Bogieblog

First Plowable Snow of the Season

Left the house 7:15 yesterday morning for some errands. Made a stop at the Bedford L*we's for some N.A. made products, made a stop in Manchester to pick up a beautiful calendar that a friend makes from her photographs in support of charities, stopped at Target where everything I was looking for was made in China, so left empty handed. Then stopped at Hooksette Home Dep*t, where I bought N.A. made products. Went to the Concord BB&B, where again I left empty handed, because China.

Came home and unloaded, then to the dump and grocery store. Made it home just as the snow started. Even though it was still 34*, the snow was falling so heavily that after 25 minutes, it was sticking.

Overnight we got some mixed precipitation, so everything settled into about 3" of the white stuff. Will be out snow blowing later this morning.

Snow, Sleet and Freezing Rain

On 12/9/21, my place received about 2" of snow and it sure made things pretty out there. During my lunch, I went out and cleared off the truck and shoveled the driveway and around the gates to the cat pen.

Friday night and most of Saturday morning, we got sleet/freezing rain. The local station had promised that about 11 am, it would start warming up and hit the mid 40's. Their estimated timing was a bit off as the temp stubbornly stayed 33-34*. The ground was cold enough that no melting occurred. This picture was taken at 1pm.

Then about 6:20 pm, I noticed the temp starting to rise as it was 39 outside. Forty minutes later it was 56* and the ice started melting quickly. Overnight the winds ramped up and this morning everything is gone. Right now, 6am, it has only gotten down to 38*.

December 1st I started using the mini-split to heat the main floor during the day and using the P43 at night (the P61a still heating basement since that is the only heat down there). This has not been set in stone; Cold, windy days I've run the P43, and several nights I've let the mini-split keep doing its thing. This is an experiment to understand the energy usage during milder winter temps (the outside unit is rated at working to 5*F) as well as seeing how well the office's temp is regulated during working hours.

I used 378 kWh for November 2021 (which perversely, the electric company calls December usage - even though the bill is for 10/29 thru 12/01). I used 358 last year but I was also running power tools, which accounts for the difference. If the weather tracks along what it did last year for December,  as it did in November, that will give me a good idea of usage. I would expect my electric bill to be higher than last December (407), but I would also need to subtract the savings in pellets (I track pellet usage monthly). The only difficulty in the comparison is I get so many of my pellets off CL/FBM, that I don't really have a set price per bag, and it is certainly less than market value. 

Just something else for me to be a geek over :)

 

Update at 7AM - I don't know how these two little patches of snow have held their ground to this point

First Real Snow of the Season

We've had a couple of spits of snow previously, but it didn't stick and couldn't even have been classified as a flurry.

This morning's totals from the local news station meteorologist (link to her FB page, where I got this graphic)

Lempster is not too far from me. But, Lempster (upper left cornier) is on a mountain, and I am in a valley in Hillsboro (lower right cornner).

Note in the first graphic, Lempster got 9" of snow. Meanwhile I ended up with about 1/8" of the white stuff. Just enough to fully cover all surfaces. There is surely ice underneath since it was raining yesterday before it got cold enough to snow.

Pavement looks like it is still barely warm enough to melt the snow except at the end of the drive which is getting the full brunt of the wind out of the north.

It's not overly cold at about 29*, but the wind is pretty active, so I will need to bundle up when I make the trek to the transfer station.

Some Pretty Late Fall Scenery

My old leaf blower, which I had bought off CL fall of 2014 for $65, has an issue. The pull cord no longer rewinds. Figuring it would cost more to have it repaired than to buy a replacement, I found one on FB Marketplace for $50

Now that I hve one that I can get started, maybe I'll tear into the old one and fix it. I'm sure I can get it apart, but it is the putting it back together that will be the challenge.

On my way to pick up my prize, I noticed an area I wanted to stop at on my way back - and I actually remembered to :)

Zoom of the outlet that is on the right side of the above picture, where you can just see the white bubbles of the draining water

To the right of the above pics - you can just see the white bubbles at the very left

Considering how fast the water was flowing, the top of the water was very calm looking and reflected extremely clearly. I was trying to figure out where in the scene the reflection of this tree was - then realized it was another shot taken of  the 2nd picture. I think it looks cool though, so am leaving it like that.

