Bogieblog

Went to Play

WS worked yesterday. I worked at getting everything done that we each normally do on the weekends.

Today it is to be in the 90's and we have

GONE RIDING.

Go have fun yourself!

Our Pets are Aging

Tory went in for his yearly check up and shots. The vet pronounced that he "passed", so he looks to be good to go for another year. He seems to be the only animal that doesn't show his age in any noticeable manner. He does spend more time inside than he did in his earlier years, but that is the only change. He is 10 years old.

Missy has no cartilage in her knees so she gimps around and has a hard time with stairs. This has been a problem for a long time and I can only ease the pain with asperin. Doesn't keep her from playing, but she has certainly slowed down this year (she is 10 1/2 years old).

Prince moves well, but his facial coloring has grayed and the brown markings have faded to tan. His eyes have the bluish tinge of those that have cataracts - although he still seems to see fairly well. He is also (to the best of our knowledge) around 10 1/2 years old.

Shadow started losing weight late last winter. During his anual visit to the vet I asked her to pay particular attention to his teeth as I only saw him eating canned food, which is not the usual fare of the cats. She said his teeth were fine, and that is when I realized that he was only eating canned food because that is when I put him on the table (it's a ritual that goes back to when we got Tory and Indy as kittens - Only Shadow was priviledged enough for me to lift him up for the treat). Anyway, I started keeping a chair slid back from the table, and he started using that as a step to get to the food (he has regained his weight). Shadow is around 12 years old.

Fuzzy, well, he's just Fuzzy. Seems to be doing well, without any changes. Of course he has only been inside for a little less than a year, so it's hard to tell. And, since he was a feral cat, we have no idea how old he is, but he is at least 8 years old.

Birdie doesn't seem to change either. We have had him for 6 years, and I believe he was 5-6 years old at that time (I used to work with the people I got him from, so think I remember when they got him). Those numbers would put him at 11 or 12. Cockatiels live from 12-15 years, although they can get up to 20.

It's hard to believe that time has flown by like this - all our dogs, cats and the bird are getting up there in age.

Small Bits of Gardening

I don't really have much to write about this week so will do a couple of short blurbs:

The temps have cooled down a bit and we have finally gotten the basement down to less than 80d egrees. Much better for sleeping!

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I haven't taken pics of flowers and such because there really hasn't been anything outstanding to work with. It has been so dry that, although plants have flowered, it was more from duty than exuberation.

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The mole did a good job of keeping the Japanese Beetle population down. Too bad that the flowere just weren't there to profit from it that much.

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WS's corn looked excellant. Went out to pick and freeze a bunch yesterday. That is when I found that 2 out of 5 rows didn't polinate for some reason. Don't know why - they are the middle rows, all the outside rows did just fine. So, I picked what I could and got 2 pint jars of frozen corn plus 4 ears for cooking. I left 2 rows alone as they look to be still developing.

I know 2 pint jars and 4 ears for eating doesn't sound like much to get out a row of corn, but as usual, the ears of corn are about 3" long. The ones I kept for eating are about 5" long. I don't know why this always happens, but it doesn't seem to matter what kind of corn is planted, it always turns out that way. I wish we could figure out what the problem is!

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Dragon's Tongue wax beans look cool when you harvest them. When you cook them they turn a sickly, pasty yellow (a nice yellow would be fine). They tasted good anyway and I have frozen some for later use.

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The next door neighbor dropped off tomatoes last weekend (after I told her not to) so I ended up running them thru the food processor and freezing a bag of puree' to be used later in canning. I've picked a few tomatoes from ur garden and used some to enhance spaghettin sauce for Friday's dinner. I also had some one night with just balsamic vinegar and a bit of fresh parmesan cheese. WS looked at me like I was crazy, but it was awesome.

And that is it for gardening news from the bogie house this week.

Innovative Eyewear

Here are some interesting glasses called TruFocals - they are adjustable for your near, middle and far seeing comfort. No liny bifocals, or looking over the top of reading glasses. I can see how it would make shooting at targets a whole lot easier, much less everyday activities. Too bad there are no dealers in NH.

Site found thru the Shooting Sports USA webazine.

Signs (One Sign Anyway)

The Weekend Pundit has a nicely renovated sign that goes nicely with my Bridge to Nowhere Redux post.

Closed

We finally got to close on the refinance that will pay for the new roof and siding. We were supposed to close 9 days ago (the Friday before last) at 2 PM. This was a great day for us to close as I had the day off and WS works only half a day, so neither of us had to take time off from work. At noon on Friday, we got a call (or a voicemail since I was out shopping) that the closing was off because the bank screwed up the paperwork. Hey, but you guys can close on Tuesday.

