Bogieblog

Stay at Home Order in New Hampshire

I sent the following email out to family on Thursday. There have been a few edits  to remove sensitive names, and add explanations. I also added additional information at the end:

The NH Governor has issued a stay-at-home order (not shelter in place – which he says he can’t do) until May 4. Most likely it was done just because we are surrounded by states that have been that way for at least a week. This shuts down non-essential business as of midnight on Friday. Doesn’t affect me one bit. People in my group received their “VIP” papers yesterday in case any of us HAS to visit another company or another state that has an enforced shelter-in-place. However, any visits or travel has to be okayed by upper management and the company expects us to be smart and not go anywhere if you are sick.

My Workplace is also helping suppliers get the Fed’s designation as an essential business since we can’t build if we ain’t got the stuff to build with. The Fed is telling us they expect us to hit all our due dates regardless of circumstances – national security don’t ya know. We have had some over seas companies send in Force Majeure declarations, so we have to make sure our local sources are up and going.

I’ve been working from home for nearly 3 weeks anyway [the week of 3/9 I worked from home for 4 days because I was sick], so what is another 4 or 5? Sure saves on gas not putting in 100 miles each work day! I just went to the dump and saw I had 110 miles on the car. The last time I got gas was on 3/14 when I gassed up both vehicles and 100 of those miles on the car was going in to work on 3/16 [the day they told us to start working from home]. I have another 19.6 miles on the truck (yes, I went out and checked). Also, saving another $1.50 in tolls each day.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Of course the HOG Chapter has cancelled the monthly meeting, and the annual Bake Sale at the dealership was cancelled (as have all other events). The Dealership has been super responsible having enforced having nobody but employees inside the building for a couple of weeks. You can call in, or email an order for parts/merchandise, and then pick up (outside - personnel deliver to your vehicle). Even bike drop offs and pick ups are conducted outside only and riders insert their keys in the night drop (regardless of time of day). Test rides have been by appointment only and you have to do your inventory perusal online, then indicate which bike you want to try out so they can have it ready outside when you arrive.

A friend bought a bike on Friday, before the stay at Home order took affect, and he said it was the strangest experience. Everything, including paperwork was completed outside. He posted pictures on FB of the loan officer at a table outside, and she was wearing gloves. There were two pens, one for her and one for him.

Sickly Me

UPDATE 3/15/20, at 1:50 pm shown at the bottom of the post

I rarely get ill, at least not with common colds and viruses. I may get conditions (allergic reactions, trigger finger etc.) but I don't get anything beyond a mild sniffle. And I mean a MILD sniffle that lasts about a day. I am just this side of an OCD hand washer when I am at work, use paper towels to open the restroom door (faucets and paper towel dispenser and touch-less), and wash my hands frequently outside of nature's call.

Tuesday I went to work as usual feeling just fine. By 9:30 (4 hours into my work day), I had developed a sore throat and my nose was getting stuffed up. Being sensitive to the current times, the fact that I hate it when other people come to work sick, and that my boss always wants us to go home / stay home if sick, I gathered my computer and some paperwork and headed home to work. By late Tuesday evening it had settled into my upper chest and by last night it progressed to mid chest and had some heavy coughing up of phlegm.

Wednesday was more of the same, except it had moved to the middle of my chest. Thursday was more of the same, although toward the afternoon I also had a couple of chills (no fever, just some chills which might have been a psychosomatic reaction to the heavy overcast and rain we had). Thursday night it changed direction and went back to my sinuses. Friday and yesterday my eyes got itchy, I was a snot machine with occasional hacking cough attacks. I finally opened a box of tissues, instead of using TP as I normally do. To go along with the runny nose, yesterday I could have earned the nickname "Sneezy" too.

By late afternoon on Saturday, I had lost my sense of smell and taste. I didn't even realize it until I was making shower gel and couldn't smell any of the essential oils I was using. That includes Ylang-ylang and patchouli which are powerful scents. I could get a bit of "sharpness" smelling rosemary, but that was it. Thinking back on what I ate that day, cinnamon was a bit flat at breakfast and I didn't get any heat or sharpness from the salsa and guacamole I had at lunch.

This morning the sinuses have slowed down, my throat is not sore and the sneezing has ended. Still have the occasional hack, and the sinuses are backed up a bit. Haven't gotten my sense of smell or taste back yet.

