Post-Family Camping

Family campouts involve family.  But unlike The Fuzz and His Sweetie, most of the family have jobs and other responsibilities.  That is of course why these things are set up for weekends.
Now it was time for them to leave for home and a new week's activities.

This guy must have been planning an escape from the campground by riding out on one of the cars.  He was caught in the act and didn't make it.  But every one did get a good look at him.  The Fuzz likes the color contrast in his portrait.

The Fuzz and His Sweetie, not having jobs to return to, had made arrangements to stay on a few more days on their own.

The Fuzz had discovered that as a "Senior Citizen" he now qualified for a Lifetime fishing license at a very affordable price.  In his youth he had done a good bit of fishing, but it was one of those things that gets dropped as life moves on for us.  But now there was no reason not to have a go at it again.
Since they had been at the lake he had slipped off a few times to "feed the fish" as he put it.  And those guys had eaten up most of his bait.
So the next day, he and His Sweetie slipped out to get some ice, some worms
And…

"Homemade Ice Cream"

The Fuzz found the truck interesting as well having driven a similar one for 20 years or so.  But that is another story for another time.

The ice cream  was good and The Fuzz did manage to replenish his supply of fishing worms.

Early in the morning he got up to attempt a photo of the full moon.
This has been kind of a project for Our Fuzz, and with little success it must be admitted. 
But he hasn't given up yet.

The moon was out and over the lake.
But as can be seen, sorta out of focus.
So he tried a bunch of different things and finally came up with this one.

But he has no idea how!

So now it was time to feed those little fishes again.
The Fuzz got his worms and fish pole, and took off in the kayak.

It is great for getting into those little places that are hard to reach by foot.

While he was there he got a couple of shots of this little fellow.

Here's a view looking back out toward the lake.

With no more bait it was time to paddle back to the camp for a snack and a swim.

And...
The Fuzz is happy to report that he actually did catch some of those fishes-
8 of 'em!

But he did send them back home.
They were happy - The Fuzz was happy!
A good day.  

Family Camping

Besides fresh berries, Summertime is good for campouts.  And recently the family gathered at Jordan Lake for just that purpose.

Since there was a boat involved, sites on the lake were desirable, and reserved ahead of time at the Poplar Point Campground.  If one can put in for one in time, there are campsites available right on the lake shore.

There is a highway nearby but it is easy to forget about that while you are there.

The Fuzz and His Sweetie made it in before dark and set up camp.  Most of the others were already there and supper was waiting.

Then after a time around the campfire it was time for bed.

The Fuzz was up early and while His Sweetie was occupied with her own things he headed down to the lake.

The early sun was starting to hit parts of the shoreline by now.

He was not the only one out there.

Other folks were enjoying a quiet morning on the water.

There was just a touch of mist on the surface of this cove.

It was time to go back to camp for a bit of breakfast.

It's nice having people who are into campfire cooking!

Later The Fuzz got his little kayak out and did a bit of exploring.
He stopped here on shore to take care of some coffee-related personal business.

But he couldn't stay long - the flies were vicious!

The rest of the day was nice, with great weather, and swimming to cool off.

Then it was evening again.

The sun was going down across the lake.

The Fuzz couldn't resist a last shot of the sun shining through this tent.

Then after some time at the campfire, the Fuzz slipped off to bed.

Berry Nice

Well Summertime has a lot going for it.

Blueberries for one thing.

We have quite a patch of them out here in the woods, and they are starting to come in.

And there is a story behind this that The Fuzz won't go into here, but if you're interested-

Blueberries

And then there are these guys as well.

Very tasty...

But just a bit dangerous to pick!

Island Sunrise #11

Island Sunrise #10

The Fuzz never gets tired of the pilings under the pier.

Leg Vise (of sorts)

While The Fuzz makes no claims as to his joinery, he does find himself involved in various projects at times.  And many of these involve wood working.  He has learned through experience that having the piece in question firmly secured goes a long way toward making the job more successful and enjoyable.

