The Old Grind

I like my coffee, I admit it. But In the interest of "Health", I have cut back. A lot. But sometimes it's just too good to pass up. Camping is one of those times. And if you only drink it "on occasion" you want "good" stuff. And isn't the "good" stuff freshly ground ? So when the Camping Catalogue came, (lots and lots of catalogues come) and I saw this Cordless Coffee Grinder, I was a sucker. Big time. I mean, how could I pass up a chance to have fresh ground coffee out in the wilderness ? Sure, you can always smash the beans between a couple rocks, but wouldn't that make it kinda gritty ? Why, you may ask, would I be so particular when I was only gonna throw it into my old enamel percolator and boil the fool out of it ? But I'm like that sometimes.
Back there, behind all the smoke, is my camping coffee pot. But the subject under discussion is this camping Coffee Grinder. This is an ingenious little device. One removes the crank and top cover, and fills the little hopper with aromatic coffee beans. Then, the cover and crank are replaced, and the freshly ground coffee accumulates in a special compartment in the handle. Sounds simple enough, and it is a simple low-tech apparatus.
Back at the house, I have a cool little electrical Coffee Grinder. A friend gave me this years ago, and it still dependably grinds my coffee beans, in spite of My Sweetie using it to grind all kinds of weird things in it. And it does all this in about 10 seconds. But of course, you have to plug it in.
But this wonderful Camping Coffee Grinder does not need the power grid. It also does not grind my coffee in 10 seconds. Nor does it grind my coffee in 10 minutes. Maybe 20, on a good day.
But it does work. And the coffee is good, though maybe the wait has something to do with that.

A Night Out

We are getting rain these days, in Electrical Type Storms. These usually occur in the afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, that is the time I'm free to play on this computer. A while back, we had an unfortunate event with lightning and this Mac that was very tramatical. So we tend to shut down under those conditions. Lightning can be fun to watch, but is no fun in the house. But life does move along anyway.


The Athletical Son had a night off work, and My Sweetie and I took advantage of the situation to have a short Campout. We took off for our hideaway in the woods, (In the Woods-May 28, 2007) and some time to ourselves. The weather was warm, but not unbearable, and the walk in is not long. We put up our trusty little tent, and kicked back. Here the sun is going down behind the trees. This means it is time to kindle a fire. If you wait too long it will be dark, and its hard to cook supper when you can't see.
One thing that makes this such a great campsite is that there is plenty of fire wood laying around. It's not all picked over 'cause we're the only ones who camp here. And among the deadfall one can easily find pieces of this Rich Pine. When one of these pine trees dies, and dries up, and rots apart, there sometimes remains a bit of heartwood impregnated with sap.
This is great stuff. You can light it with a match and it will burn by itself. Here you can see a piece of it at the base of the fire. In fact, at this point, it is the fire. But you just light that little booger and lay the rest on top. Instant campfire.
As the dusk gathered, we fixed up a mess of tasty vittles. Night eventually falls even on these long summer days, and we enjoyed a little nip o' rum by the ol' campfire.


Here Is My Sweetie having a little warm up before bedtime. We had a great rest ot there in the woods. It's too bad we can't go more often.

I don't even mind the dent I put in my truck. But that's another story.

Kitty Cat Family Reunion

You may recognize the orange one as that famous kitten, Puddin' himself. The newbies are his sisters, Split, and Two Face.
It would seem that Angora, the Wild One, is a better mother than we had been led to believe. My Sweetie was poking around and happened to see these two with her. When she approached, the crazy Wild One took off, and these took cover under a pile of stuff that had accumulated in the corner where I try to work on stuff that breaks. There's a lot of stuff that breaks. If the truth be know, I'm not only Kinda Fuzzy, but Kinda Messy also.
And so they were rousted out and brought into the house. Now instead of hiding under a pile of stuff, they hide under the furniture. They don't seem to be scared of people per se. The theory is that if we keep them with us (people), they might not be so wild as their momma. I guess time will tell. Puddin' seems to like them OK, but I don't know if they realize they're kin. They will have to get used to a new diet though. These two are furrier, more like their momma. So, now there are even more Little Things than we realized.

