Bogieblog

Racing the Weather

Yesterday I raced to get the mowing done before the rains began. We had a fairly heavy dew, and then some light mist early morning, so I waited until about 10am so at least some of it was dry. I managed to mow the whole lawn, although it was really tough going thru the places I hadn't mowed before. I was going to use the gas mower for the drainage areas, but since I already had the battery mower out, and had changed out to fresh batteries, figured I might as well try it. The battery mower struggled, but no more so than my gas mower would have, so I was happy. I was even happier that I managed not to nick any rocks with the blades!

After mowing, I turned the mower upside down and scraped as much of the wet grass from underneath that I could. After going thru the contortions of hooking up my hose reels to the outside spigot, I blasted the underside of the mower to get the gunk out from all the crevices. So, after a total of about 2 hours, the chore was done.

It seemed as if I had finished just in time as the skies got even darker (I was not under threat of sunburn even while mowing as the skies were dark), and the clouds started spitting mist again. That only lasted for a couple of minutes, Then it dried out and we saw some afternoon sun which made the temps run up from low 60's to mid 80's. I woke up about 12:15am to the sound of a sudden down-pouring of rain that lasted about 1/2 an hour. Looking at the rain gauge, I got about 3/4" in that time.

It looks as if it is dawning to mostly clear skies this morning. However, we are supposed to have a week of unsettled weather, and mostly cloudy skies, so that is probably a false promise.

Mother Nature is Still Trying to Figure it Out

Although we are in spring, it is not uncommon to be cold, nor is it uncommon to get snow storms. Experienced people, or maybe those of us that are less optimistic, keep our snow blowers and shovels at the ready until the end of April. My place has gotten small squalls every day for a week. Those storms would mostly leave a trace to 1/2" or so, but melt by mid morning or so.

Yesterday though, I pulled out the trusty snow blower to clear off the driveway. In the yard, it was 5.25" of snow just before I started the blower. The driveway had less as the driveway was warm enough to melt the first portion that fell. But the snow fell too fast to keep melting.

It was still snowing when I started shoveling and blowing snow in select places; the driveway, in front of the gates, the ramp to the shed and the roof dumpage between the back porch steps and the closest gate. I would guess that once that was done, despite what the picture shows, I had 5.5" of the white stuff before it turned to rain.

This coming week we are supposed to have temps in the 50's or perhaps 60's so the snow will melt soon. Sure would be nice if the weekends would quit being nasty weather, either snow/ice/rain (or all), cold and heavily overcast the entire time so even the afternoons are dark and dreary. The last 4 weekends have been yucky - it may be more weekends in a row than that, but I haven't kept that close a track. If it hasn't snowed during the weekend, it has been rainy, cold (30's) and heavily overcast so even the middle of the day is dark. Today it is supposed to be heavily overcast, although above freezing.

Something is Out of Whack

Last Fall, my Thanksgiving cactus threw out a white bloom in October (the picture is about 1/2 way down that post). Close to Thanksgiving, it only threw out a couple of its regular salmon colored blooms (my fault, I don't feed it and I haven't given it any additional soil for a couple of years - I need to do that).

On 3/27/25, I noticed it was again putting out one white bloom (the picture pulls out some pink, which is only evident in the interior, not from the outside when I look at the bloom itself)

I don't get that bloom every spring. In fact, it has just been within the last few years that I've had the odd colored bloom (compared to the rest of the plant), but it is always welcome when it does appear.

After the Late Winter Thaw

Sometime near the end of February or beginning of March we usually get a break and have a short thaw. This year we needed it as, even though we didn't have any huge snow totals from any one storm, we had consistent storms throughout February. That can be demonstrated thru my lack of solar collection from the rooftop panels.

Versus the 1st four days in March. And I can tell you, that some panels still had snow on them until March 5th. Two days were pretty heavily overcast also and I still generated within 5kwh what had been generated in the total of February with 83.4 kwh generated (Imagine a bar chart here - because TP won't upload the pic - it won't allow me to load anymore pics than the first one).

The local news said that it was also the coldest winter in 10 years, which my pellet usage will attest to. I ran the P43 for the main floor heat most of the month. I also raised the set temp of the basement stove up a couple of degrees to 70*. That was to help keep the under-house garage from going below freezing. I keep a temp sensor in the garage for just that purpose since FHW pipes run thru there. Indeed, there were about 5 days that several times each day for 60-90 minutes each time, I opened the connecting door to the garage to allow the big stove downstairs to heat it.

Even though we have had "thawing" (temps over freezing - with one day near 50) Monday thru Wednesday, I measured yesterday and I still have 10-11" of snowpack in the yard. I had to measure at the side of a path since everything is so compressed from the sleet/freezing rain/rain that followed nearly every storm that I couldn't even make a dent in it so measure anywhere else.

