Black Sand and Stranger Stuff

This spring, we made a visit to the Tropical Paradise and avoided our local Easter Freeze. Before we left, we heard about this "Black Sand Beach". The World Traveler Daughter stopped off in Iceland, and viewed this phenomenon there, and word was, it existed in the Tropical Paradise too. But, unfortunately, we were unable to see this wonder ourselves. (Limited time, limited funds etc.) But recently, Military Daughter and friends, made it to the Big Island, the home of this phenomenon. So here is actual, photographical proof, of the Black Sand Beach, courtesy of said Daughter
Apparently this has something to do with Volcanos or something. There are Volcanoes in the Tropical Paradise, and there are Volcanoes in Iceland. We do not have Volcanos here, and we do not have Black Sand Beaches.
[By the way, why does this spell checker not care how "Volcanos" is spelled ? When The Fuzz was in school the teachers always cared how he spelled words. They never liked his way of doing it. Now it doesn't matter. Volcanos, volcanoes... How about "volkaneohs", or would that be "Volkaneohes" or "Valkainohs ?.... Ooooo, it doesn't like those.]
But I digress.
Now here is the new thing, at least to me. While Military Daughter and Companions were turing the Big Island, there were many fine sights to see. The saw the Steam Vents, the Lava Flows and of course, the Black Sand Beach.
Here, we have Sand, and there are Beaches as well. But they are merely "sandy" colored, nothing more. I know that there are places with White Sand Beaches, but I'd never heard of Green Sand. But here, right on this page, is the proof. This is not some Photoshop trick, but real Green Sand. And here is the Green Sand Beach.Which is wondrous, but strange.

Time for a Change

Well, it happened again.
"They" changed time on us.
Who is this "They" anyway ?
Why do "They" do this ?
Why do we let them ?

Well, The Fuzz was up at the Court-square with His Sweetie Sunday. So he thought it would be good to have a picture of this "new" time. And so, here it is. This is genuine photographical proof of the "new" time. Of course that's not the right time anymore. But it was then.

Anyhow, they were up there for the "Sketch Crawl" which I don't have "time" to get into right now, but I will at some future "time". "Time" is supposed to be relative, and it's relatively late, so It's "time" to say "Good Night".

Furry Funning

Some of The Fuzz's longtime readers may remember Puddin', the cat that thinks he's a people. Well as can be seen here, he's pretty well grown now. His Little Friend is that Stupid, Disobedient Dog that tried to kill herself on Christmas Eve. They don't fight like cats and dogs though, they are actually great friends. So not to worry, The Stupid, Disobedient Dog is not in the act of killing that Crazy Cat, they're just having fun.

In other news, The Fuzz heard on the NPR news that that we're having a drought here. Now he knows why his well is so dried out. Here is what's left of the river.

Play Festival

Every year here in North Carolina they have a Play Festival for the High Schools. What happens is that a Drama Team from the participating school must set up, perform and break down a short play within a 45min time limit. Naturally, there would be too many schools competing (it is a bit of a contest, with the winner later representing the state) to do this all at one time. So there are regional contests with the better plays going to "State".
The local High School has been blessed with an outstanding auditorium, (one of the best in the state) so one of the competitions is usually held here. In fact, due to some scheduling problems, one time the State Contest was held here. This is really cool because it is open to the public and free, gratis. And because of the local school's reputation, and facilities, many of the best drama departments choose to come here. Of course our own school cannot compete on their own home stage, but there are plenty of others.
All this is to say that we spent the day at the theater. Photography was not allowed, so there are no pix. But we enjoyed it, and there was some really good stuff.
But so as not to leave all my loyal readers with out some sort of visual stimulation, here's a little bit before the frost kills everything.

Busted

Yeah, they still had to be busted. But that is what Power Equipment is all about. (Did I already say that ?)
In the old days, at this point, The Fuzz would get out his trusty maul and wedges. He still has those things, but a couple years ago His Sweetie talked him into obtaining this wonderful device. The old system is used only for those small, quick jobs. When Industrial Strength is called for, he rolls out this baby. And Industrial Strength was called for here. These blocks were full of knots and twisted grain, but the Power Equipment got it done.
We won't get into how The Fuzz flipped the thing over backing it down into that hole. But, "All's well, that ends better" as the Hobbits (I think) say. And it's always better to have a pile of good firewood handy.

