Pumped Up

The weather was so nice today I couldn't resist taking out the 'Cycle. Topped off the tank and headed up toward the South Mts. That's always a pleasant ride on the winding through the hills. On the way I passed this place. It's a museum for the late Lawndale Railway & Industrial Co. Which is not the subject here. But I did want to share these cool gas pumps. I already had a full tank, so didn't try to fill up here. I'm not sure If I know how to work these things anyway, and besides, the place wasn't open.
Some other time we'll look at the LR&I RR.

Still Hanging In

This little fella goes back pretty far. Back to the days of the house in the country with the holes in the floor. I was trying to saw a plank out of an old log I'd found in the woods, which was more work than I'd expected of course. There was this little tip left over and I got inspired to make a little "Protecter of Socks" and such. Some might think I had too much time on my hands, but I wonder if that is actually possible. I must have been a bit of a pagan at the time. But be that as it may, I was not relying on any dark forces or anything, only the fact that he was a bit of sweet smelling cedar wood.
For some reason he's still hanging around, although I don't know that he ever had a chance to do any work in his field.

Gang aft a-gley

This is a '64 Chevy Truck Transmission. A 4 Speed, even. The other stuff is not the subject here. Many years ago this tranny had been grafted into a '53 Chevy Truck. It was a nice combination, lots of low end torque and all that. But one day, disaster struck, as it seems want to do, and this classic bit the dust. I was saddened by this, of course, but did not despair. After a time, I located a '70 model that seemed to fit in the budget. It was a rust-bucket of course, and had a 3 speed transmission that was prone to jump out of 1st gear. But, having swapped transmissions and even engines out under the old Oak Tree, I thought "no problem". I had this functioning 4 speed and the change would result in an even better truck. Alas, after I had removed the faulty member, I realized with dismay, that the shifter would come up though the firewall, instead of the floorboard.
Now, years later, the '70 Chevy is history, but the transmission remains. I suppose someday we will haul it to the scrap-yard. I'm so lucky to be married to an understanding woman.

River Walk

Rainy day. Gloomy sky, everything is wet and grey. Rain dripping from the roof, splashing on the bricks below. But yesterday was beautiful, so beautiful we had to take a walk along the river. It's good to get away, into the woods. This time of year with most of the leaves gone, you can see beyond the little place where you're standing, kinda get the big picture. This is the Broad River. They've made a really nice place along here with a trail that follows the river for several miles. In the summer it is a great place to cool off. There are some picnic tables spread out along the river, but you better get there early on a weekend. A lot of people tube down the river, and you might see a kayak or canoe. Our son let me barrow his kayak and that was a lot of fun. I am amazed how easily one can paddle upstream around the rocks and everything. I took my Sweetie down the river once in a canoe. We bounced off a few rocks and now she won't do it again. This time of year it's pretty quiet though.
We did see a couple geese out there, and this fellow was catching a few rays.

Final Destination

Let's just say, we've been furiously grabbing garbage for several hours now. The packer has been packing and packing, but can only do so much. If we don't do something we will have garbage blowing out of the top of the truck all over town. It's time to take a ride in the country. We run the packer blade all the way back, and if we haven't gone too far with things, it should seal everything safe in the truck. This is important because the police frown on littering.
When we get there, we will have to run over the scale. For some reason they must keep a careful account of just how much stuff comes out here. A big reason is money. The County charges by the pound for garbage. But we have to pay them. This seems somehow wrong. I mean, this is our garbage, and we are delivering it to them. They don't even have to go get it themselves. But be that as it may, we will have to sign a ticket, and they will bill the city. Threatening to just keep our garbage won't help.
Now we'll travel down a dusty road, cross a creek, and eventually wind up on top of a hill that used to be a big hole. After they dug the huge hole, great sheets of some kind of rubber looking stuff were spread out on the ground, then garbage, and more garbage. There is a system that collects the water that ends up in here, and pumps it out. That's not my problem and I'm not sure what they do with it. It's probably really exiting, but, like I said, that's not my problem.
This is where the birds are. It's cool to see the buzzards hanging out in the dead trees. There weren't any around when I had the camera, so you'll just have to take my word for that. We will dump our garbage out on the ground along with everyone else's, and unless it looks like there is something good in there, they will run over it and crush even more with these big crusher things. This is one parked. It's probably tore up. All this kind of stuff seems to tear up a lot. We keep our mechanics busy too.
Finally they will cover all the garbage with dirt. And that will be that. Out of sight, out of mind.

