Today's sky report

A few posts ago, I wrote about how bad luck seems to be happening in my wake (http://carpoolguy.blogspot.com/2005/10/todays-sky-report_10.html). Nothing actually happens to me, it's just that the places I go are affected after I leave. So, it shouldn't be hard to guess where I was the week before last. Not Cancun, but close. I spent a wonderful 5 days in Key West and a couple of nice days in Miami Beach. Of course, with the active hurricane season we've had, I guess I should have expected some wind and rain trauma. We were fortunate that Wilma stalled out a bit (sorry Yucatan), and allowed us to complete our vacation without changing our travel plans. I suppose we should have gotten out of Key West when they called for evacuated of tourists, but our hotel said it would be o.k. if we stayed until the next day (as we had planned). Once the tourists were out of the way, they told the residents to hang around a bit more, so our drive out of Key West (top down, Mustangin' north), was uncrowded and unpanicked. Miami Beach was a bit grayer, but still warm and the ocean was a wonderful 85 degrees. Payback came as we left the 85 degree and partly sunny day in Florida to arrive in NH at 42 degrees and rainy. Ecch.

If you see any reports about Brown's Lobster Pound burning down, I was there Sunday.

Today's sky report

I've been a little busy with vacation and the inevitable crush that comes when you get back to work, so I haven't posted in the past week or two. However, today's morning sky compelled me to rev up the old sky report to provide a description.

I got down to the end of my road this morning and looked left to see if the traffic was clear before turning right. On the horizon, there was a cloud bank, dark and solid. Farther up in the sky, was a set of wispy clouds, appearing like a pulled apart cotton ball. In between was an angled funnel-shaped cloud, giving the appearance that the sky was collecting the wispies and dropping them into the funnel to produce a solid cloud cloth at the other end. As the sun was rising, this whole cloud bank manufacturing apparatus was brilliantly back-lit. I've always wondered how those cloud banks were formed.

Today's sky report

After a solid week of solid gray, I'm ready for a change. Fortunately, my planning corresponded perfectly with the weather. I'll be leaving gray NH for sunny Key West very early tomorrow. It's a lot of fun to jump into a metal cylinder in one climate and step off in another. Shed that raincoat; put on those shorts...you're in Florida now, sonny (or is that.. "sunny Florida now"?).

I feel kind of bad complaining about the weather when all I've gotten is wet. Many western NH residents have lost their homes, roads or bridges. And I can hear them in Seattle: "7 days of gray? He doesn't know anything about gray."

Today's sky report

I'm starting to get this feeling that there is bad karma associated with the places we passed on the motorcycle tour mentioned in my last post. We were at Lake George the day the tour boat sank. And now I see that Rt 123 in Alstead is mostly gone, a road that we traversed twice in our journey. Floodwaters did the damage. All I can say now is, look out Hancock.

Today's sky report

I spent a long weekend cruising around NH, VT and NY with my motorcycle posse.  Before we go any further, I just want it on record.  Yes, I was in Lake George on Sunday (morning) and No, I had nothing to do with any boats sinking.  My bike doesn't possess that kind of a wake.

Anyway, the trip was slightly planned, in that we picked a meeting place for Friday and we know in what general direction we might want to head.  Beyond that, the five or us made decisions on the spot, such as what road to take, when and where to stop for lunch, gas, dinner, lodging and who should lead and who should follow.  Given that even the most anal/rigid ones of us were going with the flow, it all worked out well.  I'll give some credit to the fact that it was an absolutely gorgeous weekend weather-wise.  You don't really care when you stop or where you go when the sun is shining and there are twisty roads in front of you.  The rest of the credit goes to the fact that we've all known each other for 35 years or more, and there are very few surprises in the group.

