Bogieblog

Bike Week 2012

I promised last weekend that I would have a post on Bike Week, so here it is. WS went Friday and pitched his tent at the Pig Roast. The Pig Roast is about 30 acres, owned by friends, that several people have cleared campsites ("cleared" really is an overstatement). Kenny, Teri, Joe and Bonnie use a section where they have built an ourhouse (much better than the trees most sections have). There are also several "clearings" for tents - one of which is reserved for WS if he chooses to use it.

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(Shirt is on Kenny, Billboard at the beginning of the path to Pig Roast, Joe and Kenny's area; WS's tent directly in fron of Kenny (in orange shirt))

We went to Weirs Beach the second Saturday of Bike Week. WS road BIL's bike so we could put a For Sale sign on it and see if there was any interest. I road my bike, and the rest of the group was Jimmy and Ray and Christine (who had recently made it in from Florida.

(Bikes: BIL's - ridden by WS, Jimmy, Ray and Christine, Mine - yes, I suck at parking yet)

(boulevard shot Saturday morning - about 8 AM: red bike in foreground is BIL's)

A lot of the unusual bikes (or neat paint jobs) had been there in years past. However, I found a couple of bikes that peaked my interest.

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And, then there was a t-shirt that I thought was perfect for WS.

Then there was the Parrot Guy, who had a Macaw, that was not tethered. He would set the bird on childrens' shoulders, take photos, then give a card to the parents. Presumably he sold the photos for a keepsake to any who went to his website. Upon reading the previous link, he raises money for charity with his bird photos and stunts. Apparently he set a world land speed record for an untethered bird on a motorcycle at 78 MPH (photo at this link).

After many an hour walking the boulevard then standing by BIL's bike and fielding questions, we got on the road and did a tour of much of the Lake District. After a couple of hours WS peeled off to head to the Pig Roast to spend the night. I stayed with Jimmy and Christine and Ray. Then in Hillsboro I peeled off to go home to take care of the animals, and the other two bikes headed for Bennington (their home base). I took care of business, then jumped in the Jeep and went back to the Pig Roast to renew acquaintences with people I only see a couple times a year. I stayed a couple hours, then took my leave of WS and came back home to spend the night.

Sunday morning I was supposed to complete several chores before going back to the Pig Roast to pick up WS's tent, bedroll and cooler. WS, Kenny and Joe went up to Weirs for a little while to give BIL's bike more exposure. Then WS called me when they were headed back. I was late meeting them, as that call came as I was cleaning up Missy's mess. When I finally got there, we visited other people for a couple of hours before heading home in the afternoon.

Another Bike Week completed successfully, with everyone we knew personally safe and sound afterwards.

Loosing its Cool

Check out this planet that is so close to its star, that when the star has solar flares, the star loses a large amount of its gas, growing a tail like a comet. They have a video explaining the phenomena too.

[Illustration by NASA, ESA, and L. Calçada]

Thanks to Scott for the link.

Water Spout in NH

Water spout touches down at Lake Winnispesaukee | Local News - WMUR Home.

A viewer of the local TV station sent in a video of a water spout that appeared Monday night on Lake Winnispesaukee.

Sick as a Dog

Poor Missy has not been a happy dog. Actually, she is almost a happy dog, even when she shouldn't be - and she shouldn't have been the last week.

Last Sunday, I went to get groceries. I was gone 45 minutes max. When I got back, the entire den carpet was covered by dog poop. Not well formed, fairly easy to pick up stuff, but the vile, runny, soak directly into the carpet stuff. I spent the next two hours cleaning the carpet by hand, then vacuuming any carpet that was dry (the bedroom), then steam cleaning the carpet twice.

Sunday night into Monday morning I got no sleep as Missy needed out about once an hour. monday, on my way home from work, I picked up a box of white rice and several pounds of hamburger and ground chicken. I cooked those up, drained the grease and rinsed the meets, and that is what Missy got for dinner instead of dog food (rice and ground meats are very bland and easily digestible). she got meet/rice for breakfast and dinner the next day.

Tuesday, I observed that she had a well formed, if a little loose, poop - so she was on the mend. I started adding dog food to the blend on Wednesday night. Thursday night, she was going thru the same problems she had before, so once again I got little sleep.