From Google Maps, an overhead shot of the area that is at the town line of Peterborough and Sharon

 

Got a Great Workout

Yesterday I went to get a workout. I mean, I went to pick up 30 bags of pellets for $3/bag that I found on CL. They were advertised as NEWPs (New England Wood Pellets). Not a great pellet, but decent for the price. When I got there, he led me to the area they were stored, and apparently there was a combination of NEWPs and Green Supremes (GS). The person to pick up must have gotten most of the NEWPs as there were only 6 bags left. Oh well, that is fine, GS are decent for that price too.

The pellets were in a basement in an addition to his house. I had to move the pellets from the basement to 100-120' away to go thru a gate in the fence, while going around an in-ground pool. At least he supplied a wheelbarrow. I made 10 trips, hauling 3 bags at a time. Minimum that was 2,000 feet of walking (if I don't count the trips in/out of the basement - about 20' each way) and half of that was while balancing a barrow loaded with 120#. I haven't used a 1-wheeler for a long time - great core workout.

Hey, and figure I had to handle each bag thrice; out of the basement to the wheelbarrow, out of the wheelbarrow into the truck, out of the truck into my basement. So that was effectively handling 3,600# (3x30x40). Oh, and did I mention over half those bags I had to pull from way overhead, so I basically was catching the bags as I slid them off by my fingertips?

On the way there I had debated on telling the person I would take the other 34 bags in another trip if he didn't have anyone lined up to take them, but when I saw the work I had to do, I decided not to. I was super glad I hadn't initially told him I would take it all and taken my trailer - the wheelbarrow trips would have been longer as I would have had to park in the road.

Green Supremes (GS) - made in NH & NY - May actually be rebagged NEWPs (GS are mainly sold to chains whereas NEWPS are sold by stove shops and lawn&garden centers)

Top 6 bags are New England Wood Pellets (NEWPS) - Made in Jaffrey, NH.

Makes for just shy of 6 tons that I start the burn season with at 295 bags (minus what I've burned so far). Depends on how hard the winter is as to if I use it all. I've had winters that I burned 299 bags, but last winter was only 4.75 tons.

Won't Take Long to Pay for Itself

I've complained about needing to replace at least one fence panel for years. It has been beset from several directions:

• First, a good sized section of a huze-azz willow dropped on it in 2017.
• Then a bear took it down to get to the bird feeder last fall
• I assume the same bear took it down this spring (I didn't even bother posting about it - heck I don't even see that I took any pictures)

Each time it was taken down I straightened it the best I could. I started looking for fence panels from local stores last September (the first bear transgression). Single panels were not to be found and I was unwilling to buy an entire kennel plus delivery charges. I did find a company to build me a center support pipe - and that was j-u-s-t enough to keep it from collapsing over the winter (that and the dearth of snow storms so the roof didn't dump much). But with the last attack, there was no way that panel was going to stay up, and it would probably take down the gate with it.

So, now that I have a trailer, I have been looking hard to replace the fence panel. Of course I needed a 10' long x 6' tall panel to fit in the existing spot. Agway no longer even had kennels, nor could they get any. A guy in Concord wants $200/panel. Considering I could get a 10x10x6 kennel (4 panels) for $425 at the local Tractor Supply (they had two in stock), I declined.  I wanted to get an extra panel for back up, but if I was going to spend that much, I might as well go for the whole enchilada.

I never realized how many different sizes of fencing there are until I searched CL and FBM - rarely were they the size I was looking for. I found several 8'x6' and 12'x6' panels along with a whole bunch that were shorter than 6' tall. Then there was a guy selling 2 panels of the right size at $123/each. I contacted him but he was unwilling to wait until the weekend for me to pick them up (I don't blame him, he had willing buyers. I was an hour away and unwilling to drive in the dark trying to find a place I've never been to, towing a trailer that I suck at backing up). I was seriously going to just get a kennel from TSC. Then on Wednesday, I saw an almost brand new 10x10x6 kennel on FBM for $300. I contacted the seller and said I could pick it up any time this weekend. And joy - the seller agreed to hold it!

