Bogieblog

Bi-Annual Eye Check

For years I have had eye testing every 4 months as the pressure in my eyes has been elevated (19/20 right/left), which could be pre-glaucoma. In February, the pressure was down to 15/16 so my eye doctor decided I only needed to go in twice per year.

With kerataconus, permanent floaters in the left eye, cataracts in both eyes, and the high ocular pressure, I go thru extensive testing. A visual field is done yearly since with the previously mentioned problems, it would be difficult to tell if I was losing eyesight to macular degeneration (or glaucoma). The visual field was performed at my last visit, so wasn't done this time. This visit I went thru different types of deep eye scans and topical geometry scans, along with other routine tests.

Tuesday's testing revealed that my left eye has improved vision-wise. Which normally would be great news except:

• We can't trust improvement since my vision can change hour to hour.
• The improvement is most likely due to a second type of cataract that has formed in the left eye, so most likely won't be permanent as that cataract continues to develop.

Eye pressure has resumed at 19/20, which is not cause for added concern, just disappointing. The right eye cornea has thinned out a bit from previous tests, but is still okay at this point.

To add to the fun, the specialty contact brand/type I have worn for 20 years has been discontinued so all baselines for fit and orientation are out the window. The eye doctor ordered a trial pair of a different type of lens from the same brand. They came in quickly and I picked them up on Friday but didn't try them until yesterday. It is apparent to me that the left eye prescription is lacking, but it is just a distraction and not terrible or unexpected I'm guessing the adjustment up in strength probably will not go to my previous point. I'll get a better idea of how they perform when I drive to work in the dark Monday morning. That will be the true test on the orientation for both eyes - the prescription can be modified from there.

I am lucky to have an eye doctor who takes a lot of time with me, regardless of how busy she is. She explains things in general, what her thoughts are,  and if I have questions, is happy to go more in depth (although she has generally given me "just enough" info that I don't feel the need).

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.

 

Neighborhood Work

The last couple of weeks there has been work going on in the lot behind my house. Up until now it has been just a paved parking lot for some apartment buildings that are catty-corner to my property. I could tell that they were taking out trees, digging up dirt and rocks, and putting in a foundation, but I was unsure what for.

I am pretty sure it is a garage and once they started building on it this past week, the work has gone quickly. On the 27th they got the outer shell wrapped in typar.

Thursday they installed the roof and Friday the roof was shingled. This morning (Saturday), they put up siding.

And honestly, it will keep car lights from shining into the back windows of my house, so I'm not displeased.

I actually am happy with the color they chose; not too bright nor an intrusive color, and it does fit in well with the trees. During the winter it will stick out, but it will give a bit of cheer on dark, snowy days.

Live and Let Live Farm LOH Donation

Back in March, LOH of the Concord HOG Chapter held a fundraiser and half the money raised was to be donated to Live and Let Live Farm, an animal rescue organization of which one of our members is a volunteer to.

We wanted to give the donation at the farm and get a tour, which was great in theory. After two snowstorms, HOT training and lots of rainy weather, we finally made it come together. Although not many got to go, we had a good time feeding the animals and getting some of the background on them.

First, because the farm is a working farm and obviously very busy, we got the donation presentation out of the way; Michelle is on the left with the owner of L&LLF next to her. I'm in back with Darlene in front of me. Keith is next holding a goat. Then there is Tom and Linda (married to each other and both volunteer at the farm.

This kitty was having a ball playing with its toy. He had the run of the upstairs of a barn where dogs are kept in isolation until it is determined they don't have any communicable diseases and have gone thru temperament evaluation.

The cattle loved the carrots that I brought

As did the goats. The goats are so energetic and fun to watch

The fowl (geese, chickens etc) are allowed to roam the grounds freely. This goose has set himself up to be the greater / protector of a specific barn that housed several hens, some horses, goats and sheep.

Keith, our Director, feeding a horse

 

Linda, an LOH/HOG member who also volunteers a lot of her time at the farm

 

I got to pet and feed a mustang who was being worked with by the farm's "horse whisperer". The horse was very good at taking the carrots out of my hand and seemed to be thriving under the whisperer's guidance.

