Monday, February 18, 2013

Powered Up

It's way past time for an update on our ongoing Shed Project.  The Fuzz admits he has been a bit slack.  But we might as well face it, he's like that!

Well, for some time now, although he has been moved in, sorta, he has been powering all his equipment with a pitiful little drop cord, plugged into  the side of the trailer.  This has not been a particularly good situation.
The end at the trailer
The end at the shed

Well some of the Young'uns finally pushed him into action.  The 1st Son, and 4th Son in Law had been threatening to come out and help with this project for a while.  And in truth, The Fuzz was not looking forward to burying 100ft of electric cable all by his lonesome.

He had already made that fateful trip to the Home Improvement Store for the expensive wire, and now there were no excuses left.

The guys got to work with pick and shovel, while the girls hung together inside.

The weather was nice and the work went along OK.

By the evening the wires were buried, and connected to the main breaker box*.


The Son in Law spent the night and helped with the interior wiring the next day.


And so, we now have real power.

The next thing will be to get some of the bigger things, like the table saw, moved in there.  And of course there will still be a lot to do, making workbenches, shelves and the like.  But things are finally coming together.  It's been a long term project, but is turning out pretty well, The Fuzz thinks.  


*...where The Fuzz blew up his little multi meter trying to test things.  That was an exciting moment.  240 volts can be pretty impressive!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Relapsed

Well, it looked like Spring was almost here, but we appear to have had a relapse.

The Fuzz and His Sweetie had been to the Big City on Saturday.
Just as they got back to their Home in the Woods, the snow began.

They made it home, just in time.
It's never fun to be on the road in a snowstorm, at least not for us spoiled southerners.  When it comes down to it, getting stuck in a ditch is just a pain in the ass.
But here's a few snow pix for y'all.




Of course, by the morning, it was mostly gone.

Regarding the Latest Mystery Pix

Regarding the Latest Mystery Pix,

It's a trailer load of Cement Block.

Of course Waffles was a good guess!
Thanks for your efforts.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

One More for the Fire

Even with the warmer weather, some firewood is still needed.
The Fuzz makes periodic surveys of the area looking for dead or dying trees.  Tree hugger that he is, he does not like to cut a healthy tree unless it is necessary for some other reason.

Here is one he has had his sights on this winter.  Not quite dead, but it's only a matter of time.

He was quite surprised when His Sweetie informed him of this one!

Apparently the wind had pushed it over recently.  But it was quite dead, and had been for some time.  The Fuzz still doesn't know how he could have missed it.

But of course now it was time to break out his trusty (sorta) Chainsaw.

The tricky part of these situations is getting the thing safely un-hung from it's neighbors.  The only thing to do is to carefully notch and cut sections of the trunk and hope it does not fall back on the fool cutting it.  (These things have been referred to as "widow makers")

But we are happy to report that this was accomplished with no damage to Our Fuzz, or the equipment*.

It is interesting how the outer layers of a pine tree will rot away leaving the heart more or less intact.  One can often find bits of this "Rich Pine" laying about.  It is excellent for lighting fires.  One only needs to touch a match to it.

Well, with the assistance of His Sweetie, wood was split, and safely stashed under the tin.


*One time this did not go so well.  The tree dropped down on the chainsaw pinning it to the ground and destroying the bar!

Mystery Pix


And here's a new Mystery Pix!
(Remember them?)

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Spring??

Well, the weather is a bit warmer today.

Here's a chance to check up on this little fellow

And some of his friends!

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Time to Split


Here at Kinda Fuzzy we have previously mentioned an upgrade to our heating system here in the woods.  Well, even fancy High-Tech Woodstoves need to be fed.  In the same post we also mentioned cutting down a dead (mostly) oak in the neighbor's yard.

Now it was time for The Fuzz to get down to business.

Most of this job went pretty well.  But there are those occasional blocks that can complicate things.

Here we can see an example.  You will note that this piece involves a fork in said tree.

We have side A, and side B.  So since there is not much else going on, we will demonstrate Our Fuzz's technique for handling situations like this.  It is basically a matter of carefully considered "Wacks*", as will be demonstrated below.

It is not always a good idea to try to split these things exactly at the fork, so The Fuzz has learned to work around it.

1st Wack

2nd Wack

3rd Wack

4th and Last Wack.

Now all that remains is to roll it to the trailer,

and stash it near the Woodstove!


*The spell check insists that this is spelled wrong, but The Fuzz knows better!


Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Yes, Spring!


Sure it's still in the future, but more signs of Springtime appear every day.

The Fuzz found these little bits of new growth on the Rosebush the other day.

So hold on, Spring is on the way.

Boats of the Seine 41


Monday, February 04, 2013

Moving Along with Moving Along

The last of the contents of the apartment were loaded, and a rather beat up car hitched on behind.  And then after a stop for (a lot of) fuel, the convoy hit the road.

The drive itself was pretty uneventful although it was carried out at a high rate of speed.
The weather was good, with just a brief but intense shower near the destination.

By the time the paperwork was complete, and keys procured, it was getting dark.

There was a bit of a climb up to the Newlywed's new home.  As this Pix, made the next morning, illustrates.

Everything was successfully unloaded, and then the sky opened up and it poured down rain!  Perfect timing!  The truck was dropped off, and it was time for another Burger!  This time they hit the Red Robin.  The Fuzz thought it was pretty good also, although his "Sauteed 'Shroom" burger was covered with fungus of some kind. 

In the morning, it was time to head back to The Old North State, and home, leaving the Newlyweds to sort out the mess.

Sunday, February 03, 2013

Moving Along

After the recent wedding, it was time for the newlyweds to set up housekeeping.  But this involved some serious relocation.  And The Fuzz got himself involved, along with the Elder Brother and Brother in Law.

The first step (after arriving in Our Great State's Capital) was to empty the former student's apartment.  He had already procured a U Haul truck.  Really this was not so bad a job since he had been living with a minimum of furniture for years.

That night was spent on the floor of the now empty apartment.

But first there was  side trip to visit the Second Sister and Friend.  

The Fuzz discovered he was in the company of the Burger Bunch.  This little known society is occupied with sampling, and rating various Hamburger Joints, although perhaps "Joints" would be inappropriate in this case.

Tonight's subject was the Only Burger.

The Fuzz had The Philly, with a side of onion rings, and of course a beer.  It was pretty good.

The next morning they slipped off for some biscuits and coffee before hitting the road.

There they saw the aftermath of this unfortunate incident.

And then it was time to hit the road.