Bogieblog

End of Sled Season

Last weekend we decided to take the sleds out both days. We decided it would probably be our last chance before the trails became mud and I wanted to try out my new (to me) sled.

We trailered to the Deering Fish and Game, where the trails had already been closed off. No matter, we could get around the barriers (the trails were closed to 4-wheelers, sleds were okay). We dropped off and headed toward Antrim. The Antrim trails were beat (they are mostly in the sun), so after about 20 minutes, we turned around and hit the trail to run the power lines in Deering. Deering had plenty of snow (even though the power lines are in the sun too) and we had a good run up the hill that is along the same ridge our house is on. We were following a couple of sleds, although they were quiete aways ahead. We crested the ridge and found two guys had stopped - and the trail had too. The were looking for directions, and WS was unsure of landmarks to guide them the way they wanted to go. After about 10 minutes, it was decided WS would lead them back to Henniker thru Crane's Farm.

Once we got them to a familiar place, we turned around and decided to call it a day. Sunday we trailered to the High Tide in Hillsboro (they are closed for the winter but allow snowmobilers to use their parking lot as a drop off point). We caught a trail to Henniker and rode for quite a while before getting to the Weare town line, shortly after we hit a wash out that went quite a ways.

We decided to turn around at that point as the trails were getting pretty beat and the sun was really warm. WS took us on a couple of side trails and we rode along the river for a while.

Then we had to cross the river, on a suspension bridge. Have I ever mentioned my less-than-fondness for heights. not only was is a suspension bridge, but it was just wide enough for a sled.

Suprisingly I didn't have any trouble with it - but it is always easier if I am following someone and can concentrate on them instead of what is NOT to either side. And, WS had told me about it earlier in the day, and asked if I wanted to try it or not.

After the bridge, WS took me behind a business in Hillsboro. Not just any business, Livingston's Arctic Cat (the largest Cat dealer in the Northeas). Now this is not really exciting in itself (Unless you are in the market for a new/used sled), but behind the shop they have the "runway"; a very long flat section that is fairly smooth. This is an area that they use to test sleds after they have assembled them, or when they have serviced/repaired them. On the way toward the buildings, I got up to 60 MPH. On the way, I got a bit over 65 MPH. WS was over 90 when he caught me coming back (he had let me go first). THAT was really, really fun!

After that we called it a day and loaded up to go home. I sould have gotten pictures of the sleds - they were still pretty muddy from some of the washouts we had gone around and thru. So in the end, I spent last weekend testing out the sled, which performed well. I even had to use reverse 6-7 times on Sunday. I think after being in NH for 25 years, I'm finally going to start hoping for lots of snow during the winter.

Girl Having Fun

Thanks to Ruth for posting this. And by the way, while watching, turn on the speakers - the music goes well with the video!

 

Town Meeting 2013 and Some Potential Fun

Town meeting was fairly typical - it started with snow. Alright, so it was only about 1/2 and inch worth, but it was snow. The budget and almost all the warrant articles passed except the proposed noise ordinance.

The police chief was updating ordinances, and noticed we didn't have a nois ordinance, and thought maybe we should. the townsfolk felt differently, especially since this is a community that is entiryly zoned rural. If you need to bale hay before 6 aM (or aft 10 - hey, it needs to be done. Also, fireworks after 10 would not have been legal - Really? What about New Years and 4th of July? Anyway, we rejected that - but the whold meeting was done before 12:30.

Then WS and I went to look at a sled for me. I had been borrowing a sled that was pull start only. The pull was so hard I could barely get the rope to move (literraly), so I couldn't start it. It was also a stubborn starter that sometimes took up to 10 pulls to start, so I started looking for a cheap sled with electric start. Found one for a couple of hundred dollars so we went to the seacoast yesterday afternoon for a look. It ended up in the back of the truck and made its way home with us.

It is a 1998 Polaris Indy Classic (about a 600) with electric start (I need to get it a new battery though) and reverse. I may not get to use it at all this year, although we are expecting more snow on Tuesday. Even if it's not used this year, there is no way I could have found that kind of price at the beginning of next sledding season, so it's all good.

