White Crows

So what's the deal here ? We are like, about 200 mi. from the coast. So what's with all the birds ? Every winter they come. They seem to prefer the dump, or I guess I should say, "landfill". There used to be only a few, but now multitudes arrive each December and hang with us for a while. I guess they just like it here, plenty to eat. and a lake nearby for swimming. Once we had a guy who had never seen them. He was kinda dumb I guess and didn't know what they were. Someone told him they were "White Crows". You just can't trust some folks.
So why do they come all this way ? I don't know. Sometimes we go to the beach during the summer, I guess they go from the beach during the winter. Maybe they miss us. But if they're here, who cleans up down there ? All I know is if you have to get out of the truck, wear a hat.

Long Time Gone

I took a walk in the woods the other day. And as I wandered, I came upon this relic of bygone days. It seems this was once part of a thriving homestead. For those who are uneducated in these matters..... I wonder if a quiz would be in order ? Probably not. Yes, this was once a state of the art outhouse. I know all about these things on account of I, myself, recently made a visit to similar facilities right here at home. Of course, ours is equipped with walls and a roof. Be that as it may, there is a melancholy attraction to these remnants of abandoned homes one stumbles upon out in the woods. I always wonder, what kind of people lived here ? How long has it been ? Why was it abandoned ? How many cold nights did someone come here in a solitary moment, and just relax their mind, forgetting about the cares of the day ? Here one could sit in peace and admire the stars, listening to the crickets and the frogs of the night.
Here the old ways and the new ways coexist. I write these words on this electronical wonder, but step out into the night for peace.

Here At Last

Here it is, our first Daffodil. But lest we think too springy of thought here, the NWS has us lined up for all of 19' F tonight. They say the price of gas went down ( a little ) because of a mild winter. That may be so here, but it sure looked like it wasn't the case up north. I guess I'll never understand economics. I think they just get as much as they can mostly. And since we mostly drive, we mostly pay.
We did make it out to cut wood today. One of the advantages of a small truck is you can fill it quickly. One of the disadvantages of a small truck is it don't hold much. But the old back is acting up, so I guess it was a good thing to minimize the work. In this case the minimization was maximized. We brought strong, athletical son along, and an extra chainsaw. And then, those country boys were so inspired by young daughter's beauty that they loaded most of the wood for her. Daughters can be a good thing, you know. But so not to offend the tree huggers, what was cut was standing deadwood, nice dry oak stuff. Just what works best on those 19' mornings.

Coming Soon

As spring draws near, it seems our next bit of encuragement will be these wonderful yellow blooms. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day. I've already seen some in town, but they don't count. This time of year our eyes crave that little bit of color, the tiny little blossom some where, the bright crimson cardinal sitting on a bare tree branch, something besides the lifeless brown and grey.
I don't know what these tiny blue blooms are, but they are another bit of spring on the way. So small they are easily missed in the grass like so many other small things that are there to bless us if we will only take the time to see them.
But of course, the cold weather is not ended. Tomorrow, God willing, we go on a wood cutting excursion.

The Deep Spring

If you ever actually buy anything from one of those mail order catalogues, you'll never lack for mailbox activity. I do get suckered into it from time to time. For years I had admired these tin signs for "Deep Spring Whiskey". Finally, my Sweetie gave me one for Christmas. Perhaps she thought this would shut me up. But now she has to look at it every day.
But hey, isn't it great ? I mean, it's got it all. The waving hats, the flags, the heroic soldiers, it's even got Robert E. Lee ! And best of all, how could you miss the poor wounded hero, being comforted and revived by this homespun Southern Beauty and our own Deep Spring Whiskey. Shoot, if we'd had more of this the war could have gone the other way !

Our Pink Flamingo

It is the middle of January. What is this tropical bird doing in our back yard ? Probably freezing it's tush. This birdie isn't here for the sunflower seeds, in fact it doesn't seem to eat much at all. Today it is around 40' F and drizzling rain, not real tropical. Birdie was a Christmas gift from Yankee Sister. (Many thanks) But it does remind us of our son basking in tropical Florida. It seems he was seduced by the dark side into participating in a grueling half marathon foot race, to be held in that tropical paradise. First reports indicate that he ran well. Congratulations to son and entire team for race well run.
Here ? we've been mostly laying low, staying warm and dry, and working on a few projects. The US Weather service thinks we'll get snow or something tonight, but I'll believe it when I see it. I wonder what that bird would look like with an icy overcoat.

