Pancake Morning

It was Pancake morning.
Here is Young Daughter hard at work cooking up a mess of Pancakes for The Fuzz.
Note the profusion of ingredients. Here, we don't just open a box of ready mix, we go for the real thing. These things got the multiple flours, the rice syrup, corn meal and a host of other ingredients. All calculated to make one healthy.

Here you can see Young Daughter furiously mixing the stuff up.


And now we move on to the Cook Stove.

Finally, it was time to break out the the butter, maple syrup and coffee. You'll just have to take my word for it that they were delicious, since you can't taste them on a Blog. Too bad. But then, we ate them all anyway.

Truth in Labeling

Family matters have lately kept us traveling to that Home of the Famous University. Having some time to themselves, The Fuzz, His Sweetie and Young Daughter moseyed on over to enjoy the Botanical Garden. This Boardwalk kept them out of the mud in the marshy area.

Whilst there, they met this little feller who was having a bit of a snack. He seemed quite friendly enough, although later he (or she) climbed a nearby tree and mooned us.

They saw this Strange Looking Plant (?) and reading the signboard, and not being Botanists, assumed it was called Lizard's Tail. Later availing himself of the vast power of the Internet, The Fuzz found out the Truth. It seems that this Weird Thing has nothing to do with this Lizard's Tail stuff.

I think it was somewhat misleading the way these Botanical People put this thing together. I mean, this is misinformation worthy of politicians. The Fuzz is always ready to give folks the benefit of the doubt, so to speak, and he believes this mix-up could be due to the time of year.

Perhaps in a couple of months things would be a little clearer.

Anyhow, here is what Lizard's Tail really looks like. Maybe that other stuff is some sort of Subterranean Dragon's Tail, or Tooth, or Horn. Fuzz thinks it could be part of the tree, maybe.

It would seem that a Botanical Garden could be a Dangerous Place. This is where they keep the Poisonous Plants, guarded by a Spider Gate.

The Fuzz was very careful.

They Were The Mills

When The Fuzz and His Sweetie where out and about the other day, they slipped over the County Line. It seems they are becoming quite the travelers these days, what with the Big City Trips and all. Now this.


His Sweetie took her sketch pad and favorite pen, he, naturally, took his camera.




This area used to have a big textile industry, but that has pretty much tanked. But the old mills are interesting to see.



Check out this one.

That dam is great.Here's a closer look at how it sits on this small river.


The broken windows are a sad reminder of it's past.


Father down the road, we came upon this one.


If you look closer, you can see some guys on the roof. The appear to be tearing the place down. I suppose, for the scrap metal.




This smokestack is about all that's left of this one.





It would be a pity to tear it down, it seems rather unique to me.




There was an old Hotel in our town years ago. Like maybe in the '30s or older. But it burned down a long time ago. All that was left were some large Columns out in the woods. People used to go out there with metal detectors looking for old money and stuff. Mostly they found old nails.




Someone decided this would be a good place for some High Dollar Townhouses. The Fuzz thought they could get kinda creative there, like maybe make a little garden around the columns. It would be like some sort of Greek, or Roman thing. But the first thing they did was tear down the old columns. In the end they named the place "The Columns". Go figger.

Here's all thats left of this one.

Here's More

Here's some more.




And more.......























And more.







And there's still more to come !

Power to the People

The Fuzz and His Sweetie were out riding around this morning, and passed by this now Infamous Power Plant.

This is a Coal Fired Steam Plant which seems to be a problem for a lot of people these days. I guess we should use more "clean" energy, like maybe electricity, instead of this nasty old coal. Notice all that filthy black smoke poring out of that big chimney. If you can't see it, you'll just have to take my word for it.



So much for my sarcasm.

Here is some steam coming out.

The problem is, that the Big Bad Power Company wants to build on to this place.

People want their air-conditioning and all that stuff, but seem to have a problem with a power plant.

Don't get me wrong, The Fuzz, himself, is a bit of a tree hugger. In his own way of course. He likes to hug up to the Ol' Wood Stove on a cold winter morning. But seriously, he is usually a little reluctant to cut down a good tree, prefering to salvage what's already cut, and going to waste.
I guess the Sheriff must have thought he was a Terrorist type Tree Hugger 'cause he got run off for making these pictures.
But he's not. The Fuzz actually thinks we need more Nuclear Power Plants. That would solve a lot of our problems. And you have to realize, the Power Company is really concerned about the Environment, and here is the proof.

Yard Works

On our recent trip to the Home of that Famous University, as we were filling up with expensive fuel, we saw this incredible yard.In truth, we've seen this before, but it seems to grow as time passes. And it is pretty impressive.

I don't have a lot of time for a long post at the moment, but since we had just been at the bookstore, I thought this one was appropriate for the occasion.

Preaty cool.

The Fuzz will feature some more examples of these wonders soon.
But for now,
Bye Bye.

