Bogieblog

Pick up

Saturday was the repeat of so many weekend days this winter; WS went to work for several hours to plow and snow blow. I was at home shoveling, performing my usual Saturday chores and performing some of WS Saturday chores.

The unusual part of the day came when Joe, WS's plowing buddy, dropped WS off. See, WS had driven himself in to work, using the rental car. I think you know where this is leading . . .

Bird Surveys

I got the Winter bird surveys (NH Audubon 2 weeks ago and GBBC last weekend) tallied up and filled out. My list of birds species is pretty sparse compared to Cop Cars. She saw, oh, about a gajillion species. We here at the Bogie manse saw a measly 9 species:

• Chickadees
• Tufted Titmice
• White Breasted Nuthatches
• Red Breasted Nuthatch (1 - we see only one every year)
• Blue Jay
• Mouring Dove
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Downey Woodpecker
• Redpolls

This year we didn't have any juncos. But the total count of species didn't change from previous years since we normally don't see redpolls.

At the rate of the snow storms around here, we won't see any other species for another 5 months or so.

HBD

Happy Birthday to Wichi Dude**

**(hope this makes up for the lack of a card!)

Skill

When the nosegear doesn't come down in an airplane, you call the fire crew out and hope the pilot makes a soft landing where the nose comes down really late - not much else to be done about it.

But when it is a helicopter, you hope the pilot is skilled enough that the ground crew doesn't get crunched!

Thanks to L.C., posting over at Misha's place, for the link to the video.

Week of 2/10/08

Last weekend was the NH Audubon Society birdwatch. Even thought I didn't see many birds (although some redpolls did show up, along with the usual suspects), I got a couple of pictures:

  Tufted Titmouse (taken 2/10/08)

  Chickadee (2/10/08)

Both pictures were taken in the morning out a side window in the workout room. The lilacs are a favorite place for the birds to take booty and gobble it down. Unfortunately, the birds tend to think the side of the house is the "safe" side, so they ususally have their backs to me; out of a dozen pictures, these are the only two that actually showed their faces. 

What a Flop

Me, answering the phone at work: This is Bogie.

WS: Hey

Me: Hey

[Yes, I know, we have stunning conversations]

WS: Are you getting off work on time or you going to be late.

[Looking at the clock, it is 3 PM, my 9 hours are in already]

Me: I was planning on leaving soon. Nothing pressing on my desk, so unless something lands on it in the next few minutes, I should be getting out of here. Why?

WS: Because you have to take me to go rent a car.

Game Night Quiz

You are invited to watch the Superbowl at someone's house (including dinner). You ask what you can bring and the answer is "Nothing.":

A)  Do you bring nothing
B)  Do you bring a little something (desert, chips, or maybe something to drink)
C)  Do you bring a whole freakin meal

If you said A or B, you have been sensitive to your hosts wishes. If you said C, your host is probably cursing you.

Next Test:

If you brought the whole freakin meal:

A) Did you bring something that could be popped into the oven and taken out when ready to eat as the  hosts planned dinner was designed to be
B) did you bring something that would require pouring the main portion into a pot and rewarming on the stove, using other pots and burners on the stove, using the oven, and using the microwave.

If you said A, your hosts might still be cursing you, but not loudly.
If you said B, take the next test

Next test: If you brought food that required several dishes and every heating element in the kitchen

A) did you volunteer to take care of your food preparations
B) did you expect the hostess to take care of the preparations

If you said A, your hosts may be miffed that you brought the whole meal, but at least you were sensitive to the fact that they wanted to watch the game and not spend 45 minutes in the kitchen.

If you said B, then your hostess would like to kick your teeth in for making her miss most of the second quarter of the game and commercials (on top of sticking the hosts with the pre-planned, pre-bought and prepared food that is still sitting in the fridge).

Next test:

A) Did you repack the leftovers to take home
B) did you leave it to the hostess to dump everything in the pans back into your dishes, bag up the bread and pack it back up for you

If you answered A, well, at least you did something right
If you answered B, then you not only should be missing some teeth (from the hostess, remember her restraint?) but you are seriously on the shit list.

Next test:

A) did you bring desert with the whole freakin meal

If yes, when it wasn't eaten

A) did you take it home (or leave a couple of slices and take the bulk of it home)
B) did you decide that the hosts' diets weren't important and leave the whole freakin cake

If you answered A, no extra deductions are added

If you answered B. You are not really anyone that the hosts need in their home again anytime soon. The hosts not only have to find a way to dispose of the food that they were providing, but now they have extra food in the fridge that they don't want or need.

If your answers were mainly in the B (or C) range, I hope you enjoyed the game and commercials because that is the last time you will ever be invited, or welcome on game day.

Working on the Ice

Friday afternoon we had an ice storm with a couple of inches of snow thrown in. It should come as no surprise that I spent some time yesterday chipping ice from the deck, front walkway and the stone stairs to the driveway. I also spent time cleaning the upstairs carpets.

WS was at work plowing and shoveling, then came home and shoveled the end of the driveway. When even the truck didn't leave tracks in the burm, you know the ice was too strong for a snow blower to do anything about. He also got sand and threw it on the driveway since there was nothing at all to be done about the ice there.

The reward at the end of the day was watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It's one of those movies that has been on the shelf waiting for us to have a couple of hours of time and no ambition (or the need to recuperate).

Today I'll be chipping ice on the front walkway (hey, only so much comes off at a time - the rocks underneath need to warm up before the lower layer will come off) and the steps to the dog pen and cleaning the carpets where the furniture now sits. The rest of the paths will just get sand since, like the driveway, there just isn't anything that can be done for them.

The reward at the end of the day will be watching the Super bowl - Go Pats!

Bird Count Time

The New Hampshire Audubon Society Backyard Winter Bird Survey is Feb 9-10. This is for NH only, but you might check out your state Audubon Society's website and see if a birdcount is scheduled for your area.

The Great Backyard Bird Count, put on by Cornell University (partnered with Audubon) is Feb 15-18. This is a continent wide count, so most of my readers can participate.

Speaking of birds, the local BiL says he saw several Pine Grosbeaks in his crabapple tree. All of my books say that its wintering range is farther north, with occassional eruptions down this far (and further) south. However, Cornell University says NH is a regular wintering area. All I can say is that I doubted he saw one because I've never seen one (and goodness knows, I've seen every bird to ever be in the state - not), but now I know that they are at least irregular visitors, I believe.

Anyway, if you have any interest in bird watching, participate in your local, or the North American, bird count.