 

These two mini horses roam the grounds. They are very good with people and kids. They, of course loved the carrots.

Some of the animals had horrific stories and it was amazing how a lot of them have come back to trusting people again. They took in 5 horses from an alleged neglect situation a couple of days after our visit. There were a lot of children there volunteering their time - some with their parents and some were dropped off by parents who did not share their children's interest, but who had found a great outlet for their children's love of animals.

Silence Please

3 more days of this person and her non-stop talking. the 8 hour drive out here was bad enough, but we also share a hotel room. The 8 hour drive will be a contest of my willing myself not to strangle her.

It will be a miracle if I'm still sane after this.

Maybe I'm a Prepper :)

Since receiving pellets a couple of weeks ago, L*wes has halved the price of pellets. Fortunately, I am active on a pellet burner forum and members alerted me not only to the bigger sale, but also the fact that they will price-match previous buys within the last 30 days. The last two tons I received were bought on 2/27; within the 30 days. I made a trip to the store this morning with receipt in hand. I ended up getting half my money back. With the "found" money, I am getting even more pellets delivered. They won't be delivered until the first weekend of April, which is fine by me. At that time I will have pretty much two more year's worth of heat on hand - and spent only a little above what I would normally pay for a heating season.

Not bad, even using the average price, and paying for delivery, I averaged $155/ton. At the beginning of the season I was happy to get "early season saving" prices of $259/ton (and that is for middling pellets - really good pellets were much more). People on the forums can't remember when the prices were this low. Of course no one is making money - just moving the stock out and taking the loss and getting some cash flow. It will be interesting to see what shakes out for pellet prices over the next couple of years.

So, once the pellets are delivered, I will have 8 tons outside plus 3 in the garage. Then I have 2.3 tons or so in the basement.

If prices stay low next season, I will top off my supply as money and availability allow. If prices are volatile, then I can ride it out on what I have stashed. Does put a crimp in my plans for what I was going to do to the house, but it only affects me, the cats, and Birdie so is not a big deal. Not like the house will fall down or anything, just spend more time looking at framing instead of proper walls :)

2016 Heritage Storage Party

Yes, I'm still alive, just haven't done anything either inside or outside the house, so haven't had anything to post about.

Today the place that I store my motorcycle, Heritage Harley Davidson, had their winter storage party. This is an invitation only event, for those who store their bike. Sure, the public can still come to the store, and they get an extra treat in being able to go into the wrenching area, but they don't get drink or food chits, nor do they get tickets for door prizes.

So I got to visit my bike (middle one in picture) and talk to a couple of LOH and HOG members that I usually only see during meetings.

Didn't win anything this year, but I have won some pretty good prizes in the past, so still had fun watching those who did win. they also have a chili cook off competition for the guys in the service department. The  attendees are the judges and the winner of the most votes gets a vacation day.

Was happy that we aren't getting out of the Nor'Easter as it would have hit about when the party got out. Did some shopping while I was in Concord, and now back home with a cat on my lap as I type.

Don't see anything happening for the next several weeks, so may be a while before I post again. Don't worry, I'm not just neglecting my blog - I'm also not posting on FB except to Like people's postings. Just be happy that I'm not posting what is "happening" in my life so you don't have to try to cheer-lead something like, "I got up, I went to work, I got home, I watched TV, went to bed, I got up, I went to work" etc. etc.

What is Old is New

Over the last several weeks, the Jeep has not been doing so well. I believed it to be a transmission issue so I asked my local mechanic to check into getting a re-manufactured tranny for it. Seems that it is super special and there are none to be found (combination between it being fairly new - 2010, manual instead of automatic, and a 4WD instead of AWD). In fact, one of the mechanic's distributors said that he had been searching for the exact same tranny, for someone else, for 2 months.

On 11/3, as I was driving it to the mechanic for him to check out, it got way worse. After he took it for a test drive, he told me he wouldn't even try to drive it home if he were me.