Fire Wood '07

Last winter, The Fuzz had an adventure with a certain rather large tree. As the weather turned warmer, a sizable piece of the trunk remained. Since it was not needed immediately, it remained, and kept remaining. Now the weather is turning cooler again, in fact there was frost this morning, so it was time to do something about this situation.
Here we can see some of the complications.
#1, The saw will not cut all the way through the tree. This is not in itself a big problem. Normally, The Fuzz would simply work from both sides and have more than enough saw. But now we come to complication #2.
#2, The proximity of fence. There is no room to safely operate a Chain-saw between fence and tree. The Fuzz may be a little bit crazy, but he has learned (the hard way) to respect the Chain-saw. The Fuzz is not a young man any more, not exactly "over the hill", but he couldn't just carry that thing away from the fence. Now it was time to get creative. The Fuzz rummaged though his extensive inventory of equipment, and came out with the ol' come-along. These things are pretty handy, sort of a poor man's winch. The Fuzz has used this thing to pull his truck out of the mud, and even swapped engines with it, among other things.
That log was heavy, and the come-along was over loaded, but it did move it. Just enough.
And so, three tanks of gas later, here's what we have.
Of course, these blocks will have to be busted, but that's what Power Equipment is about.

Still no more rain.

The Hidden Lives of Kitty Cats

What makes them do this ? Why do these critters do this ?

Since The Fuzz's Sweetie got soft, and lets these creatures spend the night in the house, they are confined to a particular room at night. For the most part, they are satisfied with this arraignment. But The Fuzz is never sure what he may find in the middle of the night. (He does get up in the middle of the night to check on the fire and take care of some of that "nature" stuff.) Last night, while he was making his rounds, he sat down to pull on his booties (this involves the out doors, but that's another story) and there in the darkness he heard the sound of purring, close. He groped around and finally found the source sitting next to him. In fact it was the same one as in the picture.
It seems this one was hiding at bedtime and assumed to be out in the cold. She was searched for unsuccessfully and abandoned to the outer darkness. But she had her own plans.
We'll have to look more thoroughly tonight.

Rain, But...........

Well, a deep subject, as they say, also a little dry in this case.Yes there was some rain. The Fuzz took a hopeful look down the well, but this is what he saw, the bottom of the well.This was a bit discouraging. Really there was not a lot of rain, it was dreary drizzle for the most part. There was one day of rain though, and it was enough to bring back a little green to the grass. Soon it will turn cold and most every thing will be brown and grey anyway.

You can see The Fuzz's Foot-valve here, at the end of this pipe. In order to pump water, this thing must be down in the water. It will be noticed that there is no water to be in. The pump will not pump dirt, and even if it would, there would be no point in that.

The Fuzz briefly thought about climbing down there with his little pick to dig for more water. He did that once, and like to smothered him self. But that is a lot of dangerous work, and this time he will just wait for more rain.

Yes, Rain

I believe it was mentioned that the ol' car washing trick wasn't working in regards to producing rain. If I'm not mistaken, planing a camping trip was proposed. Well that seems to have worked.

Here you can see The Fuzz on a previous camping trip. It was so enjoyable, The Fuzz, and His Sweetie, had planned another for this weekend. This seems to have had a beneficial effect on this drought ravaged area. Now the weather experts tell us we will have rain until Saturday. This is not a bad thing since The Fuzz's well is empty, but there does seem to be a bit of irony here.

Sitting in the rain, on a camping trip, is not real appealing, so as of now, that seems to be out of the picture. But under the circumstances, one could hardly complain.

We try not to waste water in these situations, so these buckets are catching some runoff from the roof. I remember, back in the Old Country, my Uncle used to catch it in a rain barrel. I guess this is a mini version of that system.

By the way, that's the Tailless One by the bucket.

No Rain

I saw this Happy Couple at the Renaissance Faire when we were there.

There's not much going on around here, we're still waiting for some rain. The Weather Service keeps making these promises, but they seem to be the same sort you hear around elections. So the well is still empty. It rained about 5 minutes the other night. Just enough to wet up my truck seat though the open windows. After that it quit. The old wash the car trick is out too since we're not supposed to do that sort of thing any more. Maybe planning a camping trip would work.

21st Annual "Golden Classic" Tournament of Bands

It was time for the 21st Annual "Golden Classic" Tournament of Bands, with 17 marching bands from two states.We had (particularly My Sweetie) wanted to attend this classic event for several years now. Somehow we were always thwarted in this. But this year we made it at last.