And so the other day he decided to add a leg vise to his workbench.

In researching this project, he discovered that one aspect of a real leg vise is a way to keep the jaws alined vertically parallel to each other.

It seems that there are a number of ways to achieve this.

Here we see a couple of ways this can be done.

On the left there are a multitude of holes with a pin to adjust for the thickness of the work piece.

On the right we see a set of 2 screws linked by a chain and sprocket system to keep thing lined up.

But in his research, The Fuzz had happened upon a post where a guy had used an alternate, much less complex method to achieve this.
It seems that in his research this guy misread another post, and developed an alternative system of his own.
(The fact that he had been drinking a bit of beer could have contributed to this!)
Anyway, rather than using a complicated arrangement, he simply used a spacer at the foot (3), corresponding to the size of the work piece.  He further refined this by utilizing a tapered spacer - thus making the whole thing adjustable as well!
Great idea, and definitely compatible with The Fuzz's style.

Naturally, The Fuzz had his own way of doing things.
Because of the offset of the leg (1)...

He thought it best to mount the "jaw" at a corresponding angle.

This block (2) is only temporary for test purposes and will be replaced with some tapered pieces later.
He hit the Home Improvement Store for some threaded rod, nuts and a couple of pieces of pipe.

Holes were then drilled through the "vise" and a corresponding spot on the leg of the workbench - being careful to keep everything lined up and level. 

The pipes were threaded into these holes...

And a nut welded to the one in the leg.

The Fuzz had driven a piece of a hex shaped socket* on the other end of the threaded rod foolishly thinking it would hold...

Of course it didn't once it was screwed down and pressure applied.

So he ended up welding that one as well.

He finished up by carving out a hardwood handle to fit over the hex shaped end.

If this thing seems to be just a little bit tilted, that's because it is.

But this was intentional in order to allow for a slightly wider jaw.  This slight angle shouldn't have any affect on the griping power of the thing.

*This was like one of those old sparkplug wrenches...

Kinda  like this one.

 

Island Sunrise #9

1st Broad River Trail

Gotta backtrack just a bit for this one.

The Fuzz had been watching this area lately crossing the river on trips into town.  Then he saw in a local publication that it was a new walking/biking trail along the river.  So he suggested to His Sweetie that they check it out.

They didn't realize that they had picked the day of the "Grand Opening" but that turned out not to matter since they got there early, ahead of the crowd.

It turned out that it was pretty nice.

This trail follows a stretch of the 1st Broad River and will be part of the Carolina Thread Trail when finished.  But for now it's just a nice place to walk.

In a previous post we talked about Falls Park and their fancy suspension bridge.

Well our local folks have our own version of that!

Maybe not quite as elaborate, but cool just the same.

There are some nice views overlooking the river.

And a few places to get down to it as well.

The trail passes under highway 74...

And continues on for a bit more.

But, as was mentioned, is unfinished.

Here's a lady enjoying it this morning.

The Fuzz's Sweetie was so impressed that she wanted to come back and do a bit of painting there some morning.

So they went back a couple days later.

Now what had The Fuzz's interest, was the Kayak & Canoe access, being a bit of a puddleduck himself.

Admittedly, it's nothing fancy, but we're not talking about blue water cruisers here anyway.

And since the river was high enough, he brought his little kayak along.

First he made his way upstream a bit toward this dam.

It's for the local water plant.

Now that he was confident that he could make progress against the current, he headed downstream, along the trail.

Toward the abandoned Southern Railroad Trestle;

And on, under the Grover St bridge, new suspension footbridge and Seaboard RR Trestle.

He stopped for a bit where this stream flows over the rocks and into the river.

Of course things look different from down in the river.

Under the Seaboard Trestle.

Tree roots in the riverbank.

The Fuzz stopped just above these rapids.  He figured it was time to go back and meet up with His Sweetie.  Maybe next time...

Then off for a bit of lunch.

They both enjoyed the morning so much that there are already plans to go back!