Frigid River

Not long ago, The Fuzz and His Sweetie were tired of being inside.  It was a sunny say, but still rather cold.  So they bundled up and headed for the river.

Here's a rare pix of The Fuzz and His Sweetie.

There was still a bit of snow in the woods-

And along the river.

There was plenty of water, but too cold for swimming.

It looks like they'll have to wait a bit for that.

But it was good to get out for a while.

It's Springing

Y'all yankees might laugh about The Fuzz's little problem with his porch roof.  But things are getting better around here.

It was still cold when The Fuzz and His Sweetie took a stroll down by the river.

But they saw this Red Maple budding out.

Spring is on the way.

And now in thee last couple of days-

We have these!

The Fuzz has been working in the yard in his T-shirt.

Admittedly, he was splitting firewood.

But soon there will be no need for that chore.

Body Work

A while back, whilst a family member (who will remain nameless) was attempting to master the Art of the Straight-Drive, this poor vehicle had an encounter with a tree.  Of course, this was blamed on the tree - but we won't go into that here.

Although the car still drove fine, it became impossible to open the hood.  The fender had been jammed against the hood, and probably other stuff as well.  The Fuzz tried prying it open a few times without success.  So with the crummy weather and all, he just decided to give it a rest.
Well, not having any good excuse to put it off any longer, he decided to give it another try.

This time he tried a different approach.  He got out his shiny new come-along, and a couple of crowbars.  The crowbars would have been the simple solution, but they proved ineffective.  Next he found a place where he hoped the damage would be minimal, and attached the cable to the fender.  The other end of this handy piece of equipment was chained to a nearby tree.  (We have a lot of them here in the woods.)  And after a series of pulls, and repositioning, Voila, an open hood.

The hood latch is even working smoothly.  Of course now The Fuzz will have to find a way to fix the turn signal light well enough to satisfy the inspection process.

Brand New Bird Feeder

It is no secret that The Nature Loving Fuzz enjoys feeding the birdies.  But while attempting to fill his trusty bird feeder, it slipped from his hands and broke in two!

Well it was already pretty rough.  The Fuzz had found it years ago on the job*.  It was broken then, and he'd had to repair it before it could be used then.

So while in town, He and His Sweetie picked up this brand new one.

It even has a lifetime guarantee!

*For any who unaware of the fact, The Fuzz is a veteran of 33 years in the Sanitation Dept.

A Winter Situation

Why are all these 2x4's propped up around The Fuzz's trailer?

Well, it so happened that during the recent Snow Event, as the snow and sleet accumulated, The Fuzz's flimsy porch roof couldn't take it.  It had been thrown up in a hurry to keep the rain off while he or His Sweetie groped for the door key.  And it had served it's purpose well- until now.

The Fuzz tried to open the door and discovered that something was blocking it.  Fortunately there is another door.

The Fuzz discovered that the porch roof, (which had only been secured to the trailer by a few inadequate nails) had pulled loose, and dropped low enough to block the door.  Of course this situation could not remain.

He tried, with some success, to drag some of the snow off.  Then with a mighty effort, he was able to raise it enough to clear the door.  The next step was to block it up temporarily. with some 4x4's he had laying around.

But with the layer of ice and snow on the top, he was unable to raise it all the way back into position.  It was time to wait for this stuff to melt away.  And since this is North Carolina, That would happen soon.  Not wanting this situation to repeat itself, he elected to pick up some lag bolts from the Home Improvement store.

So while enjoying some nice Spring-like weather, The Fuzz finished this job.

This time he hopes for good!

Treacherous Stairs

We have had a touch of winter around here.  But since the roads were passable, The Fuzz went over to The Old Place for the night.

Of course it is necessary to use these steps on occasion for those times when nature calls, and stuff like that.

But with the freezing weather and all, there was Danger.

Ice!

It may be remembered that these very steps were a source of trouble for Our Fuzz this summer.

So he was very careful not to repeat that experience.

And in memory of that occasion, The Fuzz presents a tribute to

The Treacherous Stairs.

