Mystery Project

Well, since that Canuck* Got our Mystery Pix right off, there's no reason to put this post off any longer.
In a previous post, The Fuzz mentioned his current project, Window screens.
He and His Sweetie had already ripped down some 1x4's to a more appropriate size for this.
The next thing was for them to be cut to length.

Not wishing to get involved in any mysterious and complicated joinery, Our Fuzz had decided to simply nail these suckers together. Since he was working with such small pieces of not so high quality wood, he pre-drilled the holes for the nails.
With the frame together, it was time for the actual screen wire.
The Fuzz's Sweetie had salvaged the screen wire from last year, when it had been hastily stapled over the windows.
The Fuzz broke out his shears, and Trusty Heavy Duty Staple Gun.
The wire was cut to size, leaving enough along each edge to fold a bit under, for a stronger screen. (One never knows when a destructive beast may attempt to climb these things!)
You will note, that each corner was carefully mitered to facilitate this.
Finally all was stapled down.
Mounting the screens was a simple matter of fashioning a couple of latches from some of the scrap.
The Fuzz realizes that this is not a high security arrangement. But as the original screens simply popped out, from the outside, themselves, this does not seem to be any great change.
We have high hopes that this will reduce our pest problem. With warmer weather coming on, we will want plenty of fresh air.


*With extensive Home Improvement experience

New Mystery Pix

Even More Spring

The Fuzz keeps finding these signs of Spring. Whilst walking back from the mailbox, he saw these little bits of color in the driveway. And they are indeed Red Maple Blooms! Back when we used to keep bees, we looked to these as a sure sign of Spring. They're one of the first things the little buggers can work.
And then there are the Crocus, another sign of good things to come. The Daffodils are out too.
The weather has been warm enough (just barely) for The Fuzz to ride to work by motorcycle too.
And lastly, here is another sure sign of Spring.That tree is down, and Our Fuzz got the old Tiller out. Here's a look at our Tater Bed. The Fuzz and His Sweetie got 'em in the ground this past weekend.
The next project is window screens. We took down the ones we had when the weather turned cold to wash the windows. Unfortunately, the flies took advantage of this. The Fuzz and His Sweetie ripped down some 1x4's, while over at the house, for this project. He knocked the first one together after work yesterday. Alas, there are no pix. But The Fuzz says he'll get some up soon. (Maybe!)

A Day Off?

This is what can happen when your Chainsaw's auto-oilier ain't oilin'. This happened the other day whilst Our Fuzz and His Sweetie were cutting a bit of firewood.
At the right you can see the Spiffy New Chainsaw Bar that The Fuzz was forced to purchase.
There was an old nasty tree over at the old place that had to get cut before we could get some taters in. So he took another vacation day and took care of that.He did get most of it cut up. What's left is not in the tater bed, so we may get them in yet.
After that, He and His Sweetie hauled off the trash. Tomorrow, it's back to the Busy City Garbage Routine.

Twisted

For some reason this can be seen better if one clicks on it.
The Fuzz has no idea why.

Shed Update 2/17

Here's a bit of an update.

The Fuzz finally got a bit of the walls up.But, they are calling for rain again this weekend.
And there is something we have to take care of at the old place. So there won't be much construction going on this weekend.

No Work

Well, The Fuzz hasn't gotten much done on this shed project. Mostly because it's been-

Freezin' Cold!

He and His Sweetie did get a bit of firewood in this morning before his trusty chainsaw tore up.
But just so you have something to look at, here's a pix of some sorta fungus he found the other day.

Thursday's Work

Thursday Evening

The Fuzz had to build a bit of scaffolding to get those last pieces on the end. He still lacks the ridge piece. He might not get much done today, though. He does have the plywood for the walls. But we need a bit of firewood too.

Wednesday's Work

When we last left Our Fuzz, he was still lacking the two edge strips.
The uphill side was handled from a step ladder. But this downhill side was another matter. It was too high to reach from the stepladder. It could be reached from this "real ladder", but there was a problem. The 1x4 (B) needed to be fastened at the edge (A). But the ladder was needed to reach this. And once the 1x4 was installed, it would be impossible to remove the ladder, since it was too long and would bind when the bottom was pulled away.
The Fuzz handled this by temporarily screwing a piece of scrap to the ends of to of the rafter extensions. This enabled him to get the first two screws into the 1x4. Once this was done, it was just a mater of working his way along the rest of the eave, since the 1x4 would now support the ladder. (where screwed down)

After this, it was just a matter of screwing down the tin. He had to work carefully up there, but be sundown here's where things stood.