I'm not sure why I wrote all this stuff about garbage, and I only scratched the surface. I do have a life other than this, but someone once said to write about what you know, so I maybe I got this out of the way now.

On The Route

Hello again. Now we are out on the "route". We've left the "Shed" and made it though town without incident. (Just as a side note, our modern facility is sometimes referred to as the "Shed" by the few old hands who remember when it really was a shed. Back then we worked out of an old tin building with little heat and rats in the walls. But all that is in the past, now we've got running water and everything.)
This is what we see as we make our way along the street. The cans are actually pretty easy to get when they are like this. You just pull up along side and grab 'em. The problems start when they are next to a tree, or maybe a mailbox for example. The arm on this truck is capable of doing major damage. Once I made toothpicks out of a 4x4 post. I'm not proud of this, but, like they say "stuff happens". Even one of those killer brick mailboxes is no match for a garbage truck on a rampage. People seem to think that if they can squeeze the can between a tree and a mailbox, everything is cool. But of course it's not. Sometimes people park their car in front of their garbage can. This is a stupid thing to do. When they find it still full of garbage, they call our office on the telephone and say we "missed" their garbage. But with our modern technology we have a Radio in the truck, and we keep a list of what, and why, and where.
This is what you see when you grab a can. You have to work with the mirror, but this is no problem, you get used to it pretty quickly. You can see the powerful jaws in action. As soon as you have a grip on it, you jerk it up off the ground, and dump into the hopper. On a good day most of it goes in. This would be a good place to bitch about those Styrofoam "peanuts", but I don't think I want to go there.

Next time we'll visit the Landfill.

Really Getting Into This

As you probably realize, we finally made it into the truck. This is not one of those flip-flopy things, we really are on the right side. Of course in this case, the right side, is the right side. Since all our cans will be on the right side, we need to be on the right side also. This takes some getting used to, unless maybe you have some experience with the postal service. When I first started doing this, I rode home on my bike, so I didn't really "re-normalize" and scared the doodoo out of my sweetie when we got into a normal vehicle.
The thing with the three buttons that grabs your attention is what works the arm. I guess it's a little like a video game. I don't play video games. Pull back, it goes up, push is down, side to side, is in and out. Sounds simple but can get hairy in a hurry. If you have to grab a can that is close to anything, there is a good chance you'll accidentally destroy it. It happens. Your yellow button grabs, green lets go. The red cycles the packer. On the far left, there is a thing that resembles a tiny computer monitor, this can be set to pack automatically. This is not a good idea, since it will happen when you don't want it to. Just remember to use the red button as needed and you won't have garbage falling out all over the place. You can see when you need to do this in this TV-looking thing. Mostly you use this to see if the garbage is falling out of the can so you don't put it down too quick, and throw garbage everywhere. You can also see behind the truck when you have to back up. And you will have to back up more than you want to.
The other knobs and switches are normal truck stuff, Heater, Fan, and even Air Conditioning ! Wow ! Nice in the summer. And most importantly is some stuff to lock all the differentials and axles and stuff. This is so you can get really good and stuck before they have to pull you out of the mud with the bulldozer at the landfill.

More really great stuff in the future !

Modern Times

Here is our fleet of modern, state of the art, Garbagetrucks. On the right is one of the older rearloaders that is actually still in use. With these new wonders, the "operator" (not referred to as "driver") pulls along side a can, grabs it, and dumps it into the top of the truck. Then, does it again, and again, and so forth.
This is a shot of these trucks warming up, at dawn, anticipating an exciting and productive day.
Until recently, this function was performed by a crew of 4 men, a driver, and three "pullers". Back then, the residents of this fair city had the luxury of backyard pickups. This meant that they had the option of hiding their trash in difficult locations anywhere on their properties and it would miraculously disappear once a week. This was known as "Pulling Garbage" or "Pulling a Buggy". That was how I broke into the business myself. The first change was the "rollout" step. Now all cans must be rolled to the curb (if there s a curb). The city now provides these "rollout" cans to the residents but they have to pull them to the street themselves. This was not well received in all quarters, but it is now a fact of life. Now there was a 3 man crew, a driver and 2 hands on the back. Lest one thinks this is a cruel and heartless business, there is a provision for "handicapped" pick up where a crew does the back yard thing for folks who can convince the city that they are incapacitated somehow. This is much abused of course. One of the old rearloaders is used for this and to work in the business district.
The last step, which was the plan from the beginning, was the new trucks, a one man operation.

