New Threat to the Planet !

And while we're on the subject of Beer..........

" Scientists have found a new threat to the planet: Canadian beer drinkers." This looks serious. I suppose those Canucks aren't real worried about Global Warming anyway. But I have to wonder, are we next ? I mean, isn't this what you do with your old Fridge ? It is what The Fuzz did.

Does this mean The Fuzz has Canadianistic tendencies ? He has Canadian Connections by marriage, in a couple of generations. He doesn't care for Molson's Ice, but Molson's Golden is tolerable.

'"People need to understand the impact of their lifestyles," British environmental consultant Joanna Yarrow tells New Scientist magazine. "Clearly the environmental implications of having a frivolous luxury like a beer fridge are not hitting home. This research helps inform people — let's hope it has an effect."'

Does this mean we should drink warm beer ? Well at least one no longer has to feel guilty about cranking up the old SUV, now that we know what the real problem is.

For a serious discusion of this threat to our planet, go here. If you are a selfish pig, who doesn't care about the future of our planet or the human race, don't go here. In fact this is probably why The Fuzz's well is dry, it's those Beer Swilling Canadians ! Maybe I should go have a Cold One and calm down.

The pix may be Scandalous, but they won't be Dirty. I have The Fuzz's word on it.

Stein Hoard

Some time ago a certain Blogger mentioned Beer Steins, and wondered if people actually use them. Well here is The Fuzz's modest Beer Stein Hoard. On the left is one that came from a Yankee Uncle. Next and the far right came from Californian Grandmother of Sweetie. The remaining Stein, was gift from Dear Daughter. While it is true that they mostly gather dust, all are completely functional, and actually used on occasion. Here [File Photo] is actual, photographical proof of this fact. Of course this particular beer is long gone, but you can trust that it went to a good cause.


In other news, still no real rain, no well water.



No this is not becoming a porn site, but be forewarned of scandalous Fuzz Pix soon.

Boxes

One of the great things about buying all that stuff on-line is the Boxes. There's also the opportunity to spend all your money without leaving the house of course. That is really convenient when you think about it. This is the result of a recent on-line frenzy.
We can use the boxes for other things, but mostly they take up space 'till we get rid of them. Things are so dry around here that there is a Burning Ban in effect, so a fire is out. But for now, the critters seem to be putting them to good use.
Just so you won't be confused, on the left is Pistachio, Puddin' in the box, and with her back to us, is the infamous Two Face.

And not to be left out, that Stupid, Disobedient Dog, also known as Nobbie, is harassing Puddin' in the box. They just like to have fun together.

Still no significant rain here. The well is still a dry hole .

And now for the exciting part, soon to come, Nude Pictures of The Fuzz ! How about that ?

A Fuzzy Thanksgiving 2007

It was off to the Big City again. There are a number of Big Cities we visit from time to time. This time, to visit Big City Artist Daughter and meet more of the family for Thanksgiving Dinner.Here is some of the Feast before the Feeding Frenzy. You don't see the people yet. Some, of course, couldn't make it, so there were only 11.
You also don't see the Guest of honor, that Big Turkey himself. Here he is getting ready.
He was joined by his friend, who was welcome enough, even though he is a bit of a Ham. He is not in the picture either. But we enjoyed them both along with many other Yummies.
There was wine and good conversation, and we were very thankful for all these blessings and more, they are all just the mercies of God.
After the Feeding Frenzy, we all took a walk in the Big City to let things settle down a bit.
At a nearby park, The Fuzz saw this sign. It seems the Very Vegetarian Society has taken on the responsibility for keeping this park cleaned up. This is really big of them. But, The Fuzz couldn't help wondering what sort of Feeding Frenzy they had had on this special day.
We enjoyed our walk, and then, it was back to the house, for pie, coffee and all that good stuff. As night fell, so did the temperature, and Big City Son in Law lit a fire in this spiffy Fire On The Deck Thing, so those so inclined could warm up their butts in the old fashioned way.
We spent the night there in the Big City, and headed home the next morning.
It was a most excellent time, and many thanks to Big City Daughter and Son in Law. Mucho Gracias.

Jumpin' Jellyfish !

Check this out. I hope they weren't wanting Salmon for thanksgiving.


And, also in the News, how 'bout this Knife ?

In The Big City

While we were in The Big City, we went to the Art Districk. This is the part of town where they are making apartments and stuff in these old mills. The mills are empty because now they make everything in China or Bangladesh. And there are lots of old buildings here. But now it seems to be going "Upscale" with the Galleries, restaurants and bars.
The Fuzz even found this Electric Church there.
His Sweetie and he wandered around a bit while they waited to be joined by the Newlyweds for Fish Tacos, or what. The street behind all this excitment was full of empty, kinda rundown, houses. He did make a couple of pictures of these, but I will spare you all that.
However, in touring the various Galleries we came upon this example of the wondrous, Art-O-Mat !
You may remember the Art-O-Mat, that converted Cigarette machine, that was reborn to bring Art to the masses.

