Bogieblog

Closing Down

According to the local paper, the Heritage-NH Museum is closing down. Cop Car, HH and the Bogie household went thru there when they were in town. It is where Cop Car got to try out the SegwayGuess it's a good thing we saw it when we did!

Cataloging Music

Yesterday I completed entering all our CD's and albums (yes, vinyl records) into a Music Catalog Master database. In doing so, I discovered that we have 417 CD's/albums. Entering the CD's was easy as I just popped them into the computer's CD drive and the program read the info from there (title, artist, track titles, track times etc.).

Entering record albums was a little more involved as I had to find out if the album had been entered into their database. However, that was fairly straitforward as I could search by artist or album title. Surprisingly, I only had to enter 15 or so albums.

I had looked at several music cataloging databases (via trial downloads), but Music Catalog Master seemed to be the best for my uses. The real seller was that they made it easier to enter LP's, than any of the others (one didn't even have the option of labeling the disks differently - they were all CD's as far as the program was concerned).

Next I have to find a good movie cataloging database. I've looked at a couple that I was only supposed to have to enter the ISBN code, or the bar coade number, but I haven't gotten them to recognize any of the movies so I have to search the internet. If anyone knows of a good program please let me know (keep in mind I have to enter both DVD's and Tapes).

Then after movies, books - no matter how easy that database is, it will take a while!

Curtain Call Redux

When last I left this story, I had hung up new (sorta) curtains in the den, and promised pictures.

Having gotten the developed film back, I can now do so:

New Cabinetry

When last I left this subject, I still had to stain the new stereo cabinet, but the CD tower had been completed and loaded up. Then, I just left y'all hanging. I finally got pictures back, so you can judge if we improved on the look and functionality:

This is the old stereo cabinet. That big space that has the albums (and other junk) in it is supposed to hold a TV. As you can see (barely), the TV is to the left of the cabinet all together. All the stereo components fit in it, but if you look at the very right of the cabinet, that small strip of glass is hiding an area that is supposed to hold CD's - but it is empty. Empty also is the VCR tape holder that is behind the CD holder. That is because the door opens to the right, which is where the wall is at.

When we had our old TV, that fit in the entertainment center, the cabinet was against a wall that was open on both sides, so we could keep CD's and VCR tapes in the designed spaces. in order to run cables from the stereo components and the new TV, we had to place everything on this wall and that is the only way they fit.

New the Cat

New was a well-travelled cat. She was born in Florida, where she resided with my mother (Cop Car). Cop Car got the cat from some neighborhood boys on New Year's Day, thus the name "New" (I'm sure Cop Car will correct me if I get any of the begining parts wrong). After a while, Cop Car got tired of Florida and moved to New Mexico, taking New with her.

After a while, for reasons that don't matter, Cop Car asked if I would take care of New, I agreed and New moved to Kansas. At that point, we did not have any other animals. Occasionally Omar, the cat from next door, would visit, but New didn't mind that. Omar was a well behaved tomcat that didn't try to eat New's food, he would stroll in for a little attention (probably to get away from the young child for a while), then go back next door.

  (Omar, the neighbor's cat)

Another neighbor's cat, Snowball lived with us for a couple of months too. Once again, she didn't seem to mind.

  (Snowball, Shilo and WS)

Bogie Alone

So, less than a year after we moved to NH, Bogie was an only dog. He was still living at the BILs house too. It was heart-wrenching every time we went over to visit. When Bogie was let off the cable, he would run to the truck and jump up and down next to every window; looking inside - trying to see if Argent was in there. Maybe this time she would be there and we would let her out to play. He was always depressed when she didn't appear.

We kept looking at land, but houses were so expensive we didn't think we would ever be able to afford one. I had started working at "S"inc, where I would end up staying for 13 years. WS was working at the big Steel Company, a place he stayed for 10 years. One day WS came home and said we had to go look at a house. Someone he worked with had told him about it, and the pricewas within what we thought we could afford. The only hitch was that the house was a shell - unfinished - and had been empty for a couple of years.

We went to look at it, WS swore he could do the work it needed, and we went to talk to the real estate agent. To make a long story short, after much work, the bank agreed to finance it and we moved in in January of 1989.