In the future, (if there is one) we'll get into the truck.

Garbagical Historical

Back then, before my own involvement incineration was the going thing. This was a state of the art facility in that bygone era. I can only guess that in those more innocent times, hazardous, choking, fumes were not a major concern. As one can see, this facility is no longer in use.
There are places these days where, I hear, they burn the trash to make electricity. This was not that sort of place. This must have been a fairly common arrangement back then. I remember going with my father to a similar facility in another town. They would push the garbage down through a hole in the floor. It made me think of Hell. But that was years ago.
Here is a closer look at what's left of the guts of this thing. I suppose in it's day, this spot contained it's own bit of Hell. Not today however, it was a cold day when I visited.
There are all those ruins in Greece, and Rome that people go to see. We have our own here, although they don't seem to
have as much class. But they are a lot closer. I sometimes wonder what future generations might think about our debris. Of course, this place might be a cinder by then anyway.

Next time we'll look at equipment.

Undercover

Wecome to the magic of Kudzu. That is not a thatched roof down there, but part of the "Green Revolution". It appears to be taking over the world. This could be a good thing in it's own way, I suppose. Green vegetation could help with this "Climate Change" stuff. And this will be green enough when the weather warms up. But for now we can see the underlying facts better.
They say this stuff can be useful and all. I guess it does slow erosion which was the original idea. They say one can eat it, but I've never know any one who does. Except goats, they like it. When it blooms it smells a lot like grape jelly. It just doesn't know when to quit.
I couldn't find an entry for "kadzu" in the Wikipedia, which I couldn't believe, then I realized I was spelling it wrong. I had a lot of problems in school with that sort of thing. So it is there after all if anyone is unfamiliar with the stuff at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu#Kudzu_as_an_invasive_exotic . I suppose there is a way to make this a direct link, but I don't know how to do that either. Hey, the 20th century was complicated enough.

The Garbage Series is coming soon.

Coming soon

A Closer look at Garbage from an insider.

No Coal

This is the Coal Yard. So where is the coal ? That's what I want to know. I've been watching all winter, wanting to pick up a load of that unPC, greenhouse gassing, smelly old house warming fuel. It's dirty, but it burns so hot. You can leave what you don't burn outside, and it won't rot till next year, or many years. But there is no coal. When I stop by, the gate is locked. When I call on the telephone all I hear is an answering thing, promising to call me back, a promise never kept. At one time there was a mountain of coal under this machinery, now, zip.
A lot of people think burning coal stinks. Maybe it does. But somewhere in the back of my mind, a whiff triggers something. Something I can almost remember, but I'm not sure. Something out of the past. Something about Railroads and the Big City, and a River. Maybe it's lost now.
But it sure makes that stove feel good on a cold night.

Sunny Wood

The winter woods are a lot different than the summer, Duh. Here we would have cool shade, a welcome relief from the midday heat. Today, that bright sunshine feels really good. You can also see what's around you. I've seen a lot of deer tracks but of course no deer. They hide pretty well. The few green trees stand out and are a nice contrast to all the brown and grey. I was just out walking, and this view caught my eye and I thought I'd share it.
No snow here. I hear they have ten feet in the old country. I think I'd like to see some, but not that much I'm sure.