Iditarod Aftermath

The Iditarod has been won, with the top five finishers of: Mitch Seavy, Ally Zirkle, Jeff King, Dallas Seavy and Ray Reddington Jr. It looked to be an exciting race as it was the 4th closest finish in history. Just as a side note, and in case you haven't read comments on other posts, Mitch is the oldest driver to ever win the Iditarod (at 53 yrs old). This is the second time Ally has come in second - she came in second last year. And, by the way, she is a new Hampshire native (who relocated to Alaska). Jeff King is even older than Seavy, and has won the Iditarod multiple times. Dallas Seavy is the son of Mitch, and he was as the youngest to ever win in last year's race.

The Iditarod is not over, there are still two teams running: Bob Chlupach is at White Mountain and Christine Roalofs (rookie) is at Elim. The race is not over until everyone has either finished or scratched. There is a great celebration when the last team rolls in and they get the Red Latern award.

There are still many interesting stories to read. There is the insider story of dropped dogs (dogs that are sick, injured, or just don't want to run any more are left at checkpoints). There is the story of the all white dog team, Lanier's Northern Whites, fielded by a guy that has run 16 Iditarod's, and he has run a race in every decade that the Iditarod has been run in. There are pictures from the Finish Line.

From other sources (Alaska Daily News), there are other stories: The Long Journey of May, a dog that got loose and retraced the trail and was found several hundred miles from where she got loose - amazingly in fairly good condition. There is the story of Cym Smith, who had to stop shortly before the end of the race because his lead dog got confused - he replaced the lead dog with his oldest and slowest dog, and caught up to Paul Gephardt who had passed him while the lead dog change was taking place.

Lots of good stories and pictures galore at both sites, so go take a look and marvel at the athletes and their feats.

2013 Iditarod

Just got a chance to look at the standings so far in the Iditarod. Many familiar names in the front, and a rookie is in 6th. from places 1-12:

1. Mitch Seavy
2. Aaron Burmeister
3. Aliy Zerkle
4. Martin Buser
5. Jake Berkowitz
6. Joar Liefseth Olsum Jr, (Rookie)
7. Dallas Seavy
8. Sonny Lidner
9. Ray Reddington Jr
10. Jessie Royer
11. DeeDee Jonrow
12. Jeff King

Looks like all the field has taken the mandatory 24 hour layover, and the majority have taken the 8 hour mandatory (with a mandatory layover at White Mountain still to come). The top two have made it to Unalakleet, which is about 200 miles from White Mountain, with the rest having left Kaltag - just under 300 miles from WM.

The Alaska Daily News also carries many stories from this years Iditarod.

Looks like a Tuesday finish, althought it all depends upon weather conditions, and of course the dogs and mushers.

Snow - We Has Snow

Up until February, we hadn't seen much snow. However, since then, we have gotten plenty. We got the Blizzard, with 31+ inches. Then we got another 10+ inches, Then we got another foot. Then, Thursday into Friday, when we were supposed to get 3-6", we got just under a foot (11.5"). And that doesn't count all the times we have gotten 2" here, 3" there. There has also been melting between the larger storms, but all in all, it has really added up around here. To whit:

Those pictures were taken yesterday morning. The snow has gotten so heavy, it actually broke part of the fence. I haven't gotten to that part of the yard, but I can tell that where a couple of shrubs meet, and a vine (autumn clematis) climbs them, the snow got too heavy and a section of fence got pushed away. The dogs can't get thru, but it irks me because I thought last fall that I should trim the clematis. But, I usually cut it back quite brutally in the spring every couple of years, so I let it go. Ha, teach me!

Sledding thru the 603

Last weekend was all fun and games for WS. On Saturday he went out sledding with Jimmy and Chris (the neighbor); they were out for 8-9 hours. Then Sunday, he took me out to Henniker, where we hit a trail system that took us into Bradford and a corner of Warner. In the 3 hours we were out, I got a couple of pics from different points in our journey. Just a note, although I had the camera, I took both these pics with my phone - I had taken the battery out of the camera to charge it, and forgot to put it back in before we left!

The first picture is from Bradford and in the distance, a bit to the right of the center of the picture, is Pat's Peak ski area.

