Bogieblog

Get Cracking

Jim, over at Parkway Rest Stop, has a post that is written in code. Not even ever having seen the code before, it took me about 2 seconds to crack, and I could read it as if it was in plain English. I would expect that most people can, but I usually have trouble with seeing what others can see (remember that picture craze in the 90's? I never saw anything in them). 

It Was All Fun and Games Until . . .

Cop car has stumbled upon a great video of a bullfrog chasing ants on a cell phone app. It is extremely funny - especially if you have the sound on and hear the slurpping. And the ending is pricelesss!

Blogger Book Sale

Forgot to mention that John Eddy (part time blogger on Weekend Pundit) has a special price on the Kindle/Nook versions of Methuselah's Daughter for only 99 cents. I downloaded my copy from Amazon (I can read such things off my phone when in line at the store) - I would assume you can download your copy from whatever is your favorite retailer. Really, for 99 cents, you can't go wrong.

I'm unsure of how long this special will last, so download today to ensure you get the best price and help him raise money for insurance for his youngest.

NH Historic Bridge Floats Off in the NIght

WS was in Portsmouth on a job near noon on the day the Memorial Bridge was slated to have it's center span removed. Noontime was when they were hoping to get it onto the barge, and WS thought it would be cool to see, so he drove down there to eat his lunch. He said there were gobs of people watching, but unfortunately, the crews were running behind, so the bridge didn't come down until later. He did, however, snap a picture with his phone:

 

The portion that is up in the air (the draw), is the part that was removed. Plenty of pictures on ULocal (hosted by the local TV station). Scroll thru until you come to the ones taken at daybreak - great photography there. There are others that show the two massive cranes used to remove the counterweights during the operation.

Here is a video of the point where the bridge is on the barge. Here is the same video - but it works better on this page.

Then there is the time-lapse video. The end leaves a bit to be desired, but that part is shown much more clearly on the previous videos.

This next video is of the beginning of the float out - with sound. You can hear the people cheering and whistling - must have really been something to see in person!

May the new bridge (slated to open in 2013) serve as well and as long as the old bridge.

 

Coyotes Howl At Sled Dogs In Bridgewater

The local TV station was taping when coyotes started howling at soem sled dogs. You have to suffer thru about 15 seconds of ad, then the film starts. At the beginning, you can hear an owl hooting, then the cacaphony of the coyotes takes over. Really cool to listen to.

Raw Video: Coyotes Howl At Sled Dogs In Bridgewater - Video - WMUR New Hampshire.

We don't get that much from the local coyotes - I'm guessing not as many are around here, but we still hear them on occassion (of course I'm in bed before they start most times - I usually hear them when letting the dogs out in the early morning).

Awards, I Has One

So, I've been placed in this really odd position, Ruth has sent me this blog award:

Now, on the one hand, I'm flattered (of course) that someone thinks enough of my blog to hand me the reward. Ruth has become one of my favorite reads (she has dogs and cats - with pictures - need I say more?), so I am honored.

On the other hand, there are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award

3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.

4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

I don't know how I'm supposed to know if a blog has fewer than 200 "followers" since most of the blogs I read doen't have this type of stat just floating around. On top of that, I don't believe that there are actually 5 bloggers that visit my blog, and if there are 5 such bloggers, then one of them sent me the award.

So, I'll do what I do with recipes, I'll adjust the rules to fit my situation - here are my picks:

• Cop Car (who, I expect if she participates, it's only to save her little girl from massive embaressment)
• Wichi Dude (ha, like he blogs any more - and I can't even leave him a comment)
• Weekend Pundit (who I don't expect to participate - it's not really his style and he may have more than 200 readers)
• Buffy (who may or may not as she seems to FB more than blog any more).

You'll notice that there are fewer than 5. I do have other blogs that I could nominate, but I know for certain they have more than the requisite 200 readers. Plus, it's not like they even really know who I am, or have visited this blog in the last year or so, so it would just be a stunt to make them notice me.

So, if you good folks that I nominated want to run with this, great. If not, great - I won't take offence or get depressed. Just remember, I truly only picked those that I really like, and follow on an almost daily basis (or in Wichi Dude's case - I would follow if he posted).

Bridge Coming Down

I would love to go and see in person, the dismantling of the Memorial Bridge that has stood for 90 years as a bridge between Portmouth NH and Maine. They are taking out the middle span, loading it onto a barge and floating it to a place that will recycle it. It is a 2 MILLION pound span that they are moving, which should be something to see!

Big Game Tonight

The Mount Washington crew had an inspirational message for the game tonight.

 

Thanks to Josh Judge, of WMUR channel 9 for sharing.

Keys, Locked Door, Wrong Side

WS spent the last 3 weekends working on jobsites. Those were long, 15+ hour days down in Massachusettes and one was especially trying. One Sunday I got a phone call shortly before I was getting ready to leave to get groceries.

WS: Where you at?

Me: On the couch getting coupons together.

WS: I don't know how long the battery on the phone will last, so I'l go thru this quickly.

Turns out he had locked his keys in the truck. He gave me his location, the make, model and color of the truck he had (he had taken a work truck) and told me to make a call to have someone come and unlock it. His phone had no battery left by the time the call was over (why yes, his phones DO shut off on him on a regualr basis because he lets them run so low).

We have had AAA for a couple of years now, and this was a good chance to test them out. The representative I got on the phone was very pleasant, explained what he was doing (since WS was in a different state, he had to transfer the info to a different rep - but he didn't make me talk to anyone different), and told me what to expect.

A while later the locksmith dispatcher called and said the guy was almost on site. WS was back in business shortly after that and all ended well.

Thank goodness for AAA as otherwise I would have had to drive a couple of hours down to MA, drive back to Concord to get the spare set of keys, then drive back down to MA to unlock the door. Okay, so I could have looked up a locksmith on the internet - but who exactly are you supposed to trust - especailly when WS was by himself on a jobsite? Anyway, they took most the worry out of dealing with the situation.

Face Booking It

I created a Face Book acount 5-6 months ago as I wanted to see some pictures from a friend, and I couldn't without being a member. In my first post there, I explained what I was doing, and I would be doing all my posting on my blog.

Thursday I got on to my FB account for only the second time and found that I had friend invites from 5 people (all of them months old). All were from family members and friends, so I accepted, finally.

And before you ask, no, I didn't get the emails telling me of the friend requests. Why? Because I gave them another email account that is only used by that - something I didn't think I ever needed to monitor. So now I guess I have to monitor that one too - 3 email accounts I have to keep up with. Fortunately my phone has several different email programs; I didn't like either of the 2 that came with it, so downloaded K-9 Mail, which is what I use for my normal, every day, email (you can get it thru the Android Marketplace too). I don't really have to monitor the blog email, so that is done thru the desktop anyway. I set up one of the crappy mail apps that came with the phone for the FB mail account so I don't miss anything important.

So, now I guess I need to post to FB every once in a while. Somehow I just don't get their layout at all. I had one conversation from my SIL (she asked me a question) and I couldn't for the life of me find it on the site. I finally had to respond from the email I got - and FB is the poplular method of communication why? Blogs seem so much more user friendly and intuitive.

Guess I'm just showing how flexible I am not.