Out on a Limb

That blue spot about halfway up the tree would be The Fuzz. That green thing hanging below him is a chainsaw. You may wonder what any sane person would be doing hanging from a tree with a dangerous piece of power equipment, but don't mistake The Fuzz for a sane person. Those little blossoms we've been seeing do hold the promise of spring, but 20' is still 20'. Which of course means heat, which means fire, which means fuel, which means in this case, wood. Now it is true that wood can be obtained by driving the truck to our little wood lot in the country, but this wood is in our own back yard, kinda close like. And when one considers that my Sweetie has a desire for a bit more sun in this area, it all comes together rather nicely.
When one is in the woods, it is not usually real important how a tree falls except as a matter of convenience. One wants it close to the truck, but not on top of it. In a case like this though, it becomes a bit more critical. It's not so much how far the wood must be carried, but more a matter of not destroying one's house, or perhaps an important outbuilding. Once it is down, it's too late, it stays where it is. I think there is some sort of proverb about that. So we have a certain target area, that is a certain size, and a tree must sometimes be adjusted so it falls within those parameters. That is what is happening here.
In my younger days, (not that I'm over the hill yet) I got a hold of some cool things that one can strap to one's legs and, in theory, climb right up any old tree like a cat, or a squirrel maybe. It can be pretty exciting and I came close to killing myself a couple times. But that is another story. This time I had concerns about some of these limbs removing the windows in the West Wing. I also hoped to save our pitiful little pear tree. My well thought out plan was to remove most of these larger limbs and maybe take out the top before dropping the remnant neatly into the allotted space. All went according to plan until with one more limb to remove, I was betrayed by my chainsaw.
Operating a chainsaw in a tree is the sort of thing I tend to take rather seriously, nice and slow and deliberate like. I almost cut part of my foot off once, but that's another story too. But nothing like that happened here. This was merely a case of equipment failure. No matter what I tried, I could not get the thing to work. I checked the gas, I tried all the appropriate words, still nothing. There was nothing to do but return to the ground. Well, I needed the rest anyway. I probably don't have to mention, that on the ground, it cranked with the second pull. Such is life.We cut up the limbs, and will leave the rest for another day. Probably just drop it like it is. It looks like it will be OK now.
The Fuzz is a bit of a tree hugger actually. Here he is out on a limb contemplating his next move.

Getting the Point

For any one who has not had the pleasure, this is that infamous Brier Patch, the sort of place where that Rabbit of Renown made good his escape. This is the source of those delicious Blackberries that stain the fingers and faces of those Happy Summer Young'uns. But, note the

deadly spikes that defend these treats. These are the sort of things that draw blood from the unwary. See the seemingly insignificant yet vicious curve to the thorns. This diabolical feature is what makes them dig deeper the harder you struggle. And you struggle in pain.
Our son once flipped off his bike into one of these. His first reaction was relief at his seemingly soft landing. Then he tried to move. By the time he returned home to his momma, he was a bloody mess.
I hate to find myself in the middle of a brier patch.

Looking Down

So why do we even need such a thing ? I meen this isn't the Grand Canyon or even the New River Gorge. True enough, but we do have Hickory Creek here. To get into town from this side, one must somehow get across this natural barrier to travel. There is of course a road that makes the decent, crosses a bridge, and winds upward again. But this would not work out for a train. It could handle the down part I suppose, but that up stuff would cause a problem. And that is where this trestle shines. It may seem rickety, and may even sway and shake under the strain, but it is the only way to make an entire train pass though the air across the gorge.

There may be worse sounds that can come to the ear, but when one is on foot, halfway across one of these things the sound of an approaching train will sure get one's attention. I speak from experience. What if one is two thirds of the way ? Jumping is not an option. Should one run toward the nearest end, even if that is toward the train ? How does one run on cross-ties anyhow ? Very carefully I assure you. And don't look down.

Railroading Stuff

Across the road there is a hayfield. Across the hayfield there is a railroad. This is not like an Amtrak Main Line or anything, it is what is left of what was once the Southern RR. It used to pass though town and head for points west, but now this is the last stop. The rest was abandoned with the tracks pulled up and all. So now there are not a lot of trains. They still pass now and then, usually slowly with a lot of noise. Trains do have a certain fascination about them. Especially at night there is something almost spooky about them.
I remember, when I was younger, camping out at an old abandoned farm that overlooked a trestle. In the middle of the night you could hear the train coming and watch it crossing in the distance. It almost looked like a toy out there with it's headlight and all. Kind of lonesome and spooky. This is a trestle near here. At night you can hear the train crossing. It slows down to almost nothing, and eases carefully across. The thing looks kinda rickety, and I guess the crew thinks so too. I used to listen for the crash, but so far they've always made it. I guess I'm just paranoid or something.