And-

On Tuesday...

It started out as another cold morning, but warmed up pretty quickly. The Fuzz made a fire for the fingers, and then started on the 1x4's. Eventually the tin will be screwed down to these. As can be seen, the structure is quite light. The Fuzz is hoping he can get away with this since we have little snow load to worry about around here.
It was a slow go however, working in awkward positions up there. He had to work his way up from the edges, using the previous strip for support. He finished the first side by lunchtime, and took a break. The second side was a bit more difficult to get to, in the beginning. Below is a look at how things stood when he quit for the day.He still has to finish the two strips along the edges.
The long extensions to the rafters are too springy to nail into easily. Using screws instead seems to be working better though. And he still needs to deal with that troublesome tree.
This morning it is raining just a little. So The Fuzz and His Sweetie will go out and try a new Coffee Shop. After that, perhaps he can get started on the tin.

Yesterday

The day started out rather cold and gloomy.
The Fuzz decided it would be in his best interest to start a fire. Not wanting to make a fire pit in the work area, he wanted something to contain the fire. While he was puzzling over this, he noticed an old wash tub that had been discarded by someone out in the woods. So he brought it up and started a fire.

Who needs one of those fancy fire pits?
The first thing, as it may be recalled, was to extend the eaves a bit to accommodate the accidentally longer tin. The Fuzz used some 2x3 stuff from that infamous Home Improvement Store. This turned into a most of the day project. He also discovered, that one of the small trees (at arrow) that had been clear of the roof, no longer was. This will have to be taken care of today.Here is a look at how things stood as of yesterday evening.
Well, it's 30º out there this morning. It's time to go out and light that fire again. The Fuzz will let you know how things turn out.

New Week

Just so you know, we have not dropped off the face of the Earth here. Suffice it to say that The Fuzz has been busy elsewhere. But now for the exciting part. Our Fuzz has taken this week off from the garbage business to work on the Shed Project!
Last week he made arrangements to have the tin delivered. As you can see below, it is here.
But when he saw it (he was not home for the delivery) he noticed* a discrepancy. Although he had ordered 10' tin, here we see 12' tin!
But the design (and framing) calls for 10' metal up there.
On consideration, it was thought that extending the eaves the extra 2ft, could provide some useful sheltered space to store garden tools and such out of the weather. So our Adaptable Fuzz picked up some materials to add some light extensions to this roof.When it gets light, and he has finished this post, The Fuzz will get started on this. We will attempt to keep y'all informed on the progress of this exciting project.

*This was discovered by noting the difference between the 10' ridge pieces, and the 12' stuff!

Did It Anyway

Well, The Yankees can argue about weather this was
FREEZING COLD
or not.
The Fuzz says it was cold enough for him.

But he did ride that bike into work this morning.
It was a bit chilly, but what else could one expect for a January Morning!
And it was good to get back on the road.

Some More Spring

Some more Spring!

Whilst The Fuzz was making his rounds today, he found these Daffy Dillies. One more sign that Spring is not far away. Of course we still have to see how things work out with that Groundhog. But this looks good.
And just so you know how things are going here, we have a look at Our Fuzz's Shed Project.The rafters are up. The next thing will be the roof. Maybe it won't be much longer for that. He really needs to get this thing dried in.
If it's not too FREEZING COLD, he may get the Motorcycle out tomorrow for the ride to work.

First One

The Fuzz was out getting up a bit of dry firewood this morning. Even though the weather is quite warm today (59.7 F as this is written) The Fuzz knows this will not last.
He cut up a long dead cherry tree*, and on his way back across the coulee, he found this bright little hint of spring. Still no snow here though. It would be nice to see it at least one time this year.


* It smells so good when it burns!

