Bogieblog

A Bit of Linkage

Just a few links for some of those things that I wanted to comment on, but didn't have a full post for:

Buffy has been playing in her yard and gardens. We had warm weather all week (until Thursday anyway) and a lot of our snow melted. Friday morning it was snowing hard when I left for work, but it didn't stick in the bare spots. However, it has been below freezing since then (in the teens Saturday morning), so gardening just has to wait a bit longer.

Perhaps I will start some pepper and tomato seeds today to get some of the spring fever out of my system.

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The Weekend Pundit has a thoughtful post on the potential unintended consequenses of the healthcare bill that was recently passed. I am in agreement with him, and really believer that although we are not in the "rich" category, we will be paying even more taxes (our Fica and Fed have both gone up this year even though our incomes haven't - and we aren't even paying for the HC bill yet), get worse healthcare, have longer waits, and have to up our deductible even more than it is presently (1k). And, just for the record, I don't think the "rich" should be footing the bill either.

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I missed Earth Hour. I was busy keeping the woodstove going and feeding a friend that is less fortunate than we are. Bruce, from Mass Backwards had a lovely thought about it though:

Imagine if everyone went outside today and picked garbage up off the streets and sidewalks for an hour, instead of sitting at home in the dark *feeling* good about helping the planet.

Heh!

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For some lighter fare, there is always LOLCats to bring a smile to your face.

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Hope everyone has/had a great weekend!

Downsized

So, after a bit over 7 years, our TV sh*t the bed. It doesn't turn on, but we know it isn't the button or the electronics that turn it on, as we always get a helpful flashing red light, that according to the manual, means bring in a technician (translation: this is gonna cost you big time - especially if it is the tube).

We've got more important things to spend our money on for the next couple of months (plus, WS's job is not real stable, they layed off 2 people last week, so there is no reason to spend money if we don't have to) so we were stuck moving furniture around to accommodate the new arrangements. At first, I didn't think we would move the old TV out of the way, so I brought up a table from the den, to put the little TV on:

   Table and little TV placed in front of useless floor weight.

  I remembered the TV that Wichi Dude and Dudette had given us for Christmas the same year we got the big TV. Upon getting it out, I realized that although it was a really nice thought, it wouldn't hook into the cable :) So back to the TV from the workout room.

I did all this while WS was gone so when he got back, I asked him if he wanted to try to move the big TV to the back room. To my surprise, he said sure. He called Chris, the neighbor, and they got it settled in amongst the plants, exercise ball and vacuum.

 

Awe-ness

A few pictures from last night:

   Shadow took over WS's chair for a while.

  Missy will look right at me when I have the camera, until she sees the red light for the flash, then she hides her face. Not as dumb as we sometimes accuse her of being.

  Fuzzy, being just a little on the relaxed side.

  Closeup - taken after the first picture. He doesn't let anything disturb his relaxation!

Tory, as usual, was not around to have his picture taken. I think Prince waws outside, so missed his chance to be a star last night, However, due to the majic of digital camera (have I gushed lately how much I love getting one, versus using film?), I just rectified the situation so they too could be featured on this post:

   Tory was sleeping on the bed and looks like he has a bad hangover in this picture. Hope he doesn't hold a grudge and wake me up several times tonight!

  Prince, who isno slouch in the brains department pulled Missy's trick of looking straight at me until he saw the red light. At least he didn't hide his head behind the desk.

Hope you got your fill of disgustingly cute pictures (no, I'm not biases, why do you ask?).
  

Turned Off

We got our current TV in December of 2002. Our previous TV had lasted from summer of 1982 until then and was watchable besides a few foibles (the picture had shrunk by 2-3 inches on boht top and bottom, and anyhting that was withing the 2-3" of viewing area at the visible top and bottom, were both backwards and upside down).

Our current TV has decided it doesn't want to turn on. This started last weekend and happened only to me on a couple of occasions. Lettting it sit for a while seemed to let it make up its mind to start at the next push of a button. This morning, it happened to WS. I tried later and had the same trouble. Guess we'll use the 17" TV from the workout room (used to play my workout tapes/DVDs). Guess this will curb TV watching for a while (not that we watch that much) since I can't see that small a screen except in a general way - certainly can't read any scores or other writing on the screen. In a couple of months, we'll see if the budget can handle either getting the TV fixed, or getting a new one. Depends on what else happens between now and then.

