Recycling

Yes there are Two Posts Today !


Since The Fuzz is laid up right now, I thought it might be a good opportunity to go back though time, to September 9th, and continue the story. What do we do with all this "yard waste" that was so professionally collected around town ? Well, I'm happy to report, that it is not wasted. This is the "Waste Treatment Plant". All these branches and stuff are driven here, but not wasted.After the brush is dumped out of the trailer, as has been previously explained, the folks here load it into this powerful machine. This will grind all the limbs and other stuff into a size suitable for mulching whatever needs mulching. If that were all, it would be OK, ecological and all that. But you probably realize, this is not merely a place for chopping up trees. In fact, if these were "Scratch and Sniff" pictures, you would know what else goes on here. And so, the product produced here, (which we refer to with a four letter word) is mixed with the remains of our Yard Waste. The result is a mixture much sought after by landscapers and home owners. This can be had for the asking. Here you can see the finished product. Personaly, I'm not real hot on using this stuff myself. I've heard it has a lot of heavy metals, and it's not really recommended for your veggies.
Well, since The Fuzz is laid up and all, I thought I'd take the opportunity to show how "Recycling" works with "Yard Waste".

Art & Pain

It has been perviously noted that The Fuzz is down in his back. This of course means that he spends a lot of time on his back.The Fuzz's Sweetie likes to sketch what ever will hold still long enough. In his condition, The Fuzz falls into this category. Here he is using this opportunity to catch up on some reading. The Fuzz should be back on his feet soon, if he doesn't overdo things in the meantime.

Hurtin' Fellow

This is The Fuzz. He has a problem. This is not the first time he has had this problem. He did not go to work today. But the world went on without him.
Yesterday he had the same problem, but he did go to work. This is called Dedication. This is called Heroical Stuff. It might also be called a little dumb, since The Fuzz has plenty of Sick Days. But today he stayed home. He also went to the Chiropractor. The Chiropractor let him stay home a couple days. A day off of work is always nice, but it is better when he is not hurting.
I am happy to report that The Fuzz is feeling a bit better. In fact, he hopes to be as good as new (for a not so new guy) in a few days.
There is some good to come from all this. The Fuzz gets to spend some time with His Sweetie. That's always a good thing.

Stove Pipe

That fall like weather is finally here. At least for the moment. That cool breeze, those cool mornings.

Of course, those cool mornings call for a little something to take the chill off the house. This means Fire. Fire means Smoke. And Smoke has to find a way out of the stove, and out of the house.

Now there is a hole in the ceiling that connects to a hole in the roof. This might sound like a problem on account of rain and all, getting in, and making things all wet. But this is not a problem. This is a special hole, just for Smoke.
Here is what this hole looks like from the inside.
But the smoke starts it's journey from inside the stove. This means that it must get from the stove to this special hole in the top of the house.
There was a time, when folks just let the smoke kinda rise up in the room and find it's own way to their hole in the roof, but that system doesn't really work all that well. But now days we have a better approach to this. We have a Stove Pipe.
It will be noticed, in the above illustration, that this Stove Pipe seems to be in bad condition. This is, in fact, the case. If this critical component were to fail, it could be serious. So It must be replaced. And that was the project for the day.
It was time for a trip to the Home Improvement Store. There among the thousands of useful items, The Fuzz found Brand New Stove Pipe Stuff.
(He also found some fancy, high dollar light bulbs, to replace the ones that were burned out, but that doesn't have anything to do with Stove Pipes, so I'm sorry I brought it up.) First the Stove Pipes had to be snapped together. The fuzz had fun looking at the trees though them. Then, some of them had to be cut into the proper lengths. The Fuzz used his cool side grinder for this. I don't know why this stuff seems to be floating around like this. It wasn't. Here are all the finished parts waiting for assembly, the damper is installed, and he even remembered to clean off those little stickers with the barcodes on them.
The Fuzz carried all this stuff inside, and stuck the 9" piece up into the hole inn the ceiling. After this was secured, the rest was connected and fastened with screws. One does not want these things coming apart at an inopportune time.

