Bogieblog

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.

Canine Gibbs

This weekend is the Hillsboro Summerfest. It is held at the town ball field that is a short distance from my house.

 

Yesterday I saw on the police FB page that Canine Gibbs would be putting on a short demonstration at the farthest side of the field (from my house), so I walked over to observe. For the first part of the demonstration I did not get any good pictures since there were people in front of me and they were moving constantly. But I did get a couple of his sit/stay and a short search.

Searching for the object

After the object search (and a short cooling off / water break) there was a suspect grab demonstration. Once again I didn't get pics because of the movement of the actors and the people in front, but it was interesting to watch.

Despite what you see in the movies, not a bark was uttered during the entire demonstration.

They Say NH Doesn't Get Tornados

And by "they", I don't mean the weather guessers. I'm talking about the general USA population that believes that NH doesn't get tornadoes. We certainly don't get the amount of tornadoes as a lot of other areas. And I would hazard a guess that we see more "straight line" events than tornadoes, but we do get a couple a year. Fortunately this one was a weak one yesterday evening when we had severe weather going thru. The video was taken in Charlestown NH (about 38 miles from me - by road).

Disclaimer - the Weather Service has yet to confirm it was a tornado, but by the looks, I'm calling it one.

A Bit of Flooding and a Bit of Snow

We had some warm temps with wind at the beginning of last week that really got the snow/ice pack to melting. That presents other issues such as a very flooded shrub garden. I don't remember it ever being quite this bad. The drainage area behind it has a small pipe that freezes up during the winter, so there is always some sort of back up each spring. Following pics taken 2/23/22, just before the freezing temps returned.

I'm pretty sure I've never seen water reach the area almost right to the corner where the tent garage used to be.

At least most of the yard was cleared of snow and the mound that develops from both roof dumpage and snow blowing the driveway has greatly reduced in size

Yesterday we received more snow, but only 6-7". I expected more as they were predicting 8-18" so went out during lunch yesterday and did an initial round of snow blowing when I had 4-5". Will have to clean up again today to take care of the berm the road plow left last night, clean off the truck (which I did not do previously), and remove the additional couple of inches from the driveway some time this morning.

Next week we are supposed to have lows in the single digits again (11* this morning), so March will start off cold with chances of snow.

Moved

Does anyone else turn a 30 minute job into 2 hours? I rerouted a light from the edge of the appliance room to the middle. I did have to install a piece of lumber to hold the box and replaced the old ceramic fixture to a new one, but that shouldn't be complicated. First I wired it backwards, but realized that before going further.My excuse was that it was dark and I thought I had placed the black wire at the copper screw, but once I got the flashlight close, it was the silver screw.

Good thing I got 2 new fixtures Thursday as I managed to break the first one right as I should have been ready to flip the breaker back on. Ah well, just proud I didn't electrocute myself.

This picture is from before the light was moved, and you saw it previously when I was happy to have replaced the 60w light bulb with the GE ultra bright LED 3-arm light.

The light in its new location

Each arm of the light is in a different position. The one closest is pointing straight down so it doesn't blind me as I am entering the room. The one on the left is at about a 45 and the back one is at a 90* angle so the light bounces of the back wall. It is still set at the lowest light setting.

Now I can see into the P61a when I clean it instead of trying to hold flashlights. I'm sure I will still use a flashlight to an extent, but not for the entire 30 minutes it takes to clean the stove.

If I hadn't broken one of the fixtures, my plan was to replace the light above the drier. The string pulled out of it a long time ago and I've been using a battery operated light there. But, the universe had other plans since the roads were too slick for me to justify going out to get a replacement. Hours upon hours of sleet  and grauple just makes a mess. I can hardly wait to try to remoev it all from the Explorer.