Slow Visitor

Things have been a bit slow around here lately. We have been staying busy, but not much of anything new or exciting. Until now.
As The Fuzz looked out the window the other day, (We won't go into detail on what he was doing at the time) he saw this visitor out in the yard by the edge of the woods.As you can see, he's a pretty good sized fellow. And mean. I suppose The Fuzz might have aggravated him a little, but this does seem to be a bit of overreaction.
He couldn't even get along with the Kitty Cats. What a Grouch!The Fuzz doesn't understand why he was so unsociable, but in the end there was nothing left for it but to just leave him to himself. But The Fuzz was thankful to still have all his fingers. We got tiered of waiting for him to leave, so we just went back to our own affairs. Later in the day, he was gone, who knows where.

Alice Packer

The Fuzz took Alice camping this weekend.
His Sweetie and Young Daughter went too. Here is a picture of Alice, his ALICE pack. In this shot Alice has been removed from the frame The Fuzz rides her on. This is a handy feature since it's easier to squeeze her into the tent with His Sweetie and himself. The Fuzz picked up Alice one day at work some time ago. That was back before the New World Order where the trash is never handled by real people.
In that situation, Alice would have been doomed. But thankfully, those were saner days, and Alice was rescued. Still, she had no visible means of support at the time, but that big hearted Fuzz took her in anyway. Just a little modification was all that was needed to make her a match for his old pack frame, and they have gone on to serve together quite effectively.
They did have a fine camping trip. It was short, only 1 night, but the weather was excellent. It was good to get off into the mountains again even if only for a short time.

His Ride

Since the weather has warmed up a bit, The Fuzz has been using his bike for his daily commute. It's a nice ride into town with the mist lying in the fields and sun rising behind the trees.

Here is a portrait of his beat up old bike, done by a little known, local artist.

It's nothing fancy, but it gets him there.

The Final Piece

Here is the last instalment of the saga of the destruction of our tea kettle.
Last time, we showed you our Brand New Whistling Tea Kettle. But you may recall, that this was all brought about by a catastrophic failure of one of the large burners on our excellent cook stove. And so, that also was replaced. And here is a look at that. And so, the repairs are compleat. Isn't life exciting?

The Replacement

In the previous post we related the story behind the loss of our faithful tea kettle. While it is possible to boil tea water in any sauce pan, there is nothing like the whistling tea kettle. If nothing else, tradition demands it. And so as it was a rainy morning, we went off to the city in search of a suitable replacement. And here, The Fuzz is proud to present, our Brand New Shiny Tea Kettle!
Now all that remains, is for The Fuzz to find a replacement burner for our "cooker". With luck, things should be back to normal by tomorrow evening.

Fire in the Hole

With the Young Daughter off on an overnight visit, The Fuzz and His Sweetie had the evening to themselves.
So after stopping by the old place to take care of some yard work, they went out their favorite Mexican Restaurant for some dinner. Then it was back to the woods for some coffee and an evening at home.
That was pretty nice.
In the morning they even got to stay in the bed until they actually wanted to get up. Again a nice change.
Yet it did turn out to be an exciting morning after all. You will note, in the above pix, the somewhat damaged burner to the cook stove. As the tea kettle was happily heating up, there was a sudden pop and flash of light. This turned into the sound of what seemed to be an arc welder as sparks and smoke flew up from the stove.
It seems that we experienced a burner blowout here. Unfortunately it also blew out out our water kettle. (Note at the red arrow) And as can be seen at the right, in this interior view, the kettle is ruint.
But things could have been worse. What would have happened if The Fuzz and His Sweetie had not been right there to witness this? Would they now be sitting out there in the rain sadly looking over the charred ruins of their home? I don't know, but it did make for an exciting morning around here.

What's Going On

The Fuzz just couldn't resist another Dogwood pix. He sees them every day when he looks out the window.
You will also notice how the trees have finally leafed out. It's nice to have a bit of shade since the sun can get pretty hot even this early in the year.
But then, it's not really all that early anymore. The Fuzz was a little surprised to see that April is already half gone.
We have been keeping ourselves occupied with yard work, gardens and such. The Fuzz is also getting started on a workshop out here. Not much has been done yet as you can see, but at least it is a start.
This is the planned location. If one looks close*, one might see the stakes locating the future corners of the place.
We're not talking huge here, maybe 224 sq ft. just some room for the table saw and welder.
The Fuzz's Sweetie has been living with these items in her house (how many wives are so fortunate to have an arc welder in their very own kitchen!) for close to 30 years.
Well, God willing, this may change soon.
We'll also try to get some pix up of our exciting new Brick Patio soon.



*Yes, you can click on the pix for a better look.

Now The Truth Can Be Told

Well, that Canuck came closest. Shoot we might as well give him credit for it. It is the track on this bridge building equipment, although not it's "imprint". Here is a look* at the machine itself. From a distance. But you can see the new bridge!These are some pix The Fuzz made a while back on one of his motorcycle rides.
The Fuzz wanted me to apologize for not keeping up on these posts. He has been busy with another project that we won't go into here. But he says he will try to do better in the future.


*Click on the Pix for a better look!

Next Clue

Does it help?

Yet Another M.P.

This one might not be so easy.
So we'll post another clue tomorrow night.

Even Another Mystery Pix

Good Luck!

