Bogieblog

RIP Fuzzy 4/29/18

After pulling Fuzzy back from the brink of death in January, this time it was time to let him go.  Fuzzy hadn't eaten for 4-5 days, hadn't drunk any water for 2 days, and had just laid in the same spot in the basement. We made the trip to the Emergency vet clinic in Concord this morning.

Such a great kitty. He showed up in 2003 as a fully grown, heavily muscled feral tom cat who was so distrustful of humans that he would not let us within 15 feet of him. He left this world as a well content and gentle soul of a house kitty who loved everyone and was well loved. He is missed greatly already.

Pictures are thru the years 2008 and 2017 (in no particular order)

She's Home for the Summer

Yesterday was a big day. I told them I was only putting in half a day (nearly 7 hours - LOL) and leaving at noon. The plan was that another LOH member and I would leave my house at 1:30 in one vehicle to go to the dealership to retrieve our bikes (she lives further out than I do and has to drive by my place to get to Concord). The weather gods laughed at me and said hey, we're going to send rain your way starting at noon.

So I texted the gal and she said she could leave sooner so I made plans to leave work at 10:30 (a true 1/2 day) so we could leave my house at 11:30. Sure, we figured we would get wet, but at least it should be lighter rain than what was predicted once the rain really got going.

We got to the dealership shortly after noon and there wasn't any rain yet. In fact, we got to Hillsboro and we hadn't seen a drop - although the clouds were pretty dark. She truned off at the storage unit she keeps her trike in for the summer and I rode the last 2 miles by myself. I figured for sure, with my luck, I would get wet. But no, the moisture stayed in upper layers.

I shucked off my gear and got in the truck to go pick her up, and it started sprinkling. We had a good chuckle over my being able to outrace Mother Nature for a change.

Hey, timing is everything!

New Kid on the Block

 So it is inspection month for my vehicles. My $1,300 2007 For Focus, with 212k miles got thru with about $500 of work for the lower control arm and front sway bar link (I had them do the sway bar even though that wasn't inspection requirement).

The 2004 Ford Explorer with 158k miles on it was a completely different story. First, it threw a code at the end of March. After $500 of work getting the Major EVAP leak taken care of, it started throwing a minor EVAP code. That is a guessing game and almost every guessed at a fix involves removing the gas tank. I also had exhaust structure issues / rot (which I knew about because I could hear it). Additionally, the trailer hitch support was rotted - part of the "frame" so had to be fixed., who knew?

So after hearing that it would need at least another $1500 of work (not counting chasing the minor EVAP leak - which would be a T&M charge), I decided to cut my losses at the $500 line that they had put in. I counted up my receipts over the 2.5 years I've owned the truck and I've put in 6k of repairs, nearly as much as I paid for it to begin with - time to move on.

I had looked at a couple of private sales of used vehicles, but wasn't feeling it. Ient last night to a dealership to look at a 2014 Explorer XLT that had 99k miles on it. It's in great shape and we struck a deal that they and I could live with. The two trucks had a face to face conversation and the big red beast seemed to approve my choice and was just as happy to stay there to start its next adventure in life going to auction. It will make a great vehicle for someone who can do the work needed themselves since the engine, transmission and most of the body are in great shape.

This is the new(ish) vehicle gracing the tent garage as of 8:15 last night. Way too many bells and whistles that I have no need of, but just about any newer vehicle is like that now days. Hey, it has a Manual mode to compliment the automatic transmission so that will be awesome next winter. And as an added bonus it already has a trailer hitch capable of pulling 3500# that is hidden behind a panel of the bumper.

Today I spent some time familiarizing myself with the doodads and choosing settings. I got the radio stations preset to my tastes, the steering wheel and seats where I like them; turned down the illumination of the dash gizmos (why do they set them to super bright - it was blinding me last night as I was driving home - grr) etc. I was most of the way home last night before I figured out I had a moon roof - cool! As I was going thru the manual to find out how to make the cover slide closed and found that the window itself opens too.

 

And then I got another surprise when I found it has a sunroof for the back seat too.

Too funny - most people would be looking for all the bells and whistles. I just want something that gets me to and from, can haul a bit of stuff, and is reliable without too many repair bills. Although I wasn't looking for them, I think I will like the moon roof and the push button tail gate (both up and down). And I'm sure next winter I will probably be wondering how I ever got along without heated seats!

Yes, I'm a little simple when it comes to all the chit that comes in cars these days since I've usually gone with strictly utilitarian vehicles.

For a Change - Ice

It started sleeting on Sunday

Got more sleet Sunday night and all day Monday. I remoted in to work as they hadn't done anything to the roads by the time I normally leave. About 8 the town came by and plowed the sleet

By noon the roof had started dumping. Never took a second picture but this is about half of what came down total

Tuesday it looked like this

Wednesday it looked like this.

 

Thursday late afternoon, I drove thru snow squalls on my way home :(

I quit taking pictures of the ramp and finally shoveled off the rest of it this afternoon. We are in a warming trend and hopefully it will continue.

 

MN is Still Testing Us

Monday we got snow - picture taken about 4 am.

 

It warmed up some thru the week but had mostly cloudy skies. Friday the snowbanks that are left from roof dumpage

 

Thursday night it poured for hours.

Right now it is sleeting and we are supposed to get a mix of snow/sleet/freezing rain all day today.

 Blah.

Not Much

Going on around here. I've been putting long days at work, Friday was my shortest day and it was 10 hours 45 minutes. I was supposed to have Friday and this coming Monday off, but I have way too much to do  so cancelled them. Couldn't pick up the bike anyway because it snowed, and that was the reason I was planning on taking the days, so it's all good.

Snowed twice last week plus was still snowing this morning until about day break. Hasn't really accumulated because the temps are at the cusp of freezing - just enough to make the roads slushy and make the yard white again. We also had very heavy winds a couple of days. Thursday when I got home from work I saw the tarp had blown off the stack of pellets in the yard. That tarp has been on there since last spring and is weighed down by buckets of rocks, a big slab of granite and several pallets, so you know the wind was tooling right along. I got it covered back up taht evening so the snow didn't get to do any damage to the "fire wood".

It is supposed to get into the 50's later next week - assuming the jet stream does what they expect it to. Maybe on Friday I will be able to get out of work after only 10 hours to pick up the bike. Not counting on it, but will see how it goes.

I was gone half the day today getting some legal stuff done and then came home and wrote up stuff for tomorrow's HOG Chapter meeting and got emails out to family.

Noticed that the iris I planted last summer, from Cop Car's care package, have green tops so it looks like the change in climate didn't shock them too badly ;). Will probably take another year or two before they give me any blooms, but they will be wonderful when they do.

Hope everyone's winter finally lets go so they finally enjoy the spring!