So, I drove to the local Ford dealer and started looking at the used vehicles they had. I ended up test driving a 2004 Explorer that had just been traded in with 130,000 miles. Not having time to search other venues (and not having other venues within walking distance to check out), I decided that the price was something I could live with. We agreed upon a price, with the stipulation that they would do all work needed to pass inspection (I already knew that the steering rack needed replaced), and  they set up the work order.

I rode my bike to work the rest of the week, used it to get groceries over the weekend, and rode to work on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Those last two days were a chilly 24 and 26 degrees in the morning - which was a fine time to find out my heated gear controller no longer worked (hadn't used it but a couple of times since I got it last year). Oh well, I didn't freeze to death so I can't complain too much.

Tuesday night the Explorer was ready for me to pick up so I walked part way to meet up with the salesman, who drove me the rest of the way to the dealership.

It rained the rest of this week (or most of it), so I was glad to have the truck. Tomorrow I should actually see what it looks like in daylight - I've only seen it in the dark of morning or evening.

I'll have my mechanic continue looking for a tranny for the Jeep. It would be nice to get it fixed since it gets twice the gas mileage as the Explorer and is more suitable for everyday driving. However, the Explorer will be good for hauling a trailer, should I ever get one, and can haul a bunch more pellets both volume and weight wise even without a trailer, so will be handy to have regardless if I can ever get the Jeep fixed.

Long Walks

April is the time of year that I have to get my car inspected (yes, I realize it is May, but I am working on old stuff off my camera and phone). Unfortunately, my car needed a lot of work to pass inspection. I had originally taken the car to a place close by where I work, so I could catch a ride from a coworker. However, I found that they were not as honest, or as reasonably priced as I would like, so I ended up taking my car to my local maechanic that I have don't business with for 20+ years (actually did business with his dad before he passed the business to his son Glenn).

Local is in relative terms; it is in Antrim, and is 5.8 miles from my house (yes, I know exactly the disatance). Now, the issue was that the work would take several hours and probably be over the course of a couple of days. Sure, I had my bike to get to/from work, but getting home after dropping the car off (and getting there to pick it up) was problematic since I have nobody around to ask for help (not asking EX).

So, I dropped the car off on a Thursday after work, and walked home. The shortest way back is about 2.5 miles along a main road, then split off onto back roads, some of which are dirt. If there were more ways to cross the Contoocook River, I could have shaved off some distance, but there isn't, so I couldn't. However, I was able to eventually utilize a snowmobile trail that runs alongside the longest stretch of the walk. Gave my shins a much needed rest from pounding the concrete and also ran straighter and flatter than the road it paralleled. Although cloudy and cool, it was still a nice walk and I got to see some parts of the river that I normally don't see, and go right by the local gun range (Deering Fish and Game - last picture).

Glenn kept the car until Tuesday as his tire supplier misunderstood and thought he didn't need the tires until then. Worked out fine as Monday was very hot and sunny, but Tuesday was cool and cloudy - I was comfortable and not sweating my but off on the walk to the shop.

I was pleasantly surprised while passing a house that is shortly before I hit the main road - it had lots of tulips and daffodils blooming. If I had known, I would have taken a picture when I went by on Thursday to show the difference 5 days makes.

 

It all turned out well; I had a great excuse to get more exercise than I would normally do on my own, got in some awesome scenery, and had pleasant weather. Hey, and I know it consistently takes me 1 hour and 20 minutes to walk 5.8 miles at a decent pace (not hurrying, but not quite strolling either).

Modelling

The Harley dealer that I store my bike at also hosts a HOG (Harley Owner's Group) and the associated LOH (ladies of Harley) chapter. The LOH members were given the opportunity to model some of the new clothing that had come into the store lately. This was to take place prior to a ladies ride yesterday (5/2/15), organized in recognition of International Female Ride day. Unfortunately I had a major crick in my neck, so couldn't participate in the ride. But, I had committed to taking a Lady in to pick up her bike that day, so got to model using someone else's bike.

This is my one shot at fame and fortune - LOL.