Bogieblog

Very Wet Summer

I haven't talked about rain in a while as it has really slowed down in the last couple of weeks. On the local news last night, they broke it down:

Concord, NH, although having a wet summer (note - meteorological summer is June thru August), it was only the 13th wettest on record. Here is the article/video if interested (which is where I got this screen shot from).

However, other places got much more. Sunapee is a lot closer to me than Concord, but I'm pretty sure I didn't get quite that much as the last couple of big rain-makers missed me. (this pic taken during the TV broadcast).

Mount Washington definitely had it's all time record this summer. The previous record was broken back on August 9, at a bit less than 39".

My guess is that I got right in between Concord and Sunapee totals, so around 20" during those 3 months.

How's that Forcast Working Out for You?

I find this somewhat funny. I'm not a climate change denier. I just happen to think that climate changes all the time all by itself. There are a lot of factors involved, including those outside of Earth's atmosphere - and most of those factors we don't even understand on an individual scope. I don't doubt that mankind affects the climate to a degree, but to what degree and how we would go about reversing it (or if it is worth it in socio/economic sense) is a different animal.

So anyway, this post isn't to debate climate change (and I won't, so please don't bother commenting if you just want to argue your position). This post is about how difficult it is to actually predict what is going to happen in the near term (relatively speaking). The other day the local weather guy was telling us how NH has had a fairly cool summer. One point in case is that we haven't had a day over 90 yet this August, which is unusual (sorry, you have to watch a short ad to see the video).

We have had a very wet, dark summer. that has kept the solar gain to a minimum (ask my solar array - the peak performance was in May, before this weather pattern got stuck in place). Anyway, I happened to run into this forecast put out by NOAA (thru NPR) in May

 

They completely missed the mark for New England (or at least northern New England - IDK about the southern portion). They may have expected the jet stream to act one way, and it acted differently. They may have been going off of ocean temperatures at the time - IIRC, the coastal waters off NH were way warmer than normal in May (average is in high 40's and I think it was in the high 50's at the time).

Although production from my solar arrays has not been as good as expected after seeing May's numbers, I am happy that NOAAs prediction for this area was off. I haven't run the mini split much, which offsets the reduction in energy production. I am still exporting plenty of power - except this past Friday, I actually used more than I made because I had to use the clothes drier a couple of times.

Windy Summer 2023

NH gets tornado warnings a couple of time a year on average. There were 4-5 a couple of weeks ago, but those were just radar indicated and nothing materialized. This past Thursday, there was a tornado warning that started in the southwestern part of the state and then continued along a straight line as the cell barreled due east from that point. At the time, it was radar indicated.

Shortly after the tornado warning was put out, a trained weather spotter reported a tornado in the Keene/Swanzey area. Shortly after someone took a video of a rotating wall. Later in Dublin there was a path of destruction that took down trees and wires, shutting down the rt 101 corridor for hours until crews could get it cleared. I had assumed that it was a microburst or straight line winds.

By last night it was confirmed that it was an EF1 tornado. The funnel was the same as had hit the western part of the state, it just didn't stay on the ground so skipped some areas. I also heard it was 200 yards wide, although that isn't in the article.

The article has drone footage of the damage in Dublin. Fortunately no one was hurt, but around the Dublin school there is plenty of damage (not to the buildings), and someone shut down a solar station before it got hit (quick thinking).

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.