Something Fishy

Who left the water running in the sink ? How did all these fish get in here ? There is something fishy going on here. Maybe someone should open the door or something. Apparently the drought is over.
This is not as bad as it looks, although it did begin as a tale of woe. We like to keep a few fishies around, but not the tropical easy to kill type. But even these hearty goldfishy types do go belly up on occasion. And so it was, that there remained but one lonely little fishy with a deformed tail. Poor fella. It was time for a trip to the fish store. This is always a fun place, not only are there many, many fishies, but kittycats, and fierce birds that will bite your fingers if you get too close. They even got creepy looking snakes and stuff. But we came to see fishies. We picked out a couple fancy tailed ones, but realized that the big old tank would look awful empty like that. But then we see the sign, feeder fish, 8/ $1.00. Oh boy. Some are really pretty, but alas, 8/ $1.00 is you no pick'em. But the charming young lady who waited on us, when she realized we planed to give them a "good home" (instead of feeding them to some monster), went though several tanks picking out the brightest and the best. And we did give them a good home (although it's not quite what it looks like in the picture).
Years ago we lived in a little house out in the boonies with holes in the floor and all that. It was hard to keep warm with only a fireplace for heat. Each night the fishies' water would freeze, and each day it would thaw out and they would swim around happily. But one fateful day, we thawed them out too close to the fire and made chowder. These things are hard to kill, but it can be done.

Snow Job

It's here at last. Yup, winter finally arrived here this very morning. This is actual snow, falling from the pre-dawn sky. Cool, huh ? Actually it's cold. So no school for the young'uns but I had to work. It takes a lot to stop us. Like one of the previous boss-men used to say, "Rain, sleet or snow, the man says you go". I realize this would not be impressive to all you yankees, but it's the best we can do.
By mid-morning it had degenerated to a sleet and rain mixture. I didn't see the seagulls at the dump today, but they would be hard to see in the snow and ice I suppose if they were stupid enough to be out in it. Now they're talking about an ice storm tonight. That's what causes problems. I did see a car slid off the road this morning though. They had the firetruck and all that stuff there. Yesterday evening they cleaned out the grocery stores. Around here we take our snow seriously.

White Crows

So what's the deal here ? We are like, about 200 mi. from the coast. So what's with all the birds ? Every winter they come. They seem to prefer the dump, or I guess I should say, "landfill". There used to be only a few, but now multitudes arrive each December and hang with us for a while. I guess they just like it here, plenty to eat. and a lake nearby for swimming. Once we had a guy who had never seen them. He was kinda dumb I guess and didn't know what they were. Someone told him they were "White Crows". You just can't trust some folks.
So why do they come all this way ? I don't know. Sometimes we go to the beach during the summer, I guess they go from the beach during the winter. Maybe they miss us. But if they're here, who cleans up down there ? All I know is if you have to get out of the truck, wear a hat.

Long Time Gone

I took a walk in the woods the other day. And as I wandered, I came upon this relic of bygone days. It seems this was once part of a thriving homestead. For those who are uneducated in these matters..... I wonder if a quiz would be in order ? Probably not. Yes, this was once a state of the art outhouse. I know all about these things on account of I, myself, recently made a visit to similar facilities right here at home. Of course, ours is equipped with walls and a roof. Be that as it may, there is a melancholy attraction to these remnants of abandoned homes one stumbles upon out in the woods. I always wonder, what kind of people lived here ? How long has it been ? Why was it abandoned ? How many cold nights did someone come here in a solitary moment, and just relax their mind, forgetting about the cares of the day ? Here one could sit in peace and admire the stars, listening to the crickets and the frogs of the night.
Here the old ways and the new ways coexist. I write these words on this electronical wonder, but step out into the night for peace.

