Bogieblog

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Sorry folks, for the second weekend in a row there will be no blogging. Everything is fine - just extra busy. Hopefully next weekend I will get some pics up of where we were last weekend, new bloomers (flowers, not drawers) and maybe birds at the bird feeder.

Be good everbody!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my Dad (Cop Car's Hunky Husband).

As usual this year, I did not get a card sent. This is especially sad because I bought the card when I got Dudette's BD card (which I got in the middle of May). My excuse is they moved Bike Week.

I can hear the peanut gallery grumbling that that makes no sense. Oh, but it does. It used to be Bike Week ended on Father's day so I had a full week's notice that I had to get the card in the mail. This year Bike Week effectively started on Father's Day - giving me no notice at all.

That is my story and I'm sticking to it!*

Rain in June

Rain! Glorious rain!

Despite having a low chance of rain, overnight we doubled the amount of rain we have gotten in the last month. So far we are at 1/2". We probably won't see much more, but that will help for now.

I tempted the Weather Gods by watering several of the established flower/shrub beds yesterday as well as half of the vegetable garden. I figured that we haven't gotten rain when there was 80% and 90% chance of rain, so the measly chance we had for last night meant nothing. We even heard thunder rumbling in the distance last night, but still nothing by the time we went to bed around 10:30 (of course we have heard thunder plenty of times in the last month - hasn't mean much around here this year though).

However, the Weather Gods could not resist the gauntlet I threw down in front of them and they gave up the good.

If you guys out west of us want to send a couple more storms our way, we would take a couple more inches (in 2-3 storms, not all at once). In return, I'll work on a recipe for you to reduce the storms and rain that you have been experiencing*.

Spring Blooms

So there is a post on roses that have been blooming this week, here are some other flowers in bloom:

  I got white irises from the neighbor a couple of years ago. This is the first bloom that I have gotten. Only one plant is in bloom; the rest look like they will be all foliage again.

  The Gold and Champagne iris is from Cop Car. As far as I can tell only two have survived the winters, but they sure are beautiful!

  These are just common Pinks (dianthus) that go about their business every year. Their color really pops out in the late afternoon sunshine and so I couldn't resist a picture.

Many other things are in bloom, but you can tell what doesn't like how dry it has been. Many plants are blooming, but they are lack-luster and and the bloom-period doesn't last as long as usual. The honeysuckle never really got a full bloom and the varigated weigala is looking dispirited - which is strange because those are established shrubs. Other items, such as pygmy barberry and the snow mound spirea, look like they will do extremely well (planted at the same time as the honeysuckle and weigala, and in the same area - go figure).

That is one of the reasons that I have about a gajillion different species of plants; If some don't do well, others are sure to come into their own.

First Rose Flush of 2008

I was so excited the other day when I got out to check out the flower gardens - there is so much in bloom! I was especially delighted with the roses.

Without further ado, let's get to the Rose pictures:

  From the deck planters, where there are potted up roses that I recieved this year, comes Excellenze Von Schubert, a Polyantha rose. This bunch is off the end of one tiny little branch (the plant is only 12-16" tall). The blooms are on the small side, but are fragrant. When the plant grows up, it is going to be stunning covered with its flowers and probably have a power house of a fragrance that will announce itself well before getting close to the shrub.

  A couple days later, the same bunch of EVS flowers have changed hues a bit.

Looking for More Bad Publicity

After the debacle of buying a bike there, last week I got a funny letter from Best Cycle. It came from the General Manager and stated how happy he was that I had bought from them and he trusted that my experience was great (this is not a quote, but my interpretation). It was a full page letter that ended with the notation that I might recieve a survey on my buying experience and if there was any reason I couldn't mark the survey as I would definitely recommend to someone else or that I would definitely buy there again, I should call him up to discuss the matter.

Monday I took him up on the offer and called him. After explaining that I couldn't mark either of those categories positively, he wanted to know why. I explained the whole story and he said that it sounded like they didn't get much of anything right. Um-hu.

Then he asked what he could do to help make ammends. I said that getting me that promised gift certificate might be a start. He asked how much I was promised and I told him, he said he would get it out to me.

I also suggested a hand-off checklist. He said there was one and he would look to see if it was filled out. After a bit more discussion on the checklist, we ended the conversation.

The funny thing is, it has been 5 days since I talked to him - there is still no gift certificate in my hand. I guess they really don't want me near their store again. Not a problem, I will go to their rival in Concord for all my business - which includes maintenance and parts.

WE Pundit's New Home

The Weekend Pundit is back up and running with his new site.

i wasn't able to leave comments on his old site, some glitch that couldn't be worked out. Hopefully I'll actually be able to leave comments on this one.

From Cool to Steamy in 1 Day

We finally got some rain - it's rained for 3 days. In those 3 days we only got 3/4", but at least it was something. I got to ride the bike to work on Monday and Tuesday, the dry days, anyway. All week it has been rather cool; today was the warmest in a while and it only got up to 62. With the clouds keeping the sun from warming the house, I'm tempted to throw on the heater (instead, we are huddled here in long sleeves and socks.

Tomorrow the big change comes and we will be in the 90's. Although at this point in the season, people in many areas will think that is just normal and no big deal, for us, at a 30 degree jump, it will be quite hot and miserable.

So, we will beat the heat the best way we know how, we'll jump on WS's bike and go for a nice long ride. We will probably do some Vermont exploration as a change of pace

I'll leave with some pictures taken within the last week.

Saturday Chores

We got none of the promised rain yesterday. Actually, we did get some - just enough that one could play connect-the-dots on the deck. At least it was cloudy, so it gave my transplanted veggies some relief from the sun.

I got green beans planted, but spent most time inside doing chores (housework, laundry, cleaning Birdie's cage etc.). WS spent time replacing part of the shed floor as it was getting a bit spongy and he figured it would not be a good thing if one of the bike tires or kickstands went thru. It was only a minor project - he only had to get the plywood twice. Yes, he did measure the thickness, but managed to measure at a knot so didn't get a true reading the first time (only at our place).

I tempted Mother Nature to rain by washing my truck and watering all the veggies after I planted the beans. Alas, although we got a couple rumbles of thunder, she just wasn't taking the bait.