The images and impressions that stayed with me include:

• There is tremendous amount of farm land in western VT.  We stopped for lunch at a little general store south of Middlebury and 4 out of every 5 vehicles that stopped in were trucks, real trucks not suburb trucks.  There were also a good number of farms, especially dairy farms, in eastern upstate NY. 
• New England doesn't hold the northeast monopoly on twisty roads through mountainous regions.  NY holds it own.
• Man, those lakes in VT and NY are big, especially Champlain and Lake George.  I've spent a lot of time on NH's largest lake, Winnipesauke and it may have more surface area than Lake George, but it's not as long.
• Lake Placid is a tourist trap.
• Lake George is a tourist trap with waterfront.
• Manchester, VT, is a tourist trap with "outlet" stores. 
• Crushed beer cans make good holders for motorcycle kickstands on soft ground, so when you have four friends coming in on bikes, you'd better get busy.
• All the TFQ (too f'ing quaint) towns aren't in VT...NH and NY have their share.

I've managed to get some nice rides in with most of this posse over the past several years, and it's always fun.  It's one of the reasons I own a bike.

Today's sky report

I may not be posting too much on this site, but I did put in a couple at http://cooleratthecoast.blogspot.com/. I figure this is a good place to write about events in the seacoast area. Enjoy.

Today's sky report

It's just not the same at Panera anymore. It used to be fun to go in there, make up names, and wait for the bread DJ to call you out. You only had to know how to spell the name you made up (see my previous post: http://carpoolguy.blogspot.com/2005/08/todays-sky-report_18.html).

Today, hoping to have more fake name fun, I went back. This time, I planned to give a name that was easy to spell, yet which still might garner some kind of reaction. Waiting in line with my lunch partner, it was agreed that she would give a guy's name and I'd use a girl's name. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I learned that they no longer depend upon names to match you to your repast. They now have the vibrating, light-flashing coasters popularized by chain restaurants that refuse to take reservations (the Outback, for example). So, I dutifully placed my order, at the same time struggling with my disappointment over the new and not-so-improved paging system. After she punched everything in, I was delighted to hear her ask for a name. Rather than ask her about the redundancy, I simply said "Sue". She never missed a beat as she punched it in. No eye contact, no quizzical look, no barely suppressed giggle. Nothing. All the fun of fake names is gone. I debated for a minute leaving my order on the counter for a bit, hoping that they would call me out, but hunger took first place over humor, and I picked up my order shortly after the lights flashed.

Incidentally, my lunch partner chickened out on giving a man's name.

Today's sky report

Reports of last night's riotous Blog 'n Brew were circulating in carpool this morning. After hearing the tales of mirth and merriment, I can't believe I selected basketball over beer. I'm sorry to have missed another opportunity to hang with such a fine group of literati (blogerati?). However, I still intend to hand out a few awards, as has been the tradition:

Seacoast Perspective: The Glad You Finally Made It Award
LNotes: The Welcome Back Blogger Award
You Who?: The Do Free Chicken Fingers Match the High Epicurian Standards of My Blog? Award
Contagious: The Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing to An Excess Big Second Toe Award
Raising Two Kids: The Can't Wait to See Your Revenge Award

Granite Rants: The Why Would Anyone Go to South Dakota on Vacation? Award

Mrs. Rants: The Still No Blog Award
4 Kids, Mom, and Dad: The Shortest Time to an Engagement Award
Kreblog: The Simply the Best for Organizing These B'nBs Award
Carpoolguy: The You Better Show Next Time Or You're Out Award

Hope I didn't miss anyone, but I'm sure you'll let me know. See y'all in November, I hope.

Today's sky report

In a departure from my usual rants or wry observations, I thought I'd publish a ride report today.  My buddy called me up on Friday to run an errand for him.  The errand required a trip over to Lake Nubanusit in Nelson, NH, and the forecast for the weekend was beautiful, so of course I said "yes".  I left Sunday morning early on DBZ (my BMW motorcycle).  While the sun had been up for a while, it was probably 45 degrees or less at my house when I departed.  Several layers under my riding suit (the 'stitch) kept me warm, along with the grip heaters on the bike and my winter gloves.  I decided to pound the highways on the way over, taking 101 west until I reached Dublin and then turning north to the lake.  For most of the ride, the sun warmed by back and made the early temperatures bearable.  The air was still and I didn't get involved with any road crazies, which is rare when you're riding. 

