Bogieblog

Enjoying the Summer Harvest

The vegetable garden this summer is far ahead of what was accomplished all of last summer. The corn is tall, some as toall as 6 feet. Tomatoes have set up and peppers are blooming. I picked the first batch of wax beans last week and need to get out and pick the first batch of green beans. I've picked peas twice now.

Last week I went next door and picked blueberries. I've had blueberries in my daily yogurt, WS made blueberry pancakes this morning and I froze several pints of them. Blackberries will be ripe in another week or so - assuming the Japanes Beetles leave enough for picking (last year I got exactly zero berries after the beetles got done with them). I actually cheeted and found one ripe blackberry yesterday and ate it just to make sure I got some one.

The only downside to the warm, sunny weather is that the second batch of salad greens barely sprouted before going to flower (literally - they didn't get over 2" tall before they flowered). Ah well, the Fall batch will most likely do fine.

I hope everyone else is getting to enjoy the fruits/vegetables of their labor!

Hot, Humid and Lazy

It has been hot the last couple of weeks. When it hasn't been hot, it's been humid. A lot of times it is both. The coolest part of the house, the basement, is currently 77 degrees (first thing in the morning after a coolish night), and at 74% humidity.

This translates to my not working out. I usually work out in the evening (after I get home from work), but the house is too hot to do so now. I already get up early enough on work days (3:30 am), so I don't want to get up earlier to try to work out.

That is why I appreciate my 3-day weekends when I get them. I worked out each of the last 3 days in the relative cool of the morning (the workout room is upstairs, where it is about 80 right now). I won't get to work out for another 5 days, then will get 2 workouts in.

This is turning into one of those summers where we could wish we had airconditioning. But, on the other hand, we don't have high electric bills either.

Writing Like Writers

So, just about everywhere I look on the Blogospere people are going to the writer's analysis tool to find out who they can compare their writing to. I took text from the sunset post and here are my results:

I write like
Ernest Hemingway

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Seriously???!!???

Then I took some writings from the 3-day weekend post and got this:

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Have no idea who this dude is, so that seems more like it.

Lastly, I took a portion of the cat physics post and came up with this:

I write like
Edgar Allan Poe

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I think the website is trying to tell me that my writing is scary!

Short Musings

I got an email the other day from Meadowbrook that indicated that one of their sponsors had bought 500 tickets to Cheap Trick and were giving them away. The concert was Saturday night. We picked up 2 pair and took BIL and SIL with us. Although it is not a show I would have paid to go see, it was definitely worth the price of admission!

We rode the bike as it was another hot and humid day. We raced thunder and lightning home, although we only got 1/8" of rain out of it.

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Ever try to find someone to do work on your home? It sucks. We've talked to 7-8 contractors about replacing the roof and siding, and haven't been impressed by any of them. Most have an "A" or "A+" rating with the BBB, but they can't follow simple instructions prior to getting hired, so I have no faith that they could do so after getting hired.

After 2 weeks of losing our evenings by talking with contractors for 2+ hours each, we have decided to start back at square 1. Our new tact is to find the type of roof we want on houses and go talk to the people about who did the work for them. We want standing seam metal, which is distinctive enough from exposed fastener metal that you can tell by looking at the roof from the road. We were out for a ride last night and I noticed 8 or 9 such roofs between New Boston and Goffstown, so will be making some visits after work the next couple of nights.

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Momma bird, after building the nest has abandoned it. I don't know if she found another site, was something's meal, or lost her mate, but she hasn't been around the planter.

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Got our new health insurance cards in the mail Saturday. Our deductible has doubled so that the FSA that I contribute to cannot make up for it (we used up the FSA by 3 months into it this year - between my glasses - the first  pair I've bought in 10 years, WS's meds and his emergency trip to the hospital).

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Hope you have a good week

Handy Tip

WS got a tick lodged between his toes last month. He caught it before it had fed and I pulled it off. Two days later he was at the doctor's for a nasty infection (his whole foot was red and ballooned up). It took 10 days of massive antibiotics to get rid of the infection.

Today I read a tip at the Women's Outdoor News about stringing bits of flea and tick collars in the bootlaces to keep the ticks off. What a great idea! I always put the extra length I cut off the dogs' collars away for use in vacuum cleaner bags, but never thought to use them anywhere else.

I think I'll be letting WS in on the tip!

PS - found Women's Outdoor News thru HelllinaHandBasket.