Murals in the City

Doesn't time fly ? It's Wednesday already. But let's take a look at recent history.

This past weekend, we went back to the Home of that Famous University again. The Fuzz's Sweetie and Daughter were involved in some Oriental Calligraphy there. Since The Fuzz and Young Daughter weren't, they went exploring the Used Bookstore there. We have quite a pile of the things already but, as the Good Book says, "Of making many books there is no end". (Ecclesiastes 12:12) Well, after making a minor purchase there, they did a little exploring. They discovered all these cool Murals there. I guess a lot of towns have Murals these days.

(This one is in our own Home Town, right here, in this cultural backwater.)


But The Fuzz just wanted me to share these with y'all.


This one seems to be on some sort of Art Supply place. The Fuzz was expecting a Music Store maybe. But, as they say, "It's all good".






This was one of our Favorites.



Note these cool Details.
And how about these Fishes.And we saw even more Cool Stuff there. But I'll show y'all that later.

Spring Cleaning

Been having a time trying to work with email today. Not fun. That, and some computer-type house cleaning. Also not fun.

But here is a Spring Bouquet for you all.Enjoy.

Wacky Workdays

It was time to get out the old Weedwacker for some trim work.This thing always was a bit balky at times. And this became one of those times. So out came the Tools. Remember, one of The Fuzz's mottos is "I can fix that. Let me get my tools." But more important, than merely having tools, is knowing what to do with them.

The Fuzz started with the standard Process of Elimination. Just pulling the rope didn't do the job, so we need to find out why. Something was missing here. We need fuel, compression, and a spark. So The Fuzz started out by removing the Spark-plug. Clue #1, it was dry. It looked like a no fuel situation. But over his many years of dealing with balky vehicles and equipment, The Fuzz has learned not to trust them. They lie. Here is where this handy can of ether come into play. In his twisted logic, he sprayed some into the carburetor in the belief that if the thing would crank now, it must be a lack of fuel that had resulted in the previous failures. By the way, back in the days of ragged old trucks with 6 volt ignitions, this "Starting Fluid" was responsible for many successes on those cold mornings before Global warming. But, I digress.
After a good shot of this powerful stuff, the thing did hit a few licks. So now it seems it is time to tear down the carburetor. This is about as far as he could tear it down, but there isn't much more in this case. Out came the Carburetor Cleaner Stuff. It's probably Echo-Terrorism to use this stuff, but do we really care. I mean, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, right ?
The good news is The Fuzz got it all back together with no "spare" pieces left over for a change. The bad news is that it still didn't work. Even with that magical Starter Fluid. Although The Fuzz was frustrated in this attempt, he realized that now he could probably rule out a fuel problem, especially since the plug was wet with gasoline.
So was the problem really this Spark Plug after all ? Even though it had actually fired a few times ? It seemed likely.
But this was a good thing, as it gave The Fuzz an excuse to fire up his bike for another trip to the Auto Parts Store. It was a pleasant morning, and he thoroughly enjoyed his brief ride. And there at the Auto Parts Store, he found a brand new Spark Plug. And this was no mere spark plug, it was a "One Tug Plug"
I am happy to report that with this new Spark Plug installed, the Weedwacker worked fine. Although, I'm afraid it did take more than "One Tug". And because of all the carburetor work, it runs better than before. Isn't life great !

"The rest of the afternoon was spent........"

"The rest of the afternoon was spent on a minor mechanical situation."

And here is that minor mechanical situation.

Not long ago, The Fuzz traveled to a city, the home of a Famous University, to bring back an automobile for that Athletical Son. As one might expect, in any situation that The Fuzz is involved in, there would be complications. In this case, this vehicle needed to be "jumped off". That was no big problem. But, it was discovered that this vehicle needed to be "jumped off" every time it was cranked. This was a concern since it needed to be driven a considerable distance. Fortunately the trip was uneventful.

Always looking on the bright side of things, The Fuzz assumed this would mean a new battery. Having recently had to deal with a similar situation, he was expecting to spend Mucho Dinero. But as he was preparing to face this unfortunate situation, he discovered that one of the battery cables appeared to be loose. As the upper photo shows, this terminal was more than loose, it was broken. [Or at least by the time he got it off it was.] There were two wires connected to this cheap, flimsy, excuse for a battery terminal. Hoping to avoid a trip to the Auto Parts Store, The Fuzz rummaged around in some of his accumulated "stuff". [Remember, he's been a Garbageman for close to 30 years] There he found this fine piece of a battery terminal thing. It fit the battery (which was not hopeless after all) fine, and it even had two places to hook up the wires, and bolts and everything. So now this fine automobile cranks every time.

Of course the muffler fell off, but that's a project for another day.

Water & Weeds

Happy, Happy Days.

As can be seen from The Fuzz's Official Water Records here, there is now somewhere in the vicinity of 5 ft. of cool clear water in that, formerly dry well . Well it is no longer dry, and now The Fuzz can take a bath, or any other such thing requiring water. This is a good thing, and we are very happy about it.