After looking at the weather forecast, I arranged to pick it up today. The rain stopped just before I left this morning, the guy helped me load it up (thank goodness for the stake sides since the trailer is only 8' long). When I got home I unloaded the panels and used the 4-wheel wagon to haul the single panel to where it was needed. I asked the neighbor lady to help me by stabilizing the old panel while I removed the bolts/brackets. Then put the new panel up.

Here is the sad sack panel I replaced

And the new panel in its place

The reason I decided to pick up the fence today instead of yesterday.

And yay for having not only extra panels if needed, the gate panel next to the replaced panel has been tweaked/twisted each time the other panel was take out. Although it seems to be okay for now, you never know.

So having the trailer not only saved me $125 off the list price of the kennel, it saved whatever the delivery cost (which I'm not even sure that the local TSC delivers). And hey, now I can let Rita out if we have any nice days - poor kitty has been cooped in the house for over a year.

Oiling Up

Yesterday morning I decided it was time to oil the wood floors. It can be tough to tell from pictures, but the difference always amazes me. The first picture is the livingroom from the pellet stove (before is on the left, after is on the right). I have circled where scratches were evident before oiling

The hallway is even tougher to show, but if you look at the white spot that is circled, that is paint drops that I didn't get cleaned up in time and then couldn't get off. The combination of grapeseed and orange oils soften it up enough for removal without damaging the wood. I had a lot of paint splatters that I was able to remove.

The office is pretty easy to see. My chair is used a lot since I have been working from home. The floor shows it in the left picture. I had to oil that area a couple of times, but got it back to looking nice. I'll need to remember to do that area more often than the other areas.

Oh yeah, and the house smells like oranges with a hint of rosemary.

Fall Clean Up

We went straight from A/C season to heating season this fall. about 10 days ago the coldest morning was in the 50's, while most were in the high 60's. Since then we went to lows in the 40's and highs in the low 50's without any sun for solar gain. I used the minisplit to provide heating at night for a couple of days, but on Wednesday got the P43 unpacked from storage and it has been keeping the main floor warm. since then. Yesterday the high was 60, and there was some sun, so the pellet stove didn't run for 10-12 hours.

Sunday I picked up the last ton of pellets from the local store so I now have almost 3 tons in the basement and 2 tons in the garage

I also got the leaves mowed on Sunday. I mowed leaves again on Tuesday and Thursday, with plenty more left in the trees.

I mowed the neighbor's yard yesterday. The grass was still short enough that it really didn't need mowing, but since I wanted to mow his leaves in his back yard, I did the whole thing.I also started up the snowblower to make sure it was good after sitting since March. I added Seafoam to the gas before attempting to start it. I did have to prime it a couple of extra time before it would start, but it ran well and I let it run for several minutes to clean out any gunk in the lines.

I'll mow my yard today - although about 1/2 of that will just be for leaf pick up. My front yard doesn't collect leaves so I haven't shortened any grass there during my earlier leaf mowing.

Drought has Broken

For this area anyway. Northern NH still need rain.

Got another half inch of rain 7/8-7/9

Before last night's rain of at least 1.5" (still raining), the drainage area on the north side of my property still had standing water. The ditch on the south side of the house has had running water in it all week. Glad I got my yard mowed Friday night as a lot of it was still damp to wet at that point.

Went up to Concord yesterday. Half way there the A/C in the Explorer started blowing hot, extremely humid air (the humidity was my first clue since it is sky high). I had taken a shower just before leaving the house as I had mowed the neighbor's lawn and had ended up soaking wet - needed another shower by the time I got to the big city. I had the compressor replaced 3 months after I bought the truck in 2018. It's only been driven about 20k miles since then. At least half that mileage was winter driving, so the A/C hasn't been worked too much. Maybe it's just a busted line or something.