More Little

Things were a little slow today, so I pulled this fellow out of the past. Actually I'm not real sure if it's a "Fellow" or something else. How do you tell with these things anyhow ? But "he" is little.
The kids are out of school now. The days are getting long. Why is "Midsummer's Day" the first day of summer ? Why isn't it in the middle ? Why do I even think about these things ? Is this all some plot by "Them" to mess with us, like Daylight Saving Time ? Who is "Them" any way ? Is "Them" the same ones as the "They" that say all those things ? Will "They" come and get me for asking all these dumb questions ?
Am I just getting paranoid here ?

Quiet Days

Pretty much of a quiet day here at home. Talked to some of the Young'uns via visit and phone. Made a pot of coffee and fried a few eggs for breakfast. Rode over to Wally World in search of bicycle tires. My Sweetie's tires were, as it were, tired. These things were 30 yrs, if a day, all cracked and rotten, in short, history. And besides all that, they leaked. Old tires is one thing, but old leaky tires is another entirely. Hence my trip to Wally World.
It's confession time, I'm ashamed to admit, I have a prejudice against the place. Once, the security people chased my out in the parking lot and insisted I return to the store for to watch a tape of me stealing stuff. When it all was sorted out, it was someone else that was stealing stuff. I was just a little hot. I know it is wrong to hold a grudge, and I repent, but I still prefer not to go there.
I was looking for big round things, shaped roughly like bicycle tires, but couldn't find any. They did have bicycle tire tubes though. As I sadly studied those tubes, I realized some of the boxes actually contained rolled up bicycle tires. I didn't realize you could do that to a tire and expect it to still function properly. But my satisfaction was guarantied was it not ? so I took the plunge. It would seem that when the tires are unrolled, it is possible to use them on a bicycle, and here is another job well done.
And now it was time for dinner. The charcoal bag has been empty for a while now, so I have been using some of the stuff that falls out of the trees in the yard. Oddly enough, this seems to be an improvement. The real fire gives that wonderful campfire like taste to the meal, and it saves some money too. Well it's back to work again tomorrow.

Local Jazz

Greetings, Culture Fans. My Sweetie saw an announce-ment for this Jazz Trio in the local Swapping Paper. Jazz is Culture, isn't it ? So we got into the Luxury Vehicle and went for the Jazz experience. It was pretty good. We started out by going to the wrong place, but made some adjustments, and got there just a little bit late. But it was certainly worth it, and we enjoyed an evening of local Jazz Type music.
No, my camera is not acting weird or anything, I just neglected to bring it. One of these days I'll learn better. But there had to be a picture, so here it is.

We did finally get some rain, complete with Thunder and Lighting, the works. That Puddin' continues to grow. He was a little sick, but seems to be improving. However, if he doesn't start doing better in with the litterbox, his life may be significantly shortened.

Puny Things

Some more of Little Things. This is actually a Sunflower. I know, Sunflowers are supposed to be big and all, but this one isn't. This one is located in the area beneath our little Bird Feeder. It would seem the little birdies some times waste some of that expensive Birdie Food. I used to get the stuff that had all the different kinds of seeds all together. But the little twerps would throw bunches of it out to get to their favorites. This would make me very upset. I couldn't decide weather to stop feeding 'em, or just to shoot the little things. Finally I realized that they mostly ate the sunflower seeds, so now I just get them. But the Birdies are a bit clumsy at times, and some still hits the ground where it sprouts. The ground here is not real good, and there is a lot of shade, so all we get is these puny little things.

Safety First

Got to work the other day, and was informed that my Headlight was out. NC, like most states, insists that we ride with our lights on. We have signs that say, and I quote, "Motorcycles Must Burn Headlights". This is supposed to make things safer of course. The bright light is supposed to make people in cars and trucks see the poor Biker and consequently, not kill him (or her). Of course they do any way. Curious expression though, "Burn Headlights". Mostly, people burn rubber. But it does get the point across.
I figured I'd just risk my life and try to avoid the cops on the way home. But all this was unnecessary on account of it being discovered that the Bright (high beam) light still worked. This piece of the Motorcycle was the problem. It sort of reminds me of those tube things that used to be in all the radios and stuff. I guess there are people now, who never saw those things. But radios used to have all these tubes in there, that glowed in the dark. But this one was supposed to do more than merely glow, it was supposed to "Burn", and it wouldn't.
Time for a trip to the Auto Parts Store. I just can't stay away from that place. There were lots of these things there on the rack. It was finally narrowed down to two selections, the ridiculously expensive one, and the reasonably priced number. The choice was obvious. So now the Motorcycle has a perfectly functional, reasonably priced, new headlight. And I can once again ride safely.

