Bogieblog

NH Matriarch Eagle Succumbs to Injuries

In other birding news, NH's oldest known eagle has died. Gold W22, as she was known, was found in injured in Antrim (a bordering town for us), and succumbed to her injuries. The eagle was 19.5 years old, and was hatched by non-releasable captive parents (I assume rescues). She was placed in a nest in Massachussetts, and as she matured, made her way to Hancock (not to far from here, and a place we ride thru on a regular basis). Go check out the link for her history (I promise it's short)

This is old news, as it came out in the November issue of Affield, but I had it in my blogging folder, which I finally remembered to look at.

Bird Counts for 2012

The NH Audubon Winter Bird Survey is being held next Saturday and Sunday. If you live in NH, take a couple minutes out of your weekend to count birds (and squirrels) and report it. We participate every year, it gives me a good excuse to feed the squirrels birds.

For the first time, they have online data entry - making it easier and cheaper (no more envelope or stamp, or printing out the form) to particpate - no more excuses not to!

And, with the NH Audubon Bird Count here, it must be almost time for the Cornell University Great Backyard Bird Count. It is being held the next weekend, the GBBC is a 4 day event, being held 2/17-2/20 and is open to all North American birders.

This and That (Because I Got Nothing Else)

Last week when I was at the grocery store across the street from work (it was lunchtime and I was getting my bananas and salad for the week), I got in line behind an elderly gentleman. The cashier rang up his few groceries and he gave her a debit card that the state gives to those on food stamps. After having trouble getting it to read it at all, it turned up that he didn't have enough funds left to pay for all his purchases. As he was deciding what to take out of the mix, I gave the cashier the difference enough to cover it. He was astonished that I would do such a thing (it was only a dollar), but I wished him Merry Christmas and bade him to be on his way.

Such a little thing, but it felt good to help him out.

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Answered the phone yesterday, expecting it to be WS calling from work. Instead, I got a guy who, upon my saying "Hello" asked, Bob?"

After explaining he had the wrong number, and him apologizing, all I could think was; Do I sound like a Bob?

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Cop Car features some beautiful photos from NASA. One of the links she provides, is of Comet Lovejoy pasing thru the atmosphere of the sun. Contrary to all expectations, it survived and there is a video to prove it (check out both the entrance and exit videos).

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Buffy frets that she isn't ready for Christmas. I'm not either - boxes will ship after Christmas becausse I'm waiting for completion of some things, which will take a couple of weeks (some things just can't be rushed). Why, oh why, didn't I start earlier?

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Going to try to get to the range on Friday. Although it was great shooting while we were on vacation, it has been too long since I've shot the Sig (and WS hasn't shot the Springfield for the same amount of time).

Besides, I had to have a lead in to linking to the Gun Block Black List (if you don't know the story behind the BBBL, so sad for you).

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It's finally gotten cold here in NH, was 9 degrees this morning, never got above 20. The ski areas should be happy as they can make snow for the next week (since Mother Nature isn't providing the natural stuff). Funny how we had so much snow for Halloween (25.5"), had 6" of snow while we were away for Thanksgiving, but can't seem to buy more than a dusting in December. Hopefully that changes - it would be good for WS to get out on the snowmobile!

Other Doings While Away

We were driving around one day, taking the long way to Casa Cop Car, when we passed by Boeing. WS noticed a strange looking plane and I esclaimed that it must be the DreamLiner, but it looked strange. WS noticed that it had no windows.

Then, I saw the name on the side and did what any red-blooded American does in times like that; I whipped out my smart phone and Googled DreamLifter. I thought I had just remembered the name of the plane incorrectly. But no, DreamLifter is the largest cargo loader that hauls DreamLiner assemblies to reduce transport time from as much as 30 days, to as little as one day.

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The evening that we arrived in Wichita, we were a bit on the hungry side so we hit the hotel restaurant. While sitting there eating some appetizers (what we had for dinner) at the bar, somehow a conversation was struck up with another patron.

Turns out he was in the process of moving back to Hooksette, NH. Small world!

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I don't normally have a lot of time to read, and it has been taking way too long to finish even relatively short bookls (Im talking weeks for a lousy 400 pager - forget longer books, it literally takes months). Anyway, I got to finish one book and not only start, but finish another while on vacation (travel time helped!) They weren't very intellectual books, but light action thrilllers.