In Harrisville (north of Dublin), I pulled into the local general store for a coffee and a bite.  This little general store has been under several owners in the 25 plus years that I have been venturing over to the lake.  The current ownership incarnation has the emphasis on sandwiches and other deli products, but they also had coffee and various rolls and breads.  I chose a wonderful blueberry scone to go with the so-so coffee, and sat outside at a table on the porch while I sipped the coffee.  The one downside to riding a motorcycle for those of us who are used to driving around with a beverage is that you can't do that on a bike, especially when you wear a full-face helmet.  You could also look at it as an upside, because you get a chance to stop and relax when you want something to eat or drink.

Leaving Harrisville, the road to the lake soon turns to dirt.  In that area of the state, the dirt roads are even smoother than the heaved-up paved roads.  My back, just a couple weeks from the visit to the emergency room (see Today's sky report for August 29), appreciated things smoothing out. 

The lake was serene and clear.  I wish that my errand required a trip on the water and I wished that I had more time to spend there, but before long, I was back on the bike headed east.  I resolved to return without touching Route 101.  So, here are the towns you hit in avoidance:  Nelson, Harrisville, Hancock, Greenfield, Francestown, New Boston, Goffstown, Manchester, Hooksett, Candia, Raymond, Epping, Brentwood, Exeter.  Some of the roads were awful - heaved and bumpy.  Some of the roads were wonderful, recently paved and beautifully curved.  For most of the duration of this route, you get an appreciation of just how beautiful this state can be.  Fields, mountains, swamps, horse farms, forests, rivers, lakes, small towns, city views, people in churches, a road race, a drag race, all there for your viewing.  All of it on a 75 mile trip.  Hope my buddy has another errand when the leaves get more colored.

Today's sky report

Remember when you were a kid, and you used to play shadow tag? In this variation, you never actually had to touch another individual to say "you're it", you merely had to stomp on their shadow. Of course, this game is easier in the morning or evening when the shadows are longer, than at noon when it's probably easier to reach over and touch someone than to stomp underneath them with your feet.

Anyway, last Friday I was riding westbound on my two wheeled Beemer (affectionately known as Das Beak Zwei or DBZ) rather early to meet some folks for breakfast. In fact, the sun was just beginning to crest the seacoast horizon. As I rolled up and down the small hills of Rt 101, my shadow would appear and disappear in front of me. With the low angle of the sun, the shadow appeared huge at times, stretching out to 30 or 40 feet. Depending upon my direction, it might be on the right or left or out in front of me. Once, when it was on my left, I got passed by a car that drove over my shadow head. Made me think of shadow tag.

Today's sky report

I've been viewing the last few day's skies through the skylight in the family room. This limited view was brought to me courtesy of a bad back - the first real "ouch" I've had with my back. I would love to have a story like, "...and then I lifted the car off the little girl..." or, "...I knew I shouldn't have tried to bench press twice my weight...", but the truth is, I was bending over to reattach an air cleaner on my lawnmower. What a warrior. Anyway, I stayed home from work today just to cement three days of boredom. I'd rather be bored at work - at least there's A/C at work, as Kreblog points out.

Today's sky report - first over 40

I meant to post this a few days ago...I had my first gasoline fill-up for more than $40. It wasn't so long ago when I could be aghast that the cost of a fill-up crested $30. As the prices spiraled ever skyward, I began telling myself that I should fill up more often, just to avoid the heartache of shelling out (what's that mean, "shelling out"? has it got to do with getting gas at the Shell station?) more than $40 for precious petrol. Of course, the best laid plans and all that, found me staring at the "get gas now, idiot" light on my way home from work. I convinced myself that I could wait until after I dropped Kreblog off at the carpool meeting place - no sense in involving him in what would turn out to be a robbery (he of the little Civic "I knew there'd be expensive gas someday" mindset). At the pump, I watched the digit counters fall. There was a brief moment where I thought I might make it - the tank might be satisfied with less than $40. That moment passed, and as the pump clicked, I opened my eyes to see $40.56. Oh, well, I might as well top it off. At $40.90 I was done. Not exactly the milestone in your life you want to pass. Not to give too much away, but I can remember when I first was driving, I could get gas for $.28/gal down on the major highway (no, I wasn't in a Model T).

