Bogieblog

Tough Luck

No, not my luck - the Town of Henniker just lost almost its entire fleet of snow removal equipment due to a fire at the town barn. Henniker is next to my town, and I know several people who live there (the town, not the barn - LOL). There is a snowstorm expected Monday that should dump 12-18" of white stuff on us.

I hoped this morning my town, and other surrounding towns would pick up portions of Henniker streets. Then late this afternoon, I was on my way to Manchester, and passed 3-4 state plow trucks heading the other way. I wonder at the time if they were headed to Henniker as loaners.

On tonight's evening news, I found that both my hope and my guess were true; several towns, including mine, will help cover some of the routes, and the state is supplying some equipment too.

Although they like to say that this is good old Yankee generosity, it is my belief that the same would hold true in Kansas (neighbor helping neighbor), or any other state.

EDIT: Here is the NHDOT FB page describing the help that Henniker will get.

Plenty of Heat

After picking up 15 more bags of pellets yesterday, I rearranged the pellet pallets. Each row of pellets is 5 bags.

All the black bags on the right are FSU's (not that you care, just so you can tell what I'm talking about further in the post) and those are what I burn in the upstairs stove. All the bags on the left are different kinds that I use in the downstairs stove.

Each bag is 40 pounds. In picking up just the 15 bags of FSU's yesterday, I had to handle them 3 times; load them onto cart at store, transfer from cart to car, transfer from car to house. So in effect, just those 15 bags was a total of moving 1800 pounds yesterday.

But wait, that isn't the whole story. See, that stack on the left used to be split between the two pallets and 20 bags of FSU's that I already had were on top of the left side pallet. Last night I unloaded the approximately 1/2 ton of mixed pellets off the right side pallet onto the floor. I then started filling it with FSU's, starting with those from my car, then topping it of with the FSUs that were on the left side pallet. Then I stacked the 1/2 ton of mixed pellets on the left side.

So, I moved 1000 pounds twice, 600 pounds 3 times, and 800 pounds once. Lets see, that translates to 2000 + 1800 + 800 = 4600 pounds of pellets that I moved yesterday.

Nope, didn't need any workout with weights yesterday.

Jungle Kitty

About a week ago - Tory in the kitchen bay window

Hope you enjoyed your cuteness quotient for the day.

Motrocycle Storage Party

Yesterday was the storage party where I have my bike put up for winter. They have a Storage Mambers Only (and guest) party where they supply a couple of free drinks, an indoor poker run, chili cook-off (all the employees make a crock of chili), vendors, and prizes. The party is held in the service area and They also open up the storage area so you can visit your bike and look at what others have done to theirs.

This is the first year that I remember that my bike has ever been in the front row, so it was easy to eake pictures.

There were two guys looking at it and they didn't believe me at first when I said it was mine, They finally believed me when I could tell them the year, about the fog lights being new to the HD available parts and the fact that the previous owner must have put the color-matched lowers on since no SG comes with those (Except CVO, which also has the trunk and special paint schemes)

Additionally, I saw a bike that I swear was BIL's previous pride and joy.

When it came to drawing for prizes, I won a pair of boots ($150 value). Unfortunatwly they are men's boots, and ironically, they are the size EX wears. I may or may not be able to trade them in for women's boots (they usually just trade sizes), but if not I can sell them on CL for a decent price I'm sure.

I had a good time, saw a couple of people I know in passing (heck, don't even know their names, but enough to exchange a couple of words), saw my bike, got fed lunch and won a prize - can't ask for any more than that.

Low Temp of the Season

The lowest temperature yet this season was at 4 AM on January 8th:

Right now it is -10F.

Still nice and warm inside from the pellet stoves!

Family Sleeping

Yesterday morning I awoke very early and moved my left hand down beside my hip. My hand hit a cat, so I pet Tory. It is easy to know that it is Tory since Fuzzy has never been on a bed since he became a housecat. The bed was Owned by Shadoe, who consented to let Troy on it, but not Fuzzy and the tradition continued when Shadow passed and I don't know of a time that Fuzzy has actually entered a bedroom since I've been in this house.

As I was drifting back off to sleep, I heard a strange purring. It took me a minute in my brain fog to realize why it sounded strange; it sounded like Fuzzy's purring and not Tory's. I soon figured out, while still almost asleep, that for some reason Fuzzy must be out in the hallway and he heard me move, so started purring.

When I woke up later, and got ready to get out of bed, I put my hand down to pet Tory. Being a bit mre awake, I thought the hair was a bit long for Tory, so opened my eyes. About that time, Fuzzy's purring became very loud and I realized that Fuzzy had joined us during the night. Tory was on my right side, not quite touching me so I hadn't realized he was there.

Then last night I got ready for bed late, about 11 pm. Tory was sitting on the couch staring at me, waiting for me to go to bed so he could join. He has learned it takes me a minute or two to settle down so that the covers and pillows are to my liking, so waits until I call him. I realized that Fuzzy wasn't in the living room, or the kitchen, his two usual haunts. I then went to the bedroom and saw this:

Apparently the whole family (except Birdie) will be using the bed at night now. Fuzzy moved while I got in bed, then planted himself at my right hip. Tory came for his usaul bedtime pets, on my left side (hi usual side to start the night). When I woke up this morning, Fuzzy was at my left, and Tory at my right.

I don't know what has changed where Tory will tolerate him on the bed and in fairly close proximity without at least grumbling, but I will take it.

Going Back to the Office

I never posted pics of the office wall, which I finally got completed on 12/20/14 (when pics were taken).

 

Not all that exciting as it is a very short wall, but as people say on forums I frequent, "Pics, or it didn't happen" :)

Also got the floor scrubbed and oiled, but I think you guys are probably all oiled-wood pictured out.

Let There be Light

Shortly before Christmas, Cop Car sent me a small box. Within that box was an LED Flashlight - Cool!

Then I took off the battery cover and took a double take. 3 batteries were to fit in this contraption that I had never seen before (sorry for the crappy pic).

I installed the batteries, and . . . nothing. Then I realized that the polarity on one of them must be installed differenctly. It wasn't obvious unless you looked really closely, but I figured it out

And now I have a wicked bright flashlight that has a beam that goes from wide angle to thin - double cool!

Happy New Year 2015

Happy New Year. I hope everyone has a better 2015 than in 2014, may the good times outweigh the bad, and may you have peace of mind, heart and spirit. Anything over that is a bonus!