Er, no, can't close on Tuesday because my cohort at work had the week off and I knew of several customer visits that I needed to be there for. Same goes for Wednesday. So, we decided on Thursday.

Thursday wasn't nearly as good as we both had to take off of work early. But, if we waited for a day that neither of us would have to take off work, it would have been 2 more weeks.

So Thursday came around, and about noon I got a phone call at work from the lady who was conducting the closing. "Oh no, this isn't good, something has happened," was my thought when I heard her voice.

Fortunately, she had called to let us know that she finally got the paper work and was printing it up (she gets the paperwork by email), so the closing would go on as scheduled.

Of course we are still talking to contractors. Some don't bother getting back with us. Some have laughable conditions (1/2 the cost down 6 weeks before work begins - really?). Some don't quote us what we want. Others can't seem to come up with references. And still others treat me as if I don't exist and only talk to WS (and those are the younger ones!)

This is really such a PITA!

Bridge to Nowhere Redux

Just call me the source to breaking news. In this case, I broke the news in June about Hillsboro's Bridge to Nowhere being refurbished as part of the Stimulus spending by our government.. The newsies and political beings just started getting around to it week.

I did learn thru the news that $150,000 was spent (the town did put in the rest of the money) and 190 jobs were created. Really? 190 jobs were created? I never saw more than 8-10 people at the site. And ooh boy, those jobs lasted a whole long time anyway.

Then there is the explanation of the intention of the job on the ARRA website which is to "better accommodate pedestrians and bycicles." (from The Union Leader)

As I noted on my June 20 blog post, "The old bridge was left partially standing (the far side doesn't attach to anything) . . ."

Please note, the bridge still doesn't attach to anything, in fact, a fence at the end of the bridge keeps anyone from falling (or jumping) off, so I'm guessing that pedestrians and bicyclists still won't be finding it real useful.

WMUR quotes Hillsborough's Planning Director:

"It's an historic transportation structure," O'Keefe said. "It fits soundly within the guidelines for transportation enhancement at the federal and state level, and had we lost this bridge, just imagine what we'd be talking about now." (bolding mine - bogie)

Yes, let's imagine for a moment that one of the many, many structurally deficient bridges in NH had been renovated instead. Maybe the Shaker bridge in Enfield, NH wouldn't have been closed. Maybe the money could have gone toward renovation of the heavily travelled Memorial Bridge, between NH and Maine (which recently had a chunk fall into the river). Maybe it could have gone to one of the other, functional stone arch bridges in the state that needs repair.

If that had happened, we would be talking about how at least a useful project was completed instead of what a waste of taxpayer's dollars it is!

Northern Fire Ants

I'll bet the Southerners have been all jealous because us Northerners don't have the problems with Fire Ant that they do. The conventional wisdom has been that even if they moved up here, the winters would kill them off.

Well, they can quit being jealous now, we have European Fire Ants. They may not be quite as nasty as the ones in warmer climates, but they are still quite a nuisance.

Where this insect has established nests, homeowners have reported that they are unable to use their yards and gardens because of repeated stings by the ants. 

And can still cause death

When disrupted, the ants will deliver a painful sting which has in a few cases produced severe allergic reactions to the venom including anaphylactic shock.

Here's to hoping they don't find their way to our little corner of NH!

Feeding Chickidees

I was sitting on the deck yesterday afternoon reading for a bit and there was some bird activity on the feeders. It started with lots of woodpeckers (a pair of Downies and 3 Hairies). By the time I thought to get the camera, it was just the Chickidees:

 

Maybe I'll remember to get the camera earlier next time to get a bit more variety.

Vegie Garden Goodness

The vegetable garden is going swimmingly (where the heck does that phrase come from? and can one who can't swim "do swimmingly"?). I've picked two large batches of green and wax beens in the last week. I shared with the next door neighbor as trade for her blueberries.

Yesterday, along with picking green beans, I picked blackberries:

 

This batch was washed, dried and placed on cookie sheets then put in the freezer. Today I will put the frozen berries in jars, return them to the freezer and they will be good for making pancakes or breads. In the next week I should get another good batch of berries and maybe I'll make some jam. Wild blackberries have lots of seeds, so they aren't really good for for jam but the summer has been so dry that the berries aren't very sweet, so they need help. I won't have a problem with all the seeds, the jam just won't be something I can give as presents.

The corn and tomatoes are shaping up well; this is looking to be the best year for WS's corn that we have ever had (knock on wood):

The tomatoe plants too are a good size. This is only a portion of the plants: