Bogieblog

Make that Godmother

You Are The Godfather Ice Cream

Someone crosses you, and they'll end up with a scoop of this in their bed

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?

This was the easiest quiz I've ever taken!

From Jay at Accidental Verbosity.

Fish Tale

At least he didn't get away - otherwise nobody would believe this fish story!

Yes, I know, sharks aren't technically fish, so get over it already.

BWAHAHAHAHA

You are Ocean Blue

You're both warm and practical. You're very driven, but you're also very well rounded. You tend to see both sides to every issue, and people consider you a natural diplomat.

What Color Blue Are You?

Oh yeah, everyone I know considers me a diplomat - NOT!

Thanks to Deb, at Accidental Verbosity, for giving me a good laugh.*

Driving

I've heard of traffic jams (and was in one last Thursday when I was coming back from RI and it took an hour to go the 1 mile between 2 exits), but this one is a little different.

Racing News

I'm not sure what it says about science and today's world when they are cloning racing jackasses, but it certainly says something.

Getting my Red Shoes Out

I thought we weren't in Kansas anymore. Make sure to check out the videos too.

Actually, if I remember what I heard last night correctly, NH averages 1 of those a year.

Be Good Kids

Did I mention this will be a really lite week (as in non-existant, most likely) for posting? I have to leave 1/2 hour earlier to get in all my pet-sitting, and most of that time comes out of my couple of minutes of computer time in the morning.

We'll probably be leaving this weekend for some destination with Jimmy, so no posting then either. We're just hoping it warms up above the 50's so that is won't be too cold riding the bike.

Today was the 1st morning in a couple of weeks that the deck has been dry when I let the cats out. Hopefully that is a good omen!

More NH News

According to the US Geological Survey, the flooding that we went thru last weekend was officially a 100 year flood.

Flows during the flood peak for the Lamprey, Exeter, Warner, Soucook, Merrimack and Spicket rivers generally were at or exceeded those peaks that would be expected an average of once in a 100-year period, termed the 100-year return interval,” said Kenneth Toppin, a USGS hydrologist.

Examples of recorded peak flood flows highlight the magnitude of the flooding, Toppin said. For example, the peak flow in the Lamprey River at Newmarket was 9,100 cubic feet per second on May 16; normal flow for this date is 366 cubic feet per second. The Piscataquog River near Goffstown had a peak flow of 10,100 cubic feet per second on May 14; normal flow for this date is 426 cubic feet per second.

Some dams have had to be torn down or breached to relieve pressure. The retaining wall of one dam has developed cracks that are worrisome.

The local news station, WMUR, has a webpage up with links to several videos, stories and pictures of the flooding.

Atlantic Ave has lots of pics, links to videos with soundtracks that she made (Floodchasers and Watery New Hampton - patience with the loading time) and posts on the flooding of the seacoast region.

Here is a hand-drawn map of rainfall totals from observation data points around New England. Link from the Mount Washington Observatory. And here is a radar estimation (also from MWO).

The picture at right shows the radar estimates for rainfall totals for the past week's storm from the NWS radar in Gray, ME. The widespread 8 to 12 inch totals across the state are incredible to see, but I'm more drawn to the aberrations around, and specifically to the West of Mount Washington. The wedge of low totals west of Mount Washington have two causes, one real, one a figment of the technology used in the estimate.

The first and most apparent reason for the low precip wedge west of the peak is a phenomenon called beam blockage. The radar beam leaves Gray, ME, and performs numerous scans of the horizon at different angles to get its radar imagery. However, when the scan is performed on its lowest tilt, the beam actually hits our mountain somewhere just above treeline. Therefore the radar beam is actually blocked from recording low precipitation west of the mountain.

The second reason for the wedge, and more specifically the reduced rainfall totals west of the mountains, is down sloping. The rain that fell from this storm formed in very low clouds that were moving from east to west. As the storm clouds trekked from the ocean to the mountains, they lost much of their moisture as rainfall. Therefore, once the air rose over the peak, and descended the other side of the White Mountains, there was very little moisture left to fall as rain. The observers during the storm even observed a lot of clear air on the western slopes during the event, while the rest of the mountain was socked in!

The result of these two phenomena is the wedge of low precip and beam blockage extending from Mount Washington in today’s picture.

Comments from 07:54 AM Thur May 18th - Jim Salge - Observer

Bridge Comes Tumbling Down

Damn, too bad I missed this while I was in Rhode Island (scroll down to the second picture - it's a beauty). Heck, I didn't even hear about it.

Thanks to Brent, at Weekend Pundit, for providing the link!

Birding News - Updated

Go to the end of the post for the updated part.

The migrant birds have really started pouring into our area in the last 10 days. We have seen the usual suspects:

• Red breasted grosbeak
• Evening grosbeak
• Brown headed cowbird
• Robin
• Goldfinch
• Blue Jay
• Chickadee
• Nuthatches (red and white breasted)
• Red winged black bird
• Ruby throated hummingbird

We have seen some types that we usually only see occasionally:

• Cardinal (M and F)
• Evening Grosbeak
• Chipping Sparrow (I hear them every summer, but rarely see them at a feeder)

Then there are the ones for which it has been the first sighting (although I knew they were around because I would hear their song/calls). WS deserves the credit for the sightings as he called me over to identify both of them:

• Flicker (female)
• Male Rufus sided Towhee

The towhee was the most exciting. WS called me over to identify a bird on the ground. I had just decided that it was a strangely marked robin when I vaguely remembered previously seeing a picture of a robin-type bird with the white markings on the tail and undersides. I pulled out the trusty bird book and was thrilled that my memory wasn't playing tricks on me and that it was a bird that I had never seen before in my life (as far as I know anyway).

The flicker was cool too. I always hear the loud call of flickers around, but had never seen one here (although I have seen them at other places). Perhaps it was because I was looking in trees instead of on the ground where they search for ants (we could feed a whole flock of flickers with all the ants we have; interesting sidenote - ants love poor soil - which would be why they love our place.). Who knew there was a woodpecker that preferred to eat on the ground?

I could swear that I heard a scarlet tanager the other day, but I haven't heard it since so may have been mistaken. At any rate, I haven't seen one yet this year. I'm also still hopefull that an indigo bunting will show up, but the odds are fairly long that it won't since we only had one for one season (4-5 years ago).

So that is the birding news from the Bogie household, where I just came in from sweeping the neighbor's driveway out of the street (sand, gravel and stones up to 3" diameter), more rain should arrive shortly, and even the peepers have shut up because they are disgusted with all the rain.

UPDATED: I did, I did, I heard a puddy-tat the scarlet tanager. Yesterday afternoon, WS and I also saw it on the fence near the shed. I thought it was the cardinal (I, being blind, just saw a really red blob and assumed it was the male cardinal who has been hanging around that area). I just thought it appeared extremely red because it was in shade and against a dark background. Then WS asked what it was and provided me with the details (black wings, black on tail), I provided the name.