Friday morning I called the vet. naturally, our dog gets sick when there is only one vet (usually there are 3 there, two were out for some reason). I left a message with the receptionist. Nancy got back with me in good time and we discussed the issue. She said she has seen a lot of diahria in dogs the last couple of weeks, so didn't feel it was anything dire (especially since Prince has been fine). We discussed the fact that she was on a different food (their regular food had been recalled) - although she has been on the food for a month, and had been on it before with no ill effects.

In the end we decided to put her on some Metronidazole and change back to the chicken/beef/rice diet for a couple of days. The medication is in case she has any bacterial or protozoan infection, and it is often used for general bowel inflammation in dogs. I went and got the medication during my lunch "hour" (it was 1.5 hours - much better than the 3-4 hours if I had to go back and get Missy) andstarted her on both the food and medicine that night.

So far, so good. In another day or so I will start introducing small amounts of regular dog food to the rice mixture; gradually increasing the amount. If she does okay, then it was jsut some sort of infection/inflammation. If she has another bad reaction, well it is the food that she isn't tolerating.

Hopefully it will work out that the food is fine - we are leaving in 10 days for Indiana (a 6 day trip) and need her to be eating normal food and not have any digestive issues.

Bother

Why does Norton's insist on telling me whe the CPU has high useage from Interned Explorer? If I am using a good percent of my CPU resources, I don't need a program to use even more of those resources to tell me I am looking at several content rich pages. Thanks, I knew that, that is why it is so slow. Quit slowing me down even further!

New Names

I can't believe that Cop Car didn't break this news first, especially since I've been sitting on it for a couple of weeks. Or, maybe she did break the news, and I have forgotten it. Two elements of the periodic table have recieved their official names; Flerovium and Livermorium. Previously, the two elements had gone by the temporary names of ununquadium and ununhexium. They live in the segragated, violent neighborhoods of 114 and 116 on the table. Those sections of the chart are populated by the smashing together of two atoms to produce another - not a quiet, scenic neighborhood for sure.

Big Times in NH

New Hampshire has a couple of events that not every state has, and that one would not think of belonging to a smaller (in size and population) state. We have two (count them, 2!) NASCAR races at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Not only is it the largest sports venue in the Noth East, but not every state that hosts NASCAR races have 2 races.

We are also host of the oldest motorcycle rally on earth, Laconia Bike Week (which yes, we did attend, but I haven't downloaded pics yet, so you will have to wait for the post). This draws a couple of hundred thousand visitors in itself.

And next year, and beyond, we will be hosting NHRA, Full Throttle, drag racing. We have had the minor league drag racing, but that is not the same as the Full Throttle series. We saw some of the big time drag racing in Oklahoma, when we still lived in Kansas. And naturally, shortly after we moved to NH, Kansas got its own track in Topeka. In the last couple of years we have talked about going to see a FT race, but the closest track is in New Jersey. That is a heck of a drive just to see a day of races. Well, yes, we could watch qualifying, but really, one day of all the sun, heat and noise are is enough.

To bring the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series to New England and specifically the state of New Hampshire is very exciting,” said Joe Lombardo, track general manager, New England Dragway. “We have started the process of preparing our facility to host an event of this magnitude and look forward to hosting the stars of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing next June.”

The event will be headlined by 15-time NHRA Funny Car world champion John Force, seven-time Top Fuel champ Tony Schumacher, as well as many other top stars including New England’s own Bob Tasca III, Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Greg Anderson, Cruz Pedregon, Courtney Force, Morgan Lucas, Robert Hight, Terry McMillen, and Jeg Coughlin, among others. The event expects to entertain fans from the entire New England region, including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Canada. The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is broadcast on ESPN2/ESPN2HD.

So congrats to the owners of the Epping's New England Drag Way. The work that you have put into this should reap you a good pay back, and make it much easier for fans like us to witness the sport in person.

Kindle Fire Price drop?

Is Amazon set to drop Kindle Fire price to $149?.

Dang, I bought a refurbished Kindle Fire about a month ago for just slightly less than that (and let me tell you, the refurb's do not stay in stock long - I missed out the first offering I heard of). I certainly would have bought a new one for that price.

Father's Day Wishes

Happy Father's Day to Cop Car's HH. Hopefully he can get some golf or other relaxing activity in!

Bar-B-Q

A friend posted a picture on her FB page of a grill she wants. It is a real heater and smoker: