The Swacar

I mentioned A "Swacar" the other day. Well, here is what I was referring to. We use these rigs to pick up branches, yard waste and on occasions what we call "solid waste". This is basically a big trailer, pulled behind a truck without a bed. Small piles are loaded by hand, usually with a pitchfork. Larger stuff gets a tractor ride. You can see that the tractor operator needs to have it together working this close to this building. I never have understood what makes people do things like this, piling stuff so close to a building like this. I don't know if they don't think, or are hoping we will tear something up, and then they can get the city to fix it for them. The swacar is not hard to drive, but backing one up takes some getting used to. To empty one, the truck has a lift which raises the whole front of the trailer. This usually works OK, but if the stuff gets stuck, it can get weird trying to shake it loose. Swacars also get stuck in the mud fairly easily.

Twice a year, we use these things to pick up all the trash people have (illegally) dragged to the curb in the mistaken belief that we are supposed to get it.

Here are some cool cars to look at, if the site is still up.

Wonders of the World

Here is something that has facinated me for years. The many loyal readers of this blog know that in my line of work I get around town a lot. I first noticed this years ago when I was "pulling garbage" on this side of town. This is a fairly upscale neighborhood, nice yards with trees and all. I don't often get over here these days, mostly working on a different route. But by the end of the week we are often pretty well caught up, and things were kinda slow. I was working over here with a "Swacar" (I'll explain what this is some other time). I also happened to have slipped my camera into my bag.
This probably appears to be a normal cedar tree. Well it has been trimmed up a bit, but that's beside the point. You may notice a branch about halfway up the trunk. The Arborists among my many loyal readers may notice something strange here. All of you who said, "That's a Cherry Tree" get 10 points ! Some how, I don't understand, there is a cherry branch on this cedar tree.
I have tried, rather unsuccessfully, to graft apple shoots onto apple trees, but I understand it can be done. But I always thought that the trees in question, had to be at the least, close kin. This does not seem to be the case here. But The Fuzz has a theory about this. He is convinced that originally the two trees were growing side by side. Somehow the big one enveloped the poor little cherry tree. But the little cherry tree subscribed to the "Never Give Up" philosophy, and never gave up. Some how it managed to keep this one branch out in the world, and somewhere, inside this cedar tree, there is a determined little cherry tree, that just won't give up.

Falling Leaves

For some reason, I always associate falling leaves with cool weather. It may be my yankee background. Yet here they are. I don't know if it's the dry weather of what, but they seem to start falling this time of year. Not all of them yet, but enough to sweep up. The colors will come later. We do have colors here, although not like up north. People here go to the mountains to see the colors.
The Fuzz was cooking some chickens out on the grill the other day. He had to sweep the pile of leaves out of the way so as not to set the yard on fire. One time, some years ago, the yard did catch fire. It was not a good thing. It burnt up the clothes on the clothesline, a shed and a couple of motorcycles. The Fuzz got a ticket for unsafe burning, or something like that. But the house did not burn, and the trees that were killed made a good bit of firewood. So I guess that affair did have a good side.

Water

We finally got some much needed rain. When I say "much needed", I mean, much needed.
We are on a well here, and it is not a very deep one. Here in North Carolina we have had a hot, dry summer. Dry is not good if one's water source is an old shallow well. But this is not the first time, and if the Climate Change People are right, probably not the last time.

Over the years we have worked out ways to deal with this. This is our Emergency Drought Water Management System. We are fortunate in that we are able to reduce our water consumption considerably when necessary. I think this may have been born of some camping experience, where one must either carry, or find, enough to get by. The two barrels store about 100 gl. It is drawn out though the handy spigots and carried were needed. This is primitive, I know, but quite effective. It also is an opportunity for some good, heathy exercise.
The Oriental Vehicle is equipped with a barrel of it's own. This is filled in town at the home of an Accommodating Friend, and then driven home.

The last step involves getting this water into the Emergency Drought Management System. The Fuzz has found, that rolling the 400 lb. barrel off of the Oriental Vehicle and carrying it to the rest of the Emergency Drought Management System, is somewhat difficult. But since the driveway is at a higher altitude than the side yard, a simple hose connecting the barrels easily does the job. All The Fuzz has to do, is sit and watch !
We have learned to conserve water. It is really surprising how little one needs. The Fuzz can take a complete shower with a gallon jug of warm water. Only a cup is needed for tooths brushing, and our Special Facilities require none at all.
Soon it will be time for the County Fair, and it always rains for that.

