What Is Up

And now, the story behind the previous pix.
I seems that along our property line, there was a rather large cherry tree. And it is also a fact, that said cherry tree was leaning dangerously toward a neighbor's trailer. The Fuzz had promised to take care of this a while back. And so, since that Academic Son was home on spring break, The Fuzz decided to take advantage of all this young muscle. After all, The Fuzz is getting a little old for that sort of thing.

And that is he, rather than The Fuzz, up there having all the fun. It was necessary to tie a rope up there at the fork just above the poor guy. But The Fuzz was not entirely left out. He got to climb up there (although not quite so high) and handle the chainsaw.
And although it did get a bit complicated, they were able to get the thing down in several pieces, and without dropping it on the trailer in question.

And we have a good start on next winter's firewood!

Up

Still At It

Even though we have been settled into our new home in the woods for some time now, we still have the old place.
And we do use it for various things. We still plan on working the old garden. In fact we were over there the other day planting some taters. And whilst His Sweetie was busy with other matters, The Fuzz was tackling this stove pipe issue.
The Fuzz's Sweetie has been working on some projects over there, and with the colder weather she has been using the wood stove to keep warm. While he was cleaning the chimney the other day, he discovered that there wasn't much stovepipe left to clean.
This was not a good situation. So, once again, it was time for a trip to that Home Improvement Store. The two middle sections seemed to have a bit of life left in them, so he decided to go for the quick fix this time. He purchased an elbow and one section of pipe. He also picked up some chainsaw related items for another project*. Back at the house, he put it all back together. Here's a look at this patched-up heating system. With luck, it should make it through 'till warm weather.



*We'll try to update you on this one soon.

Birdie Business

So here we see this wonderful Seagull* soaring above the waves. But wait, those are waves of garbage! Yes, they have been here all winter. The Fuzz has just been too lazy to write this post. But since they will be going home before too long, we better mention these yearly visitors from the coast.This is a scene at our spiffy new landfill. That black stuff is some of the high-tech liner that's not covered up yet. The white stuff is birds. They come here every winter. They seem to have found their way from the old dump to our spiffy new one OK. I suppose they had the advantage of aerial reconnaissance. But all in all, it's good to know that this spiffy new landfill was able to retain some of the fine features of the old.
*The Fuzz would like to remind everyone, that we have been advised, that these "Seagulls" may actually be "Arctic Terns".

Giant Muffler!

Here it is, The Giant Muffler!

Yup, that's one big muffler.
Every so often they crank that sucker up for a test flight. That muffler is pretty impressive, but there's no question when that thing is on line.
It's back-up power for the water plant.
The Fuzz was just a bit lazy, and this is all he gave us to work with tonight. We think he's a little PO'd about the time change again.
He was wondering just where all this daylight we're saving is going.
He's thinking it's just some new kind of tax, some way those congressmen are getting our daylight.
Well, we'll just have to take it I guess.

Medieval Tower

There is a river down behind "The Shed*" that The Fuzz works out of. There is also an old abandoned railroad road bed there. The other day on the lunch break, he slipped though the fence to have a look down there. It had been a while since he'd been there. With the leaves still off the trees he had a fine view of the river below.
This is a view from the old rail bed. It's pretty far above the river. Down there you can see this old tower. The Fuzz thought it was kinda interesting, but he was too lazy to climb down there for a closer look**. And he didn't have the time.
But it put him in mind of one of those old Medieval Castles, over there along the Rhine, or someplace like that. And so, here it is for your enjoyment. Use your own imagination.


*This is a carry over from 30 years ago, when they actually did work from an old tin shed on the other side of town.

**But you can have a "closer look" by simply clicking on the pix! Much easier.

Still At It

Yesterday we saw Alice. Here's today's little project. Ever since we moved out here The Fuzz's Sweetie has been trying to pile stuff up in this closet. There were a couple of rickety shelves but most of the stuff ended up in a pile on the floor. That's OK sometimes for some things, but this was mostly stuff that was needed frequently.
So it was time for another trip to that Home Improvement Store. So they slipped on into town and picked up a few (expensive) boards. Once they made it home, The Fuzz had a beer. And then he knocked these shelves together.
The weather has been pretty nice, and should be for a few more days. Next we're hoping to get a bit of grass sown. Then, there are fruit trees to plant. I guess we'll stay right busy for a while.

