Getting There

So, what's so great about "making it back" ? Long-time readers (if any) may remember some previous Beach Trips where things became a little more complicated. But we are pleased to report that this little truck made it out there and back with no "Dramatics". Here it is being loaded for the trip.

However, there was just a bit of "Drama" before we left. On Friday afternoon the Other Vehicle decided to work on The Fuzz's nerves. As we were preparing to make a quick trip to see a Cheap Trailer as part of our Latest Project, a funny little light lit up on the dash. The Owner's Manual promised terrible things if this was not attended to, so we rushed to the dealer's place in hopes to get it looked at before closing time. It turned out to be some kind of computer glitch that they slapped a patch on.






This is the drawbridge we have to cross to get out on the Island. In the first pix it's closed. It crosses the Inter Coastal Waterway here. This next one shows the bridge open, and all the cars waiting. The Fuzz and His Sweetie were waiting too, hence the photo.
But there's all kinds of cool stuff there that we can't see at home. Like these birds, Pelicans, I think, that fly around in a long line. Sometimes they skim so close to the surf, that they dip a wingtip into the wave.
The Fuzz wanted me to tell you that he'll post more pix soon. It's back to work tomorrow.

Home Again

Well, we made it back safe and sound.
And had a great time.

Vacated

The Fuzz is still living, but enjoying some time at the beach.
He says he'll try to get some pix up if he can figger out how to use this Computer of Technicaly Advanced Son.

Bad Habits

Bad Kitty

Bad Kitty










As you can see, this Kitty is developing bad habits. This is the sort of thing that will get him thrown out the back door in the future. For now, we will consider his tender youth and have mercy.

But he comes by it honest. His Momma and Uncle are both prone to this sort of behavior. I suppose his Daddy is too (although I'm not entirely sure who his Daddy is).

Well, I guess that's just the way it's gonna be, and this Bad Kitty will end up on the outside eventually.

Picinic Cruise

For The 4th, we went to the Lake for a Picnic Cruise.

So as not to give the impression that this lake is only a muddy puddle, The Fuzz asked me to include this view near the entrance to our favorite creek.

Here is a shot of our mighty Cruiser. You may laugh, but it has it's advantages. How else could we make it up here to our Spring Fed Swimming Hole. To get this far we have to slip under a fallen tree and follow a narrow channel. But it's worth it.
Don't be misled here, this water is quite deep, well over The Fuzz's head. It's kinda funny, just downstream, it's warm and barely deep enough to float our Cruiser. Yet here, it's deep and icy cold.

We had the place to ourselves.

Fiery Finale

Well, we ended it with the Fiery Finale.

The Fuzz broke into the last of his stash of Pyrotechnics.

Over the years he had been gathering up the leftovers of former 4ths.

But alas, all that was left were a couple packs of Fire Crackers, some Sparkelers, two "Butterflies" and some of those "Hen Laying Egg" things.

Those "Hen Laying" things are nothing but sparks and a brief whistle. But the "Butterflies" can get interesting. A couple years ago, one chased The Fuzz's Sweetie around the yard. Now she refuses to be involved in this sort of thing.

So it was up to Young Daughter and The Fuzz, himself to carry on the Tradition.

The End is Near

"The end of the internet is nigh - and in less than three years, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). "

Is this Goodbye ?

Excellent Chicken Brooder 4 Sale

This is our home-made Chicken Brooder.
But we don't use it these days.
Back in The Days, we used to keep a bunch of those Feathery Fowl. At one time The Fuzz was selling eggs to a local produce guy. But he quit. It was all he could do to break even on the feed. So we did scale back a little.
But there were still some of them. We used to make the Young'uns pluck them just for fun (our fun). Maybe that was mean, but it "Builds Character" as they say.

Well, be that as it may, in anticipation of the coming Big Move, we are trying to pare down a little. And something like this, no matter how fine it may be, is no longer needed. But note the excellent design here.
#1. Two sections for ease in storage and transport.
#2. Sliding door for security, and to confine tender young birdies to the warm interior.
#3. Hinged tops for ease in cleaning, and to facilitate catching the little boogers.
#4. Uses standard light bulbs for an easily replaceable heat source.

And so we now have this Excellent Chicken Brooder 4 Sale.

Coffee and Gas

I see where the Starbucks is having a hard time these days. We don't have the Starbucks here in our Little City. I hear they have it in the Big Cities. For some folks, their day just ain't right without that Starbucks Coffee.