Back in the Mountains

Last week I took a day off work for a ride up to the mountains. One needs to use those vacation days when one can. I had hoped to make it up to Glendale Springs to see the Frescoes. That is a pretty good ride from here, and I tend to take the less direct route on a Bike. So I didn't quite make it all the way up there. But I did have a fine ride, which was the point, after all.
This is Grandfather Mt. as seen from the Parkway. It was cold up there. Once I got up the mountain, I had to stop and put on my gloves. A little while later, (and higher) I had to put the liner in my jacket.
I believe I've mentioned the Parkway before. (More from the Top, May 29, 2007, Label- Motorcycles) Since I was mostly interested in the actual ride, I got off, and hit US 221 near Grandfather Mt. and rode it toward Blowing Rock. This road was made for Bikes, it winds though the woods along the side of the mountain, and no 45mph speed limit. Here's one huge bolder that hangs over the road. You have to stop if you want to admire the scenery, 'cause you don't want to take your eyes off the road. I got back on the Parkway near Blowing Rock and rode north about another hour. This wasn't far from the planned destination, but time was slipping away, so I turned around and headed for home.


For all the fans of this young critter, he seems to want to get in there with the big kids now, but he's going to have to do a bit better with the litter box thing, if he wants to stay in the house.

Another Little Thing

So here is an update on the little orphan. Yes, he's still living, and growing. Even his ears are starting to look like cat ears. He's gotten so he can help himself to his chow now. Kitten Crunchies soaked in that special Milky Mix. I think his Foster Mommy is glad about this.


Unfortunately he is a messy eater. After a meal he needs a bit of a bath. If his Foster Mommy were a Kittycat Foster Mommy, this would be a simple matter. But this Foster Mommy is not inclined to handle this kittycat style, and takes care of things people style. Now it is time to be blow-dried.

The little feller sorta has the run of the house. He's only been stepped on a few times. He seems to have taken a liking to this doll house. The dog hasen't eaten him yet, maybe the little guy is going to make it after all.
So this is one Little Thing, that seems to be turning into a bigger thing.

Little Thing

Just the little things of daily life
This is what it's about here. We're just little people in a big wide world. But then, this big world is made up out of lots of little things, like this Fuzzy little thing here. Funny how little things can look like big things if you look close enough.
This kinda put me in mind of a whole galaxy when I saw it. Thats big. But then, the more I looked, it seemed more like some kind of microscopic thing. That's little. Maybe size doesn't matter. Maybe it's just a Fuzzy thing. Fuzzy is good. I like Fuzzy.
But now I'm kinda sleepy. I'm going to bed. We'll have a Puddin' update soon.

A Little bit of Rain

Finally, a little bit of rain. Not much, but anything will help. It rained (sorta) all night. Not much more than a sprinkle, but it is wet.
Well, this is the last week of school. Not that they're doing much anymore. Tests are over for the younger ones, I think they mostly watch movies.
Scholarly Son, while not graduating himself, got the honor of being an usher for all that stuff. This requires all those fancy clothes and all. Not having his own Monkey Suit, he had to go rent one. I had to do that once for a wedding.... but I digress. I had to take him over to get the thing the other day. The place was full of fancy dresses hanging all over the place. There was not much room to walk around. I think this must be some kind of feminine thing. I guess they hide all the guy stuff in the back or something.
I tried to remember how to tie a tie for him. We're not real sophisticated here, but we managed to fake it. Now he is over there doing what ever they do even as I write this. It's not always easy, growing up in this family.

Something Fishy

Kinda gross isn't it. But this fish was not always so. In fact not that long ago, it was a wonderful specimen, complete with scales, fins, and all those fishy things. But we had decided to make this fish, and it's friend, a part of our lives. Not the whole fish of course, but a significant part of them. But what you see here, was destined for the garden.
It may seem a bit strange, even disquieting, to eat something that is watching you at the time, but you get over it. So what's the big deal ? I'm convinced that we all eat a lot of stuff that we would rather not know about anyway. Who knows what was crawling around in those grain elevators ? And what about stuff that comes from China ?
At least this way we can see it is a real fish.