Thru this whole thing I have not had a fever - my temp has been between 97.6 and 98.8. The rest of my body has felt pretty good - no aches, no tiredness etc. So, according to my symptoms I do not have flu or the latest health threat. Just a nasty cold or other bug.

I've had people ask if I'm getting myself tested for COVID-19. No I am not for a couple of reasons

• I do not qualify. First question is if you have a fever - nope (one of the signatures is a fever of 100.4 or higher). Second question is do you have a dry cough - nope, cough is very productive
• I have not even been out of 2 counties in the last couple of months, much less overseas
• I haven't come in contact with anyone who is a known carrier
• I don't have a social life so it is highly unlikely I unknowingly came in contact with any of the known cases in NH
• And because of the point above, I most likely caught this thing at work. I am surrounded by people who have small kids (or grandchildren that they live with). Those people are constantly sick themselves or staying home with sick kids.

Even though I am 99.99999....% sure I don't have COVID, I have been pretty much self-quarantining since I left work on Tuesday. Yesterday I did go to the dump and stopped at the grocery store for some perishables. The store wasn't crowded and I kept my distance from people, used hand sanitizer at the register, and wiped down the cart I used with the sanitizer wipes the store provides. Otherwise, I have been at home either working remotely, reading or wishing the weather was decent so I could go outside. However,  I do not plan on being out for 14 days, unless something changes. As I stated before, I most likely caught this at work and I would be the least common vector for anyone else to be affected.

Work has been proactive in keeping everyone informed. They have pretty much shut down international travel and discourage travel at all unless required. And that travel has to be okayed by management.From what my boss says, there have been a lot of people out of work in my building (an office building). The cafeteria sent out a notice that all "self-serve" areas such as the salad bar, soup pots and pizza carousel are being shut down and they will pre-package so 100's of people aren't handling the same utensils.

NH has declared a state of emergency, in order to give the government flexibility (that lasts 21 days). The SOE gives schools the ability to shut down (all schools in the county that has confirmed cases have shut down for a coupe of weeks) . It also gives towns the ability to reschedule town meetings (which is not allowed unless there is a SOE) - and several have taken the opportunity.

EDIT: I was supposed to have an eye appointment on Tuesday. It is the first of my bi-annual appointments. I called Friday and rescheduled it for the first week in April.

EDIT II: As of 1:30 pm Sunday, the Governor of NH has ordered all schools to shut down - giving them 1 week to develop remote learning plans to last at least until April 3. I assume this is because overnight the state's cases of COVID-19 have nearly doubled from 7 to 13).

Snow Shrinkage

Last Monday the weather guessers were saying we should get plowable, maybe even significant snow on Saturday (yesterday). Instead, the N'oreaster stayed out at sea and the other system that might have joined it got pushed south.

So, the snow continues to recede from the yard - in fact most is gone except for berms from the road plow, snow blower and roof dumpage. The following pictures were taken 3/6/20. Yesterday, although not warm, was sunny enough to continue the trend .

Today should be over freezing and Monday they are saying maybe up to 60*, so the snow won't be here much longer.

Oh, and the maple sugaring business is going great guns. Last year was not a good year as the days were too cold but this year they say the sap is running quite well, so there shouldn't be a shortage.

Progression

On 2/24/20, after a couple of days of sun and high 30* temps (nights were in the high 20's), the snow blown pathways were almost clear of ice.

On 2/28, even with temps in the low 40's and a day of rain, it was so cloudy that there wasn't much progress of meltage. The calm winds did not help as the snow pack kept the ground temperature a lot colder than the air temp. However, the paths are mostly clear of ice (except an area on the north side of the house).

Since then the, air temps haven't gotten out of the 20's, so there hasn't been much progress.

As a testament to how warm February was, I only used 27 bags of pellets. Also most days were calm, so the house didn't lose its warmth as quickly. Previously the lowest usage was 41 for both  2016/2017 and 2017/2018 winters. Last winter 49 bags were used. I believe I heard the other day that this was not the warmest February, nor even in the top 5 for New Hampshire, but will have to wait for the official results.

