Bogieblog

Weather and Flora

The weather over the last month has been wacky and affected a lot of the outdoor plants. First we had a freeze (not a frost) the middle of May or so. The Japanese Maple got bit hard as did some other pants. The Rose of Sharons and Burgundy Bell maple were just getting leaf buds, which were totally destroyed (they are starting to leaf out again though). Japanese maple then Burgundy Belle pictures taken 5/22/23.

Then, last week we went from being in the 60's to two days in the 90's, which caused stress to hostas, lupines and other pants. Doesn't help we didn't get any measurable precipitation for nearly 3 weeks.

We got wild storms Friday night where 5 buildings and a person were hit by lightning in the general vicinity (2 of those happening in the adjacent town of Antrim) and there was also a brush fire started by lightning. Unfortunately, we only saw about 1/8" of rain out of it. (following is from SWNH FB page)

But, I took pictures of flowers that were not affected by the freeze on Friday afternoon just before the storms hit. First are the Rhodies at their peak. The purple ones out fron are again stunning. I manipulated the red rhodie pic to more accurately show the color as phones/cameras want to make them pinker than they truly are.

Although most lupine plants were badly wilted from the lack of rain, this one managed to bloom. And, with cooler temps and the little rain we did get, the other lupine plants were looking better onsaturday.

Columbine

Variegated Weigala (I cannot get the pink to stand out as it does when personally viewing

I have been impressed by  "Fruit Punch pinks" in the south side garden. I bought and planted them in early May and they have been blooming non-stop - even shrugging off the freeze and the fact that I haven't watered them since planting.

Yesterday the high was 61 - at 12:01 am. The daytime temp was 51-53 and heavily overcast so no solar heat gain. The main floor pellet stove ran once yesterday afternoon and is running right now (5:30 am). It will be cool and heavily overcast for another couple of days, so it will most likely run  a few more times before it is time to put it to rest for the season.

The baptisia is just starting to flower so should come into its own in a week or so .I also saw a miniature root beer iris bloom yesterday, but failed to get a picture.

So despite the wild swings in weather, it seems that I am having a fairly good year for color in the gardens.

Nor'Easter March 2023

The northeast got slammed by a nor'easter that started late afternoon of 3/13 and ended early morning of 3/15. The power went out at 11:30 am on Tuesday and was out until at 11:15 am on Thursday (just shy of 48 hours). Then it went out again at 12:30 am Friday morning, and was restored 9:30 am the same day. So a total of 57 hours without power.

Not only was power out, but my cell phone had no phone calls or texts from 5:30 pm  Tuesday until about 4:30 pm on 3/17. That is not entirely accurate as there was one point on Wednesday that I could text my sister and let her know I was alive on Thursday (but some texts didn't send so it was a very short window). Interestingly, I still had FB and other apps, although they did run fairly slowly. However, all I really wanted to do was keep up on the town FB page in case I could offer help to others - plus keep the 71-73 people that were on my particular outage area apprised of how it was going.

The outage started at the pole in my yard, so I always knew when the line workers were there. Pic from the second outage where they had to replace the transformer (first outage had 4 trucks there - 2 big and 2 small. 2nd outage there were 8 trucks). The power company claimed that both outages were caused by tree limbs, but as you can see, there are no trees even close (they had come out 2 months ago and cut down any trees that were there). Nor were there any limbs when I went out to look prior to the workers getting there. My bet is the transformer had just reached its lifespan.

I endured the outage pretty well with a Ryobi power station that I bought last fall. It ran the P43 for about 4 cycles before batteries gave out. The house bound elderly neighbor across the street, who I help with snow clearing, groceries and picking up meds, had power throughout the ordeal (yay), so I was able to recharge the batteries when needed and keep the main floor warm. I was feeling genius for getting the power station since the 800w gas generator that I bought way back in 2014 (and never been used) would not start. I had been planning on using the gas generator for the downstairs stove and/or hot water, but that obviously didn't happen. I will say now, that I sorely missed the old water heater since it didn't need electricity to run. At the same time, even a replacement water heater (instead of combi-boiler) would have required electricity per the new codes, so it is what it is.

I ended up with 30" of snow. A person I know in the next town over (and higher in elevation) received 35" of snow and I've heard reports from others that received 40-44" of the white stuff. Before (3/12) and after (3/15) of the north side. That bank is about 4' tall in the first pic

The west side

The south and east sides

Ski areas and snowmobilers are happy anyway. Yesterday got into the 50's and somewhat windy, so there was some meltage, but today is supposed to stay near freezing. Then a gradual warm up thru the week. I'll take it since that will keep the melting slow so keep flooding down or non-existent.

Iditarod 2023 - NH Team Competes

A New Hampshire team is in this year's Iditarod. Team Bailey (Iditarod link to bio)is from Milan NH, and is a father/son team (not counting the dogs of course) (link to local TV station article and video)

Local Agway Changings Coming

Achilles Agway, is being sold to Minnesota based Runnings. Agway is a farm and garden franchise and a local family owns 6 of them (Keene, Milford, Peterborough, Hillsboro, Walpole and Brattleboro, VT). This is not to be confused with Agway franchise holdings by other entities (such as Osborne's Agway in Concord). The Hillsboro Agway has been a go-to place for my gardening, wild bird feeding and select pet needs since moving to this area way back in the late 90's.

This could be a good thing if Runnings puts some money into it and expands the offerings. But, it could also be disappointing if they don't do anything and just get rid of the local staff. Guess we'll find out.