We got the opportunity to crawl around all these places and see just what it was about. There was jewelry, some was pretty nice. The Fuzz's Sweetie almost got her some, but finally let it go. There were lots of paintings. Some were good, some weren't, and some were overpriced.

At last it was time to hit the road. And so we went back to the Little City in the dark.

And Have a Happy Thanksgiving every one.

More Crawling

The Fuzz and His Sweetie went down to the Big City this past weekend. This was for more of Culture and that kind of thing. This time it was the Gallery Crawl. They explored several Art Galleries and just had a good time. This is at one of them without people. Here it is, with people. But there has to be people, if there's no people, is there Art ? Maybe this is one of those "If a tree falls in the forest and there's no..........." things. But who cares anyway, there were people here.
But it was fun in the Big City, they even had Fish Tacos. The Big City is OK sometimes, if you can go back home when you've had your fill. Here's a Kinda Fuzzy picture of one of the Artists explaining things to some interested folks who happened to crawl by.

It was a big weekend for The Fuzz and His. They also drove over to the Not Quite Such A Big City and took in a flick," Bella ". Sometimes a flick they want to see just won't come to this Little Town. In that case it's either travel, or wait on Nextflicks. But, they liked it pretty well, and thought it was worth the trip.

Unfortunate Event

It's not clear how this fire stared. It could be possible that Count Olaf had something to do with it.Perhaps there was some sort of collusion with the Grinch, some kind of conspiracy to bring down the Economy by disrupting the Holiday Frenzy.
This may look like just any old ordinary plant. But don't be misled here. If you look closely, you will notice the remains of Commercial Christmas.
As you enter your local Mall this year, take a moment to appreciate all those little Reindeers, Elves and other wonderful things there to help you get into the "Holiday Mood" and spend your money. Remember, it is your patriotic duty to support the economy. But enough of this Scrooge-talk.
If you ever stopped to wonder just where all those wonderful things came from, it was here, the emphasis is on "was". This place supplied a lot of those things, and they did a pretty good job. This happened near the end of the "Christmas Rush", so all was not lost, at least not quite. Maybe you thought it was Elves that made this stuff. You would be wrong. It was real human people, even some of The Fuzz's kinfolks. Now they are scrambling, in borowed space, to get the last of it out.
We don't know how all this will turn out. Could this be the end of Christmas as we know it ? Would that be a bad thing ?
The fire was pretty bad. All the plastic, paint and stuff caused an inferno. There was nothing the Firemen could do but watch it burn, and try to keep it from spreading. There was a huge, black cloud drifting across the sky. The area around the plant was evacuated. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt as far as we know.
This Bear somehow survived all this.
The Fuzz and his Sweetie stopped by the other day to check it out. There was still a chemical smell in the air.
But don't worry, the Chinese are still making lots of great Christmas Stuff.

Sketch Crawling

This "Sketch Crawl" was mentioned last week on one of the sporadic posts. So an explanation is probably in order. This Sketch Crawl is some kind of Art Thing, where people spend a day going around making sketches of stuff. This was going on in places all over the country, in fact, all over the world. The Fuzz's Sweetie is a bit of an Artist Type Person and tends to get involved in these sort of things.
This is a Railroad Trestle. It crosses a mostly dried up river. It was also on His Sweetie's short list of things to sketch. She often tries to get The Fuzz involved in this sort of thing too. The Fuzz is kinda lazy, but, he does not like His Sweetie to have to sit by herself in a lonly place like this. And so he tagged along. In this situation he had no excuse not to be involved in all this, and so, here it is. You even get to see the Fuzz's Sweetie here in action.
Not having the dedication that His Sweetie does, The Fuzz soon returned home. She however, continued to crawl for a while longer.
Later in the day he joined her at our famous Court-square for even more sketching.
And that is the story of the Sketch Crawl.