One would think that as much as we paid for the dang thing, it would last longer than 7 years, but I guess not anymore. The days of TVs lasting 20 years are over. Guess I'm too old fashioned in wishing it were otherwise.

Snow Gardening

We've had a really nice weekend so far. Even our neck of the woods has gotten in the low 60's. Saturday I cut down the butterfly bushes as they will come back from root. I also cut back the rose bushes right next to the house. Then I started out in the yard. WS took these pics so now I can show you what a real hardy New Englander gardener looks like:

 

Mianwhile, 2 miles away in Hillsboro, there is no snow and the crocus' are blooming.
 

No Riding for A While Yet

After all the rain and the flooding last weekend, a lot of people at work said that I must be happy to see the end of the snow so I can get the bike out. Nope, can't even get to the bike. Why not? becfasue while everyone else was getting rain with just a bit of sleet, we were getting snow and sleet, with just a bit of rain.

We got 2-3" of snow/sleet mixed with a little bit of rain (very heavy to shovel off the deck and porch) on Sunday. Monday, while everyone else was enjoying temps in the 50's and rain, this is what greeted me when I got home:

   Another inch or so of the sleet/snow mixture

I took the camera to work to show people the images above, and thought to snap a picture as I got home on Tuesday; again, while everyone was enjoying low 60's and high 50's, we were a high of 42)

2010 Iditarod Almost Over

Sorry I haven't kept you updated on the Iditarod. I've had other things to keep me busy and was surprised to find that it should be ending today. As of now, from the Iditarod website, here are the standings:

1	Lance Mackey	OUT OF White Mountain	03/16 04:43
2	Hans Gatt	IN TO White Mountain	03/15 22:40
3	Jeff King	IN TO White Mountain	03/15 23:06
4	Ken Anderson	IN TO White Mountain	03/16 02:58
5	John Baker	IN TO White Mountain	03/16 04:16
6	Hugh Neff	IN TO White Mountain	03/16 04:57
7	Ramey Smyth	IN TO White Mountain	03/16 05:15
8	Sebastian Schnuelle	IN TO White Mountain	03/16 06:01
9	Mitch Seavey	OUT OF Elim	03/15 23:58
10	Dallas Seavey	OUT OF Elim	03/16 00:29

Looks like Lance Mackey is poised to make it 4 in a row, but as in other sports, anything can still happen.

Adventure of Sorts

Lots of wind and rain over the last couple of days, with more to come. Trying to figure out the route to get to work (flooding and downed trees causing road closures), yep, still having trouble finding the info (did find that Rt 122 is closed - a road I usually take). Ah well, getting to work is both an adventure and an education in logistics.

UPDATE: Only one road that I use was closed, and I easily got around it. Everyone at work was asking about our roads and how flooded were they? Not at all flooded - we got snow and sleet mixed with a bit of rain. The snow and sleet soaked up the rain (and we've had no melting), so to date, no problems with flooding at home. Got home last night and found it had snowed/sleeted more. So, when we finally do get some melting, the ditches will be running deep!

Town Meeting 2010

Saturday morning we got up and went to town meeting (link to newspaper article).

The selectmen and department heads (and advisory budget committee) had kept the proposed budget within reason, so that went relatively smoothly. We approved the lease-to-buy of a 10 wheeler for the highway department as the 6 wheeler was in bad shape and was having computer probelms, which would cost us megabucks to fix. The 10 wheeler wil also save us money as we contract some of the hauling for road repairs out, because we don't have enough truck capacity to do it ourselves. Additionally, it will cut down on overtime in winter as it can hold more sand and push more snow than the 6 wheeler.

We approved the purchase of a new police cruiser too.

We bucked the trend as we did not approve a resolution to tell the state legislature that the town wanted a marriage law put on the ballot. It is not that many people don't want that to happen, it is that we believe strongly that town meeting is for town business. State business should be directly taken up with your local representatives by email, phoe or mail (we also voted down a resolution for another issue last year for the same reason).