A Dogwood Update

Here's an update on those Dogwoods. Now they're looking better. A older fellow told me one time that the way to know when to plant corn, was when the Dogwoods were blooming.
Well, The Fuzz isn't planning on planting any corn this year, but he still likes to see those Dogwood trees blooming out in the woods.
With the temperature in the high 80's, and the sun out, we'll be wanting some shade soon. Shoot, we want it now! The trees are starting to leaf out, but it will take a few more days yet. At least it's not snowing anymore.
And as you can see, even our Froggy Friend is enjoying the Springtime.

Clue For Exciting Mystery Pix

Exciting New Mystery Pix!

Spring is moving in on us here in NC. Here are some of the Dogwoods starting to open. They don't quite have their true color yet. But we'll keep y'all posted.
And while we were in the Big City the other day, The Fuzz got this exciting Mystery Pix for y'all.

You can guess now, or wait for the next clue in 12 hours.

Puppy Fun

Puppies just like to have fun.This one has her paws full with this kitty though.

Lazy Kitty

Kicking back, what cats do best.

And here's a bit of Fuzzy Thinking for you.

Darkness

Birdies

Back at the old place, we used to feed the birdies, especially in the winter. It's taking us a while to get really settled in here. One of the things that got put off was the bird feeding operation.
The Fuzz finally got around to bringing the feeder out a while back. At first he tried putting it near the kitchen window, where we could see it from the table. But this did not work out very well since that was also the area where the cats hung out.
Seeing how that wasn't working out, he moved it back to the edge of the woods, hoping the birds would find it. Eventually they did. The next phase, was to move it closer to the clearing. And then out of the woods. Each time the little birdies recognised it and followed. Finally, he moved it right up to the window again. But this time it was the living room window.
And now we can watch the little things wasting bird seed. This is a shot out of the window. We had a bunch of Goldfinches that day, but no luck with the camera. Now we need to bring out the Bird Book.

Doggy Stuff

Today was a beautiful spring day.
These two seem to be enjoying themselves too.
When he got home from work, The Fuzz was enjoying the sun on our new bench* when he saw these two going at it. He couldn't resist, so he ran and got his camera.
Naturally, by the time he got back, they had stopped.
But such a fine day brings out the puppy even in an older dog, and they were soon at it again.
This time The Fuzz got the pix.

*Notice how much the grass has grown in just a few days!

Seeing The Light

It used to be that changing a headlight was simple.

Part of the new world order here in this state is that vehicle inspections are now linked, by some great computer, to vehicle registrations. Which means that The Fuzz can not renew his tag with out said inspection. To tell the truth, he tends to be just a bit slack in these matters often letting the sticker run out and driving like that for quite a while. Apparently this new way of handling things was devised just to mess up his life.
You can probably see where this is headed, and you're correct. He would have to break down and finally tend to this. So he worked out a plan. He on a morning when he would be going to town by himself, he would take the thing over after work, wait in line and get the new sticker.
It was still somewhat dark as he left home. That was when he noticed something odd about the headlight pattern on the road. When he stopped to investigate, he found his fears confirmed, one headlight was out. It is common knowledge that a car with only one functional headlight will not pass the inspection inspection. But he had a plan. During the lunch break, he would slip over to the Auto Parts Store and purchase a new bulb. And then he could pop it in before the ordeal. But it turned out that "popping it in" would be the ordeal. One needed to reach behind the battery to get to this light. So he borrowed some pliers and loosened the battery hold downs. Disconnecting the battery seemed like a bad idea considering the computer and all, so there was still only limited access. Even with one of the mechanics helping, they could not get the old one out. They did have an idea of how it was supposed to work. But it was putting up a fight. They did not want to chance damaging anything expensive, (which is everything) so The Fuzz drove sadly home to consult his manual.
But things did get better for our hero. On consulting the book, he found that they were indeed on the right track. But there was one tiny trick to the process. With this knoledge, it was quick work to get things straitened out.
But The Fuzz still did not want to put this off any longer. Although he feared he might be too late to get in, he rushed back to town. And then, has he approched the city, the thoought came to him that a differnt, closer, place might still be open. As he pulled in, he noticed the hours posted- 8:00-5:30. It was 5:28. He didn't want to keep these poor working folks from getting home, so he was prepared to leave. But these fellows were some of the satisfied custumers of his garbage route, and they asked what he needed. When he told them, it was no problem, and they took car of in right quick. And so, now every thing is OK with this motor vehicle, and we will be able to renew the tag.

The Bench

It was a lot of work cutting down this tree and it seemed like a waste to just burn it all. So The Fuzz took his trusty chainsaw and sawed part of the trunk in half. This seemed like a lot of extra work, but he had two of these nifty timbers to show for it. A while back he and His Sweetie had dropped a couple of trees near the trailer and this looked like just the thing to complete the related bench project*.
These timbers are about 8ft long and a bit heavy as you might guess. And to top it off, they had to be moved across this small creek. There was no way to get to them with a truck even if The Fuzz still had one. The only option was to pick the things up and carry them across.
Fortunately, The Academical Son is a stout fellow and even The Fuzz managed to handle his end without a heart attack.
Now that he had the timber where it was needed, The Fuzz needed some notches to fit over the stumps left from the other trees. So once again, out came the old chainsaw. Here you can see how he first made cuts into the rounded side. Then, he chiseled them out to sit on top of the stumps.The timber was then turned over and lifted onto the stumps. These had been left here and cut off just for this bench. As you can see, it worked out pretty well.

And even the Kitty Cat likes it!

*This project had been planned for a while. Originally, we had planned to use a poplar log, but this cherry seemed like a much better candidate.

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