Friday we had crazy winds, even worse than last weekend. There were a lot of snapped trees that took out power poles and electrical lines. Some just blocked roads. I experienced a short power outage of about 5 seconds as a tree came down and blocked my road a couple of blocks south of me (I couldn't see it and just found out about it from the FB page I follow). Fortunately that direction is on the receiving end of the electric flow, so the power outage was very brief as the system shut down in that direction and re-stabilized on my end. 

Yesterday was also pretty windy, but not to the whistling, moaning and howling that was characteristic of all of Friday. Today the winds are to settle down to the teens mph, but temps won't rise above freezing until during the week.

 

Biggest Storm of Season (so far)

We got snow Saturday thru Sunday morning. We got icing thru a lot of the day Sunday, then it turned back to snow overnight. With all the sleet/freezing rain, I elected not to do any clean up until the storm was over. I had already arranged a PTO day for Monday, anticipating this scenario.

Early Monday morning the winds started to pick up. So measuring the depth of the snow/ice would have been useless. Some of the pathways that I keep clear had about 20" in them, but I'm sure that drifting had a lot to do with it. I'm guessing I got about a foot in actuality. Since the wind was supposed to really start honing around 10am, I got out early to clean up and finished up around 9am.

I had arranged for the berm from the road plows to be plowed by an individual. I'm glad I decided to do that since during clean up of the driveway, the last 5-7' were packed so tightly that it would have been way more work than I wanted to do. After the guy plowed out the berm Monday afternoon, I still had to tackle around the mailbox. That took me quite a while and a lot of oomph and strategizing how I would break it up enough to blow the mess out of the way.

Picture from the news Monday evening. Antrim is 2 miles down my road, and Sunapee is about 7 miles from me as the crow flies.

See that white strip just above Jaffrey? Yeah, I'm in that section and can attest that I have over 2' of snow pack (the ground hasn't been snow free for quite some time). And, most of the snows we have received have ended up with icing events so it got packed down pretty tightly.

We've gotten a break since that storm. We had been getting storms every 3 days or so, but nothing since Monday. However, there hasn't been any melting going on. Even my roof hasn't dumped or had much melting since prior to the storm BEFORE this last one.

I have never had a month so bad for solar production before; the following screen shot tells the whole story (the one, and only clear roof day was 2/7/2025). The solar production showing from yesterday, is from 2-3 panels on the west side that are mostly clear (there are 6 panels on that side).

To give you an idea of how bad this is, my solar production for February from previous years

My lowest solar production month ever was November 2022, at 114 kwh, which is when the panels were installed. In that case, production did not start until the middle of the month (11/16/22), when they finally hooked up the new meter and gave me the okay to flip the switch. The next worst months were January 2023 & 2024 where total production was 116kwh each.

I'm hoping the roof will clear with the warmer weather we are supposed to have the next couple of days, but we'll see.

Potentially Biggest Storm of the Season

Here in NH, we are hunkered down for what can potentially be the biggest storm of the season. That isn't saying much as my area is expected to get 8-14" of snow and ice.  It is snowing slowly right now, and I have 3" so far (measured by yardstick) at 3:30am. Heavier bands of snow are supposed to hit before or shortly after daybreak. My approximate are is circled in red (this pic took 4 trys - haven't had that issue for a couple of posts):

But, during the day it is supposed to to turn to sleet/freezing rain as warm air pushes up from the south. That is the concerning part. Then afterwards, toward night time, it is supposed to be turning back to snow.

Normally, I would get out with the snowblower in the middle of the storm and then finish up at the end. But, with the mess that is supposed to fall during the day, I don't dare do that - my driveway and paths are already messed up enough. Friday, I had proactively told my boss that I would be taking Monday off. First, to move the snow and ice to more appropriate places. Second, because my area is expecting 40-50mph winds on Monday. Depending on the amount of ice, that could mean power outages too.

 

(imagine a screen shot here of the expected winds - I kept having various errors when I attempted to upload so gave up)

Fortunately, I am not in the "higher probability" area of widespread power outages, however, I am not that far away. So far they are showing further south in the Monadnock region - about 17-20 miles away. So, if everything shifts just a tinge northward, that would probably mean bad news for my area (square in the middle of the northern Monadnocks / Lake Sunapee regions).

(imagine a screen shot here of the expected icing - I kept having various errors when I attempted to upload so gave up)

Time will tell and I've charged all my backup batteries in case they are needed. This is NOT expected to be as bad as the ice storms in '08, so we can be thankful for that.

everyone stay warm, dry and safe out there!

 

Because I don't really have anything of content to write about, besides NH is in an active weather pattern that is bringing snow every couple of days with enough to actually use the snow blower, here are some pic of Delilah on the main floor of the house. She is fascinated with Ziva and some evenings spends inordinate amount of time looking at him. She doesn't try to jump up, but has done a stretch a couple of times (the stand is too high for her to be able to reach). Interestingly, she doesn't get on top of the battery backup to the stove (the black and gray unit behind Lila in the last 3 pics).