The library was the big contention - taking up probably over an 75 minutes on 2 seperate lines that came up to less $6,000 total. Another hot button issue was an Article for allowing the use of sludge on farms according the NH state law. Currently we don't allow it, and a farmer wants to use it. That was vvoted down while an Article aimed at having the Planning Committee look into creating stricter laws than the State currently employes.

We authorized the selectmen to negotiate for parks and recreation along with Youth Services. Currently we contract with Hillboro (the contract ran out the end of 2009), but we should look at other options and/or see if we can get a reduction in cost from Hillsboro.

Ignorant statement of the day: "How many times are we going to renovate town hall?" This, when we were voting on the bond payments to be made this year (although bond payments MUST be made, they cannot expend the money unless we authorize them to do so - thus it shows up in the town budget). So it had to be explained that it was a payment on the bond taken out to renovate town hall several years ago.

Ignorant motion of the day: "We have listened to 2 eloquent speakers on the subject, let's call the vote." Um, no, that is limiting the discussion. With 120+ people there, you don't limit it to 2 people!

Town meeting started at 9 and we got out out about 4. it started with such promise of going quickly, but this is the longest town meeting we have had in a while (to my recolection). At least it didn't snow as it does on the majority of town meeting days!

Emergency Room Visit

WS has had real problems with his allergies the last couple of weeks. His wheezing and coughing have kept both of us up at night, and I can tell it has been no fun at all for him.

We removed the firewood from inside the house, thinking that the pine in it (it is mixed with hardwood so we don't have a creosote build up problem) was the problem, and his allergic reactions seemed to get slightly better. Thursday I brought in enough wood for the night (we still burnt every night, but left the wood outside), making sure it was all birch. Thurdsay night his reactions were not bad, so Friday I filled the woodrack with nothing but birch.

Friday evening WS's allergic reactions got really bad. Thinking that maybe there was mold on the wood, we moved that back outside. However, WS went into a full asthma attack and he used his inhaler several times, without any relief. I called 911 when he finally admitted that he was in dire straits and could barely breathe. I could not take him to the hospital as he couldn't breathe at all sitting or laying down, so I knew that he needed support on the way to the closest emergency room 30 miles away.

I've called 911 several times, but never for ourselves. The Deering and Hillsboro rescue voluteers showed up and were wonderful. They got him into the ambulance, hooked up an IV, put him on oxygen, and then a nebulator which helped him breathe. the neighbor showed up as they were stabalizing WS in the ambulance. I told him what had happened and he said to call if I needed anything (thanks for the offer Chris!). I had to chuckle as I drove off, he said "have a good one." I just looked at him and he added a bit belatedly, "well, as good as you can." Really, it was funny both then and now.

I followed the ambulance and was in the Emergency room waiting area before he was even unloaded. They let me back into his room and he looked much better (he had been extremely red from the build up of carbon dioxide in his blood). His blood pressure, which had been 189/xxx at the house, was down to 137/xxx, his oxygen saturation level was close to normal and his pulse had slowed quite a bit.

They continued with oxygen for a while, then took it off and monitored his saturation levels to make sure they remained in the normal range. His EKG came out fine but his chest X-ray, which showed some clouding in one lung and the doc thought maybe he had a starting case of pnemonia, so they gave him an antibiotic.

After a while, we checked out and left with perscriptions for more antibiotics and steroids to control inflamation (he will now have a total of 5 meds controlling his allergies/asthma). We got home shortly after 11 PM.

Saturday afternoon Chris came over and related how he had told his wife what was happening and what he had told me as I was driving off. She couldn't believe he had said to "have a good one," and asked why he hadn't driven me to the hospital.

He took his cue from the fact that I seemed calm and didn't seem to be panicking. I told Chris, that if he ever saw me in a panic, that he should really be concerned because the sky was going to fall. I don't panic. I may have a reaction after the fact, when it is safe to do so (shakes, gray-outs, stuff like that), but I do not panic when it will be detrimental to do so.

Anyway, this is a shoutout to the volunteer paramedics and rescue personell, as well as the emergency room staff. Everyone was cheerful and nice and proffessional, which made the whole experience as pleasant as it could be!