The next day I rode my bike. Guess I'll have to post again when I have the first over 20 for that.

Today's sky report

For a while now, I thought it might be fun to go into Panera and give a false name. The desire comes unearthed from centuries ago when we used to be required to sign into the library during our high school study halls. Somewhere in the middle of the period, the librarian (Chicken Legs Wollney) would call out the names to make sure nobody signed in and skipped out. Of course we would fill the sign-in with all those great high school characters like “Dick Hertz” and “Mike Hunt”. Chicken legs would dutifully call out, “Mike Hunt. Where’s Mike Hunt”. At that point, the quiet in the library would be shattered by barely stifled laughter.

The deal at Panera wasn’t so much about embarrassing the bread DJ who calls out your name when it’s time to pick up your order. After all, they only take first names so while “Dick” might be fun, it’s just not that funny. So when Kreblog and I went to the local Panera’s for lunch, and I resolved to make up a name. I worked on it while we were in line, finally deciding on Rafael.

After a long time waiting for the rather new help to get my somewhat complicated order into the touch screen, she asked for my name. I replied, “Rafael”. She says, “Rafael……how do you spell that?” Duohh, not so quick on my feet, I missed the opportunity to say, “It’s spelled like it sounds”. Instead, I scrambled to make up the spelling which you are reading here. Lesson learned: don’t make up names you can’t spell. On the other hand, Rafael sounded really good and smooth when the deep-voiced bread DJ called it out. I even remembered it was a clue for me to pick up my lunch.

Today's sky report

OK, this may take a few posts to play out, but the carpool has come up with a new reality show. Fittingly, it's called "The Carpool". The premise is that there's a carpool (ours) that has an empty seat and wants to add a new member. The current carpoolers (Kreblog, Seacoast Perspective and I) will be the judges. We'll start with a suitably large contingent of contestants, let's say 12. They have to demonstrate a certain set of skills each week (to be described below). Each week, we'll knock one or two of them off (fewer if the ratings are high, more if the ratings are bad - less shows to air). So, here's a couple of contests, and feel free to chime in with one of your own:

Vanity Plate deciphering - Since NH seems to have the highest number of vanity plates per capita of any state in the country, each contestant will be asked to decipher some plates. For example, "RDSXGRL". The correct answer is "Red Sox Girl", but extra credit will go to the contestant that can also come up with "RD's Sex Girl".

Fallujah Music Radio Switching - Somewhere deep in the archives of this blog is a post about the music that the carpool doesn't like and an explanation of why it's called Fallujah music. Each contestant will be put in front of a radio and distracted by asking them questions. They have to successfully pick out the Fallujah songs and switch them off in the shortest amount of time. One wrinkle will be to see if they can identify the double switch - when they switch from a Fallujah song to another one.

I'll try to work up some more contests in coming posts, but feel free to suggest your own.

Today's sky report - More UFOs

Kreblog, err, "David" must have been sitting with an artist last week. An artist's conception of the Exeter UFO appeared with the follow-up article in Sunday's Portsmouth Herald. I particularly like the flames. You'd think with all the sky reports I've done, at least one skyward view would have harvested a sighting of a UFO. I guess I'll have to keep looking. At least I live in a fertile area for sightings. This is not the first time UFO hysteria has broken out in Exeter. Back in 1965, several folks saw a UFO: http://ufocasebook.com/Exeter.html.

And we're not done yet. These odd airborne craft are spreading to neighboring East Kingston: http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/exeter/08022005/news/55742.htm.

I'd better start working on what I'm going to say to the first alien to disembark...

Today's sky report - ezpass rage redux

So now the long lines at the tolls are the ezpass only lanes.  Open up another one, please - we're paying a premium to drive through (vis-a-vis the token users).  We deserve another lane just for us. 