January Thaw and then Deep Freeze

Last Saturday night and Sunday (until the afternoon) were very warm and all the snow melted except for berms. Gut Thursday came along and we got 5" of heavy snow. I worked from home and took a 1.5 hour lunch break to snow blow since the temp was climbing to near 40 and I wanted to get out there while I could still use a machine to do the job. As it was, I had to use a shovel on the berm left by the snow plow as the snowblower's chute kept clogging even though I had siliconed the machine over the weekend. Even away from the road, the snow blowing was a struggle. The snow was so goopy that it didn't blow very far and pathways in the yard were muddy underneath. I didn't even try to do the approach to the tent garage - figuring the truck could handle it. The reason for my hurry to get the snow moved was the temp was to dive that evening and I didn't need a 2-3" thick sheet of ice across everything.

Both Thursday and Friday nights the lows were at 5 while the daytime temps were in the teens. The ground has frozen back up, which is good and just in time for snow blowing today. It snowed another 6-7" last night and I'll need to get it cleaned up before the temps rise to the mid 30's. At least this snow is light as right now the temp is 15. Tonight the low is forecast at 1, and tomorrow night at 7. Days (except today) will be in the teens until Wednesday when it will climb to the 20's. Even so, it has been a fairly mild winter so far (KOW).

I'll leave you with a pre-sunrise picture taken yesterday morning at 6:46 (proof that days are getting longer :)

Weather to Begin the New Year

On New Year's Day, I looked up and saw this 3' piece of ice/snow at the NE corner of my roof. It came down on 1/3/20

I spent a couple of hours pounding the ice off the driveway yesterday. In some areas it was 1.25" thick. This was after the storm Monday into Tuesday (Dec 30-31) and a couple of days where the temps were above freezing. It was in the low 40's yesterday but it took until about 3pm before the bottom of the icepack at the end of the driveway was warm enough to let loose of the ice. (pictures taken this morning after temps dropped back to freezing)

I'll have to spread sand on the driveway to the tent garage.

And here are the pathways in the back yard - ground has stayed cold enough that there wasn't any meltage from the temps or rain. I'll have to sand those too most likely.

Supposed to get several rounds of snow this coming week. Fortunately there isn't expected to be much accumulation.

Instant Winter

Last week at this time I had absolutely no snow. There had been a couple of flurries at my house, but not measurable and blew awya or melted.

Last Monday morning that all changed. 7" of snow on the rail (I measured after taking the picture)

About 9" of snow by the time I got done snow blowing

There was a break Monday afternoon, and then the second storm hit. I got another 7-8" (guessing because I didn't measure). I didn't bother with pictures, because , well, it was just more white stuff. I was lucky, Antrim (a town abutting part of Hillsboro) got 27" and Rindge (not too far from me) got 36" between the two storms. Sure, we've seen those totals before, but really, it would have been nice to get some lighter storms first to get our shoveling and snow blowing muscles in practice.

I brought my work computer home that weekend so I worked from home both Monday and Tuesday - why deal with slick roads and less than competent drivers when you don't need to?

I've had several mornings that were 11 so far, yesterday being one of those. This morning it is 1, I mean 0* - it just went down some more.

It is supposed to warm up thru Tuesday, when we are supposed to get sleet and rain, so we'll see how much snow is left after that.

Saturday 11/23/19 Doings

Yesterday morning  I looked out the kitchen window and had to go out onto the ramp and take a picture of this contrail. The sunrise lit it up nicely. Unfortunately, I am not a great picture taker, or picture manipulator, so the colors are washed out since the phone was compensating for the low light.

Later I got both snow blowers started because4 they hadn't been run for a month, did some running around in town, then moved some pellets into the basement from the garage.

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Fall Foliage 2019

Thursday I took Rita to the vet for some issues (she is okay, or at least we can't find anything wrong and she is rebounding). The drive to Peterborough is along a nicely scenic Rt 202, despite the heavy overcast, so on the way back I stopped a couple of times to take pictures.

My first stop was just a couple miles from the vet at a Peterborough dam on the Contoocook river

This Russian Olive is at the place I parked to get the dam pictures. Yes, it is an invasive non-native species, but has very pretty berries.

These next 2 pictures were in Greenfield and you can tell I stopped in the breakdown lane.

These next 3 were in Bennington along the Contoocook River. There is a "boat launch" just large enough for canoes and kayaks, so I stopped there to take pictures of an island in the river

And the far bank was looking pretty nice too. Too bad I just had my phone and not my camera as I couldn't zoom enough to really get the impact.

This is ome autumn dressed fungus at home :)

Sunrise in Goffstown

This year we have regularly gotten fantastic sunrises and Thursday I stopped to get some pictures.