Sunset Magic

Every once in a while we get a chance to see a nice sunset here at the bogie manse. WE have lots of trees in the way, so it doesn't happen often. Last night it started clearing after all the rain (okay, it rained all day, but we only got 1/8"), and we got some gorgeous clouding and color:
 
  This one was taken without any zoom
  This was taken seconds later using a 3X zoom.

As I was sizing the pictures, I mistakenly hit an option on my software and came up an awesome alternative to just the regular picture; metalization effect:

4th of July Doings

We had a fabulous 3 day weekend; we left on the bike Friday evening, arriving at the Grayhurst Hotel, which is where we stayed for the next 3 nights. Hotel evokes visions of largish building, but this is a converted home or perhaps boarding room. The hotel has small rooms; about 10 x 12 - which includes the bathroom, fridge, microwave and TV, along with dresser, queen bed and guest chair. Obviously very cramped, but clean with friendly hosts and all we needed it for was a place to sleep anyway.

Usually you get a chit to park in the municipal parking lot about a block away, but since we were on the bike, we got to park right up front of the hotel - a huge relief to us. There were always people on the porch of either the hotel or the place next door, they knew who the bike belonged to, so we had no worries that there would be any tinkering with it.

Saturday we got up and took a ride up to Freeport Maine to check out the LL Bean Mall. WS wanted to look at some sunglasses with built in "cheaters" for riding on the bike. Unfortunately the glasses weren't what he was looking for, but it was a good ride and we explored several of their stores before heading back to home base.

Saturday night was the Paul Rodgers concert at the Casino Ballroom. This is the reason we were taking the 3 day weekend - we trid to book a room for just Saturday but being a holiday weekend, no one would book for just one day. Paul Rodgers was awesome (just as he was when he was lead singer for Queen a couple of years ago). He sang mostly Bad Company music, but he did throw in a couple songs from The Firm. We rocked for a couple hours and then walked across the street to the hotel (did I mention that the Grayhurst is directly across the street from the Ballroom?).

Sunday, the hottest day we were on the coast, we rode down to Canobie Lake Park and partook of the amusements available. I had gotten discount couplons from work, and never having been there before (Canobie, not work), we decided to check it out. Once again it was good that we were on the bike as they have special bike parking at  the entrance of the park.

It was the perfect day to go for the water rides; we got soaked several times. WS went on a couple of rides by himself since I'm just not good with getting shot straight up in the air while sitting on a chair (what they call the Starblaster). I went on the wood roller coaster with him, but he did the Corkscrew by himself (I don't do heights well unless it is dark - go figure).

We both went into the Psychodrome (I do better than WS at speeding at unmovable objects for some reason) but WS wouldn't do the Xtreme Frisbee as he does not like to be spun around. We got soaked a the Boston Tea Party, wetted down again in the Log Ride, then got drenched in the Tall Timber Splash (we went thru that one twice).

After wandering around the park getting mostly dry, we hopped on the bike and headed back to the room. Got up Monday morning and headed home.

Getting up Tuesday to go to work was a bit rough, but that is the price one pays for having such a grand three days!

And Then There Were None

July 5th was a very special day. No, not because it was a day off (although it was), and not because it was the day we returned from a 3 day weekend on the shore (although we did), and not because it was the 3rd day of over 90 degree weather for us, but becasue of the following:

   The 3 chicks look to be fully feathered
  The bird on the edge of the planter is one of the chicks
  This is the chick pictured above, taken shortly after s/he sat on the edge of the box. 

Momma bird coaxed him out to the edge of the woods. The other 2 chicks must have followed suite shortly afterwards as by 6 AM Tuesday morning the nest was abandoned.

Then yesterday, while watering the planters, I discovered this:

   The new nest is on the right, with the older nest on the left.

WS saw Momma busily bringing up dead grass to complete the new nest. I'll be keeping a watch on this one too. 

Independence Day Weekend 2010

We are leaving shortly for the NH coast and will be spending the weekend there. I'm not taking any of the laptops as we are traveling via motorcycle so can't spare the room. Noe email or blogging for 3 whole days!

Just a short note on the baby birds. This morning, their eyes were still closed. WE came in at 4 PM, and one had its eyes open. We are so thrilled to watch the progress of the chicks!

Have a good, safe, and fun weekend, but please take a moment to reflect on what Independence Day weekend is really about.