Here At Last

Here it is, our first Daffodil. But lest we think too springy of thought here, the NWS has us lined up for all of 19' F tonight. They say the price of gas went down ( a little ) because of a mild winter. That may be so here, but it sure looked like it wasn't the case up north. I guess I'll never understand economics. I think they just get as much as they can mostly. And since we mostly drive, we mostly pay.
We did make it out to cut wood today. One of the advantages of a small truck is you can fill it quickly. One of the disadvantages of a small truck is it don't hold much. But the old back is acting up, so I guess it was a good thing to minimize the work. In this case the minimization was maximized. We brought strong, athletical son along, and an extra chainsaw. And then, those country boys were so inspired by young daughter's beauty that they loaded most of the wood for her. Daughters can be a good thing, you know. But so not to offend the tree huggers, what was cut was standing deadwood, nice dry oak stuff. Just what works best on those 19' mornings.

Coming Soon

As spring draws near, it seems our next bit of encuragement will be these wonderful yellow blooms. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day. I've already seen some in town, but they don't count. This time of year our eyes crave that little bit of color, the tiny little blossom some where, the bright crimson cardinal sitting on a bare tree branch, something besides the lifeless brown and grey.
I don't know what these tiny blue blooms are, but they are another bit of spring on the way. So small they are easily missed in the grass like so many other small things that are there to bless us if we will only take the time to see them.
But of course, the cold weather is not ended. Tomorrow, God willing, we go on a wood cutting excursion.

The Deep Spring

If you ever actually buy anything from one of those mail order catalogues, you'll never lack for mailbox activity. I do get suckered into it from time to time. For years I had admired these tin signs for "Deep Spring Whiskey". Finally, my Sweetie gave me one for Christmas. Perhaps she thought this would shut me up. But now she has to look at it every day.
But hey, isn't it great ? I mean, it's got it all. The waving hats, the flags, the heroic soldiers, it's even got Robert E. Lee ! And best of all, how could you miss the poor wounded hero, being comforted and revived by this homespun Southern Beauty and our own Deep Spring Whiskey. Shoot, if we'd had more of this the war could have gone the other way !

Our Pink Flamingo

It is the middle of January. What is this tropical bird doing in our back yard ? Probably freezing it's tush. This birdie isn't here for the sunflower seeds, in fact it doesn't seem to eat much at all. Today it is around 40' F and drizzling rain, not real tropical. Birdie was a Christmas gift from Yankee Sister. (Many thanks) But it does remind us of our son basking in tropical Florida. It seems he was seduced by the dark side into participating in a grueling half marathon foot race, to be held in that tropical paradise. First reports indicate that he ran well. Congratulations to son and entire team for race well run.
Here ? we've been mostly laying low, staying warm and dry, and working on a few projects. The US Weather service thinks we'll get snow or something tonight, but I'll believe it when I see it. I wonder what that bird would look like with an icy overcoat.

Soybeans and Such

Been reading The Worst Hard Time. by Timothy Egan. Was a Christmas gift from my daughter in the Big City. Book is about the Dust Bowl. It sounds terrible. Books are good gifts, if a person can read. Anyhow, it made me think agricultural thoughts. So here is a picture of a soybean field near the house. We were taking a walk and came on this view of things. It was freaky how the rows of soybeans followed the row of power poles. This picture doesn't really do it justice. Actually, I don't really care for soybeans. When we were in Tennessee, we stayed near a place where they ate a lot of soybeans. They even made soybean "icecream". I do like icecream, but this is going a bit too far. My Sweetie was eating a lot of soybeans for a while, but they didn't agree with her and I think this is better.
Got my motorcycle back on the road. It had a flat tire. I took the wheel to the motorcycle guy and he found a nail in it. He said they wouldn't let him plug it, something about insurance or something. So I did as suggested and got a tire plugging kit thingie and fixed it myself. It cost less than $3.00. I took a little ride today, it was cold, but a nice change.

Our Winter Wonderland

Well, this is pretty much it for the blizzard. Some freezing rain, a few icicles, and a gloomy day. The icy coating on the garbage cans tends to make them slip into the hopper on the truck. This necessitates climbing up on top of the icy truck to throw them out. This is kind of unfortunate, but I guess it's just part of the job. Not enough ice to break down the power lines and reck general havoc, just an annoyance for the most part. So, no blackout, no candles and lamps, no soup on the wood stove. My Sweetie did make us some soup, but in the normal manner. All in all, a rather uneventful day. Sometimes that's the best kind.