Alice Revisited

Well we did it. Went to see Alice today.
We had seen some trailers on previous movie excursions, but thought they didn't seem much like the Alice we knew. But the other day, The Fuzz and His Sweetie both saw a review in the paper for this one. They weren't together at the time but both thought perhaps it might be worth a shot. And they have enjoyed some of Tim Burton's stuff even if it can be a bit weird.
So we went and watched it, in 3D, of course, and liked it pretty well. And so it gets a Thumbs Up from The Fuzz.

High Finance and Kitty Cats

The Fuzz was listening to the radio the other day. Someone was explaining the financial world system. The best he could make out was it works like this.

1) A borrows 10 bucks from B.
2) A gives B IOU.
3) B sells IOU to C at a profit*.
4) D borrows 10 bucks from E.
5) D gives E IOU.
6) E sells IOU to C at a profit*.
7) C staples the IOUs together and sells them to F at a profit*.
8) F sells the lot to G at a profit*.
9) G sells to H at a profit*.
10) A&D skip town.
11) H sells to I at a profit*.
12) I can't find A or D to collect on IOUs.
13) Congressman J borrows 25 bucks from China to give to I.
14) I gives congressman J 5 buck campaign contribution.
15) Taxpayer U owes China 30 bucks.

At least that's the best he could make of it. But we have to remember that The Fuzz is just a dumb-ass garbage man so we shouldn't expect him to understand these things.

But we do have this pix of some of the Kitty Cats trying to keep warm out here this globally warm winter.



*Just where this profit comes from is one of the things The Fuzz doesn't quite get.

No End In Sight

Same Old..........

Not all that much going on around here. Well, it may be a bit misleading to say that. Actually, we are staying busy these days. But it's mostly the same old same old. We are waiting for something significant, but that's totally out of our hands. And so life goes on. It's been mostly just going to work in the morning, and then coming home. Getting up in the morning, and going to bed at night.
This weekend we watched "Pixar Short Films: Vol. 1" from Netflix. It was pretty good, fun to watch. But we also cut wood, went to town, dug up plants, went to the store and then replanted some of them. Now I'm trying to stay awake for this little post.
Since we like to get pix up on our posts, The Fuzz fixed up this one of some old rusted up equipment he saw down by a creek.
We still seem to be dealing with a bit of winter here. "They're" calling for more of that snow for Tuesday. The Fuzz says we'll see what happens then.

A little bit of Fuzzy Thinking

Chimney Series #11

Here's another Chimney for y'all.
The Fuzz found what was left of this place along the side of the road.

Mid-Winter Ride Cont.

A bit further down the road The Fuzz passed this picturesque trailer* on the side of the road.It seems to have been left here for some time.
It's not much to look at, but he does have an eye for the unusual and this seemed to fit the bill.
Surely there is a story behind this, but since we don't know it, we'll have to make up our own. Did something happen to the tow vehicle but the trailer was not considered worth saving? Perhaps it was dropped off in the dead of night, sorta quiet like, and just left here.
Or maybe it is haunted and the driver was glad to escape with his life.
Well, That Fuzz is pretty tight lipped about it, and to tell the truth, I don't think he knows.

*for that closer look, Click the Pix!

Mid-Winter Ride

This weekend while The Fuzz's Sweetie and Young Daughter were gone, the weather was pretty nice. No snow, no rain.
So after he cut down that tree, The Fuzz cranked up the old Motorcycle.He was wanting to run to the store for some tuna to make some macaroni salad with tuna. (one of his favorites) But he did take advantage of this to take the long way home. On the way, he saw this old farm house out across a field. There were those nasty "No Trespassing" signs, but That Fuzz was armed with his nifty Zoomer Camera. And so we get to share this little pix with y'all.