On Sunday, I was coming up the ramp and saw this funky looking bug

Measuring the label later, the thing was 1-1/8" long. I Googled black and yellow beetle, but the closest I could come was a locust borer. However, the descriptions said it had red legs and the pictures clearly show yellow legs. Also it is smaller than 1" and the head portion was all black. Another bug that was similar also had red legs, and although the head was striped, it didn't have the big black patch on its back.

I contacted the UNH Extension for an ID. They came back on Tuesday indicating it is a sugar maple borer, with the following information:

This is called a sugar maple borer (looks a lot like the locust borer, but is much larger and the pattern is different). The sugar maple borer is found throughout the northeast and usually lives in the trunks of the trees. The presence of these beeltes [sic] can be observed on the trunk of affected trees at the outset of an infestation. Galleries excavated by the young larvae can be recognized from the bark dust piles soaked with sap that are present near egg-laying sites. Another obvious sign of attack is the presence of an elongated swelling in the bark, which will eventually split open, leaving a wound.

Damage results from the larval galleries which disrupt sap flow and reduce the tree's vitality. Some branches will die after being cut off from the sap supply, and if there are many galleries, the whole tree may die. The sugar maple borer, is believed to be native to North America, and is considered the most destructive pest of maple

Pretty bug but I'm hoping it was just stopping for rest on its way somewhere else. I only have one sugar maple and it is one I planted a couple of years ago. I checked it out and it seems fine. Lots of other maples around, but everything I've read claims it is exclusive to sugar maples.

More Rain!

This is the rain I got last weekend (Thursday thru 7/4/21)

This is what I got 7/8 - 7/9 (little of that came from hurricane Elsa)

Most of the rains weren't heavy so the ground soaked in almost all of it. It finally hit saturation point on 7/9 and I started to get puddles in the back yard where in a normal year, that much rain would have given me a small stream. The puddles were gone yesterday. There is also ponding at the drainage area between the shrub garden on the north side and the apartment building. That ponding is still there (or was yesterday afternoon).

I mowed both yards last Monday (7/5). Even with the high humidity and 5.5" of recent rain, the neighbor's yard dried out enough I could mow yesterday. I'll need to mow what I can of my yard today - I won't be able to do the drainage area, and right now it is a maybe over on the swamp side* area.

All that moisture has been good for some of the flowers that appear this time of year.

A yellow day lily that has no name because I didn't plant it. It just appeared 3 or 4 years ago within the line of common orange day lilies in the area between the front door steps and the garage. The orange day lilies did not have a good showing this year as this is not a garden that I watered.

This day lily has no name because I either lost the tag when I planted it in the driveway garden, or it was given to me by someone else

My Funny Valentine in the roadside garden

This has no name but I call it "Molly's" or Midwinter's" day lily because I got it from a gal on the FHC forum (real name / forum name). This is planted next to the front steps on the southwest corner.

Echinacea

Black Eyed Suzies

A funky fungus that has grown on a landscape timber in the last week

Mystery flower. Several of these showed up at the far corner of the roadside garden - outside the garden but next to the stones. I certainly didn't plant it and this is the first year it has shown up. Someone on the FHC forum identified it as a Tall Bell Flower and that certainly looks like what it is. A couple more are growing next to the neighbor's shed that is sitting right at the property line (the pin is literally at one corner of the shed).

Between mowing yards on 7/5, I cooled of by reading in the sitting area. This squirrel was not happy with me (I had to lighten the picture quite a bit for the squirrel to show against the bark)

Picture I took yesterday

This is a bulb that the dang squirrels or chipmunks have dug up out of the roadside garden. I only plant bulbs that supposedly they don't like and won't bother. That is either a daffodil or a hyacinth (most likely daffodil).

*The swamp is no longer a swamp but has been cleared and filled in with a massive amount of sand and rip rap. But I don't want to call it the vacant lot since I'm sure someone will build, or he'll put up a trailer soon and sell it.