Black Sand and Stranger Stuff

This spring, we made a visit to the Tropical Paradise and avoided our local Easter Freeze. Before we left, we heard about this "Black Sand Beach". The World Traveler Daughter stopped off in Iceland, and viewed this phenomenon there, and word was, it existed in the Tropical Paradise too. But, unfortunately, we were unable to see this wonder ourselves. (Limited time, limited funds etc.) But recently, Military Daughter and friends, made it to the Big Island, the home of this phenomenon. So here is actual, photographical proof, of the Black Sand Beach, courtesy of said Daughter
Apparently this has something to do with Volcanos or something. There are Volcanoes in the Tropical Paradise, and there are Volcanoes in Iceland. We do not have Volcanos here, and we do not have Black Sand Beaches.
[By the way, why does this spell checker not care how "Volcanos" is spelled ? When The Fuzz was in school the teachers always cared how he spelled words. They never liked his way of doing it. Now it doesn't matter. Volcanos, volcanoes... How about "volkaneohs", or would that be "Volkaneohes" or "Valkainohs ?.... Ooooo, it doesn't like those.]
But I digress.
Now here is the new thing, at least to me. While Military Daughter and Companions were turing the Big Island, there were many fine sights to see. The saw the Steam Vents, the Lava Flows and of course, the Black Sand Beach.
Here, we have Sand, and there are Beaches as well. But they are merely "sandy" colored, nothing more. I know that there are places with White Sand Beaches, but I'd never heard of Green Sand. But here, right on this page, is the proof. This is not some Photoshop trick, but real Green Sand. And here is the Green Sand Beach.Which is wondrous, but strange.

Time for a Change

Well, it happened again.
"They" changed time on us.
Who is this "They" anyway ?
Why do "They" do this ?
Why do we let them ?

Well, The Fuzz was up at the Court-square with His Sweetie Sunday. So he thought it would be good to have a picture of this "new" time. And so, here it is. This is genuine photographical proof of the "new" time. Of course that's not the right time anymore. But it was then.

Anyhow, they were up there for the "Sketch Crawl" which I don't have "time" to get into right now, but I will at some future "time". "Time" is supposed to be relative, and it's relatively late, so It's "time" to say "Good Night".

Furry Funning

Some of The Fuzz's longtime readers may remember Puddin', the cat that thinks he's a people. Well as can be seen here, he's pretty well grown now. His Little Friend is that Stupid, Disobedient Dog that tried to kill herself on Christmas Eve. They don't fight like cats and dogs though, they are actually great friends. So not to worry, The Stupid, Disobedient Dog is not in the act of killing that Crazy Cat, they're just having fun.

In other news, The Fuzz heard on the NPR news that that we're having a drought here. Now he knows why his well is so dried out. Here is what's left of the river.

Play Festival

Every year here in North Carolina they have a Play Festival for the High Schools. What happens is that a Drama Team from the participating school must set up, perform and break down a short play within a 45min time limit. Naturally, there would be too many schools competing (it is a bit of a contest, with the winner later representing the state) to do this all at one time. So there are regional contests with the better plays going to "State".
The local High School has been blessed with an outstanding auditorium, (one of the best in the state) so one of the competitions is usually held here. In fact, due to some scheduling problems, one time the State Contest was held here. This is really cool because it is open to the public and free, gratis. And because of the local school's reputation, and facilities, many of the best drama departments choose to come here. Of course our own school cannot compete on their own home stage, but there are plenty of others.
All this is to say that we spent the day at the theater. Photography was not allowed, so there are no pix. But we enjoyed it, and there was some really good stuff.
But so as not to leave all my loyal readers with out some sort of visual stimulation, here's a little bit before the frost kills everything.

Busted

Yeah, they still had to be busted. But that is what Power Equipment is all about. (Did I already say that ?)
In the old days, at this point, The Fuzz would get out his trusty maul and wedges. He still has those things, but a couple years ago His Sweetie talked him into obtaining this wonderful device. The old system is used only for those small, quick jobs. When Industrial Strength is called for, he rolls out this baby. And Industrial Strength was called for here. These blocks were full of knots and twisted grain, but the Power Equipment got it done.
We won't get into how The Fuzz flipped the thing over backing it down into that hole. But, "All's well, that ends better" as the Hobbits (I think) say. And it's always better to have a pile of good firewood handy.

Fire Wood '07

Last winter, The Fuzz had an adventure with a certain rather large tree. As the weather turned warmer, a sizable piece of the trunk remained. Since it was not needed immediately, it remained, and kept remaining. Now the weather is turning cooler again, in fact there was frost this morning, so it was time to do something about this situation.
Here we can see some of the complications.
#1, The saw will not cut all the way through the tree. This is not in itself a big problem. Normally, The Fuzz would simply work from both sides and have more than enough saw. But now we come to complication #2.
#2, The proximity of fence. There is no room to safely operate a Chain-saw between fence and tree. The Fuzz may be a little bit crazy, but he has learned (the hard way) to respect the Chain-saw. The Fuzz is not a young man any more, not exactly "over the hill", but he couldn't just carry that thing away from the fence. Now it was time to get creative. The Fuzz rummaged though his extensive inventory of equipment, and came out with the ol' come-along. These things are pretty handy, sort of a poor man's winch. The Fuzz has used this thing to pull his truck out of the mud, and even swapped engines with it, among other things.
That log was heavy, and the come-along was over loaded, but it did move it. Just enough.
And so, three tanks of gas later, here's what we have.
Of course, these blocks will have to be busted, but that's what Power Equipment is about.