This next one is on our way back (probably in Henniker) and that is, again, Pat' Peak.

That ride was full of firsts. If you recall, I had been on a sled for the first time in my life a couple of weekends ago. That was nice, easy and mostly flat terrain. This trail was all ups, downs, hard turns, and parts were heavily washboarded. Other areas were so narrow, the only reason I had faith the sled would fit thru was because WS was leading and proved it to me. One such place was a narrow "bridge" that was along the abutment to highway 202, with the river a good drop below.

Another first was going across a portion of a lake. That was pretty scary just because the top portion was thawed, although there was plenty of ice below. The only choice was to cross the lake to the next portion of the trail or turn around (and the 550 pound machine doesn't have reverse) and return on a particularly crappy trail. WS went first to find where the trail intersected, while I stayed on shore. He then returned, told me what was what, and left the decision to me. Although not happy about it, I decided going forward was the thing to do.

Other firsts were going up and down extremely steep hills. Have I ever mentioned that I am not good with heights? That translates into not being very good with steep hills. Having no choice, I soldiered thru and found that snowmobiles can do incredible things on hilss, even with a newbie on deck!

Speaking of steep hills, yesterday WS went out again. This time we started in Hillsboro and went to Eccardt's Farm in Washington. After going thru the farm (yes, we literally went between their buildings and I could see the cows not 75 feet away from us in their cribs), there is a very steep hill that is wide open of trees. This was completely different - I had become rather blase about steep terrain with trees around, but the openess made it so I could see the entire lenght of the slope.At the top we stopped - the photo does not do the steepness justice.

Then we turnded around and came down that hill, which is actually more challenging to me. Once again we were out for about 3 hours. I have enjoyed snowmobiling - much more than I ever thought I would. Of couse I have only gone out on fairly warm days, and I am not sure I would go out in cold weather, but it certainly helps curb the longing for warm bike-riding weather.

One of the Pair

WS almost got a picture of the Pileated Woodpeckers last week. Actually, he got a picture of one of them, but it is so far away, and there is enough brush between the bird and WS, that you really can't see it. But, Here is the picture (cropped) so you can have fun torture yourself trying to identify where it is.

Instead of Content - Pics

Greed and Oil

Now that gas is getting close to $4 a gallon again, I'll start seing things on FB and blogs that indicate that it must be the greedy oil complanies because there is no reason for gas prices to rise. Well, Scott can explain it a whole lot better than I ever could, I'll let him take over:

First, from a NatGeo article US gas Price Spike: Blame the Long Road to From Well to Pump that Scott Cites:

True, the price of crude plus taxes explains most of the price at the pump.
"It's basically simple for the most part," Goldstein explained, "but that
doesn't mean the rest is trivial. It's not." And, he notes, the "last 20 percent
is complicated."

. . .

Pipelines from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast are limited, and the
only vessels permitted to move goods between U.S. ports are those built, owned,
operated, and crewed by U.S. citizens and registered under the U.S. flag.

...

The EIA report also points to planned and unplanned maintenance at refineries
... the changeover from winter grade products to summer grade products to meet
U.S. emissions requirements, and very low profit margins for refiners prior to
the current run-up.

Do you see the common theme? If not, just follow Scott's translation:

Let the libertarian translate: Due to EPA regulations strangling pipeline
building, Union-friendly laws strangling shipping capacity, OSHA regulations
shutting down entire refineries for months at a time, more EPA regulations
mandating specific fuels for specific regions, and refineries eating into their
profit margin to conform to even MORE EPA regulations, gas is expensive.

 

We have a friend that exclaimed that oil companies make more money than any other company in the world. Yeah, because they service almost every industry in the world (fuel, plastics, polymers, etc.) so the oil companies are huge in size. However, their profit is not all that high compared to a lot of Industries, including almost anything related to medical (including billing services), magazines, lumber, telco's, semiconductors, computers, Apple etc. In fact, at a profit of between 10% and 13%, their profit is most likely smaller than what the company you work for requires and is certainly smaller than what they aim for (they most likely aim for 25-30% - if they are trying to grow, or put money away for hard years anyway).

But, sure, go ahead and call the oil companies greedy if it makes you feel better.