We immediately moved Bogie from BILs place to our house. Bogie loved it there; the trees, the scents, the solitude fit him (that was way before we had neighbors). That spring, we built him a 25L x 25W x 6T pen. People thought we were nuts, spending huge money (for us) on fencing so he could have a nice large area to roam when we were away. But, we didn't want him on a cable longer than necessary. He had a cable at the front door, so we could let him out without him running off to kill someone's chickens, but if we weren't there to watch him, he was safe in the pen (if not in the house).

In June of 1989, we went back to Kansas to visit family and friends. Bogie, of course, went with us. He had a grand time meeting with his sire, Leroy, again.

  (Bogie on left, Leroy on right)

After we got back from the trip I got on "gotta have another dog" kick.

And this is where the story becomes jumbled because it morphs into a Bogie-Niki-Sampson (as O'Hara, the bird, says) story that really can't be seperated out. Unfortunately, you will have to wait a bit for that as I still haven't talked about New, the cat, and she definitely has to have her part told.

Argent and Bogie

Argent and Bogie were the product of the accidental mating of one neighbor's purebred Siberian Husky and another neighbor's husky (or malamut)/shepherd mix (Lonnie claimed that Leroy was a Russian Wolfhound/shepard mix but he sure didn't look like it).

WS and I each claimed a puppy, Lonnie claimed one, 3 friends each claimed one. I don't recall what happened with the other ones (or maybe I am mis-remembering and there were only 6 pups).

  (Argent on left, Bogie on right - May 1986)

Bird Feeding Myths

Here are the top 10 bird feeding myths from Duncraft.com's Blog:

1. Feeders keep birds from migrating
2. Bird feeding is bad (or good) for birds
3. Birds will starve if you quit feeding during winter
4. Mixed seed at the grocery store is bad
5. Birds wont eat milo
6. Squirrels won't eat safflower seed
7. There is only one hummingbird species east of the Rockies
8. Red dye in hummingbird food is bad
9. Perches on hummingbird feeders are bad
10. This feeder is 100% squirrel proof

Shilo

Shilo came to our apartment in Kansas with John, a room mate. She was 5-6 years old when she arrived. We weren't quite sure what to expect, us with no dogs but with one cat (New, who I will write about some other time).

Shilo, despite her flaws, soon wormed her way into our hearts. Her flaws were many; John had raised her in a way that guaranteed that. One moment he would praise her (or laugh) when she did something - the next time he would yell at her or kick her. She was also (supposedly) trained as a guard dog, trained to guard John's wife and kids. John's wife lift with the kids, leaving john with his car and Shilo. The car in great shape, Shilo was neurotic.

Shilo soon became my companion whenever I went somewhere. She loved to go for a ride, and would sit in the passanger seat checking out the scenery. If someone got too close to the car, she would bark her fool head off. The first time I took her with me, a neighbor and I went to the grocery store. When we came back out, she was barking so hard that I wasn't sure she would let us back in the car. Once she shut up for a moment and yelled out "Hi Shilo," she decided to let us in. I don't know what we would have done if that hadn't worked, but it did.

Shilo loved water. We would take her fishing with us and throw rocks for her to chase (scaring the fish, but we didn't care). We would throw a pebble into the water and she would bring out a rock much bigger:

Printer Arrived

Who knew that FedEx delivers on Saturdays, even when it's not Christmas?

Saturday the FedEx guy delivered my new printer. I unpacked the box and looked over the directions. A little more complicated than my last printer set-up, but shouldn't be too bad. I placed the printer in its new home and removed all the tape holding it together (I swear that HP must own stock in Scotch Tape).

I read the directions some more and discovered that I had to set up the CD portion before hooking up the USB cable. So I took out the CD and on one portion of the edge I felt roughness. In turning over the CD, took a look and thought, "just my luck, a screwed up CD." I was looking at a jagged edge that was about 1" long. Well, nothing for it but to try the CD anyway.

After 10 minutes the CD was only at 1% loading. Something wasn't happy so I popped out the CD (there is not other way to abort the loading of the software - even c tl-alt-delete gave me nothing). The computer grumbled that installation hadn't been complete and I would need to uninstall the portion of the software that had installed. Sure. Fine, Go ahead.