Another Hang-up

With The Fuzz's Sweetie out of town, and Young Daughter visiting friends, The Fuzz was left to puppy sit. He also had to deal with a shrinking wood pile. He had already found a dead tree nearby, so he figured this was a good time to go get it.
Naturally, there was a hang-up. As can be seen here, the top of the tree he was cutting (A) hung up on one of it's neighbors (B).
After a number of unsuccessful attempts to rock the thing loose, he finally gave up on that.
All his help was gone, so he had to be a bit creative. He went and got out that old faithful Come-a-long. One end was fastened to that uncooperative tree, the other to another one. The it was only a matter of carefully pulling tree A to the side until it's topmost branches finally broke free.

And as they say, It's hard to argue with success!

The Pack Is Growing

It seems that the neighbor's little doggy somehow became a mama doggy. It also seems that our long little doggy, Buddha Buddy, may have had a hand (well not exactly a hand) in this matter. But this one doesn't seem too Buddha-y and for some reason The Fuzz's Sweetie and Young Daughter couldn't resist her.So meet the latest member of the pack, known as Lucy.

The Mystery Reveled

In regard to our latest Mystery Pix, (which I might add the canuck guessed correctly) this was indeed floor tiles with plastic spacers. It could be possible that he had some sort of inside information on this subject. But we won't worry about that. The Noprize is his.
The Fuzz made a few pix while he was helping that Home Improving Son with some home improvements.
The first order of business was to decide in which pattern to lay these tiles. Eventually the staggered pattern to the left was chosen.
Since this is a bathroom, there were a number of cutouts to be made. After several unsuccessful attempts, that Resourceful Son worked out the system shown here utilizing a circular saw with a cement cutting blade.
Then, most of the complicated pieces were cut out and laid dry in the hope of avoiding any unpleasant surprises.
Here you can see that Well Equipped Fellow mixing up the "mud". When The Fuzz tried this at home, he had to use a hand trowel. He does not recommend this.
Next the dry laid tiles were pulled up (and carefully marked) and laid in the cement-type stuff.
This was started in the corner in an effort to end at the only door.
The Fuzz had to leave before the job was completely finished, so he had no shot of the finished job.
However, he was able to rip this one off from someone who was there. So here it is.
At last report, the grouting is finished and the commode is back in place. That was a long time to "hold it"!

This Cat Is Not Happy

This Kitty is not happy. They don't seem to enjoy walking around in this stuff. But then, I've never enjoyed walking around in it without shoes either. But she does seem to have found a small place to place the paws. But, the snow is pretty much gone around here now. The Kitties are happy about that. The Doggies come inside from time to time, but we've learned the hard way not to trust a cat. Yes, I'm afraid it's true-

A cat may like to feed on mouse.
But,
A cat will poop inside your house.

So The Fuzz's advice is, "Never trust a cat". I suppose this might seem a bit hard hearted considering the snow and all, but this advice comes though painful experience.

And since we are dealing with Cabin Fever here, The Fuzz would like to present one more exciting ,
Mystery Pix!

Even Another Snow Post

Yes, even another Snow Post. There seems to be a lot of this thing going on these days. If we were in Buffalo it would be expected maybe, but this is The South. But The Fuzz said it was time for a new post, and this was what he came up with. Enjoy.
He also has been accused of putting up Mystery Pix that are simply too difficult. They think it is imposable without insider information. Now this one from back on 1/28/10 was admittedly taken from an unusual angle. But hey, they're Mystery Pix, right?
And now, there have been objections to our latest Mystery Pix!
Well, The Fuzz has admitted that he did play with it just a little bit, but remember, there has to be some mystery here. This is a common everyday (well maybe not every day) item.
There were some great guesses on this one. But it seems to be time to put this one to bed too. And so, we present-

Elmer's Glue

We Are Not Jealous

Well, The Fuzz has posted his pictures of our puny little snow. Seems like those folks up north wanted to show him how it's really done. I suppose, they thought he'd be jealous. But they'd better think again. You can keep it. Here, we can actually see the ground! Have fun, y'all!

It has come to our attention that our latest Mystery Pix has a few people stuck. This is a sticky situation. But there is a bit of Bull* involved. The object in question is certainly smaller than a breadbox, (if any one remembers them) but bigger than a cell phone (we do remember them).


*This clue is probably as obscure as the breadbox, maybe worse.

