Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Kitty Nursery

While working on those signs out at the Work Shed, The Fuzz had to share the space with the Kitty Nursery.

There are still a lot of Kitties around here.  The Fuzz does not really mind sharing his space.  But it can get a little messy.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Signage

Just because The Fuzz is back in the Woods, don't think he hasn't been busy.
With His Sweetie involved with some Vegan Food People these days, there was a request for some signage to be used on a roadside stand.  As The Fuzz says, "I can do that, let me get my tools!"
They picked up a few small boards at that infamous Home Improvement Store, and then grabbed some old paneling that Our Fuzz had been saving for years- and of course, never used.
These signs were to be of the folding portable type.  Of course Our Ingenious Fuzz had a plan.  That plan evolved over the course of the project.

Here's a look at the set- as yet unpainted.  The Numbers indicate the order of construction, and evolution.

The first one was knocked out pretty quickly.  But The Fuzz saw an opportunity for improvement.  This design was quick and easy, but a potential weak point was discovered.  Relying on this thin (and quite old) panel to hold everything together did not seem like a good idea to Our Careful Fuzz.  So he went with a major redesign on #2.

Here the joint was lapped to provide a bit more strength.  While he was in such a creative mood, The Fuzz thought it might be cool to add a handle.

This proved to be a lot of extra work.  And he does not recommend it.  It is completely unnecessary, and adds a lot of complication to the assembly of the thing.

There was also a problem due to the cheap-ass wood warping up.  The Fuzz tried glue, but ultimately was forced to add some screws to hold things in shape.
He dropped the handle on the last two.  His favorite was #4.  There were some bad spots in these last pieces of panel, so it is just a little bit smaller.  As a result, it just looks cool.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Out of Town?


The Fuzz admits that he hasn't been on the ball with this blog lately.  But he had been "out of town" as it were.  Actually he was in town, since one could not really consider our Home in the Woods as "in town" to be "out of".  The Fuzz spent most of last week in another town, helping out "A------- Property Management" with a little project.

Here's a rare pix of Our Fuzz himself, puzzling over an electrical difficulty.  Amazingly enough they got it straightened out!

Here's a look at a few more of the projects involved in getting this place ready for habitation.
Hookups for the laundry room
Drier vent
This door is actually upside down.
This is the Property Management's way of recycling parts of buildings. 
The Fuzz was just doing what he was told on this one.
More recycling
Some of the old cabinets were modified for reuse as well.
Actually things are looking pretty good now.

The Fuzz had planned to get some great pix of this work in progress.  But alas, he forgot to take his camera out on the job.
Fortunately he was able to rip off a few pix for Kinda Fuzzy.
Thanx.  You know who you are.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Purity Concerns


(From Speigel)


"Forget environmental concerns: When it comes to fracking, Germans are worried about how it might affect beer quality. In a letter to several ministries in Berlin, brewers expressed concern that the exploitation of shale gas could contaminate water supplies and thus violate the beer purity law of 1516."

"The process threatens to contaminate drinking water, according to a letter written by the German Brewers Federation to the federal government…"


This looks serious!
Let's get our priorities right!

Friday, May 10, 2013

Father's Day in Germany

The Fuzz ran into this on Spiegel.


"Father's Day in Germany, coinciding as it does with a national holiday, has long been a day for men to get together and get drunk. Excursions into the countryside are common, with beer being the beverage of choice, though some carry walking sticks with baskets full of schnapps attached at the top." 
There's even Pix!

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Mysterious Vine

Recognize this luxuriant vine clubbing the lucky tree?

Yup.  You guessed it.

This is a story of some young'uns some years ago.  At that time, before the Encroach of Civilization, The Old Place was a bit less urbanized than now.  Behind the wooded patch of backyard lay a horse pasture.  It was great fun to feed the horseys carrots and such.  One day it was discovered that the horseys found this particular type of vine rather tasty.  It was gathered in great handfuls, and devoured with much enthusiasm by these beasts.  It was only later that the identity of the vegetation was discovered by the unlucky children, furnishing a never to be forgotten lesson.

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

The Other Garden

The Fuzz took advantage of a break in the rainy weather to handle a bit of yard work at the Old Place.  It had been a while since the yard had been mowed, and he was expecting a rough time.  But apparently the cooler temperatures, and lack of sun slowed things down a bit.  They claim that the crops are about 2 weeks behind here because of this.  But we are thankful for the rain.

Here's a look at the  House Garden.
We do still plant there.  The ground is so much better than out in the woods, having been built up over 30 years.
There's taters in the foreground, then some beets and a couple rows of leeks.  Behind that is a patch of kale.

Here's a brand new baby okra sprout.


And a tiny peach.  They're so tasty, but unfortunately the bugs get most of them.

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

The Chase



We do have a lot of squirrels around here.



And they do give all the cats something to do.



The kitty was just a little too slow this time.



Well, some times you're winners, sometimes you're...

Monday, May 06, 2013

Wet

We have been getting a lot of rain lately.  But it seems to have let up this afternoon, at least for now.

Here's a look at the coulee next* to the trailer.  Most of the time there is little water in here.  But the ground is pretty saturated right now and it's flowing pretty well.
The weather has been just a bit cool also.  Today The Fuzz went over across the creek in search of some dead wood to cut up.  The pickings were a bit slim.


*About 50ft.  We are in the woods here!

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Wet Days


Well, we haven't seen much of the sun lately around here.  Oh, there may be a brief glimpse now and then.  But mostly wet and gloomy.  And more of the same for the next few days.

But The Fuzz did take advantage of a break in the rain for a walk in the woods not far from the trailer.  It was a nice break from being inside.


As can be seen, there's plenty of water in the creek.

Here's a look at the old "Footbridge".  The Fuzz put it down here years ago when this was our little campsite.  It's still here, and still solid enough.  It's an old timber from railroad bridge torn down and replaced years ago in town.  


Well, I guess it's still a "bridge" at least.

Thursday, May 02, 2013

A Gardening Update

Been getting in the garden a little bit.  Actually things are looking pretty good so far.  We are getting plenty of rain.
This pix is taken on another rainy day.

The Fuzz's Sweetie has an unconventional approach to gardening, a patch of this, a patch of that- scattered around the area.  But it seems to be working pretty well.  We are getting plenty of green things for our salads these days.
The Fuzz finally got some green beans in yesterday, and put up some poles for them to climb on.