Bogieblog

Flower Show

Instead of real content, you shall be regaled with pictures of what was blooming this last week. Starting at the driveway garden I planted last year. First up is butterfly weed

Daisy (not Shasta, but I don't remember the cultiver

A penstemmen

Purple coneflower

Speedwell

Now to the side yard. First up is a rogue foxglove that was not planted in the former holding garden. Foxgloves are planted nearly 100' away, in the shade garden at the other side of the house though.

Clematis - I'm too lazy to look up the name though :)

Ninebark leaves

Spirea

Along the front of the house. First is a hosta with nearly dead roses behind it (I am giving up on roses)

Husker red penstemmen

Rose campion

The shade garden - the foxgloves that I actually planted

Heuchera with some solomon seal leaves in the top left

A pretty green and blue hosta

Buttercups

The leftovers from a peony

So those were all the pictures from 6/24/18. But wait, there's more. Taken yesterday

The standard orange lilies at the front of the house

Not a very good picture, but the only red and yellow daylily stil blooming in the driveway garden

The driveway garden

Okay, that is it. Hope you had fun looking at the pictures.

Bike Week 2018

After doing work on the house on my vacation days, I was ready to enjoy the last coupld of days of Bike Week. Saturday I joined a HOG ride that went to the northern part of the state, and lasted most of the day. I left the house at 7 and got home about 4. At our first stop I got a picture of the line of bikes (my bike is second behind the black bike on the right), and then the later pictures are when we stopped for lunch.

Sunday, after unloading the pellets from the truck (see previous post), I went out for a solo ride around Sunapee lake and out toward Keene along a back road where I found a nice little lake . Conveniently there was a building with an empty parking lot across from the lake, so it was easy to pull off and take a break.

I never actually went to any of the "bike week" activities - way too much traffic and I've been there probably 20 times, but I still got some good riding in.

Garage Painting

Last weekend was a 4 day weekend for me - I finally got to take a couple of vacation days (haven't gotten to take a planned day off since last December). Thursday I took Rita in for her yearly checkup and the vet was well pleased by her full recovery from her mysterious illness in December & January.

Friday was cool and rainy, so I decided to do some work on the garage. This decision was brought about because I had found someone selling premium wood pellets for cheap $$, and I was going to pick them up on Friday night. So I wanted to get the work done before I loaded the pellets into the back of the garage.

The I had replaced the sheet rock of the wall between the garage and basement in 2014 but had left it as taped and mudded so the only thing I had to do for prep work was to brush all the dust and cobwebs off and then us paint I had left from other projects to put on two coats.

After completing that wall, I found I had a bit of paint left over so did 1/3 of the garage ceiling.

I also used some masonry paint to get the portions of the block wall that were available. Obviously I didn't think to take picture until I had started unloading the pellets on Saturday. (no picture of the wall by the overhead door as I had already moved the shelves back).

As contrast, here is the unpainted cinder block wall behind the bike.

Amazing how much brighter it is in there with just a bit of paint.

I filled gaps between the sheetrock and cinder block walls with foam backer rod, then caulked to close the gaps. Also caulked around the door frame and the window on the back wall.

There was a gap between the sheet rock and the original trim boards. I had the sheet rock hung so that it did not go behind the boards since the garage is wet at times and the sheetrock would soak up water. I did not remove the original trim boards because they had concreted them in to keep water from seeping under the sill. So, that is the long way of saying I had to fill the gap between the sheet rock and the boards with backer rod.

During this past week I went to a BBS and got some PVC trim slats and yesterday (another cool rainy day) I installed them over the gap and caulked (yes, I had to run out and take the picture just now - (LOL)

Oh, and yes, I got the rest of the pellets moved last Sunday (1/2 ton for $55 - normally $7- per 40 lb bag) - okay, no picture of them stacked, but this is them in the truck ready to off-load

Camping

Last weekend there was a get together (G2G) for Northeast Firewood Hoarders (and Pellet Pigs). I have belonged to that forum for several years and feel I have gotten to "know" some of them. Since the G2G was in northern NH, I decided to attend. At first I was just going to do a day trip, but as the time grew close, and the host was promising a great surprise after dark, I decided I could camp in the truck. The hosts let us know we were welcome to camp on their property and they would have a porta-potty, so I bought an air mattress online, bought a sleeping bag good to 40* and a battery powered lantern. Of course I took food and other stuff. Looking at the truck one would think I was going for a week :D

Camping in the truck was comfortable and the sleeping bag kept me toasty even though the temps got down to 32*.