The first 3 pics were taken on 1/31/25 and the last one on 2/04/25

At night she also spends a lot of time just watching me sleep - or at least every time I wake up, she seems to be on the pellet stove pad keeping warm and watching me. During the day, she ghosts back downstairs and stays hidden. In the last couple of days I have plugged up her main hiding spot, under a pallet of pellets, so now I'm trying to figure out where she goes as an alternate. 

Unfortunately, she is a smart kitty, and figured out a long time ago the sound of the cams moving means "something". So, most times she moves slowly enough that they don't sense the motion to the sides. No videos are captured until she comes into the main view of the cams, so I only see her out by the food or going up the stairs. I get way more pics of Rainey and Spot running around down there exploring :D

Snow Angel in Pensacola

Because I need some humor

 

Neighbor Fire

Friday afternoon, shortly before 2 pm, I was working as usual (I WFH) and I thought I heard something outside. I went out my back door and could hear a crackling sound. Looking around, I didn't see smoke in any direction, so started looking around. I could tell it was from the north side. I didn't see anything unusual at the trailer next door but decided to go take a look from the front yard. Once I got in the right position, I could see flames shooting up from beside a house on Rt. 149 (just across the street from the trailer).

I saw people getting out of the house with their dogs, and I heard someone yell they had already called the fire department. I ran back into my house, got my boots and a coat on and ran toward the house to see if they needed help with their pets. As I got to the corner of the street, the fire chief pulled up and I asked how I could help. He told me to stop any traffic from coming down my street (which is a fairly busy road).

I started directing traffic from the south to use the road perpendicular (my house is at a T intersection) and directing the traffic from the cross street to head south and use another road to get onto rt. 149. A fire truck arrived, then more, then more. I directed traffic for about 40 minutes until there were enough personnel to take over traffic duties.

While I was directing traffic, a young woman came up to talk. Seems she was driving towards town and saw the flames. She stopped and alerted the homeowners (which is probably what I heard that got my attention to go outside), then helped get their pets out. She was the real hero of the day. The fire started either beside, or in an old shed that is attached to an addition to the house. Thank goodness the wind was light as the previous 7-10 days we had a lot of wind with gusts 40-60 mph. If the wind had been active, it could have been a whole lot worse.

From what I saw on TV, part of the addition might have gotten involved (on the inside), but the structure is still standing. And, the main house was not touched except maybe smoke damage.

Of course I didn't take any pictures until I had a moment from directing traffic. In the first two pictures, that is the first engine to show up and had not hooked up to the hydrant jet. I surmise that the smoke (which didn't appear until after the engine got there), is from a fire extinguisher being used, as there had been no smoke to that point.

Concord (30 miles away) and Hopkinton trucks were for the after-duty. They had the axes, picks and poles used to tear into the structure to ensure all embers were out.

 

I didn't get any pics of the street filled with fire trucks as well as volunteer vehicles (most FD's for small towns are volunteer). These last 2 are after they were sure the fire was knocked out and they were venting the building so most trucks had left.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS  has been on the NH news since last weekend, with the newsies saying that we should have good visibility. Last weekend it was supposed to be visible to the naked eye in the western sky.

Last weekend I had clouds in what I consider the west from my house. I couldn't find it for anything. I didn't think much of it since it was supposed to be low on the horizon and there were banks of clouds right there. Of course the rest of the sky was totally clear.

During the week, the comet was to get higher in the sky - and dimmer. I dutifully went out each evening between 7 and 7:30, but with no luck. Even with binoculars I couldn't find it. Then, on the local TV channel's "ULocal" FB page, I started seeing tips on how to find it. The first tip was to use a compass app and find 273* west. I downloaded an app and found that I was WAY off from what my assumption of west is.

I consider the front of the house to face west. I knew the house was a few ticks off from the cardinal points, but boy, was I in for a big surprise. The house actually faces 306* NW so 273* west, is actually a few ticks counterclockwise to what I consider the SW corner of the house.

And naturally, that is the worst viewing direction (except the back of the house). 273W is right between the new house beside me and the very tall house across the street from it. The house across the street always has a spotlight on until late night. The house beside me is better, with a motion detection light over the garage doors (that face my house). Unfortunately that motion detection picks up every car headlight that passes by (regardless of direction of travel) and stays on for 60 seconds. At that time of day, cars go by at least every 30-90 seconds, the light is constantly on.

I tried to see the comet from (what I have been calling) the south side of the house. But that wasn't working for me. I tried a bunch of different spots around my house and finally found that if I stood at the NW corner of my house, I could just see the comet thru binoculars. It was very dim - although fighting the light from the street lamp across from my house did not help. Anyway, I present to you the ONLY picture that came out where the comet is visible.

What's that? You can't see it? Well, neither could I until I lightened, cropped and zoomed in. The comet is the light smudge, in the center, to the right of the star.