Ghost Dog

Last week, as I've already related, we were in the mountains. There are a lot of strange things up there out in the woods. While we were at the swimming hole, The Fuzz caught a glimpse of this spooky creature. This is an actual, unretouched photo of what could only be a Ghost Dog. One might wonder, what such a creature would be doing out and about in broad daylight. The Fuzz wonders too. It does seem to be trying to stay hidden in the bushes.
It is probably a good thing it was not night time. Note those spooky eyes. How would it be to have them staring at you out of the darkness ?
We left before dark and made it safely home.

Some More Little Things

While we were up in the mountains, escaping the heat, we came upon this little fellow on the thistle. Thistles are cool. I really like the color and all the hairy looking petals. This guy didn't seem too inclined to rush off, in fact, he posed for me a good while. We wondered if he was dead or what. My Sweetie courageously poked at him to find out. It seems that he was only "Mostly Dead" as Miracle Max would say. There was a little life left in him, but I'm afraid it was very little.

Well, The Fuzz is into "The little things of daily life" as he says, and these are "Little Things". A bit father along, we came upon this butterfly. I'm not sure just what the vegetation is, but the stuff on the right kinda caught my fancy.
I think sometimes it's not easy walking with The Fuzz if he is carrying a camera. And it may get worse now. He got a card from Wally World that can hold over 800 pictures ! The possibilities are endless (almost).
Well, a three day weekend coming up, but no big and evil plans here. I guess we'll just see what happens.

For Your Boo-boos

I get a few catalogues in the mail. If you ever buy anything from them, they'll come forever. Even if they threaten to cut off your catalogue conection, don't believe it, it's just an empty threat. One of them often offers fake Tattoo "sleeves". In the picture, there is a tough looking guy with tattoos all over his arm. A poser !
Well these things aren't for posers, you'll have to bleed for these. I wonder if they're good for Roadburn.

Lunacy

The first day of School here. So we have to all get up. Nothing new for us working people though. It's time to resume the educational routine again. I take the opportunity to practice my Conch Shell Technique as a wake-up call for the unfortunates. My Sweetie prepares the porridge.
But this morning was special not only for the school stuff, but our very own Lunar Eclipse ! As I stepped outside, to take care of business, I noticed that the sky was clear, and the eclipse was here. I couldn't resist that urge to get the camera. It was still quite dark, and my efforts at holding the camera steady were doomed to failure. But being persistent, or maybe just flat out stubborn, I got out the tripod, and tried again.
Here, there's just a little bit left at the bottom. Here, in NC, the Sun was about to make it's appearance, so it wouldn't last long. The moon was about to set, itself. It was eclipsed, but still visible as it sank behind the trees. I've worked with people who would rather see these things on the evening news. I'd rather see it myself.

Cooling Off

We were getting tired of the heat, so we thought a trip up to the mountains would be a nice change. After a bit of house cleaning and a leisurely breakfast, we packed some lunch, and headed for the hills.We road up to Julian Price Park, off the Parkway. There was a fair amount of people up there, but there was still plenty of room left, and we found a nice table back in the woods near the creek. Young Daughter played around a bit in the creek with some other kids, and then, we had a bite to eat.
This picnicking was all well and good, but, what we really wanted was a swim in that cool water. At this time of year, and with the heat-wave and all, our river is actually warm, almost hot. And not very deep. There is a trail from this picnic area that follows the creek. This trail is like a 5 mi loop. But it is not that far to a good swimming hole. I would like to mention that this place is the home of the Hebron Rock Colony.
This is more of a place to hang out than a "colony". A lot of the students from ASU in Boone come here and perch on the rocks doing what young folks do. Our goal was actually just upstream from there, where there is a nice swimming hole. We had to hike a little more than a mile. These are some pictures along the trail.
Here is a Beaver Dam. Young Daughter claimed she saw the beaver, but I never did.
But There was evidence of beaver type activities in the area.
Apparantly, their teeth are in better shape than mine. As we approached the swim spot, it began to cloud up and we could hear thunder. There were people heading back up the trail. We hadn't come all that way just to turn around, and so, we had a refreshing swim any way. Even the pooch went in (with a little assistance). The rain pretty much passed over. Finally it was time to head back to the car, and home. We took an alternate route home, and saw a deer along the Parkway.
When we got off the mountain, it was hot again, but we were glad for the cool respite.

Watermelon

During these hot days of summer, we often have a watermelon in the afternoon, after work. Sometimes they're good ones, sometimes not as good. But regardless of how we rate the particular melon, there is always something leftover.
Watermelon is best eaten outside, so we usually have help with the remains. Flies and yellow jackets we expect, but the Butterflies are a treat.
Eventually, what's left will make it to the garden, but for now we can enjoy the butterflies. Even garbage has it's good side.