Somebody brought pallets for a bonfire, so the host unloaded the truck with his tractor.

 

The coolest thing was watching Scotty Overkill (his screen name) bring down a 100' tree, just behind the hosts' house was amazing;

Another tree was also taken down at the edge of a field and a bunch of guys had fun showing off their saws, using their saws to cut to length, and splitting so all the hosts' had to do was stack it for drying

All the attendees got together online and played Santa in June by getting host and hostess gifts. The host got a box - with chains for the tractor

 

The hostess got to read the card and got a nice-sized gift certificate for a local store.

And, of course we had the bonfire with both limbs from the fir tree that Scotty had taken down as well as the pallets.

 

The furthest traveler award went to Backwoods Savage (screen name) and he came all the way from Michigan. He met up with a couple coming from Ohio and spent the night at their house, then they caravaned to NH. Nobody had a clue that he would show up. We had someone from RI and several from CT and NY, a couple from PA another from ME, and yet another from NJ - not to mention 5-6 people from NH (some couldn't make it). It was a well tended event - Had a great time and got to meet a bunch of cool people. Not that "cool" would be what the general populous would call these people - more rednecks, but my definition works for me! 

Iris Blooms and More

I have been excited to see several of the iris that I planted last year next to the driveway bloom. Sorry the red/burgandy iris picture is so blurry. That is the one that sent out the first bud that I featured a couple of weeks ago.

The rhododendron is blooming nicely too. Well, one side is. The far plant in the picture is very brown on the side you can't see. I was browning last spring and I cut out the affected limbs, but now the damage is extensive. I don't know if it is the birds nesting in there (catbirds), wasp or ant nest damage (I don't know for a fact there are insect nests in there, but there are a lot of different bees and wasps sipping off the flowers. There is a bumblebee in the close up picture and I saw at least 3 different types of wasps at the same time - there were so many the whole plant was buzzing.

The variegated weigala I planted last year is putting out a few blooms which is impressive since I dug it up from the holding garden last year and figured it would be a couple of years before blooms appeared.

Today I went to Agway and got some plants for the back porch. Three very nice smelling petunias and a snap dragon for hummingbirds. Although I don't keep a feeder out, I have seen at least one hummer flying around the yard lately.

The two ninebarks I planted last year beside the driveway are putting out buds so they should flower soon. However, their foliage is pretty enough that once they fill in they will be beautiful. I'll try to remember to get pics of the foliage for a future post.

Hope your days are bright, sunny and beautiful as it has been here lately!

Gift from Work

I guess a lot of people let our CEO know how much time and effort I have put in for the last two months in order to prepare for the audit. Tuesday she called me into her office and she presented me with a card. I opened it at my desk and found not only a very nice thank you card, but a nice thank you gift - a gift certificate for the Manchester Harley Davidson dealer.

As it happened, I had a appointment for the new Explorer on Wednesday to take care of an appearance package that I had included when I bought it. Basically another coat of clear coat to protect the paint, plus treatment of the carpet and seats to protect them from staining. When I picked up the truck Wednesday afternoon, I realized I was about 1/2 mile down the street from the HD dealership so I decided to go see if I could spend part of my gift card.

It turns out I could spend part of it; I got a window decal for the truck, a headband and heat deflectors - and I still have part of the balance left, so I can make another trip later when I decide what I need.

I had thought about getting heat deflectors for a couple of years since this bike runs so much hotter than my 2006 SG did. The 2006 only had an 88 cu/in engine and the 2011 has a 103 so the inside of my thighs get cooked if sitting at a stop light even when it is only in the 80's air temp. When I got home that night I tried my hand at installation. They look like they should be very simple, 5 minute install. Although not truly tough to install, it took about 30 minutes, some swearing, and consultation with the H-D forums (using their search function for previous posts). Some of the tips and tricks they gave were invaluable in keeping me on the right track, not losing parts into the hollow frame, and giving me confidence. So, here they are - and they work great!

First two picture are of the left deflector (left as sitting on bike). The third pic is of the right deflector. Covering those jugs is very helpful in keeping the heat away from the legs.