I had started Monster Hunter Alpha by Larry Correia a couple of days before leaving home. Alpha is book three in the Monster Hunter series (Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta were read previously) which is set in present day but there are werewolves, vampires and other nasty creatures that most people think of only as myth. One I finished MHA, I went on to Dead Six by Larry Correia & Mike Kupari. This book was set in present day and there are no monsters in this book besides the bad guys. It is a shoot 'em up with some twists and turns and made for good, fast paced reading.

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And that folks, is the end of my reporting on our vacation. It was a good time, great to see everyone, we were fed very well, we got to see sights we normally wouldn't see, and I got in some good reading - what a vacation should be all about!

NASA Video

Greg Kretschmar had this great video on his page. Along with the norther lights, I really enjoyed seeing the massive lightning storms at about 1:20.

Earth">http://vimeo.com/32001208">Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael">http://vimeo.com/michaelkoenig">Michael König on Vimeo.

Cool Old Toys

Did you know that Slinky's are anti-gravity? Well, the bottom part is if dropped from a height. Still cool though.

My apologies, I've forgotten where I found the link - and since I found it Monday during lunch, it might have been thru a newspaper story. Anyway, my thanks to whomever pointed me in that direction.

Worm Meds Take on Malaria

Our dogs have been on Ivermectin for years. In fact, the original three dogs we had here at the house (Bogie, Niki and Sampson) were put on Ivermectin 2-3 years after we moved here. It is a cattle/swine injection, which is used off-label for dogs. I give to the dogs on a monthly basis - except the dogs get it in their food. This controls heartworm, roundworm, and most importantly, hook worms. We had a hook worm infection in one of our dogs early on. These are nasty things that live in the soil for years and enter thru the dog's feet.

We had to give all the dogs 14 days of meticulously measure medication (by the gram), that cost, about $150 for the 3 dogs, to purge them form the dogs. Then I would have to do so again the next year - and so on. That did not include the heartworm medicine that each dog had to get each month from late winter until late fall. Then, the yearly blood tests (couldn't start the HW meds unless it was proved that the dogs didn't harbor HW - otherwise it could have caused massive complications).

After a couple of years, our vets proposed a much cheaper solution - Ivermectin. Given to the dogs year round, the (at the time) $75 bottle of medication would last well over a year. Bonus: since this drug was designed to kill and purge worms, not prevent them, annual blood tests aren't needed (went to every two years). Another bonus - after about 5 years, the patent expired and no longer had to be gotten thru a vet. I now get it off the internet for about $35. NOTE: some dogs (collies and other hearding dogs) do experience difficulties with this medication, so anyone reading this should consult their vets first!!

Now it seems that the medication does good for more than dogs, cattle and sheep; it is being used on humans in Africa. Not for worms, but it kills mosquitos that dine on humans - the mosquitos that carry malaria.

They [scientists - ed.] vacuumed mosquitoes from the walls of huts in three villages whose inhabitants had recently been given ivermectin and three whose had not, and tested to see how many mosquitoes contained malaria parasites.

The ivermectin villages had almost 80 percent fewer.

The drug was shortening the mosquitoes’ lives, explained the lead author, Brian D. Foy, a Colorado State mosquito expert. Only older insects transmit malaria, since they must get it from humans first.

Maybe this is the new wonder drug to knock back malaria. Or, maybe not. But, I did think this was very interesting considering our history with the medicaiton.

Should I File Under Science or Humor?

A narcoleptic dog is the subject of this very short video.

Rob wrote that I'd go to hell if I laughed - guess I'll be in great company!

Ancient Cats

Ever wondered what cats lookied like millions of years ago? Well, they had round pupils, d shorter, thinner muzzles (more doggish) and the ears were lower and further apart. The shape of the mouth isn't quite right either. How do I know this? By looking at a multitude of pictures of the Manul cat (aka Pallas Cat)- a cat that lives in inhospital regions of India, Pakistan, western China and Mongolia.

The Mystery of Cats

Have you ever noticed how cats seem to gravitate toward the woman in the household? Sure, they'll come to the male in the house at times, but for the most part, cats tend to center on the female (expecially in this house). Maybe that was the other part of "a dog is man's best friend." Somewhere lost in time was "and the cat is womans best friend."

Maybe that is why most people that dislike cats are men (men tend to say that cats are aloof, have no personality etc). Well, that is my experience anyway (the part about men disliking cats). Sure, there are some men that actively like cats, but a lot of the others put up with them because they hunt mice, or because the woman in their life likes cats.

Here is the answer to that burning question, "Why?". Seems that there is scientific evidence that cats bond to women more often and deeper than they bond with men.

I'm pretty sure I got this from Scott over at AMCGLTD (or maybe it was his other half, Ellen).