Bogieblog

Riding With Bear

Last weekend we went for a short ride with Jim, Rebel, Christine & Ray. Chris and Ray bring their dog along on rides and somehow I have never gotten a picture. This time, I had the camera, and remembered that I needed to get a shot:

 

Chris and Ray roam the US (mostly Florida and NH) in their travel trailer that has a storage area for their bike. They are used to having Bear's picture taken. They have met a lot of people from both the US and abroad just because of Bear.

Purple Finch Visit

For the last couple of weeks we have had several visiters to the bird feeders that we only get to see a couple times a year (here anywah). I managed to get a shot of one of the Purple Finches:

 

 also managed to get a short video - not on purpose or anything, just had the slider in the wrong position. Upon further review, I should have let the video run instead of cutting it off and going to picture mode. The video can be seen here (my geek factor just went up - I now have a YouTube account):

Both picture and video taken 10/19/08

Free Concert

Okay, it's not really free, but the broadcast from our local radio station is. If you like Tesla, tune in to WHEB this Friday night at 8 pm (click on the "Listen Live" button near the upper left corner. The Morning Buzz, which is broadcast on several radio stations in this section of the country, is sponsoring the show. The Buzz personalities seem to create the most amazing relationships with stars of all kinds (they helped launch Larry the Cable Guys career for example).

Anyway, Tesla comes a couple times a year to the Hampton Beach Casino Ball Room and The Morning Buzz makes sure the sell out every time so the band agreed to a live broadcast of their show.

I am set to record it (assuming the software works on the timer).

USS New Hampshire

The fast-attack sub  USS New Hampshire came into the Portsmouth Naval Yard last weekend. Too bad we didn't get to go see it!

Amy Kane has some great pictures and write-up.

Busy-ness

It was a long week with long days taking care of customer issues and escorting the ISO auditors around. However, once all was said and done, the customers were happy (or at least placated) and the Company will be recommended for recertification.

Time to go back to bed so I can start all over next week with the pile of paperwork on my desk that must be completed by Tuesday (due for a customer audit - other's procrastination has made it my emergency).

Once that is over, then I get to work on the stack of folders on my desk that consist of my regular job.

This work stuff is for the birds (but better than the alternative).

Pumpkin Carving

For those of you who don't like the messiness of carving real live pumpkins, you can do it online. Just hold down the left mouse button while "carving".

Jammin

Somehow, instead of making something with the sweat pumpkins that came out of the garden, I canned 20 jars of pear butter yesterday. After perusing some recipes on the 'net, I made 3 different variations (none of which actually followed a recipe - that's the way I ususally do things). Anyway, I will share what I actually did use with you. Mind you, these were all placed into clean 1/2 pint jars and put in hot water bath for 12 minutes after the boil re-started (most places say 5-7 minutes is plenty, but I always boil longer).

Ingredients (per batch):

• 5-6 ripe pears (I used Anjou for two batches and bartletts for one batch)
• 1 apple
• 1 cup sugar
• 2-3 tsp lemon juice
• Spices (see variations below)
• Pectin (optional)

Variation 1:

• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp dired orange peel

Variation 2:

• 3/4 tsp Cardamom

Variation 3:

• Substituted Brown Sugar for white
• 1 tsp nutmeg (this spice was a little on the old side (all others were fresh), so you may want to use less and add as needed).
• 1 tsp almond flavoring.

I had originally planned to use Splenda baking mix (which I would have used 1/2 the amount of sugar) for the butters, but didn't have enough and the local Shaws doesn't carry it. So I had to buy regular sugar (no, I don't stock it) and used it for all the batches.

I cored and pealed the pears, then ran them thru the food processer with about 8 ounces of water to 3 pears (or 3 pears and 1 apple). After processorizing a batch of fruit, I dumped it in a pot, added the other ingredients, brought to a boil, boiled for about 10 minutes, added 1 tsp of Pectin (Sure-Jell, because that is what I happened to buy), boiled for another minute, turned off the fire, then filled the jars and continued canning as usual. This netted me right at 7 - 1/2 pint jars of butter (except the batch with 5 pears).

If you don't want to use pectin, you will have to boil down the mixture a bit (most recipes said 50 minutes) and will net more like 6 - 1/2 pint jars. Another interesting idea that I found on the 'net, was to use a crock-pot / slow cooker to heat and boil down the mixture. That would take 4-10 hours, but would reduce the chance of scorching the butter.

Pokeberry

In the Colors of Fall post, I mentioned the Pokeberry. I don't plant these things, they just come up as volunteers. Last year I had to pull up the volunteer that I found because it was right next to the fence where the dogs spend a lot of time. These plants are very poisonous so I decided I didn't want it where it was growing. This year, a volunteer came up on the slope, so I left it be. It hides for most of the season, then in the last month or so, it shoots up and is suddenly noticeable. This pictures were taken about 10 minutes ago - and the temp is 39 degrees:

  Pokeberry Plant - notice the fool thing is blooming (it wasn't blooming when I noticed it last weekend - just had berries).

  The Pokeberry Flower

  The Pokeberry Berries

NOw you guys won't feel so deprived.

Leaf Peeping Ride

Last Sunday we went for a ride with Jim and Kelly. I took a few photos of the foliage and thought I would share. First we went to Hollis, where I work, so I could change my phone message and email notifications to reflect that Monday was a Holiday. After taht, we headed towards Keene and I didn't get the camera out until we were almost to Peterborough:

  I believe that we were still in Temple at this point (just outside Peterborough on 101). This is the first picture I took - not bad for just holding it up and shooting (at 50-55 mph no less).

  This is on the outskirts of Peterborough (Temple side) on 101.

  This is also outside Peterborough.

  Jim and Kelly at the light in Peterborough.

Colors of Fall

Not much going on to write about, so will show you some pictures taken last weekend:

  3 Pumkins fresh from the garden. I took the other 2 pumpkins yesterday. These are largish carver-type, so they are sitting by the front porch being pretty. I gave the one on the right to Karen (along with a bunch of the decorative gourds), so she could decorate her apartment for the season.

Bailey's Viburnum (Pinky Winky Hydrangea flower in the foreground). Once the viburnums grow up a bit, they will give Burning Bushes a run for their money.

  The Sourwood tree is still too small to really see - can't wait for it to get some size on it so it can rival the maples.

  Blue Princess Holly - both female plants are just loaded with berries.