In the Big City

It was time to pack up the Artomat Swap stuff, and head out for a night in the Big City. But first, something had to be done about the emptiness in the tummies. So it was off to the Resturente Mexicana. This Resturente has mucho seafood. After what we had seen at the swapper, it was only natural to eat one of those fishies. I'm getting so those heads, tails and fin things, don't bother me. Here is some of the Big City. This is not the real upscale side of town, but it is where the music and art stuff is, I guess. Artistic Big City Daughter and her equally talented guy, took My Sweetie and me out into the urbanness.
First we visited the Seed Gallery where we got to see the Artomat exhibit. My Sweetie had a print hanging there, and it seems that it was sold. It's exciting being with a Professional Artist. We walked around a little, saw a live band on the street, and checked out the Urban Artware gallery where they had even more Artomat stuff. This must be some sort of obsession. But now it was time to hit the bar. But even here the Artomat was. Here's a couple people making that tough decision, "Which one should we get ?" What ever they chose, I'm sure they were well satisfied with their choice.
What next ? Life in the Big City sure is exciting. It was time for some beer and music. The Artisic Big City Daughter bought me a local wheat beer, but I'm afraid I've fogotten the name of it. It was interesting. After that I had some Guinnis, and got to buy My Sweetie some too.

Here's the Bo Stevens. (I hope I got that right) They were the first band of the night. They were pretty good, and it was fun watching the lady on the bass. Too bad you can't see the Hula Dancer on the guitar. It was hard to get a good picture in the dark, so you'll just have to take my word for it.The music and beer were good. Note the high-tech cooling in this place, I love it.
There were four bands in honor of that Artomat. It was late, so we left before the last two.
All in all, it was a most excellent trip, but as usual, we were glad to get home. The Big City can be fun to visit, and it's good to see family, but like Dorothy said, "There's no place like home."

Art-O-Mat

We took a trip to The Big City over the weekend. This was for the 10th Anniversary and Swap Meet of the Art-O-Mat people. Artistic Big City Daughter and My Sweetie both are involved in this phenomenon. [I tried to set up the link to the Artomat stuff, maybe I did it right, maybe not.]
Sometimes they let me tag along on these things. I did bring my camera, so as to take advantage of the Photo Opportunities. This is a look at some of the affair. The various Artists put their stuff out on these tables and get to look at all the other people's stuff. Here is the stuff My Sweetie and Artistic Big City Daughter brought. The little boxes are the actual Artomat stuff. How it all works is they make some sort of "Art", which can be in just about any medium. But it has to fit into some kind of arrangement the size of a cigarette pack. Because that is what the Artomat is, a retired cigarette vending machine, called back into service to make "Art" available to the masses. So if you ever run up on what appears to be a cigarette machine in a bar or something, it may just be one of these things. You should buy something of course, so My Sweetie can get paid, and maybe, buy me some beer.
But, this is a Swap Meet, so there has to be some swapping. The artists check out the other stuff and often trade each other one of their boxes or what ever. They also have the opportunity to show some of their other stuff and maybe sell something. This is open to the public, after all, they let me in, didn't they ? It's not easy to live as a starving artist. There was stuff for the kids of course. It's always a good idea to keep them occupied in these situations. And they had Refreshments, to keep me occupied.


I really liked this fish. My understanding is that it was printed directly off the real fish. Is that cool or what. I guess they had to keep it cool, maybe on ice. I wonder it they cooked it after the art episode. It's modeling career couldn't have lasted long, and it would be a pity to waste a perfectly good fish. But this prepared me for the next part of out visit to The Big City.

Installation

Now for the finishing touch. No matter how ugly your project turns out, there's nothing like a nice coat of paint. It usually improves things. And of course it does protect it 'till you scrape the paint off, which doesn't take long. When painting over rusty steel, I prefer brand name rust-type paint. Some how I maintain the illusion that this will make up for my halfassed surface preparation.

I usually go for a thick coat of paint, real thick. This is another of my self deceptions. Somehow I delude myself into believing that if all else fails, the paint will hold things together. I mean why not ? It sure sticks to me. And the paint brush too. Why is it so hard to clean a paint brush ? This explains the popularity of those water based paints. But I don't trust them, at least not on this sort of thing. It should be noted, that even after the original Truck Rack had fallen apart, it was still painted just fine.


