two down at the driveway and the one next to the house. I expect if deer bother any of them, it will not be the one at the house.

But now I'm wondering if moose have the same liking for hydrangeas because they don't care where something is - they just go get it if they want it. We occasionally have moose wonder up our driveway, go beside the house and thru the backyard. One about drove Bogie, a Husky/Shepherd we used to have, nuts because it walked within about 2 feet of where he was on the cable - all the while he was barking like mad and the moose never even deigned to look at him.

I guess that is a wait-and-see thing; I'll find out eventually!

Shortly

I am sooooo looking forward to filling the oil tank for the start of the heating season! I want to know what kind of home uses 275 gallons of fuel in 10 days though. Either he is living in a mansion, or he is living in a rough-hewn shack - either way I'm glad we're not in his shoes!

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I get to pick up my new wedding ring today. That was quicker than they had told me - they said around 4 weeks and it has only been 2 weeks. Can't complain about Kay's service at all!

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I've been busy with pet-sitting the last couple of weeks, and it will continue until October (I only have 1 day between now and 10/1 that I don't have any pets to sit). One of my stops in the last 10 dyas has been to take care of Moka and her sheep (and the 1 chicken that is left). The house sits on a ridge, with the trees below the house cleared our. I get there just before sunrise, when there is a tiny strip of pink or purple outlining the mountains on the horizon - beautiful!

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We had to replace the mailbox last weekend because the door hinges had rusted offf. This is the 4th (or 5th, I'm not keeping an official count) mailbox we have had in the 17 years we have been here. All of our mailboxes have been of the "Rural" type - wider, taller and deeper than the average sit-on-the-post mailbox. That way the mail lady can drop off boxes of books and other packages without any trouble so we don't have to go to the post office to pick the packages up.

I bought a "Rural" mailbox on Saturday to find out that they are now shorter and skinnier than they used to be. Oh sure, they are just as long, but length isn't everything!

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And that is the (short) news from Bogieland. Tune in this weekend for more thrilling posts!

Naval Shipyard Saved

New Hampshire is celebrating that the BRAC Commission decided not to close down the Portsmouth Naval Ship Yard. It really puzzled me how it got on the list after winning awards for efficiency, cost savings and excellence in repair work. If the base was mediocre or costing an arm and a leg more than private contractors, then fine, close it - but that wasn't the case.

As the  Chairman explained the commission's rejection of the recommendation for closure, "It is the gold standard by which we should measure shipyards."

The people of the base should be proud that it was solely through their excellent work that the shipyard is staying open!

Money Musings

So, I finally got some time to read some of my favorite blogs (besides the 4 that I check at least a couple of times a week), and got over to Deb and Jay's place. Wouldn't you know it, they pointed me to the Carnival of Personal Finance and I got all sidetracked again.

I got into reading Revisiting the Lottery and found myself agreeing with what was written. I don't think the author went far enough with the calculations though because he didn't account for the difference in prize money if the winner chose the Cash option (as opposed to the annuity - and I have never heard anyone say they would take the annuity if they won). For the cash option, you can figure the prize is cut by about 1/2 to begin with. Then the government gets more than 1/3 of that so winner's take is only about 1/3 of the advertised prize (which is always the annuity value).

So, a $10 million annuity prize is roughly a $5 million cash prize, the government gets $1.65 million of that - so the total take home cash prize is $3.35 million. Then you can get into the calculation of the opportunity cost from there. however, I will admit, that we  play the lottery if it gets up to $100 million - but that's assuming that we hear an ad on the radio, because otherwise we would never know what the jackpot is worth.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Hiking

After a day of working in the yard (WS on the walkway and myself on planting irises and cutting back dead stalks), Jimmy came over and we went for a ride. WS decided we should go to Mt. Kearsarge, for a fairly short ride.

We took the 1/2 mile walk to the fire tire at the top. 1/2 mile doesn't sound like much, but the grade is pretty steep and the trail mostly broken rock, so it took a while to climb. Most people seem to only make it about 1/4 mile (that is, those that bother to get out of the parking lot and make the climb), to the 1st really nice view on an outcrop of rock.

The view was amazing, but we will have to go on a clear day instead of a hazy day. We will also have to take a map so we can figure out what lakes are what (we could see 6 huge lakes) and which mountain peaks are which.

When we got home, 4 hours after we left (pretty usual for a 2 hour ride for us), we grilled hamburgers and sent Jimmy on his way so we could get some sleep.

What a nice way to spend a late afternoon!

Irises

I have 6 flower beds with bearded irises in them; 1 bed to either side of the porch to the house, one bed to either side of the steps to the driveway, a bed in front of the roses, and a bed in front of the azaleas and forsythias. I probably have around 100 individual iris plants spread amongst those 6 flower beds. Out of all those plants, I only have 4 colors; white (thanks Chris), yellow (thanks mom), purple (grandma), and what I call burgandy (mom and grandma).

Yesterday I went to Walmart to replace the watering nozzle that WS had run over with the mower (needless to say, the mower won that fight!). Let me explain, I never go thru Walmarts plant shop because they carry stuff that is just "normal". When I am looking for plants, I want something a little special, a little different than a mass retailer like Walmart carries. I get most of my plants thru local greenhouses or websites. Our local Agway is also good for getting some interesting stuff, and of course I swap stuff with neighbors (I can't wait for next year when the cream-colored foxgloves bloom that I got from our neighbor's).

This time, since I wasn't getting anything else from there, I went thru the garden section of Walmart. They had an interesting celosia that I picked up (I know, I just spent money for another couple of weeks of blooms before it dies) and a hardy mum (which I have never had a hardy mum actually stay hardy and survive thru the winter).

Then I had to pass a bin of bulbs and such on the way to the watering wands and I saw them.

Bad Timing

WS finally told the people at work that he wouldn't be working this weekend as he had stuff he had to do. That stuff includes, getting a dump truck load of stone dust and getting the patio put together (and maybe the walkway too).

Leave it to WS to pick a day that it rains to take off work and get stone dust!

Capitalists

Instead of spending my pitifully small amount of time in the morning reading my favorite blogs, the last couple of days I have been reading stuff that I never would have seen except that the Weekend Pundit hosted the Carnival of the Capitalists this week.

As an aside - I think WS and I could easily be millionaires if we made nearly as much as that couple highlighted as the second pick under the Editor's Choice!

Anyway, since I've got nothing for you to read, go check it out.

Guaranteed

About 5 years ago I lost my wedding ring in the snow. That spring he found it and I wore it until the spring of 2003, when I lost it while raking leaves. He got me a new ring for Christmas of 2003. I have taken it in every 6 months for cleaning and inspection.

In June, they took the ring and repaired a loose diamond - returning it about 10 days later. Friday while at work, I looked down and immediately noticed that the center diamond chip was missing. Friday afternoon I took it in to have them replace the diamond. I let the guy know right off the bat that I wasn't happy that the ring wasn't even two years old and I was already having problems (dropping that famous - my last ring I kept for 17 years and never had a diamond come out).

The guy asked me if it had been a special order or if we had had it sized. I told him it had been sized down from a 5 to a 4 1/2. He had a proposal for me: