Waiting for the Rain, Again

Here's one of the visitors to our Source of Sunflower Seeds for the little Birdies, caught, in the very act of snatching the Munchie Morsel itself.

Things are pretty quiet around here.

We are hoping for some rain soon. Our National Weather Service keeps promising this, but I'm getting a bit skeptical about their abilities in this field.
For-
"Thursday: A chance of rain after 4pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 46. East wind between 7 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible."
But better yet, check this out-
"Thursday Night: Periods of rain. Low around 36. East wind between 9 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between one and two inches possible."
If this were only so. The Fuzz's Well still only contains a pitiful puddle of water. We get by. We have our ways.
But this situation puts me in mind of one of the featured flicks of our recent Reel to Reel Movie Blowout. "Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa" portrayed a bunch of unusual people, living in the dessert, with very little water. Actually they were unusual in a number of ways, the lack of water being a minor thing. But watching this did take use back somewhat, to another time. It seems that The Fuzz and His Sweetie met, and bonded, in an "Off the Grid" sort of community, back in The Days. And in a lot of ways, that mentality remains. They have been accused of having a "Frontier Mentality" at times. And I suppose they are just a little bit, "Off the Grid" still.
Well, NC is not the dessert, yet. And The Fuzz is still hoping for some real rain this time. Maybe this time they've got it right.

Doorstops and Flicks

I found this thing out at the dump, or should I say "Landfill" a few years ago. Actually there were two of them. I grabbed them both. I'm not real sure what it is exactly (besides heavy). It looks like part of some huge transmission or something. You may wonder what a person would want with such as this. In our case, it makes a great Doorstop for a drafty house, even the cats can't move it. This is good because we can confine the Kitties' nocturnal mischief to a smaller area. Dumps used to be great places to find cool things and shoot rats and stuff. Now days, they're in such a hurry to cover everything up. But that, I suppose, is progress.

We did enjoy a bunch of "Blowout" movies from the Reel to Reel festival. The Fuzz recommends-

"My Name is Wallace"
"Fission"
"Warlord"
"Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa"
"Kilroy Was Here"
"Welcome to Tolono"

Unfortunately, I have no Idea where you can get them. But, if you get lucky and run up on a few, they're worth your time.

Stupidity

Just thought I'd pass this along, poor kids.

CHESTERTON, Ind. — Two fourth-grade boys mimicking a scene from the movie "A Christmas Story" wound up with their tongues stuck to a frozen flagpole.

Gavin Dempsey and James Alexander were serving on flag duty at Jackson Elementary School Friday morning, with the job of raising and lowering the school's flags. They decided to see if their tongues really would stick to the cold metal.

"I decided to try it because I thought all of the TV shows were lies, but turns out I was wrong," Gavin said.

Karen Alexander, James' mother , said her son told her he got the idea from the movie, which is based on stories about a boy growing up in the northwest Indiana community of Hammond in the 1940s.

"I can't believe he did it, but they learned their lesson," she said.

James said he plans to eat a lot of ice cream to help nurse his wound.

"When you're young, you're just messing around," he said.

Billie Dempsey, Gavin's mom, said a nurse called them to tell them the boys' tongues were bleeding.

"The nurse asked them, 'OK, who double-dog dared who?"' Billie Dempsey said, a reference to a phrase that a character in the movie used to dare another child to stick his tongue to the pole.

Lazy

Here's a couple of lazies on this winter day, enjoying the wood stove.

Reel to Reel Blowout

Well, it's that time again. Time for our annual Movie Blowout. Yes this weekend we will spend an entire day watching movies. In the past we have viewed the three original Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings, and last year, four Harry Potter flicks. But this year we are trying something different. Last summer, whilst we were suffering at the beach, we missed the Annual, Local, Reel to Reel Film Festival. And now, we discovered that we can borrow the flicks from the festival any time. In a brilliant move, The Fuzz's Sweetie slipped over to the Arts Council and borrowed a stack of the best of the best. So now we will have the best of both worlds, our Blowout, and the Film Festival, all in one exciting package.
The Fuzz has been busy with preparations for this exciting event. As a Christmas gift, The young'uns went in on a brand new Television set for The Fuzz and His Sweetie. This hole in the wall used to conceal a brick chimney. Some years ago, this chimney was the scene of one of those dreaded Chimney Fires. After that, The Fuzz was a little bit paranoid and replaced it with the fine Triple Wall Metal Chimney we use now. With much labor, and much sweat, he removed the bricks, and created this handy little nook in which to conceal VCR, DVD, TV and all the related paraphernalia. This wonderful, new, and considerably larger TV was a fine opportunity to modify and update this Home Entertainment Center. Here you can view the work in progress.
And now things are ready for the Blowout. It doesn't matter what the weather is like, 'cause this is an indoor thing, suitable for this time of year.

The Fuzz did take his pitiful little wheel in to the shop today. We hope the problem was solved, but he won't reinstall it until he is convinced the air is staying inside. We will keep all posted on this important matter.

Getting Tired of It

There was (still is) a pile of wood in the front yard. The Fuzz has been collecting bits here and there. A lot of this stuff is too big to fit in the heater as is, so it needs to be cut up and some, split. It may be recalled that we have been blessed with a Log Splitter just for situations like this. So with cold, snow and ice predicted, The Fuzz decided to pull the thing out of the woods and put it to work. He should have known something was not right when it was so hard to handle hitching it to the truck. But The Fuzz is the persistent (stubborn, hard headed) sort, and manhandled things, managing to get it all hooked together. As he was pulling the thing past the house, he figured he'd stop and pick up the gas can, saving some steps latter. He can be very efficient at times. This was when he discovered that the gas can was empty.
So, always the thinker, he thought, "Since this thing is already hitched up, I'll just pull it to the gas station and fill the tank there". It seemed like a good plan. It was at this point that he realized why it had been so hard to handle the thing. He discovered the tire was flat. The next step was to get out the tire pump. After about 20 min. The Fuzz was forced to face the fact that he wasn't going to be able to pump up this tire like that. But the "Snow" was coming, and the wood still needed to be split. Using the powerful 4x4 pickup truck, he dragged the splitter the rest of the way to the wood, and forced it into position. (This was easier than carrying the wood to the machine.) Next he unhitched it, and drove off with the empty gas can in search of the expensive fuel.
The Fuzz did manage to get the wood split, before dark, and in time to be ready for the "Wintery Mix".
Now he has to deal with the flat tire. If you look closely, you may notice that this tire is not like the one on your car (or mine for that matter). There are no lug nuts, the whole rim must be removed. So today, The Fuzz jacked the thing up, pulled off the grease cap, pulled out the cotter pin, removed the castle nut and bearings and finally got the useless tire off the thing. Tomorrow he will carry it to work with him, and if the boss-man is not watching, maybe he can find out why the air came out.
The tire on the wheelbarrow is leaky too. But that's not why it's pictured here. I just wanted to show off our little ice.

Portrait of the Cat

Hello again. Just can't seem to get on here these days. We have been a bit busy lately, with out of town trips and all. The Fuzz is on my case about it, so I'll have to do a little better. It's not good to get on his Bad Side.

Here is a portrait of The Fuzz's Kittycat, Two Face. This was made by the Young Daughter during the Air Force Daughter's recent visit. Young Daughter seems to have captured the Feline Essence here. There were two Torties in this litter. The Fuzz insisted in keeping this one.

But while we're on the subject, here is a YouTube The Fuzz's Sweetie sent him. Our cats seem more interested in catching the Birdies than hanging out with them. But I guess, there's always the exception.

By the way, don't forget The Fuzz's Extensive Collection of Cat Poetry. Come on people, we need more of this stuff.

Midnight Surprise

"They" had been promising this for a while. The Fuzz says "Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it".........

The Fuzz is at time of life when one tends to hear the Call of Nature even when sleeping blissfully away, under the "Feathers". This can be a good thing, actually, as it gives him an opportunity check on the fire, or anything else that needs checking on. Last night as he stepped out the door to go "Down the Hill", he came upon this sight.
And so he returned to the house for his Camera just so all his loyal readers could share in this wonder.
Now I realize that for all you Yankees, Canadians and Siberians, this is nothing. But for us, here in this No Snow Zone, it's a bit of a thrill. Personally, it reminds me of the Old Country, which is good, just as long as it doesn't get out of hand.
And so,"They" called off school, but of course The City must go on. The Fuzz spent the day grabbing icy garbage cans, and trying to keep them from slipping down into the truck. That's kind of a pain in the butt, 'cause then someone has to climb up in there and get them out. But, for the most part, things went pretty well.
The "Snow" became freezing rain, which is ugly stuff, but it seems that there were no major problems. We still have lights and all. There is supposed to be another chance of this Friday, but, we'll believe it when we see it.

This Stinks

On the World Scene, over there in Naples they're finding out just how important we Garbagemen are. Truthfully, the problem is not exactly with the Garbagemen themselves, but what to DO with the Stuff, and Crime, and Politics.

What's even worse, a lot of the Stuff they're dealing with is, like, Toxic Waste and people are getting sick. Our current "Landfill", started out as a deep hole. Now it's becoming a Hill. On the plus side, now there is getting to be a nice view from up there. But there are plenty of other places to go for the "View". I think the thing is, we all just need to make a lot less trash. And what we don't actually use, we need to recycle. That may seem inconvenient, but look at these pictures.

Along Comes Binky

Now that it's January, or 'Ianuali, it is time for new things. Yup, here's a whole new year just waiting for whatever comes next. Some folks are looking at this in a political way, but some of us are already tired of all that. October will be soon enough for us, maybe too soon. But enough of that for now.

2008 seems to have already brought something new our way. The neighbor boy brought us this little feller. We're not exactly sure just where he came from. The stories are not real consistent here. But be that as it may, he (or she) seems to be destined to join the crowd of cats currently abiding in our locality. At least this one does not need to be bottle fed.

There was some controversy over a name for this critter. But the Athletical Son seems to have preempted the opposition by posting the name "Binky" on the front door. And so, "Binky" has become part of this Fuzzy Household.

A Couple Things

My Loyal Readers might remember a few posts featuring The Fuzz's Sweetie's sketching, like maybe "Exposed !" from December of last year.Well she is fond of this sort of activity and has her favorite instruments to do it with. But she had no place for them to rest when not working. Sure she could have left them laying just anywhere, but that is never a good policy in these matters. Anyone could come along and just use them, or worse, walk of with 'em. So her special pens needed a special place to kick back, and yet be ready for instant action. It would also be good for someone to be able to keep an eye on them.

And so The Fuzz (as a typical guy does) decided to "fix" things. Here you can see this woman he got to keep an eye on them, and yet be ready to hand her the pen of her choice at a moments notice. She is not one of those "undocumented" workers, but she does work cheap. And those special pens should be safe, 'cause she's kinda wired and doesn't sleep much.

Here you can see The Fuzz's specialized equipment for handling these things. Actually the design was adapted from what was originally intended to be garden sculpture, but I think it works better like this.

In other news, He finally got around to changing the oil in the Luxurious Oriental Vehicle. One of the blessings of this 21st Century, is cars that flash lights at us to remind us that they want something. This is really OK, since The Fuzz tends to put those things off sometimes. The little light reminds His Sweetie to remind him. So he did change the oil. The only problem was that the Luxurious Oriental Vehicle didn't want to admit it. So he had clean oil, but a still flashing light. His consultants helpfully told him about many complicated methods that this is accomplished with various vehicles. But this didn't help a whole lot. But on the way home, in a rare moment of inspiration, he stopped in at the Quickie Oil Change Place, and asked one of the Oil Change Guys. He lucked out for sure, because there was a similar vehicle there getting the Quickie Oil Change right at that very moment. The Kind Oil Change Guy showed The Fuzz the little trick, and now the Luxurious Oriental Vehicle not only has clean oil, it believes it.

The Fuzz wants to apologize for not getting anything posted these last few days. These do seem to be busy times. Of course it could just be that he's a lazy rascal.

Christmas Cont.....

Since it is actually still Christmas, here's a few Cat Toys from the Tree.


Hope y'all had a great Christmas.


And a Happy New Year

Cold Winter Nights

"Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 16. North wind between 9 and 11 mph." So says the National Weather Service. That seems cold to me. But this time we're ready, I hope. This is our pile of Fossil Fuel. Great lumps of Carbon, just waiting to be Oxidized. Mostly, we burn trees. They're "renewable" energy, and I've been told, "Carbon Neutral". But then, aren't those Carbon Lumps "renuable" if one waits long enough ? I mean, how did they get there in the first place ? By the way, those aren't tiny saplings in the picture, those lumps are really that big. They last a long time, and burn very hot. But that is just what The Fuzz wants in this old drafty house at 16 F.
This is the small heater we use in the back of the house, the West Wing, known as "The Condition". (But that's another story.)
It was fixin' to be lit early Christmas morning. I just liked the Picture and needed one for this post. So you get to see it. I think I'm just fascinated by fire and stuff. Maybe it's the contrast between light and dark.

Any how, the big stove is full of coal and wood. The Fuzz is full of Burritos. If he goes in there next to that thing he will probably fall asleep. But what's wrong with that on a cold winter's night ?

It was Impressive

"Tonight: A slight chance of snow showers after 1am."
So says The National Weather Service. We'll just have to wait and see.
But I am happy to report that it did finally Rain, and we will begin 2008 with actual Water in our well.

It is true. Look down deep in there. That is real water, H2O. Almost a foot of it. (1 foot = 0.305 meter, for all you metricist communists)
Granted, it's a bit murky, but it is wet. The Fuzz actually took a sip and reports that it tastes fine, but he'll drink creek water when he's in the mountains, and he may not be a competent judge of these things.

We were out of town again this weekend. There is an exhibit at The N.C. Museum of Art, "Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism". Being fans of this type of painting, this was a good excuse to visit one of the Big City Daughters in a Big City near there. We also visited her Cat, and met School Teacher Daughter and Someday to be Famous Writer Son in Law there.
We thoroughly enjoyed the pictures. It was a treat to see the real thing instead of pictures of pictures. The Fuzz found the Impressionists impressive, and lingered longly looking at 'em. We checked out more of the museum until we OD'd on it all and went to get some dinner. Later we had a nice visit with Big City Daughter and drove home in the rain the next day.
As for this Snow, we'll just wait and see.