This was a new experience for The Fuzz, who is not often involved with the Football Half-time Scene. There was, of course, no Football game this day, only the Half-time Shows.

This Strange Fellow was wandering around the stands. He (I assume it was a "he") had a companion that passed out balloons to the kids. Young Daughter was there and received one. It later escaped, but she took it well and didn't cry or anything like that.


The Fuzz also saw the Teletubbies there. The Teletubbies later danced around with some Flags while Their Band Marched and simultaneously Played Music. Don't think The Fuzz was not impressed, he has a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time.

There were a lot of Girls with Flags.

These were with a different Band.

The Fuzz tried to make some Videos with his little camera, but it didn't work out very well.

After we had been thoroughly satisfied, for this year, The Fuzz, (with His Sweetie's dough) took us out for a Mexican Supper, and then home for a flick. "Murder by Death" from good ol' Netflix. It is worth seeing if you haven't already.

The Jerk

While The Fuzz was at the Renaissance Fair, he found himself near this Beer Maid. I'm not sure what caught his attention, perhaps it was the tip jar.

But let me say right now, The Look was not directed at The Fuzz, (who I believe remained unnoticed) but at The Jerk. Yes, it is sad to say, but there are jerks everywhere, even at such a wonderful place as the Renaissance Fair. At the moment The Fuzz was occupied with his photography, The Jerk was asking for a beer. And of course the Beer Maid complied, with a charming smile, I might add. But then, The Jerk walked away. Fortunatly, for The Jerk, this young lady was not armed with one of those Broadswords.


This one was, and she means business.



The week we hope to see the 21st Annual "Golden Classic" Tournament of Bands, with 17 marching bands from two states.

The People with the Funny Clothes.

So now, (still at the Renaissance Faire) a look at the people with the Funny Clothes.



This One was on the move.













This One was not.


He seems to be taking in the sights in a relaxed manner.

I suppose you could say he is one of the sights, but that is what's so cool, you don't always know who is there on business, and who is there for fun.





Of course there are the Ladies too.






Some are pretty elaborate...








And some are not.













These guys were just being photogenic.











And lastly, some Dancers.

Knights on the Town

So what kind of Renaissance thing would this be without the Knights and Tournament.

There is supposed to be some kind of Royalty that gets off on this I think, but I'm not sure who is who. I would guess the ones that got the seats are the VIPs.
Here's a couple of the "Knights" now. They ride around to get every one all worked up, and start insulting each other. But seriously, it doesn't look easy putting that lance though those little rings on a galloping horse. The Fuzz apologizes for not getting a shot of the unhorsing.

Now, all that Jousting stuff is hot, dusty work. And a fellow can work up quite a thirst. So, what better time for a cold one ? But I suppose any time can be a good time for a cold one.

I don't know if these guys are part of The Society for Creative Anachronism or not, but it looks like they would fit right in. There is something cool about Swords and all that stuff.

These guys look kinda fierce and dangerous.


The Fuzz and His Sweetie just like hanging out amidst all the other oddballs who don't seem to quite fit into this 21st Century. Next time I hope to show you some more of the people.

The Tree Man

Here comes the Treeman. Well that's what we call him. I think he goes by "The Green Man", actually. He's a great favorite with the kids for sure. He has sorta evolved over the years. One time he even had a little friend with him. But this year he was alone, I guess things just didn't work out.

He is not adverse to taking donations of course. I Think, The Fuzz gave the Young Daughter some coin of the realm to take him. The Fuzz is not always as cheap as he seems.

Anyone who likes to spend time in the woods needs to stay on the Good Side of the Green Man.


Well The Fuzz is back in the 21st Century now. Back on the job and all that. He's still not sure if that's where he belongs, but it will have to be that way for now.