On the positive side, it was very sweet breezing through ezpass lanes on the Mass Pike and the Tappan Zee Bridge on a trip to NJ this past weekend.  The TZ even had a lane with a high arching reader that let you blow through it at 35 mph.  Which we did...

Today's sky report

Seems a little quiet in the blogosphere this week. Do the computer electrons take vacations like the rest of us, kind of an HTML Holiday? Anyway, the sky report for today comes from Kreblog, who reported in carpool yesterday that the sky all around his house was orange after the thunderstorms blew through. Orange enough to cast an orange light on the cars going by, the side of his house and everything else in sight. Sounds like the same color as the UFO sighted in Exeter last week (http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/exeter/07292005/news/55154.htm). Hmmm…is Kreblog's name David?

Today's sky report

I have a two-parter today - a report from the eminently successful Blog 'n Brew and a short report from my ride home from that event. First the Blog 'n Brew: Once again, Blogmaster Kreblog corralled a bunch of us eCoast bloggers to meet face to face. While this may seem contrary to the general anonymity of blogging, it works real well. You see, bloggers are people who have a need to express themselves, which makes for great barroom conversation - lots of witty thoughts, overlapping, meandering, opinionated, personal, and just plain funny. Anywho, some of the same suspects were there from our last BnB, including:

Contagious
Granite Rants
Mrs. “I promised I’d blog but I haven’t” Rants

Missing in action was Seacoast Perspective who claimed it was his wedding anniversary but interestingly, hasn’t updated his blog in almost a month. I think he was scared to come. During the course of the evening, he was compared to other famous no-shows such as Snuffleupagus and Weapons of Mass Destruction. And joining us for the first time (for a B’nB) were:

4 Kids, Mom, and Dad
Lnotes
You Who?

After our last B’nB, I handed out a few awards in the post that followed (Prior B'nB Awards). Contagious, jonesing for recognition, asked that she receive another award after this B’nB. In fact, she had a specific request (my award). So here we go with this month’s awards (drum roll):

Best use of too much information (what a surprise) – Contagious
Most blog groupies - 4 Kids
Most broken blog promises – Mrs. Rants
Oldest last post – Lnotes
Best grasp of local music scene 10 years ago – Granite Rants
Most likely to over contribute for chicken and beer – You Who

And a special Blogger’s Appreciation Award goes to Kreblog, who not only hosts the event but who is also instrumental in helping many of us with our techie blog questions.

And now the ride home. I had taken two wheels to Blog ‘n Brew, looking to beat the heat of the day with a cool ride home. Leaving Paddy’s, I did my usual pre-ride fiddling and diddling around: unlock your gear, insert earplugs, put on helmet, put on glasses, put on jacket, zip tank bag closed, open zippers on jacket and so forth. It wasn’t until I got underway that I finally looked up and saw, A REALLY BIG AND ORANGE FULL MOON. Right then, I knew the ride home would be nice. I threaded my way around the edges of Portsmouth to Rt. 1A. As I headed east, the big moon was in my face and acting like a spotlight – it was bright enough that the scenery coming at me was darkened by the backlight. As I shot past Odiorne State Park, the trees and buildings cleared and I was left with the flooded salt marsh on one side (tide was in) and the ocean on the other. The moon created pools of light on both surfaces. It was easy to see where the phrase “moon river” originates when there’s a wide swath of moonlight streaming across the calm ocean to the beach in front of you.

Because it was summer, I was expecting a bit of traffic on 1A. Not to disappoint me, there were several cars just poking along enjoying the moon and the sea. With precious few passing lanes, I was unable to enjoy the costal curves as you can do in the fall or winter, but the relaxed pace suited the mood of the evening. I turned off the coast at the 101 junction at Hampton Beach and headed to Exeter.

I had expected the temperature by the beach to be significantly cooler. As I traversed the narrow lane of land between the marshes and the ocean, the temperature did cool off some, but it didn’t plunge as I had hoped. Not until I reached the exit by my home did the night air actually begin to feel cool. Thus chilled from the ongoing heat wave, I was able to sleep better.