A while back, The Fuzz was looking for something to do with His Sweetie in the evening, and the idea of going out for some coffee or something came up. The Neighbor Lady told of this Starbucks Place down in the Land Of "Cheap Gas". A lot of folks around here cross the State Line in search of "Cheap Gas". It was said, that one could go down there, fill up with "Cheap Gas" and enjoy some of that Starbucks Coffee. And so, one evening, The Fuzz got his Sweetie into the car and headed off in search of "Cheap Gas" and Starbucks Coffee.
They did find the "Cheap Gas" and there was that Starbucks Place too.

The Fuzz was expecting some High Dollar coffee, but when it came time to pay up, the coffee was free. It seems that if one has to wait a little for the coffee, this is a Very Bad Thing, and they're ashamed to charge for it. The Fuzz was not really upset about all this, so he left some money in the Tip Jar.

But all in all, he does want to say, that this Starbucks Coffee was quite tasty, although maybe not worth a trip out of state. As for the "Cheap Gas", he figured that the gas used on the trip, more than made up for the few cents per gallon saved.

Not So Sorry Seating

And here it is.
The Fuzz's newly repaired Motorcycle Seat.

One of his co-workers did this for him. Of course some money did change hands in this affair.

I think he did a good job on it.

The Fuzz put it back on the bike, but has yet to put it to the test.

But we'll take care of that soon.

Floating Again

With all this nice summer weather, it was time to break out the old Canoe. So The Fuzz loaded it onto that wonderful little truck and we headed of to the river.

The river is dammed up in this place, so it's really a sort of lake here. Last year The Fuzz and His Sweetie were down here and found this Creek running into the lake.
We paddled up it about as far as we could get and came here. This is the same place we found last year.

This time we were joined by Young Daughter who you can see enjoying this Spring Fed Swimming Hole.

It's kinda funny, the creek is so shallow here, but then, here is this nice deep Swimming Hole.

The Fuzz's Sweetie did some painting, we all did some swimming, and then had our picnic lunch.

We saw several of these Bird Houses near the mouth of the creek, but nobody seemed to be home.

The water was surprisingly high, considering how dry it's been lately. But I'm happy to say that we got about 1/4in of rain last night.

I know this because I looked in the Rain Gage that The Fuzz's Yankee Sister sent him. He used to have one before, but it froze and busted. I guess it was a better rain gage than an ice gage. But this new one works great, of course it only works when it rains.

The Fuzz just reminded me, that it works equally well when it doesn't rain. I guess he's right, now that I think about it.

Sorry Seating

My regular readers (both of them) will realize by now that The Fuzz has been known to occasionally get onto a Motorcycle. It seems that his motorcycle is getting a bit rough.
One of these "rough" things is the Seat. The Fuzz's poor bike spends hours parked in the hot sun, whilst he slaves away on the Garbage Truck. He knows this beautiful sunshine is not so good for the bike, but this bike must live in the real world. Once he tried protecting this seat with Armor all, or something like that. This was OK except it made it difficult for him to stay on the now, very slippery, seat. This was not the best situation, so he did not repeat it.
But over the years, I'm sorry to report, that the summer sunshine took it's toll and you can see here the sad state of things.
It seems the time had come to do something about this, and here we see his seatless bike.
As luck would have it, one of The Fuzz's coworkers does a bit of upholstery on the side. And so this very day, The Fuzz took his pitiful motorcycle seat over for surgery. We hope things work out for him.

Part of a Healthy Diet

It's part of a Healthy Diet.

The Fuzz's Sweetie is trying to keep him healthy. So she works hard every day to send him off with a healthy lunch to eat. This is a good thing, because if it wasn't for her efforts in this, he would probably eat a bunch of junk, or nothing at all. Guys are like that.

Here we have our Napa Cabbage, some Fresh Garden Kale and Grated Daikon Radish, also from the garden. This will be fixed with a touch of Salt and some Rice Vinegar. Tasty Salad.

The Fuzz will also have some whole grain, most likely some sort of Rice to go with this. He should be very healthy.

In truth he does feel good these days, has lost some unneeded weight and is still living. It's hard to argue with success, as they say. And so The Fuzz would like me to tell you that, even if he may tease her a little, he thanks her, and appreciates her efforts.

Back To Work ("R" Rated)

Last week we took some time off from land clearing for a camping break. Well it was time to get back to work.

Things are progressing here. We have space for a Trailer now. Of course we don't exactly have a Trailer yet. But that may be for the best since we really aren't ready to move one.
We are getting some firewood out of this though. We can use it at either place since we will, of course, heat with wood in the new place when we get set up.

And now to deal with another matter, some "shock" has been expressed that The Fuzz would mention Skinny Dipping. I quote here,"Skinny Dipping?!?! I'm shocked that you would even consider such at thing!!!".

Well, I'm sure most of my readers realize by now, that The Fuzz is not one to shy away from controversy.