So here is the finished project. Now The Fuzz's Sweetie can be warm without burning down the house.

But there is one thing I Don't understand. The Fuzz bought 6" Stove Pipes, yet these all have the number "9" on them.





In unrelated news, the Older Son no longer has a fiancee, They were married in the Tropical Paradise.

First Fire

It seems to be that time of year again. Kinda cool this morning. The Fuzz's Sweetie wanted a fire, and The Fuzz knows enough to keep His Sweetie happy. So The Fuzz tried to gather a few twigs for some heat. While the Older Son and His Sweetie are in the Tropical Paradise, the Barkely is here for a visit again.
This Barking Dog likes to play fetch the stick, and this complicates the kindling gathering thing somewhat. The best place to gather kindling is under the oak trees in the front yard. But there is this dog tied out there. Whenever The Fuzz would pick up a twig, this doggie would grab the other end. He wanted to play fetch the stick, but The Fuzz wanted to play Light the Fire.
See how fierce this doggie looks ! Don't let him fool you. He is only barking, "Lets play. Please play with me. Bark Bark Bark !"
But the wood pile is behind him, so if The Fuzz wants a piece of wood, he will have to play. You will be glad to know, that the Fuzz's Sweetie did not freeze this morning. He was able to dodge the dog, and the fire was kindled and the house warmed.




In the future we'll discuss the stove pipe.

A Tree Thing

It seems there are people who think that trees are inhabited by spirits and things like that. What would they think about this one.
This could really be something, if one were to stagger past on a dark night.
Maybe the thing is inhabited, I don't know, but things were pretty quiet when I passed by. But I would hate to run up on something like this while camping in the woods on a dark night.


Fuzz 's been trying to post this for a couple days now, but things kept coming up (maybe there is some kinda hex thing). Looks like he might make it this time.

Brix

You may think that The Fuzz just sits around drinking beer and making pointless posts on this blog. If so you would be wrong. Take this situation for instance. Long ago, but in this galaxy, grass grew on this hill. Being the Tree Hugger that he is, The Fuzz let many trees grow here. The Fuzz does his part to fight Global Warming. The downside of this was that the grass mostly died out. Bare dirt on a hill is not a good arraignment, so he went to a lot of effort, and installed these timbers to form terraces and control the eroding situation. This was fine but made for a rough ride out on The Fuzz Cycle. There was also still a problem here at the gate.
There were a number of bricks here from a similar project, ( It was really part of the same project, if one would take the larger view of things ) so it was time to brake out the old pick and shovel, and go to work.

This is the first step, some more has been added since the pix, but there is already a big improvement here. The Fuzz's Bike apreciates it too.

The Tropical Paradise Revisited

We heard from Older Son and Fiancée. They have arrived in the Tropical Paradise. They have "Big and Evil Plans". Well maybe not really "evil", but "big" enough. It is convenient having Air Force Daughter for a sister. I guess she is also, Air Force Sister.
We have the doggie here. Yes the barkin' Barkley is back. At home he gets lots of attention, I think he misses this. But he'll make it.

Smashed

Here you can see that #12 Boot at work. Over time these cans seem to accumulate around here. It's not really all that much beer. The Fuzz mostly prefers his beer in bottles, the exception being those cans of delicious stout with the fizzy things inside. My Sweetie sometimes brings a few cans home when walking the pooch. This helps clean up the environment and all that, and theoretically, brings in a few pennies.
The Athletical Son likes to use them for target practice, but this tends to scatter them all over. Young Daughter likes to use them for yard kitchen stuff and also tends to scatter them all over.
The idea is to recycle these things. The idea is to recycle them where one can get paid. This is just a little more complicated than giving them to the county, requiring a bit of a drive. We still have them, but they have at least made it though the crusher.

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.