We went to the Renaissance Fair

It is that time of year again. The Fuzz, Sweetie and Young Daughter made their annual pilgrimage to the Renaissance Festival. They all enjoy this as it gives them an excuse to wear Funny Clothes and hang out with other folks who like Funny Clothes too. Of course, there is more to it than Funny Clothes. There is also the opportunity to spend mucho dinero. But one can enjoy oneself without impoverishing oneself. Of course, if one wishes to spend one's life savings, there is ample opportunity. I think we don't realize just how advanced the Renaissance Culture was, especially their Banking System. Here you can see that they even had the convenience of ATMs.
But the above Street Scene is one of the reasons The Fuzz and His return each year.
Now, one does not have to wear Funny Clothes to enjoy their visit, but it is more fun that way. There are establishments that rent Funny Clothes to those unfortunates who don't have their own. (Or might be too embarrassed to be seen driving around in them.)
The crowd is not too thick in the morning, but picks up as the day progresses. There are a number of Acts going on in various places throughout the day, but The Fuzzy Group was mostly content to merely wander around, stopping when something caught their attention. There will probably be more cool stuff from this visit in future posts. So, so long, for now.

Bugged

Took a walk "Down the Hill" the other day. I was confronted with this thing.It doesn't seem dangerous, though. It is truly amazing how complex it is. All those fuzzy things sticking out all over the place. Note the little red spots on what I guess is the back. And then there's the brush stuff, is it some sort of "Mohawk" ? Well I couldn't resist, so now he (or she) is part of the cybornetical world.

Well, if all goes well, The Fuzz and His Sweetie will take Young Daughter to the Renaissance Festival tomorrow. There is suposed to be a race down that way, and we could get the "Full Treatment" traffic wise. His Sweetie has worked out an alternant route home, and they'll see how it works out.

водка

I am not pushing водка here, but I thought this was interesting.

The Fuzz's Sweetie sometimes worries about the various critters imbibing his antifreeze. This is real antifreeze, like one puts in a car or truck to keep from busting the block, or at least the radiator.

It seems a certain person, on a visit "Down Under", was either very stupid, or, very thirsty, and had himself a big drink of the stuff. It seems that the antidote for this stuff, is Vodka ! Who would have thunk or thought it !

Let me state at this point, that The Fuzz does not recommend this method for obtaining Vodka when one is a little short of funds or something like that. It does appear that this fellow survived, and is not blind or anything.

But now we all know that this "medicinal use" stuff is not BS. So go ahead, enjoy your водка.

Wedding Related Stuff II

It's always nice to be able to celebrate a wedding. Some people like to elope though, but I think we should still celebrate.

We took our time on the way up there, and even stopped off in the Big City. So the place was already decorated when we got there. Here you can see one of the Beautiful Women who were there, arriving. They had it fixed up pretty nice, and there was plenty of beer too.


There were candles on the tables and party lights too.


Here are the newlyweds cutting the cake.

I should probably explain the stuff on their heads. We all were requested to wear hats for this affair. I'm not sure how he got that chicken to sit still though.

The business with the cake did get a bit messy. I don't think I understand that part.



And what would be a wedding, without dancing.

Maybe it was the beer, but even The Fuzz got out there with His Sweetie.

But you won't get to see that. You would have had to be there. But I was there, I saw it myself.

We all had a pretty good time, and nobody called the cops.

Things were a little quieter in the morning. The balloons were a little droopier.



We spent the night there and all met for breakfast at a local restaurant. And then, it was time to head home.

It was a great time, and a chance to meet all the in-laws and outlaws.

Next up, Our annual trip to the Renaissance Fest, weather permiting.

Wedding Related Stuff

Just got home from the Wedding Celebration for Son and New Bride. We had a pretty good time. They were married in the Tropical Paradise, so the reception had to wait. There'll be some more pictures soon. Bye Bye, for now.

This Time

This time, things will be different.

Well The Fuzz is back on the job. His back seems to be holding up, at least so far. Things have been pretty quiet around here. My Sweetie and I took a walk along the river Sunday. Boy was it low. It's been so dry here. With the Easter freeze and now the drought, it's not been a good year for agriculture around here.

The mornings have been cool. The Fuzz usually lights a little fire to "take the chill off" the house in the morning. So the new stovepipe has been broken in. Remember how shiny it used to be ?
Well it's not like that now. It's been "heat treated". It's always good to get that done when one can still open the windows.



The Fuzz tends toward the lazy side, "If its not broke, don't fix it". This has led to problems in the past, like when he discovered rusted out spots on his stovepipe, the day before Thanksgiving. It turns out, something WAS broke. This complicates things since there is inevitably a fire in the stove at that time of year. That situation called for quick work, and a smoky house. The Fuzz's Sweetie was not happy.

But this year, things will be different. We start the season out with a Brand New, already Broke In, Stovepipe.