Hair cut and Snow Pictures from 1/21/2023

Yesterday I did something I haven't done for years, got my haircut at a salon instead of hacking it myself. No, I didn't get any before / after pics, but it is layered in the back and the full length is only down to my shoulder blades now instead of my waist. It looks a lot healthier now without the constant frizz on the top layer, and some of the body my hair achieved after menopause can be seen now.

After the haircut, I went to the Capitol city (Concord) for my monthly trip to Wally World. Even with the overcast that kept the sun away, I was in awe of the view the whole way as the trees were still heavily covered with snow from the storm the day before. I did stop at Dunkin Donuts in Henniker on the way and snapped a picture of trees across from its parking lot. Of course pictures don't do the scenery justice.

On my way back home, the trees were still heavily covered. Shortly before the Hillsboro exits, the traffic became light enough that I felt comfortable taking pictures. At that point, there was one break in the clouds, which is in the picture (no direct sunlight ). Pictures in order: Just before the western Hillsboro exit, partway into the upper part of the Hillsboro exit off-ramp (before the right hand curve), just before the left hand curve on the Hillsboro exit off-ramp. Yes, that is a long "ramp", with the left hand turn about 3/4 to 1 mile from the surface street.)

At the gas station on the west side of town - too bad Osram Sylvania is behind it, but I was taking the picture from the pump so it couldn't be helped

At the stop light at Shaw's (I had to take 2 pictures as a car pulled into the turning lane right as I snapped the first one - LOL)

I stopped in the middle of the bridge that is shortly before my street. No one was behind me at the time but right after I stopped a truck turned onto the street so I only got the 1 picture before I had to move on.

I was glad I had gotten out and about so I could experience all the quintessential New England beauty after the storm.

Chipmunk Stash and a Sun Set

Yesterday I was moving pellets from the garage into the basement. About the 3rd layer down, I found this chipmunk stash

No, the chippie isn't living in the garage - it lives under the front porch. There were two days in November when it was 60* and I had the overhead door raised to warm the garage back up.

Yesterday evening, at 4:40 (by the time stamps on my photos) I went out the back door to bring in the bird feeder and saw some really nice colors. Order of pictures: East, northeast, north (no retouching of phone photos)

I figured the sunset to the west must be gorgeous, so checked it out - sure it was pretty, but the other sides were prettier. However, I could appreciate the contrast of the pastels versus the blue and yellows on this side.

The south side was also pretty

At 6:48, I went into the kitchen and there was a red glow coming the bay window shade (south side), so once again went out the back door to check it out. These stunning colors are unretouched from the phone camera (although cropped to remove the view of the excavator that has been sitting there for months)

What a nice change from the unending cloudiness we have experienced this month.

First Real Snow of the Season

NH got its first "real" snow storm of the season starting early Friday and lasting into early Saturday. Well, some areas got mostly rain, while the Monadnock and Sunapee regions got double digits of snow (i sit square between those regions). It was a very heavy/wet sow and I spent 3 sessions, for a total of 3.5 hours performing snow blowing and shoveling. That does not include random times when I shoveled the roof dumpage from the ramp and driveway.

Friday morning I had received 4.5-5" of snow and it sure made for some pretty scenery

While snow blowing yesterday morning (Saturday), I had to shake one of the branches of the crabapple as it was drooping so low I couldn't walk under it (the snowblower went under, but not me). By afternoon, most trees had shed their loads and fortunately I didn't experience any power outages, although others in the town did.

Some Fall Foliage Late September 2022

The tree at the north side of the house is really looking nice. Last weekend I mowed leaves (for the most part instead of grass), and I'll have to do so again this weekend.

The variegated weigala has started changing. I can't believe I noticed it as I was passing by to check the mail. I took an isolated picture in case you can't find it in the original.

Yesterday (an off Friday), I traveled to the western part of the state to visit with friends that were up from NH,  visiting their property. Shortly before I got to Keene, NH, I saw an incredibly beautiful yellow grove of trees. The yellow was accentuated by the sun being behind them, making them almost glow. Unfortunately, traveling at 70 mph with a whole line of traffic behind me, and approaching a curve, I could not safely get slowed and stopped to get that picture. I was able to stop a distance on the other side of the curve, walk back a couple hundred feet, and take pics from the other side of the trees. The sun is behind me, instead of behind the trees, so the pictures don't get the glow effect, but still beautiful.

The first two pics are on the opposite side of the road from me and the last pic is on the same side of the road.

 

It's Official

I've been saying for weeks that I believe my place has been in a sever drought. Now it is official.

Heard on the news (in a dramatic fashion) - The last time NH has seen this kind of drought was 2020.  Dude, that was only 2 years ago.

Now, if he had said, "2 out of the last 3 years southern NH has seen severe drought," that would have been more dramatic.

Earthquake

Last night, shortly after 8 PM, was an exciting time. Felt and heard a short rumble, just long enough for me to have the thought that it was pretty late for a fully loaded log truck to be going by. Then there was a loud bang as the house felt like something had picked it up and then just dropped it. I seriously thought something nearby had exploded. It was a minor (2.3) earthquake centered about 3 miles south of me (basically at the far end of my street - just a couple of "blocks" past the T" . The funny thing is that the report I read said it was in Antrim, but the airport is in Deering. Of course another report said it was near Keene. If they were going to go for being near a larger town/city, Concord is closer (despite what Google Maps says, seriously, Concord is closer by odometer). This is the first map that I downloaded last night from Earthquake Track

These were taken from the USGS after I reported. Notice that there are reports of feeling it all the way into Vermont and MA.