Soybeans and Such

Been reading The Worst Hard Time. by Timothy Egan. Was a Christmas gift from my daughter in the Big City. Book is about the Dust Bowl. It sounds terrible. Books are good gifts, if a person can read. Anyhow, it made me think agricultural thoughts. So here is a picture of a soybean field near the house. We were taking a walk and came on this view of things. It was freaky how the rows of soybeans followed the row of power poles. This picture doesn't really do it justice. Actually, I don't really care for soybeans. When we were in Tennessee, we stayed near a place where they ate a lot of soybeans. They even made soybean "icecream". I do like icecream, but this is going a bit too far. My Sweetie was eating a lot of soybeans for a while, but they didn't agree with her and I think this is better.
Got my motorcycle back on the road. It had a flat tire. I took the wheel to the motorcycle guy and he found a nail in it. He said they wouldn't let him plug it, something about insurance or something. So I did as suggested and got a tire plugging kit thingie and fixed it myself. It cost less than $3.00. I took a little ride today, it was cold, but a nice change.

Our Winter Wonderland

Well, this is pretty much it for the blizzard. Some freezing rain, a few icicles, and a gloomy day. The icy coating on the garbage cans tends to make them slip into the hopper on the truck. This necessitates climbing up on top of the icy truck to throw them out. This is kind of unfortunate, but I guess it's just part of the job. Not enough ice to break down the power lines and reck general havoc, just an annoyance for the most part. So, no blackout, no candles and lamps, no soup on the wood stove. My Sweetie did make us some soup, but in the normal manner. All in all, a rather uneventful day. Sometimes that's the best kind.

First Daffodil

Yesterday, whilst working in town, I saw the first Daffodil of this spring. This is not said daffodil. This is a pile of ashes. Here it seemed spring was so near, so ready to spring forth and fill the world with glorious color, and now, winter is to return.
The ashes come from the wood stove. This is one more daily chore during this chilly season of ice and snow. One curious thing about hot ashes, is how long they can stay viable. Back in "The Days" this was a lot more common and we actually set a couple garbage trucks on fire with hot ashes. This sort of thing results in the hasty deposit of a large amount of garbage into the middle of a street. After that it was the street department's problem. One time whilst making our rounds, I came upon a burning can starting to ignite someone's carport. Plastic cans tend to melt in this situation. Less anyone think we are above this ourselves, we once set the back yard on fire with hot ashes due to poor communication. This resulted in the loss of a couple motorcycles among other things. We once set a garbage truck on fire with a bunch of chemicals from a swiming pool at the park. But that's another story.
But for now, winter is back, they're calling for snow and ice. Maybe they'll close school !

First Crocus

See how well things are going. Just two days ago only a few leaves, now this glorious bloom. Soon there will be more. Spring is on the way. My Sweetie just pulled some tiny carrots from the garden to go with our supper. Actually "they" say it will be in the 20's latter this week. So what, we're not out of wood yet, and the days are already getting longer.
The Blowout was just fine. Four glorious episodes of that Marvelous Magical Harry Potter, not to mention the Incredible Ron Weasely and the Lovely Young Hermione. These heroes saved the day every time. When things were looking their worst, they always came through in the clutch. Space constraints prohibit me from mentioning the many others who all had a hand in these exploits.
Well, another three day weekend is drawing to a close. Tomorrow it will be time to go back to work, payback time. Time to start a day behind and try to catch up. But that's the garbage business, just think of it as job security.

Blowout Mystery Revealed

Yes ! It's Harry Potter !
And not only will we watch three big adventures, but we will attempt ALL FOUR ! This will not be easy being as we are mere muggles and have no time turner. But we did train for this, in a way, by watching all the Lord of the Rings last year. That was a project, but of course, well worth it. So today we will follow four years in the lives of the infamous Harry potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasely, and their many friends and enemies.

Eat your hearts out Yankees

Here are the little crocuses sprouting their tiny selves out of the front yard. Spring is on the way. Must be that global warming stuff, or I guess it's called "climate change" now. They are calling for cold weather later this coming week though. No snow yet, maybe none at all. Actually, it does snow here sometimes. I like to see it maybe one time each winter, reminds me of the old country.
Well, tomorrow is the Blowout. There is a tire dealer here that had a "blowout" sale a while back. I thought it was a poor choice of words. Our blowout is different, we watch three movies in a series back to back (actually we do stop to make popcorn, eat, get beer, and use the potty). We started this tradition with Star Wars, but we have used others. This year we have chosen...........
You'll just have to guess for now.

Le Morte de Titan

Alass, the road has claimed another. Oh darkest of days, the mighty Titan is no more. Nine lives weren't enough to prevent such tragedy. Still magnificent in death he was, but still quite dead. Cut down in his prime as it were. Never more to stalk the unwary rat or squirrel, never more to bask in the winter sunlight. Now he has returned to the earth, part of this wonderfully complex cycle of life on this planet. We are glad God gave him to us for a time, but now once more, we must move on.