Today's sky report

Today's morning sky was filled with sun and anticipation. The second in a series of Blog 'n Brews is tonight and who can wait?

Besides the second Blog n' Brew, today is also the 14th annual Ride to Work day (www.ridetowork.org). The idea behind this effort is to promote motorcycling as more than just sport. If motorcycling was used more often as a form of basic transportation, there would be less crowding on the highways, in the parking lots and so forth. Even though the Ride to Work non-profit is based out of Minnesota, I have to believe that this cause might a bigger deal in California or Florida where you can be assured of more days of sun and warmth than in NH. Although, let's not forget that NH has one of the highest (if not the highest) number of motorcycle registrations per capita.

Much like my first day on EZ Pass (see post below), I expected everything to be different on Ride to Work day. Instead of 50 cars to every motorcycle, it would be the other way around. As I mounted my bike for the ride and headed down my small road, I expected to be joining up with other motorcyclist as I got on to larger and larger arteries. We would ride as a pack, kind of like the road into Weir's Beach during NH's motorcycle week. As I reached the corner at the end of my road, all I saw were cars and trucks. Merging on to Rt 101, I was surrounded by cages (cars). Where were my biking buddies? Did they not know it was Ride to Work day? Do none of them have jobs to ride to? After about 5 miles, I saw one bike going the other way. I gave him a nod and a wave, which were not reciprocated - almost as if he didn't understand our solidarity in our work transportation. For the whole 45 minute trip, I may have seen 7 or 8 motorcycles - less than I see on a normal day. What gives? How are we going to change the world if people don't care? Could it be that everyone drove today so they could listen to NPR reports on the Bush's new Supreme Court nominee? They're missing a lot of fresh air…

Realistically, in NH motorcycles should be seen as a hobby or a sport and not as a form of transportation. I have ridden a lot of miles in all kinds of weather, and unless you live 10 or less miles from work, you are going to get wet, cold, baked, burnt or bruised. I generally ride with a full riding suit, which helps deal with changing weather conditions, but even so, there will always be rides where you will uncomfortable. Still, I remember as a boy, trying to justify the purchase of a bike to my mother by saying I could use it instead of a car. I didn't get the bike.

As a footnote to my EZ Pass Rage post, the system seems to be sorting itself out. They have moved the EZ pass lanes to the middle, leaving two lanes to the left for tokens (I'm not sure why they didn't figure this out earlier). Still, as I was approaching the lane this morning, a car was in front of me without a transponder. The man rolled into the booth, nothing changed or flashed and he drove on. Now that's a discount.

Today's sky report

Maybe I should call this one today's nature report. As I was leaving for work on Friday, I saw a (not so) little head peaking up at me from the culvert that feeds the pond to the right of my driveway. I had to look, so I stopped the car, got out and looked down into the culvert. Already thrashing through the weeds and cat-tails, making his way back to the pond was a very large turtle. Not being well versed in all things turtle (necks, soup, the rock band), I'm not sure what type it was. When I described the size (back bigger than a serving platter) and the pointy face to other non-experts, they indicated that it might be a snapping turtle. One on-line guide says:

Snapping Turtle
Size: 8 - 18½"
Habitat: muddy, weedy ponds and marshes
Food: scavenger, eats crayfish, small turtles, frogs, fish, and ducklings
Notes: won't bother you if you won't bother it, but stands its ground when provoked

That seems to fit the bill, given that the pond is rather muddy and weedy and there are plenty of frogs in the pond on which he/she can feast. In fact, it may be the power of suggestion, but could it be that the nights are getting quieter as the bullfrogs are picked off one by one?

On Saturday, as I was mowing around the house, I saw another turtle on the other side of the house (when I say I live in a swamp, I'm not kidding). This one was slightly smaller than the one I had seen the day before, and its back was cleaner, not having any of the residual pond scum on its shell that the previous day's turtle had shown. It made me wonder how far turtles travel and whether or not this turtle was related to the one by the pond. Whatever the relationship, it now sees clear that it will be best to keep our small dog inside or he may lose a nose to the snappers....