At the risk of another scandal, We will post this evidence that "Skinny Dipping" does occur, although to protect the guilty, the perpetrator shall remain anonymous.

Mountain Break 2

Here's some more from our Camping Trip.

As you can see, even that Stupid Disobedient Dog was there. She really enjoyed herself, and even jumped into the creek on her own. Usually she has to be forced into the water.


Whilst Young Daughter and The Fuzz's Sweetie were involved in a sketching session, The Fuzz headed up the trail for some exercise and just to enjoy the woods.

This is where the trail crosses the creek. Usually there is a lot more water here this time of year. It looks like we're in for another dry one.


Here's some cool moss and stuff he saw along the trail.

I don't know what that white stuff is, but The Fuzz couldn't resist getting a shot of it.

If he carries his camera on a walk, he has a tendency to fill up the "card". It's really best for him to go alone so he doesn't drive His Sweetie crazy.

All along the trail there are wonders to behold. Some are natural, and in some cases man has added his part.

Note the way this fallen tree has been utilized to create this bridge.

Here's another view.

This part of the trail is a

pleasant walk along the bottom of this gorge. But eventually it takes a sudden turn and climbs out and up the mountain. That's great if one is in the mood for that sort of thing.

But this time The Fuzz was content to stay down here and chill.






And so that's what he did.

Mountain Break

It had been a while since we had made it to the mountains for a Camping Trip, but we finally got it together this passed weekend.


Here is our camp at South Mountains St. Park. We have been coming here for years, although we've missed out the passed couple of years due to a variety of reasons.







We usually go up the Shinny (pronounced "Shine-y" with a long "i") Creek to camp. There is an 80 ft waterfall there at the park but that is a kinda crowded place sometimes. So The Fuzz likes to go up to this area for some peace and quiet.
This is a "Pack-in" campsite, but there is a dirt road used by the Rangers and Mountain Bikers. Years ago The Fuzz made this Little Cart to help his back and bring along those little luxuries. It was worth it.

Magical Mulch

Mulch is what we need.
It helps keep down the weeds.
So all our little plants
Can grow.
Keeps moisture for the roots
Of those little tiny shoots
and even in the drought our stuff
Can grow.

So where does this Magical Mulch come from ?
Well, let me tell you a story.

Every year, in Our Fair City, with the approach of autumn, Leaves begin to fall from our many beautiful trees. This causes many upstanding citizens great concern. In fact they remove these leaves from their yards, and pile them at the curbside, sometimes even into the streets causing traffic hazards. They insist that the City Public Works Dept. remove the leaves, and quickly.

This Dept. has invested in special vehicles just for this purpose. These leaves are sucked up into these trucks and dumped in huge piles where they are left to decompose into what we refer to as "Leaf Mulch".

If a person can catch one of those busy city employees at the right time, he (or she of course) can have a scoop of mulch dropped into the truck or trailer of their choice.
Unfortunately, when The Fuzz and His Sweetie were there, they found it necessary to handle this task themselves. You will note the Mountain of Mulch where they did this.

It was a Hot Day, but as luck would have it, this Mountain of Mulch was located right by the River. It was too close to the road for any skinny dipping, but the water felt great any way.

Here's some pix of Squash and Okra with Leaf Mulch.

Con Gusano

Yeah, he ate the little Gusano.

His Sweetie says he Wimped out 'cause he didn't chew it up in the process.

What do You think ?

Saving Gas

With the High cost of Gas and all, it seemed like the time had come to drag the old Bicycle out from under the house. It had been down there for a long time, so it needed a little work.

One thing, or rather two things, that needed work, were the tires. If you look closely here you may notice this tire is not in pristine condition. But The Fuzz has changed many a bicycle tire in his long career as a Daddy. So he went to work.


In these times in which we live, new tires (at least from Wally World) come in little boxes. The first time The Fuzz saw this it freaked him out. Tires are supposed to be big round things, usually hanging up somewhere. He went back home mumbling about how they had no tires at that place. But in desperation he went back and picked up one of those little boxes, discovering that there actually was a Tire in that thing.

But that was long ago. He has gotten used to such things by now and has begun to face the modern world such as it is.

The old tires were not easy to remove, but after a struggle it was accomplished and the new were in place. Long ago he learned, the hard way, not to pinch the delicate inner tubes, so he was very careful.

Now it was time for the old Tire Pump. This is actually an easy job compared to pumping up a truck tire.



I am happy to report that the new tires held air just like they should. There is nothing like that happy feeling of success.

Whilst all this was going on, it seemed like a good time to remove that Antique Baby Seat. All the Babies are grown up now, or at least passed the "Baby Seat" stage. There don't seem to be any grand young'uns in the works for now either.