Recycleing

Lest you think That Fuzz has just been laying around doing nothing, we thought it would be good to give an update on our homeimprovements. Those with good memories may remember when we were trying to get approved by the county. Among other things we had to install some porches at our 2 "means of egress".
This way all fine and good but while it satisfied the county, it did lack certain amenities such as a roof for example. It was rather inconvenient when trying to unlock the door in the rain. The Fuzz had been planning to take care of this inconvenience for a while now, but all the rain and snow was slowing things down a bit.
This weekend he finally got a shot at it. He had salvaged some lumber and tin from the old place and brought it out to the woods. It had lain here under 2 snowstorms and plenty of rain, but now it was time to drag it out.
At the top is a shot of the beginning of the work. Next is some of the work getting the posts ready for the assembly.
The Fuzz used the old technique of making multiple passes with a circular saw and then chiseling out the excess wood to form the joints. This is crude and effective, but hardly "Joinery".
The Fuzz was careful to plunb things up and here you can see some lag bolts being installed to strengthen the posts.
Despite all his hard work, as darkness gathered, the job was not quite finished.
The framing was finished, but only part of the tin.

With more rain, sleet and snow in the forecast, we really wanted to get this project finished up. So The Fuzz jumped right on it when he got back from work. And lastly, we have a look at the finished project.Now we'll see how well it turns the rain.

Let's Try It Again

Since we had no success on our latest Mystery Pix, maybe it's time to just give up on that one. But just for the record, this is a shot looking up between 2 of these storage silos at a defunct cement block plant near where The Fuzz works*.

Here's a look at the entire place.Maybe we'll get some more pix of this place up here sometime. But right now, we need a new Mystery Pix.

So, have a go at this one.

*Click on the pix if you waht a better look!

Micro-Glacier

And you may ask, "Just what is this 'Micro-Glacier' thing?"
Well, we're glad you asked. Let me explain this strange phenomenon. Note in the picture to the right, the roof line. That strip of ice hanging down there is our very own Micro-Glacier.

It seems that our new tin roof is just the thing for this. Apparently, after the snow and ice have accumulated up there, they begin that slow slide to the edge.Here's a closer look from the inside, the tunnel, if you will. If you look close*, you may even see the indentations of the "V's" from the tin. The fuzz was amazed at how far down this glacier would hang without breaking off. This sort of thing does make using the door a bit interesting.
And lastly, here's a pix taken the next morning from inside. Notice how far our glacier is hanging down in front of the window.Eventually, it did break off, but if was kinda cool while it lasted. Well, it's sleeting outside again. Maybe we can start on a new one.

*As always, you can click on the pix for a closer look!

Chimney Series #10

Like Old Times

Winter is still here. Here's a look at that Infamous Fuzz clearing up a bit of this global warming. The shameful truth is, if you dig far enough into his shadowy past, The Fuzz actually has Yankee origins. So this is not a complete novelty to him. But he would be perfectly satisfied to leave it as a once a year thing. Just a little reminder of The Old Country.
We spent the weekend holed up here in the woods. By Sunday evening they had called off school, but The Fuzz fully expected to work. It turned out otherwise. It seems that although the street dept. has been quite busy, there would be no garbage pick ups today.
He was given the option of taking the day off (as a "vacation" day). So he figured he'd take it. It wasn't a wasted trip into town since there were some errands to run anyway. 1st was to feed the cat. This little fella is on the edge, mentally, and could not handle the move to the forest. So since we come by the old place frequently, we just feed him there. He seems to get by OK.
Then, The Fuzz slipped by the Home Improvement Store to pick up a couple boards for a future project. Next door was the Office Max for an ink cartridge for our non functioning printer*. Lastly, a stop at the Grocery Store for cat, dog and people food.
He made it home safe and sound. Since "they" were calling for more of this questionable weather, he decided to take down another dead tree in the nearby woods. After a bit of unpleasantness with the chainsaw, this was accomplished and The Fuzz and His Sweetie stacked the fresh fuel near the trailer.
All in all, not a bad day. And for supper, a glass of wine and some hamburgers!

Don't forget about our latest extremely challenging Mystery Pix.

*Unfortunately, it's still non-functional.

Chimney Series #9