Snow, Yes This Time

Here's the latest on our Snow Event out here in the woods.

The snow had pretty much stopped by 16:00, or rather had turned to sleet.  The sleet went on into the night.  But in the morning the snow picked back up again.  The Fuzz put on his boots, and went out to tend to the critters.

He was able to catch this shot of one of the elusive Snow Kitties found in these woods.

Of course, all the kitties were not quite so thrilled with the weather.

As of 08:00, we seem to have around 4" on the ground in the woods.

The Fuzz couldn't resist these couple of closeups.

They claim the snow should continue through the day, but as this is being written, not much is happening.  However, things being what they are, it looks like The Fuzz and Family will just stay put for now.

Snow? Maybe This Time

The Fuzz and His Sweetie went into town yesterday for their weekly "Coffee Date".  That's when they go in to hang out at the coffee house for a bit.

This week there was a lot of panic about snow.  So The Fuzz and His Sweetie went in a bit early, thinking they'd be home before it amounted to much.  And it did begin to snow a wee bit in town.

But as soon as they got out of town on their way back to the woods, there was no snow.  In fact there was no snow all day and all night.

(unless you count the few pitiful flakes that fell once in a while)

Not until about 10:00 this morning did anything snow like happen.

But now, at 13:50, it's coming down pretty good.

The Fuzz likes to see at least one snow a year.  It reminds him of the Old Country.  We'll have to see how this one turns out.

Hey There !

Hey There !

The Fuzz was just goofing around with some stuff he saw over the weekend.

Oh Well...

It has been mentioned that The Fuzz and His Sweetie have a system worked out to help preserve their sanity, (if you can call it that) in which they take turns spending one night a week at the Old Place.  This is good for them, and helps to keep up with the house and grounds.
Well, while The Fuzz's Sweetie was there a couple of weeks ago, it was discovered that the water pump was no longer functioning.  On investigation, they discovered that the pressure tank had given out, apparently rusting through.

Well one of the advantages of the Old Place is an Old School Well.  It is possible to swing open the cover and draw water up with a bucket.  In fact this has been done many times, for example, during power outages.  So a bucket and rope are kept handy at the well, just for this purpose.
Well, with the cold weather and all, they decided to just hold off on replacing the tank, and use the bucket for the time being.  After all, pipes without water can't freeze.  One person spending the night does not require all that much water anyway.
Well, the next week was Our Fuzz's turn.  So after lighting the fire to warm up the house, he decided to pull up some water for his stay.  The first bucket went fine.  But as he raised the next, the rope broke, and the bucket sank to the bottom.
This was not good.  But The Resourceful Fuzz remembered that he had a grappling hook stashed somewhere.  
Now, he had tied a plastic bucket onto the rope and managed to use it to fill the water tubs in the house.  So now he tied the grapple onto the rope.  He snagged the bucket at the bottom on his second try.  Flushed with success, he pulled it to the surface- only to have the treacherous rope break* again!  So now the bucket was gone, and so was his grapple.
Today he went over to give it another try.

He made a new hook, and brought a brand new rope and bucket**.  It took a while, but he did finally manage to snag the bucket.  And was pleasantly surprised to find his first grapple still hooked to it when he pulled it up!
The down side was that the new bucket*** was a bit larger than the old one, and once it was full of water it was a bit much for The Fuzz's Sweetie to handle.  But on his way home, The Fuzz stopped at the Old School Hardware Store, and found a perfect replacement.

*His Sweetie wondered why he even attempted to use this obviously defective rope for this attempt.  (She had a point)

**The old bucket was leaking anyway,so they decided to replace it.

***The only one they had at the Big Home Improvement Store

Foggy Morning

The Fuzz and His Sweetie took a walk this morning.

Here the sun is trying to burn through the fog.

Sun's Up

Sunrise at Little Branch

Horsies

Although The Fuzz is not exactly a Horse Person, he does occasionally helps out a friend by feeding "The Boys" in the evening.  It's pretty simple, really.

Here they are having their supper.

It also gives him a chance to enjoy the Sunset.