The old bicycle seems to be working OK although the gears were a little stiff. The Fuzz went with His Sweetie and Young Daughter for a shake down cruise the other day and found out how out of shape he is.

If that Gasoline keeps going up, The Fuzz might just get back in shape after all.

Somebody Call the Plumber

The Big News from Space .

They had to send the Shuttle up to take care of their little problem. Fortunately things did work out, as reported by the BBC.

"Crew members have fixed a toilet at the International Space Station with a pump delivered by the shuttle Discovery.

After three tests, the toilet appeared to be working, according to an update from US space agency Nasa.

Russian Oleg Kononenko worked to replace the toilet pump and install new hoses in the Russian Zvezda module for more than two hours.

Spare parts for the Russian-built toilet had been rushed from Moscow to Florida ahead of Discovery's launch.

Two Russians and one American had been using alternative facilities on the Soyuz capsule because of the breakage.

Correspondents say the toilet problem had become the main topic of conversation at Nasa press conferences.

"It's unfortunate we're talking about toilets, but that really is the life, that's the future of human exploration in space," said deputy space station programme manager Kirk Shireman.


"I don't take it as a really bad thing. It's just something perhaps everyday people can really relate to."

Space urinals generally use jets of air to guide waste down a tube into a container, where it is then separated into liquid and gas."

The Fuzz has a simpler solution to these problems. There's no flushing involved.

Dog Rider

Here is a Happy Doggie.












This is that Stupid Disobedient Dog again. She likes to ride. She is one of those doggies you see with their heads out of the car window, toungues flapping in the breeze.

Young Daughter has found another way for her to ride. She seems to like this just as well. And why not ? She doesn't even have to help peddle.

It is Hot here these days. They're calling for 100' F again today. We probably won't cut any trees.

We did get out early and The Fuzz's Sweetie (and finally The Fuzz himself) did a bit of gardening before it got Too Hot .

To The Woods (Cont.)

When we last saw The Fuzz out here, he was Cutting Trees. Well, he's still at it.

It may be noticed that this one is leaning just a bit to the left here. That would be roughly to the Southeast. That is really irrelevant to this narrative, but the fact it is leaning is relevant. The Fuzz wants it to fall to the North since that is the open area. This would make things a whole lot easier when it comes to cutting the thing up. And it must be cut up.

While The Fuzz is not a professional, he has had some experience (not all good) with these sort of things.

It will be noticed that he has already cut a notch on the north side of this thing. This will give it a "Hinge" when it falls. Thus it should only be able to fall either North, or South.

South is not desirable, and it wants to go that way, (the perverse thing).

So something will have to be done.

Here The Fuzz is installing a wedge to encourage this arboretical entity to cooperate in this matter. There are people who claim this is unnecessary, as they can make the tree fall wherever they wish merely with their expert cuts. The Fuzz does not believe them.


Now he's cranking his saw up for the next stage of this dangerous operation.

He plans to work on this Backcut until the tree is almost ready to fall. If he is lucky, he won't cut too far causing things to go dreadfully wrong.



Hoping things have moved to this stage, he now removes the saw and resorts to the Ol' "Bigger Hammer" trick.

Careful examination may note that the "Backcut" is actually widening here. An observer noted (You knew someone was making these pix) that, with each of The Fuzz's mighty blows, the top of the tree moved a good bit. And in the right direction.

It's best not to hurry these things, but persistence does pay off, and with several more blows, the tree gave up, and began it's inevitable descent to the forest floor.

Of course now the thing was there on the ground and something had to be done with it. And so The Fuzz once again picked up his trusty Chainsaw and went to work.


This time the the observer/photographer (the Fuzz's own Sweetie) got in on things and eventually they had one more tree removed from the site of their new Home in the Woods.

It was a hot day, and hot work. So they loaded up the truck and headed back home for some rest and a couple Cold Ones.



Things are moving along, but there is still a lot to do. We try to get a little more done each week. Eventually we will need "Professional Help" with a Well, Septic Tank and all those things required by the government of this free country. We also need to find a Trailer within our limited budget. But all in all, we are looking forward to this new chapter of our lives.

The End for My Flipflops

It looks like this is the end of the road for my Flipflops. There's been many a mile pass beneath these things. It's not that they were "Down at the heal" exactly, more like there Was no Heal.

All through this winter The Fuzz has had an eye out for a new pair, but it would seem there's no market for Flipflops around here in the middle of winter.

But Today, he scored big at Wally World. So these will get a much needed rest. I doubt that they will be preserved for posterity though. Their Historic significance will go unnoticed and they will most likely end up in the landfill, just another insignificant bit of plastic for future archaeologists to puzzle over.