Gloomy Days

Well, the weather has been pretty gloomy around here as of late. The Fuzz got out this morning and cut up some of that wood that had been left under the power lines. The Young Daughter* helped load it onto the trailer for the ride back to our woodpile. Of course this stuff is mostly green wood, and needs to be split. A lot of it is poplar, not the best firewood, but one should not let it go to waste.
The Fuzz did get an opportunity to remove that shard of metal from his tire. He was ready to plug it. But there doesn't seem to be much of a leak there. He'll just have to wait to see how that all pans out in the end. It's kinda cold and wet to ride right now anyway.Here's a look at how our homesteading out here in the woods is going lately. The Fuzz hopes to have that shed together one of these days. Tomorrow, it's back to the old grind.

*Not so young anymore

Still Tired

The Fuzz was having a bit of trouble with a lack of air in his Motorcycle tire. Somehow he made it home the other day. But this is a problem that needed to be addressed. We seem to be having issues with tires lately.
Well, Friday, The Fuzz was home from work. It was previously mentioned that our "Trusty Tire Pump" had died.
It was also mentioned that this had been replaced. At the right, one may view the replacement.
Using this fine piece of equipment, The Fuzz was able to locate the source of the problem, seen above. Next he will attempt to eliminate this source of trouble. We will keep you all informed of how things turn out.

Re Mystery Pix

Wow. Vi got that one quick. Just to set the record straight, here's a look at what That Tricky Fuzz photoshopped out. He thought it would be too much of a give away. But some people can see though his little tricks.

Yet Another Freakin' Mystery Pix

It may be thought that The Fuzz did not post yesterday to make some sort of a statement, or something.
Actually, he was just lazy.

But here is a Brand New Mystery Pix
for everyone's enjoyment.

Tiring Morning

Here is the culprit. The Fuzz noticed a problem with one of the tires on our fine little motor vehicle. He was hoping a little action with the tire pump might fix things. But by the next morning it was obvious that this was not a permanent solution. This became even more obvious the next morning when our trusty tire pump* died. At this point, there was nothing for it, but to break out the spare, and hope it had some air in it.
Fortunately, it was OK. So while The Fuzz's Sweetie was occupied elsewhere, Our Fuzz stopped in at the local Tire Place. Since it was a holiday, things were pretty slow. But the Excellent Tire Technician found this little beauty embedded in the tread. (We have included this view with coin for scale.) We are pleased to say, that the skilled technicians were able to repair the damage, and now The Fuzz and Co. are back on the road.


*This has since been seriously replaced.

Last Chance To Get One

If you didn't get it, you still can!

But you gotta Hurry!


Kitchen Warfare at-

http://shirt.woot.com/friends.aspx?k=20849

They Got Us Again

One thing that was (still is) nice about our Home in the Woods, was that we were back a ways from the road. Granted, it is only a dead end dirt road, but The Fuzz still likes having a few trees between it and the trailer.
The Power Co got us like this when we lived near town*. And now, they got us again.
Here's a look at our new road frontage.
Fortunately, there were plenty of trees left. But there was nothing left for it, but to start working these ones up for firewood.

*It was a bit of a bummer.

Good Luck and Good Grub

You may remember in our last post, The Fuzz was finally making an attempt to "upgrade" to a slightly less obsolete version of this Mac's OS.
It went pretty well, more or less. He spent a lot of time making back-ups of stuff. In the end it turned out that this was not really necessary. But then, The Fuzz knows that one can never trust a computer, even a Mac.
There did turn out to be a slight compli- cation with printer drivers though. But we are happy to report that this has been resolved now. (The Fuzz has no idea exactly how this happened)
So, getting back to real life, The Fuzz thought you all might like a look at our Collards.
The great thing about Collards is that, at least around here, you can grow them in the winter.
And so-
Here's a look
At this tasty treat
All fixed up
And ready to eat!

A Fateful Day

Well, it's been a while since any one's heard from The Fuzz. He's been busy- and lazy when not busy!
He does have today off from work. And so, he will attempt an upgrade to this old mac. He is hoping to move to a slightly less obsolete OS. We're not sure how this is going to work out. He has put this off, time and time again. Let's face it. He's just chicken.
So, if no one hears from The Fuzz again for a while, it could mean that this has gone all wrong. Or then, he might just be being Lazy.But before he takes this fateful step, Our Fuzz would like to give y'all one more update on his big project.
This will be an open area, under the roof. There will also be a loft accessible from the inside. We need all the space we can get.