And now comes the installation. Without this step the whole project would be pointless. With the help of the Athletical Son, the newly refurbished Truck Rack was placed on the truck. The entire assembly was then securely attached to the truck bed with a number of screws.

We haven't tried to use it yet, but it seems strong enough. I even think that if the Athletical Son decides to workout on it, it may even survive. But actually, I don't want to encourage that sort of behavior.

And so here is the finished project, ready for the road and whatever comes next.

Fabrication

Los Burritos were tasty, so, on with this Truck Rack business.
First, I should mention that My Sweetie is one of the fortunate few women who have a 230 amp arc welder under their kitchen counter. I suppose this could open up some interesting possibilities in food preparation. Remember those thing for cooking hotdogs, before microwaves, were you would stick them on some kind of electrodes ? Think what 230 amps could do ! But that is another subject. Here in my sophisticated work area, you can see all the state of the art equipment. The green box with the wheels is, of course, the welder. To the left of that, are the high-tech saw horses, complete with "C" clamps. The round looking orange thing, is one of the power supplies, behind which you may notice the cheap side grinder. A 3/8 drill with wire brush, and toolbox with odds and ends, round things out. And most importantly, the shade tree. When the cargo was finally removed from the original rack, the whole back end fell off. (You may notice it leaning against the saw horse) So the first thing was to replace that. Here you can see the system developed to assure the proper alignment of this critical component.
The small gussets were a feature of the new improved design, so they would have to be cut. Not having access to a cutting torch, I have learned to use metal cutting blades in the skill saw. This system is capable of the precision cuts necessary for these critical parts.

Now the gusset is installed. The weld still needs to be cleaned up. The side grinder comes in handy for that. By now the sun had moved and my shade was gone. This was not good. But the assembly was complete, and it was time to give it a rest.
Next we'll look at the finishing up of this project.

Truck Rack Redesign

On a recent trip home from the coast, some serious deficiencies were discovered with The Fuzz's Truck Rack.
[See, Complications in Travel, July 27, 2007]
Since this rack is a necessary accessory to the little Oriental Vehicle, It had to be repaired. The original design had leaned a bit too much in the "light" direction, and this contributed to the resultant ordeal. Some slight changes were in order. So here is the new, improved Fuzzy Truck Rack.

The Fuzz is still going for the "minimalist" thing here, just not too "minimal" he hopes. The main improvements, other than better welds, are the new Gussets. The Fuzz expects that these will add the needed rigidity and reenforce his questionable welding.
This whole affair consists of old bed-rails and scrap metal, picked up around town. Bed rails are cheap, but thin, and frustratingly hard to weld without burning holes though them.
So the "Brain" work was done, (if you can call it that) and it was time to put it all back together. The Fuzz will go though this, step by step, but not today. Its Burrito Night.

Puddin' Again

Perhaps you will remember Puddin'. This is not his obituary, in fact he is doing quite well. If you don't remember him, click on the label "Puddin' " and you can pick up the story.
Well I just wanted to mention him and let everyone who knows and loves the pitiful little thing, that he's no longer pitiful, but a heathy young cat with his own bad habits. He liked to sleep in the kitchen trash can, so now he sleeps outside with the rest of them. Maybe he'll get in in the winter, maybe not.
But cold weather is not a problem these days. As you can see, he's found a nice place on the cool (relatively) window sill.
He still loves his mommy. And he still likes to sit in-between me and the book I'm trying to read.
So far, he seems to have stayed out of the road. Maybe he'll be around for a while after all.

Coping with Heat

Today it only got up to 94'. Hot enough I suppose. This past week it's been up over 100 a few times. One thing I hear from time to time, (besides the ZZ Top jokes) is "How can you stand it in this heat ?" Well here's a little trick picked up out of necessity. Keeps the stuff off the neck so a little air can get through. I guess it would be cool to add some beads and stuff, but this is usually done on the spur of the moment as they say.
Actually, I singed an inch or two off a while back messing around trying to cook something on the grill. I forget what though. My Sweetie made me cut off the burnt part. It didn't smell too good, and I would of had to sleep by myself. That's no fun.

Looking Up

We've had temps up to 102f lately. Today with temps approaching 99' and things pretty much under control, they cut me loose a little early. As I headed the bike toward home, I glanced up and saw this blimp up there. It was pretty close then, but by the time I got to the house, (and my camera) it was not so close. But I did manage to catch this much of it with my zoom zoomer thing.
I've never been up in a balloon. I bet it would be cool, just floating along up there, all quiet like. But I suppose there would be a lot of noise from all the stuff on the ground. In the blimp, you would have the engines of course.
It would be quite different than a plane I'm sure. I wonder if it would be like floating in a boat.
Maybe someday..........

