Bogieblog

1 Ton Down

Last weekend I moved a ton of pellets out of the yard and under nominal shelter. On Saturday I made a skinny pallet as where I was placing it only had a small area for the storage. I brought home a packing crate for a machine, that was nominally shaped like a pallet. After removing small pieces of wood that were sticking up as holders, I added a bunch of scrap wood across the base to creat the pallet. The original base only had 4 slats - the rest were added by me

The pallet was placed along one wall of the shed, then the stacking commenced.

Being an old shed, the roof leaks so I added plastic to keep the pellet bags dry (the bags have breathing holes so aren't water tight.

I plan on moving the other pellets that are in front of the shed into the house, then will tent the other 6 tons at some point.

Comfy Kitty

Went in to make the bed and apparently Fuzzy liked the configuration it was in.

Needless to say the bedding did not get pulled up - wouldn't want to disturb the kitty ;D

Pyrex Mishaps

What happens when a 30+ year old pyrex measuring cup meets a newish Ball canning jar

The Pyrex was only dropped about 6 inches  as I was placing it in the dish drainer after washing it.

I did get a replacement, but it isn't the same somehow. The handle heats up in the microwave - not badly, but enough to make me wonder what the difference is.

A Few Spring Pictures

Not much happening besides mowing, work and other mundane things, but some of the plant life around here is finally convinced spring has arrived.

Phlox with a Primrose backdrop

The crab apple tree - it didn't have a real good bllom this year. I caugh this at what I thought was the beginning of the bloom on 5/13, but it was actually the best day to take the pic

Last weekend I could tell what vehicles were in that parking lot behind my house, andsee people walking down that street. The leaves were budding, but not in the way. This pic was taken yesterday.

The lilacs and forsythia did not bloom well this year, which I knew would happen since I severely pruned them during the summer (after this year's flower buds had developed). Some of the plants I put in last year are starting to develope, but it will be another year or two before they are picture ready. Other plants don't seem to have survived the winter; None of the redbud trees are even trying to put out any growth and 3 roses were lost (the two by the front door are coming back though). Looks like even some of the winterberry was lost, while others are coming in.

Hoping to find some time to work in the yard during the summer, bring some sapplings down, plant some shrubs that I overwintered in pots etc., but with my current schedule and the weather pattern, I'll be happy if I can just keep the lawn mowed and weeds down to a minimum in existing plant beds.

Special Wishes

Happy Mother's Day to Cop Car - I hope you have an extra special day today!

International Female Ride Day 2016

The first Saturday in May is IFRD. Last year I didn't get to participate, but this year I did and joined the local LOH chapter in their ride. As per usual, when I plan a ride, it was in the low 40's and rainy. I'm so used to that turn of events that I don't even blink or question whether I am going or not.

We met at the local Harley dealer ("local" being relative - it is 30 miles from where I live). I got there early so had my pick of parking spots (mine is the one facing the building)

We took a group photo before leaving. There were a lot more ladies scheduled to join us, but the weather must have kept them away. Several guys from the HOG chapter volunteered to ride with us to road guard.

The guy in back isn't super tall - rather super short. He was holding onto the shoulders of me and the gal on his other side and jumping up and down - LOL.

And for Cop Car, who I'm sure is having kittens because she can't see my face

There I am in the center, back, to the left of the "tall" guy. The lady center front was the leader of the ride. She created and scouted the route. The two women to her left are the one's I normally hang with at LOH and HOG meetings because they talk enough that I don't have to try to fill silences with small talk (which I suck at). The shorter of the two is the one I usually hitch a ride with to drop off or pick up my bike for/from winter storage - she drives right by my place when going to Concord. I return the favor; last year I took her to pick up her bike. This year she picked up her bike this morning (just before the ride), then after we got home I drove her back to the dealer to pick up her car. She stores her bike in my town so it is convenient for both of us.

This is the first time I have joined an LOH group ride, and only the 2nd HOG chapter ride (the one other time was last summer when I was headed to NY anyway and joined them for 1/2 their trip. It was a good time and I certainly hope to join again next year.

My Town Makes a Funny

Alright, this is funny right here

A "Slow Down / Safe Speed" sign.

This showed up in my yard sometime between 5:30 pm and 10:15 pm Tuesday evening. It wasn't there when I left for work, but was there when I came back.

What is so funny is that it is sitting about 150 feet from a T intersection with a stop sign. I will admit, since this road is a shortcut between Antrim and E. Hillsboro/W. Henniker, there are a lot of speeders. However, as far as I know, there has never been an accident because someone failed to make the stop (I have seen people pull out in front of traffic after stopping - sightline is not very good).

It only operates during daylight hours, so I didn't get to see it in action until I left for work Friday evening (I usually go the other way in the evening and leave way too early in the morning for it to be on). I backed out of the driveway, put the car in first and eased out the clutch, and the sign told me "Safe Speed", then "Thank You".

Thinking that this is not the best placement for the sign on this road, no kids in area and the stop signe right there. Plus, I kind of think it makes it look as if I have been complaining about speeders (I haven't). Hopefully it will disappear sometime next week.

Spring Cleaning

Yesterday was an awesome day to get out and do some yard work; it was in the mid 50's, sunny, with a light breeze. I got out and raked leaves and limbs (this pic is just one of the piles of leaves.

I saved the 3 cu/ft bags from mulch I laid down last year and stuffed those full of leaves (you can cram quite a bit in there, just keep compressing and compressing). The bags are of a nice thick plastic, and even when a hoe or tear develops, it doesn't enlarge from pressure as it would using normal trash bags. Using those, and a large trash barrel, I loaded up the truck to take it all to the dump's brush pile.

There are some large limbs below all the bags, but since I had done a limb cleanup last month, I didn't have a second load to take. The pellet bag (yellow/tan bag) and the white trash can are my trash and recyclables. You probably can't see it, but the 33 gal trash can full of leaves and sticks is in the front of the bed, on the right side. You can just see the handle sticking up toward the middle of the windshield.

Although I threw most of the mulch bags away after dumping the leaves, I did save 3 of them for future yard work. I'm sure I'll get more mulch later in the season, so will replenish my stock then. Between what the former owners left in the house for large plastic bags (I still have a box of them), mulch bags and pellet bags (for household trash and lining the kitty litter bucket), I don't think I've bought any sort of trash bag since I moved here :) .

I have been getting good use out of the Explorer - I couldn't have done this in one trip with the Patriot - heck, the trash barrel would have to lay down (I've used that barrel a lot for transporting detritus from various demolition projects).