First Daffodil

Yesterday, whilst working in town, I saw the first Daffodil of this spring. This is not said daffodil. This is a pile of ashes. Here it seemed spring was so near, so ready to spring forth and fill the world with glorious color, and now, winter is to return.
The ashes come from the wood stove. This is one more daily chore during this chilly season of ice and snow. One curious thing about hot ashes, is how long they can stay viable. Back in "The Days" this was a lot more common and we actually set a couple garbage trucks on fire with hot ashes. This sort of thing results in the hasty deposit of a large amount of garbage into the middle of a street. After that it was the street department's problem. One time whilst making our rounds, I came upon a burning can starting to ignite someone's carport. Plastic cans tend to melt in this situation. Less anyone think we are above this ourselves, we once set the back yard on fire with hot ashes due to poor communication. This resulted in the loss of a couple motorcycles among other things. We once set a garbage truck on fire with a bunch of chemicals from a swiming pool at the park. But that's another story.
But for now, winter is back, they're calling for snow and ice. Maybe they'll close school !

First Crocus

See how well things are going. Just two days ago only a few leaves, now this glorious bloom. Soon there will be more. Spring is on the way. My Sweetie just pulled some tiny carrots from the garden to go with our supper. Actually "they" say it will be in the 20's latter this week. So what, we're not out of wood yet, and the days are already getting longer.
The Blowout was just fine. Four glorious episodes of that Marvelous Magical Harry Potter, not to mention the Incredible Ron Weasely and the Lovely Young Hermione. These heroes saved the day every time. When things were looking their worst, they always came through in the clutch. Space constraints prohibit me from mentioning the many others who all had a hand in these exploits.
Well, another three day weekend is drawing to a close. Tomorrow it will be time to go back to work, payback time. Time to start a day behind and try to catch up. But that's the garbage business, just think of it as job security.

Blowout Mystery Revealed

Yes ! It's Harry Potter !
And not only will we watch three big adventures, but we will attempt ALL FOUR ! This will not be easy being as we are mere muggles and have no time turner. But we did train for this, in a way, by watching all the Lord of the Rings last year. That was a project, but of course, well worth it. So today we will follow four years in the lives of the infamous Harry potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasely, and their many friends and enemies.

Eat your hearts out Yankees

Here are the little crocuses sprouting their tiny selves out of the front yard. Spring is on the way. Must be that global warming stuff, or I guess it's called "climate change" now. They are calling for cold weather later this coming week though. No snow yet, maybe none at all. Actually, it does snow here sometimes. I like to see it maybe one time each winter, reminds me of the old country.
Well, tomorrow is the Blowout. There is a tire dealer here that had a "blowout" sale a while back. I thought it was a poor choice of words. Our blowout is different, we watch three movies in a series back to back (actually we do stop to make popcorn, eat, get beer, and use the potty). We started this tradition with Star Wars, but we have used others. This year we have chosen...........
You'll just have to guess for now.

Le Morte de Titan

Alass, the road has claimed another. Oh darkest of days, the mighty Titan is no more. Nine lives weren't enough to prevent such tragedy. Still magnificent in death he was, but still quite dead. Cut down in his prime as it were. Never more to stalk the unwary rat or squirrel, never more to bask in the winter sunlight. Now he has returned to the earth, part of this wonderfully complex cycle of life on this planet. We are glad God gave him to us for a time, but now once more, we must move on.

Thrown out like an old moldy tangerine

Yes it is sad, but it was necessary to remove this incinerary device from our house before something bad happened. I watched (on U Tube I believe) one of these things go off. It was pretty impressive. I think it was one of those fearmonger things though. But there is no question it would be a bad idea to keep it forever, and it's time had passed. They say all good things must come to an end. I'm not sure I embrace that philosophy, but in this case, I suppose it applies. It was good while it lasted though. It was right pretty and smelled good too. For some reason the needles didn't really start to fall, but the branches got real brittle, curious. I wonder if it had been exposed to some kind of unnatural something. However, time marches on as they say, and soon it will be time for the blowout.