Joyless Stick

This is supposed to be the "Joy Stick". Long ago, [Thursday, February 22, 2007, (Really Getting Into This)] there were a series of posts, on garbage and related things. So I won't get into all that here, but....
This is a "Joy Stick". Why they call it that, I can't say. Because I don't know. However it is necessary for the successful completion of this important operation. If it doesn't work, you are SOL, as they say.
After a recent absence, I resumed my place as an important cog in the mighty workings of modern civilization. As I prepared to engage the first of many trash receptacles, I noticed that this important control was loose in my grip. My first thought was "Rats", or some equivalent. I soon determined that a slight twist, would retighten it. This was good, since it eliminated a return to the shop to annoy the mechanics. After a successful day, and another job well done, I did annoy the mechanics, and one did correct this problem. But....
The next day, as I went out on my appointed rounds, I found that the red button, (visible in the illustration) had no effect. This red button is supposed to make the machine pack up, or rather, "compact" the refuse. This is necessary because if it doesn't happen you won't get very far. Fortunately there is another control for this function, and since the yellow and green buttons did work, the job could still be done. So after another successful day, I once again annoyed the mechanics. But...
This morning I was informed that in the effort to repair this seemingly small problem, this component had been destroyed, and thus rendered useless. But we are prepared for these situations. So the old reliable was once again pulled out of retirement, and with real people swinging on the back, we sallied forth on our mission. New parts were ordered (mucho dinero), things looked hopeful. But....
I hate to say it, but the parts shipped, were not the parts needed, so tomorrow will be more of the same.

But I Won't Tell

Yes here it is. I'll admit, I had to read it. But if you've read all the others, how could you miss this one ? I mean, this is the one that ties it all together, right ? No, I'm not going to tell you who dies and all that stuff. You'll just have to read it for your self. Oh, I suppose there's a website somewhere that will give it all away without you having to read the whole thing. And it is fairly thick. But if little kids can do it, so can you. So I won't tell you.
I did not camp out all night at the store to get this. It's not really mine. A kind and generous person gave it to my Son. Then, Young Daughter got her hands on it. But when I had to make a recent trip, she let me take it, and I had lots of time sitting on planes, and waiting on planes, and all that. So now I know what happens, who dies, and if the forces of goodness triumph over the forces of rottenness. But I won't say here.

Sunshine State

This is the place where I went to visit my Sister. It is a Hospital, she is quite ill I'm sorry to say. But I'm not going into that right now.
There are some visual clues that this is not North Carolina. I think the trees will give it away. She lives in a Tropical Paradise Place. Not the Tropical Paradise we visited earlier this year, but tropical enough.
This looks like a new hospital. Everything here looks new. The whole town looks new. There are new streets and new sidewalks, new building everywhere. Even the grass and trees are new. The trees just look un-new. I wondered how they could find all these un-new trees in just the right places.

But then I saw this. Apparently this tree did not grow here. It must have been tree-napped from some other place. Trees can not move very fast, so it probably could not escape. It seems to have been tied up, and pulled up, and then propped up here. But this is a nice place, kinda like a park or something.
You may notice on the roof, a glassed in place, where one could enjoy the view. That would be very nice, but unfortunately, it's only there for looks. We walked all around the place looking for a way up, but there was none. After we gave up sneaking around, we even asked about it. I think it's not a real place.
But before I give the wrong impression, the people here are very nice and are taking good care of my Sister.
You may also notice the dark and cloudy sky. I am beginning to wonder about this "Sunshine State" thing. It seems to mostly rain here. We need some of that at home, but it seems to want to stay here. There are little ponds everywhere with water in them.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of people here, at least for the size of the facilities. I was told things would change latter in the year. I guess for now all the people are in the mountains back home.
But My Sister does not live in this place. Here is a view of her neighborhood.
My Sister is not really from the Tropical Paradise, but her husband is. And everything in the Tropical Paradise is not new. But it seems like everywhere things are changing. New roads, new houses, new everything, pushing the old things away.
This is the "Driveway" to their home. It is a very beautiful place. Not "New", not like a park, but like a "real" place. I suppose those other places are "real" enough, but sometimes one needs to dig one's toes down into the dirt, get off the transplanted sod, and smell the fresh earth. And maybe to look up at the real trees and the sky.
So, to those of you who do believe, and who pray, remember My Sister and her family. And appreciate Life while you have it.

More Traveling

I had to go out of town to see my sister. She's not doing very well. This is not North Carolina of course.