And with the warmer weather, The Fuzz has been able to get out in the Garden some. You may remember the "Greentent" , that wonderful inovation for jump starting garden stuff.
Well, here you can see just how well it works, especially for the weeds. Note the profusion of said weeds from under this Greentent. This, of course, demonstrates just how effective it is. This also illustrates the situation The Fuzz had to deal with.

One of the unpleasant facts about Gardening is dealing with weeds.
And at this tiny stage, this can be a tedious business. And so, The Fuzz was forced to deal with it, carefully, one tiny weed at a time.

He spent a pleasant afternoon, and even pulled off his shirt for some welcome Vitamin D. So for now, we have a nice neat garden, and maybe before too long, some Fresh Greens.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on a minor mechanical situation. But that is not the subject today.

Spring ?

Here's one Yankee Sister sent.

It was about 23 F here this morning, but no snow. The Fuzz likes to see some, maybe once a year. It reminds him of the Old Country. But, it looks like he'll have to be satisfied with this vicarious stuff for now.

2 Down & 7 To Go

Here he is, kicked back, under the Wood Stove.Yes it's that Well Known, and Popular Cat, Puddin'. Long time readers may remember, that when we first became involved with this fellow, he was already down 1 life out of the 9, having fell out of the "nest" and off the roof. They may remember how he was raised by his foster Mommy, The Fuzz's Sweetie, and grew into the Fine Upstanding Cat he is today. And they may remember our concerns about The Road.
Well yesterday evening, he lost another of those 9 lives. As The Fuzz's Sweetie was taking that Stupid Disobedient Dog for an evening stroll, she noticed that Foolish Cat was following, across the road. And then, a lone car approached. And finally that Foolish Cat did exactly the wrong thing, and walked out in front of this speeding vehicle. First came the "thud", and then the sight of puddin' rolling over and over. Then he lay still in the silence of the night.
She came and got The Fuzz, who pulled on his boots and was going for the shovel when she came back and said, he was still alive. She nearly got run over herself, guarding him on the road. He was gently brought inside. He could hold up his head, and crawl a bit. There was no blood or poop, so we let him lay in the warmth. By this morning, he could walk a little, and now he seems to be OK. For some reason, God had mercy on him.
Well, we all are glad of that. We have grown rather fond of the little fool.

Whirligig

This passed weekend, while The Fuzz was off, motorcycling with Young Daughter, his Sweetie was out, walking the stupid, disobedient dog. Whilst getting all that good exercise, they were perusing one of the local Flee Markets and found this fine example of local woodworking skill. His Sweetie thought this would be just the thing for Her Sweetie (The Fuzz). The dog didn't seem to have an opinion.


The Fuzz likes it pretty good, and fixed a place for it out in the garden, were it can catch the breeze. Maybe it will keep the birds from eating all the seeds, but I doubt it.


Down below this spiffy whirligig, you can see The Fuzz's improvised Cold Frame. He is trying to give his spinach a little head start. He is hoping to be able to get strong like Popeye the Sailor.


Here is a better look at this contraption.



You can also see some spinach and lettuce he hopes will get big enough to eat someday.

In other important news, this excerpt from the water table table, shows that we now have 36in. of cool clear water in that hole in the yard. This is good. They are calling for 90% chance for some more today. We'll see.

Red Maples and Bee Stings

We're getting that rain today. We are still pretty far behind on it though. Maybe things will get better.
The Fuzz took Young Daughter out on the motorcycle this passed weekend. They had a good ride although it was a little chilly. But Spring is coming again as can be seen by these Red Maple blossoms.
These Red Maples are one of the things the Bees like to get started with in the spring. We used to keep Bees some years ago. The Fuzz got stung a lot. One time he got stung enough to swell up a bunch, even in some places I don't want to mention here. His Sweetie fed him a bunch of parsley, which he is not very fond of, but it made all the swelling go down pretty quick. She's pretty smart and he should listen to her more, I think. The Bees were kinda fun, and the young'uns used to gorge themselves on honey when we robbed them. But all the Bees died off eventually. I guess there is a time for everything, and everything is in it's time.
These days, we're still gathering up firewood, but soon the time for that will be passed.
Well, it looks like the Rain has stopped, too bad. But we did get some Today.

Birds & Water

Long time readers may remember these guys from last year. They show up at the dump, or "Land Fill", every winter. I've always called them Seagulls, but *someone, with what I would assume to be more knowledge on the subject, informed me that they were actually, "Arctic Terns". This is probably true, although I have heard them referred to as "White Crows". But, just to put everyone's minds at ease, they did make it back again this year.



And as can be seem on The Water Situation Table here, as of Thursday, last, we now have a total of 23in. of cool clear water down there in that formerly dry hole. This is good.



*This would be The Lazy Iguana