Keep it Clean

The view from the top, or at least of the top. One of the joys of wood heat is chimney maintenance. I guess that's what you would call it. Here is the "chimney" and the brush. Sorry there is no beautiful fieldstone masonry here, but that's just the way it is. Just a tin smoke pipe. Actually it's a sophisticated, triple walled steel chimney pipe that was donated by a friend many years ago. There should be some sort of cap thingy to keep the rain out, but as long as there is fire below, it would be redundant. In the summer, when no fire needed, an old pot does the trick. Sort of low tech, but, effective. The other object ( other than the roof itself ) is of course, the brush. On occasion, when one opens the door of the heater to tend the fire, or get rid of some trash, ( there can be any number of reasons ) more smoke exits via the door than the smoke pipe. In this situation it is time to become the Chimney Sweep. I'm afraid I don't have one of those cool hats like Mary Poppins friends, but I can get a bit sooty if I try. I don't know if good luck rubs off and all, but so far I haven't fallen off the roof, which must count for something.

Our Tropical Paradise

Welcome to our tropical garden paradise. It may seem a little strange to see these magnificent palm trees here in our own back yard, but here they are. Yes, January in the piedmont. Of course it does seem a little curious that all the other trees look a bit bare out there, almost as if there should be snow or something on the ground. But you'll have to look farther north for the snow, and farther south for the palms. These magnificent trees are in fact, mere kale. A delightful addition to our dinner, contributing to proper nutrition, and a healthful lifestyle. These particular plants are getting a bit old and tough, but there are younger, but less photogenic, ones available for eatin'. So what does all this mean ? Beats me, I just thought they looked cool.
So now with Hanukkah Christmas and New Year behind us, (and some other stuff I think) we can move forward to MLK holiday. Oh, I forgot to mention, today is "Coming of Age Day" although I'm not sure what that is about. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Dinner Guests

I like to keep some sunflower seeds out for the birdies. They're fun to watch, and it gives the kitties something to do besides eat and sleep. Just this evening as I was replenishing their stash, I noticed the tell tale scarlet feathers there on the ground. I think that's pretty low down, eating our State Bird and all. But cats are indeed, evil. I used to fill up with those "Wild Bird Seed" mixes. But the little creeps would throw most of the stuff out on the ground to get to the sunflower seeds. It kinda pissed me off to be honest about it. True, the doves would eat the seed off the ground, ( a dangerous thing to do ) but I hated watching it happen. Finally I realized I could just use straight sunflower seeds and there would be lots less waste.
You may have noticed that in this recent photo there are no birdies. It would seem one of the other neighbors has crashed the party. I'm not sure I like this. I mean, he (or she) is all furry and cute, but is no birdie. The eats are not in the tree, but actually hanging between tree and domicile. Apparently they are within squirrel jumping range. I thought about shooting this critter. In my youth I would fry them and eat 'em. But my sweetie refuses to get involved in that sort of thing. She says they're just a rat with a furry tail. She may have a point. In some circumstances I might eat a rat, but not today. I reckon if I wait a little bit, he'll either get run over, or ate by a cat.

2007 Commences

Here is a happy little dogie. This is the same one that had a brush with death Christmas Eve. But now she is doing OK. She still has a slight limp, might have it for a long time for that matter, but she deserves it for being a stupid, disobedient dog. Here she is trying to look cute, but don't be fooled by her fuzzy little face. She was pretty miserable there for a while, when she couldn't run in circles till you would get dizzy just watching her. But now her little nub of a tail is working again, and she is her old pesky self.
Now it has some how become 2007 AD ( or CE, or whatever ). Today doesn't seem much different than yesterday though. We just hung around the house last night and watched DVDs, Kung Fu Hustle, and Cirque du Soleil. Crashed around 11:30, ( didn't even stay up for the big event ). On the plus side, woke with no hangover and in our own bed instead of the jailhouse. Made a pot of coffee and cooked up a fine breakfast of eggs, grits, and country ham. Life can be good.
Well it's back to the old grind tomorrow.