Thrown out like an old moldy tangerine

Yes it is sad, but it was necessary to remove this incinerary device from our house before something bad happened. I watched (on U Tube I believe) one of these things go off. It was pretty impressive. I think it was one of those fearmonger things though. But there is no question it would be a bad idea to keep it forever, and it's time had passed. They say all good things must come to an end. I'm not sure I embrace that philosophy, but in this case, I suppose it applies. It was good while it lasted though. It was right pretty and smelled good too. For some reason the needles didn't really start to fall, but the branches got real brittle, curious. I wonder if it had been exposed to some kind of unnatural something. However, time marches on as they say, and soon it will be time for the blowout.

Keep it Clean

The view from the top, or at least of the top. One of the joys of wood heat is chimney maintenance. I guess that's what you would call it. Here is the "chimney" and the brush. Sorry there is no beautiful fieldstone masonry here, but that's just the way it is. Just a tin smoke pipe. Actually it's a sophisticated, triple walled steel chimney pipe that was donated by a friend many years ago. There should be some sort of cap thingy to keep the rain out, but as long as there is fire below, it would be redundant. In the summer, when no fire needed, an old pot does the trick. Sort of low tech, but, effective. The other object ( other than the roof itself ) is of course, the brush. On occasion, when one opens the door of the heater to tend the fire, or get rid of some trash, ( there can be any number of reasons ) more smoke exits via the door than the smoke pipe. In this situation it is time to become the Chimney Sweep. I'm afraid I don't have one of those cool hats like Mary Poppins friends, but I can get a bit sooty if I try. I don't know if good luck rubs off and all, but so far I haven't fallen off the roof, which must count for something.

Our Tropical Paradise

Welcome to our tropical garden paradise. It may seem a little strange to see these magnificent palm trees here in our own back yard, but here they are. Yes, January in the piedmont. Of course it does seem a little curious that all the other trees look a bit bare out there, almost as if there should be snow or something on the ground. But you'll have to look farther north for the snow, and farther south for the palms. These magnificent trees are in fact, mere kale. A delightful addition to our dinner, contributing to proper nutrition, and a healthful lifestyle. These particular plants are getting a bit old and tough, but there are younger, but less photogenic, ones available for eatin'. So what does all this mean ? Beats me, I just thought they looked cool.
So now with Hanukkah Christmas and New Year behind us, (and some other stuff I think) we can move forward to MLK holiday. Oh, I forgot to mention, today is "Coming of Age Day" although I'm not sure what that is about. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Dinner Guests

I like to keep some sunflower seeds out for the birdies. They're fun to watch, and it gives the kitties something to do besides eat and sleep. Just this evening as I was replenishing their stash, I noticed the tell tale scarlet feathers there on the ground. I think that's pretty low down, eating our State Bird and all. But cats are indeed, evil. I used to fill up with those "Wild Bird Seed" mixes. But the little creeps would throw most of the stuff out on the ground to get to the sunflower seeds. It kinda pissed me off to be honest about it. True, the doves would eat the seed off the ground, ( a dangerous thing to do ) but I hated watching it happen. Finally I realized I could just use straight sunflower seeds and there would be lots less waste.
You may have noticed that in this recent photo there are no birdies. It would seem one of the other neighbors has crashed the party. I'm not sure I like this. I mean, he (or she) is all furry and cute, but is no birdie. The eats are not in the tree, but actually hanging between tree and domicile. Apparently they are within squirrel jumping range. I thought about shooting this critter. In my youth I would fry them and eat 'em. But my sweetie refuses to get involved in that sort of thing. She says they're just a rat with a furry tail. She may have a point. In some circumstances I might eat a rat, but not today. I reckon if I wait a little bit, he'll either get run over, or ate by a cat.

2007 Commences

Here is a happy little dogie. This is the same one that had a brush with death Christmas Eve. But now she is doing OK. She still has a slight limp, might have it for a long time for that matter, but she deserves it for being a stupid, disobedient dog. Here she is trying to look cute, but don't be fooled by her fuzzy little face. She was pretty miserable there for a while, when she couldn't run in circles till you would get dizzy just watching her. But now her little nub of a tail is working again, and she is her old pesky self.
Now it has some how become 2007 AD ( or CE, or whatever ). Today doesn't seem much different than yesterday though. We just hung around the house last night and watched DVDs, Kung Fu Hustle, and Cirque du Soleil. Crashed around 11:30, ( didn't even stay up for the big event ). On the plus side, woke with no hangover and in our own bed instead of the jailhouse. Made a pot of coffee and cooked up a fine breakfast of eggs, grits, and country ham. Life can be good.
Well it's back to the old grind tomorrow.