Bogieblog

Sighting

OMG - I can't believe what I saw yesterday at the birdfeeder. This is definitely a rare sighting, if it what I thought it was. I'm ambivalent about the sighting. I hear you don't want these at your feeders as they won't let any birds feed (and none were able to while it was there).

I need some of the birder's help out there for a positive ID; I got pics from a couple of different angles. Tell me if you think it is a yellow bellied catbird.

A Hand in the Garden

What type of gardener are you? I'm a #3, except when I'm a 4.

Freeze Map

Are you like me and start plants ahead of time? Do you use a green house in which temperature is regulated by manually opening or closing the door? Do you rotate planters in and out the door while trying to harden off the plants? Do you try to beat Mother Nature by planting a little earlier than is proper for your zone?

If you answered "Yes" to any of those questions, this website might be something that would be useful.

Thanks to the Backyard Granger for the link.

#2 on the Books

Concord only got 2.8" of snow yesterday. It was enough to propel us into the #2 spot for snowiest season on record at 115.2 inches. To break the record, we need another 7" of the white stuff - not unheard of at this point in the season. Here at the Bogie manse, we most likely got more snow than what is used as the official record; the official measurements are taken at the Concord airport (becasue those are the records tha go back the farthest - into the 1800) and we usually see more snow than they do (WS works in Concord, so can attest to that fact).

After the 6" of snow we got in Deering yesterday, here is what the front yard looks like:

Not much different from previous pics I've posted - we don't get nearly as warm as the cities, so we haven't seen the melting that they have. At work, which is in the far south of the state, they had green grass growing most places. The only snow (before the storm yesterday) was from where the snow was mounded up by plows.

We actually do have some green at our house, under the overhang of the upper floor:

These iris will bloom way ahead of its brethren next to the driveway!

Sign of Spring?

UPDATED: I resized the pictures so you could get a better look at them and I named the flower pic.

The tomatoes I planted last weekend were eager to start (all pics taken 3/27/08):

 

 

Lost

If your a gardener, I'll bet you've done this at least once!

I'm in the process of creating a spreadsheet to track the performance of the seeds I am starting, but my "grid" is on paper. Maybe I ought to re-think my strategy and add a little something to the spreadsheets!

Take a Guess

I'll bet some of you can guess what the following pictures mean:

Service Time

Yesterday I took my truck in for its 90k mile checkup (for those counting, I've had the truck less than 4 years). The 90k service is a major one, and takes a lot of time. additionally, within the past 10 days, the truck had begun squealing. And to top it off, since Monday, it has been groaning when the steering wheel is turned left (actually, during all steering when cold). So, I knew this was going to take some major time.

Unfortunately, the service place is about 30 miles away (isn't everything?). So, I packed up my book bag with the ancient laptop that I got from the fiber company when it closed, 3 books and the Sunday newspaper crossword puzzle. Thursday night I loaded the computer with stuff I had brought from work to do this weekend. It was a comedy as I had loaded the stuff at work onto a 2G flash drive. However, the laptop does not have the technology to power that type of drive, so I had to load it onto the first flash drive I ever owned - a top of the line (at the time) 32MB drive. Windows 98 could recognize that and actually power it thru the USB 1.0 port.

WS was laughing at all the wires I had going; the laptop only has 2 USB ports, both side by side. The flash drive is too large to be able to use both ports at the same time, and one was hooked up to the mouse (I hate trying to use touch pads). So, I had to pull out the equally ancient USB port hub, which I had bought for the laptop when I still worked for the fiber company (WS always makes fun of me for saving everything that goes to the different machines because it is hard for him to believe that most of parts for newer machines won't run on the older ones). Then, I had to make several trips between my computer downstairs, and the laptop upstairs to transfer all the files I needed (upstairs was warmer and I had more room on the coffee table to set everything up).

Finally, everything was all set and the bag packed for Friday.

And the Award Goes To

In the Iditarod, there are plenty of winners:

• Deborah Bicknell reached the finish line on Monday to claim the red lantern -- the last of the awards to be presented as part of Iditarod 2008.
• Babe, the lead dog for third-place Iditarod finisher Ramey Smyth, won the The City of Nome Lolly Medley Golden Harness Award.
• Cim Smyth won the Nome Kennel Club's Fastest from Safety to Nome Award.
• Jeff King, the runner-up in this year's race, won the Alaska Airlines Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for dog care (he finished with 14 of his 16 dogs, only dropping 2 at White Mountain hoping to pick up speed),
• Ray Redington Jr. claimed the Fred Meyer Sportsmanship Award.
• William Kleedehn from Carcross won both The Northern Air Cargo Herbie Nayokpuk Memorial Award and the Rookie of the Year.
• Jennifer Freking won the Chevron Most Inspirational Musher Award for.
• The village of Nulato won the Golden Clipboard Award for hospitality.
• Warren Palfrey won the GCI Satellite Communications Most Improved Musher Award.

There are some cool stories behind the reason each award winner was chosen, so go take a look at the entire article. The article also lists the winners of awards during the race - who was first at certain checkpoints, which I didn't list here.

Do Not Call Registery

Our local telephone company sent out a reminder that if you signed up for the Do Not Call registry in 2003 (when it was first developed), you must re-register because it runs out after 5 years.

However, the FTC says that your registration does not expire pending actions by the government.

So, what to do? Well, the Do Not Call Registry has a button that allows you to Verify Registration. The interesting thing is that the verification email states the date your registration will run out.

I don't know what the heck I am supposed to do (re-register, not bother), but at least I know that our registration is good until at least 6/28/08