Still no more rain.

The Hidden Lives of Kitty Cats

What makes them do this ? Why do these critters do this ?

Since The Fuzz's Sweetie got soft, and lets these creatures spend the night in the house, they are confined to a particular room at night. For the most part, they are satisfied with this arraignment. But The Fuzz is never sure what he may find in the middle of the night. (He does get up in the middle of the night to check on the fire and take care of some of that "nature" stuff.) Last night, while he was making his rounds, he sat down to pull on his booties (this involves the out doors, but that's another story) and there in the darkness he heard the sound of purring, close. He groped around and finally found the source sitting next to him. In fact it was the same one as in the picture.
It seems this one was hiding at bedtime and assumed to be out in the cold. She was searched for unsuccessfully and abandoned to the outer darkness. But she had her own plans.
We'll have to look more thoroughly tonight.

Rain, But...........

Well, a deep subject, as they say, also a little dry in this case.Yes there was some rain. The Fuzz took a hopeful look down the well, but this is what he saw, the bottom of the well.This was a bit discouraging. Really there was not a lot of rain, it was dreary drizzle for the most part. There was one day of rain though, and it was enough to bring back a little green to the grass. Soon it will turn cold and most every thing will be brown and grey anyway.

You can see The Fuzz's Foot-valve here, at the end of this pipe. In order to pump water, this thing must be down in the water. It will be noticed that there is no water to be in. The pump will not pump dirt, and even if it would, there would be no point in that.

The Fuzz briefly thought about climbing down there with his little pick to dig for more water. He did that once, and like to smothered him self. But that is a lot of dangerous work, and this time he will just wait for more rain.

Yes, Rain

I believe it was mentioned that the ol' car washing trick wasn't working in regards to producing rain. If I'm not mistaken, planing a camping trip was proposed. Well that seems to have worked.

Here you can see The Fuzz on a previous camping trip. It was so enjoyable, The Fuzz, and His Sweetie, had planned another for this weekend. This seems to have had a beneficial effect on this drought ravaged area. Now the weather experts tell us we will have rain until Saturday. This is not a bad thing since The Fuzz's well is empty, but there does seem to be a bit of irony here.

Sitting in the rain, on a camping trip, is not real appealing, so as of now, that seems to be out of the picture. But under the circumstances, one could hardly complain.

We try not to waste water in these situations, so these buckets are catching some runoff from the roof. I remember, back in the Old Country, my Uncle used to catch it in a rain barrel. I guess this is a mini version of that system.

By the way, that's the Tailless One by the bucket.

No Rain

I saw this Happy Couple at the Renaissance Faire when we were there.

There's not much going on around here, we're still waiting for some rain. The Weather Service keeps making these promises, but they seem to be the same sort you hear around elections. So the well is still empty. It rained about 5 minutes the other night. Just enough to wet up my truck seat though the open windows. After that it quit. The old wash the car trick is out too since we're not supposed to do that sort of thing any more. Maybe planning a camping trip would work.

21st Annual "Golden Classic" Tournament of Bands

It was time for the 21st Annual "Golden Classic" Tournament of Bands, with 17 marching bands from two states.We had (particularly My Sweetie) wanted to attend this classic event for several years now. Somehow we were always thwarted in this. But this year we made it at last.

This was a new experience for The Fuzz, who is not often involved with the Football Half-time Scene. There was, of course, no Football game this day, only the Half-time Shows.

This Strange Fellow was wandering around the stands. He (I assume it was a "he") had a companion that passed out balloons to the kids. Young Daughter was there and received one. It later escaped, but she took it well and didn't cry or anything like that.


The Fuzz also saw the Teletubbies there. The Teletubbies later danced around with some Flags while Their Band Marched and simultaneously Played Music. Don't think The Fuzz was not impressed, he has a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time.

There were a lot of Girls with Flags.

These were with a different Band.

The Fuzz tried to make some Videos with his little camera, but it didn't work out very well.

After we had been thoroughly satisfied, for this year, The Fuzz, (with His Sweetie's dough) took us out for a Mexican Supper, and then home for a flick. "Murder by Death" from good ol' Netflix. It is worth seeing if you haven't already.