Hang it Up

Ever since we had moved into this trailer, The Fuzz had plans to hang one of his rifles on the wall. But the old gun racks from the old place were unsuitable. He had something in mind, but even though we were out here in the woods, he never seemed to find that just right piece of wood. Then, he found this one, at work. It sat in his closet for a long time. But today, he finally pulled it out.
The weather has been really nice out here today. The fuzz sharpened up his chainsaw, and took down a couple dead trees. Even That Young Daughter got in on it, helping to get the wood into the wood stack. Then, after a snack, it was time to work on this long delayed gun rack.And here it is. Nice, ain't it.

Flick-Of-The-Week

The Fuzz can't re- member just how this thing got on our Netflix cue, but it was the Flick-Of-The-Week for us.
Micmacs
But it was pretty good. A little strange, but good. In fact, The Fuzz kept it an extra day, just so he could watch it again. But he does seem to like weird stuff sometimes. He liked City of the Lost Children too. But then,
The Fuzz has his weird side as well.

A-Maze-Ing

The Fuzz and His Sweetie had to take care of some business regarding the government. Since this could only be done between 9 am and 3 pm (with an hour off for lunch), and in another city, The Fuzz found it necessary to take a day off from work. So he and His Sweetie dropped the young'un off at the School House, and headed out of town.
They located the location, and since they were still a good bit early, headed over to a local Bojangles for a Hobbit style "Second Breakfast". The good news is that this business was concluded with out any unnecessary ugliness, and they could move on to bigger and better things.
One of those said things, involved dropping a tire off in another city. To get there, they had to pass though that other city, The Big City. One of the many attractions of this other Big City, is a brand new IKEA Store!
Now neither The Fuzz, nor His Sweetie, had ever had the IKEA Experience. So, being in an adventurous mood, they pulled into the parking lot, looking for an adventure. And there it was. A maze of amazing furniture with that Scandinavian touch. It is nice stuff. But this is where the "maze" comes into "amazing". There seemed to be No Way Out! And The Poor Fuzz and His Sweetie wandered though that amazing maze of home furnishings for what seemed like forever. Of course it wasn't, or else we wouldn't be writing this, would we.
But in preparing this post, The Fuzz took a quick look at Wikipedia. And having recently read "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", let's just say, he found it interesting*.
Well the rest of the trip went well. The tire was dropped where required, and The Fuzz and His Sweetie stopped for a great Chinese dinner on the way back to their own little town.

*Click on IKEA above for a ride into Wikipedia land.

More Home Improvements

When we bought this trailer, one of the things we found out was how crummy the electrical outlets were.
They were just, flat out, wore out. We found that we had to bend the plugs on our light cords, just to make some kind of contact. And then, the plugs had a disturbing tendency to fall out.
The first time The Fuzz had to deal with these things, he found out that they were different than what he had always worked with before.
He slipped on over to the Home Improvement Store, but they had nothing like it. Apparently, he would have to replace them with the Normal kind.
Unfortunately, the normal kind requires a slightly larger hole.
It was time to break out that faithful Dremel Tool again. He chucked up one of those neat little cutting bits that look like drill bits, and went to work on the wall. He was careful not to cut the wires, which would have made this whole exercise pointless.
It might be worth mentioning at this point to any who might be involved in a similar situation, always remember to TURN OFF THE POWER*. This can easily be accomplished at the breaker box. I am happy to say that The Fuzz did not neglect this necessary step.
And of course, here is a look at one of the several replaced electrical outlets. And they work just fine.


*Another useful Techno-Tip!

A Seedy Bunch

With all this winter weather, it was time to give some thought to our little feathered friends. The Fuzz's Sweetie had procured a nice 25 lb sack of Sunflower Seeds.
Once the word got out, they swarmed the place.
These little fellows don't have very good table manners though. They tend to waste a lot, which ends up on the snow.
Fortunately, they provide their own Cleanup Crew. This is a rather lousy picture. It was made though the window screen.
And here's one last Birdie Pix.
We did have a time with all the snow. The Fuzz had 2 days off work. Of course when he did go back,There was a bit of a scramble to catch up. People don't stop eating, just because it snowed.

And here's a last shot of the doggies. That little one doesn't seem to want to come out and play.

Another Snow Day

With all this nice winter weather, our wood pile was getting a little low.
But since The Fuzz's day job was on hold, because of the snow and ice, he had time to break out that Little Green Chainsaw.
It was still a bit cold out there in the woods, but that dependable little machine cranked right up for him. There were a couple of dead trees near by that he had previously marked for the wood pile.And so he pulled on his bibs, and boots, and headed out into the snow.
This first one gave him just a little trouble, hanging up in one of it's neighbors. But that Skillful Fuzz was able to get it down without hurting himself.
Back in the Old Country, we used to have sleds and toboggans to use in these situations. But the snow wasn't really all that deep, and it was still cold enough to keep it from balling up on the wheel, so That Fuzz was able to use his faithful wheelbarrow to carry the wood back to the trailer. Now the Doggies are enjoying this nice warm place.
He does expect to make it back to work tomorrow. But it will be rather busy the rest of the week.

Snow Days

I think we may have mentioned something about a "chance of snow" in The Fuzz's last post. Well, when he got up this morning at around 5 am, this was the scene from the door. The school people here, have some kinda fancy new system that robo calls everyone to tell them "No School Today". But of course we already realized that. But, rather than drive 8 miles into town though the snow, The Fuzz had the sense to use the telephone this time. The garbage will have to wait today.And, this motor vehicle will just stay buried today.
Now, they're talking about Freezing Rain tonight. Well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Winter & Middle Earth

The Fuzz realizes this will not impress any of y'all Yankees out there, but it was just a wee bit on the cool side this morning.
This is a look at The Fuzz's Brand New Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer.
But that's OK. The plan for today, is our Annual Movie Blowout. This started several years ago with the original Star Wars Trilogy. This Year we're going for the Lord of the Rings!
There does seem to be a chance of snow tonight. We'll just have to see how that turns out. It certainly is cold enough.
But for now, it's off to Middle Earth!

Snow Pix

The snow is pretty much gone now.
But-

Here's how things were in the morning on Boxing Day.
Days like this remind The Fuzz of the Old Country, so he couldn't resist the urge to take a walk down in the woods.
Here's a shot where two of the small creeks come together.But, as was said, the snow is gone now.
The Fuzz finally finished off "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", staying up to 01:00 (without coffee) to do so.
But now, it is getting late, so it is time to bid all, Goodnight.

Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2010

Hello 2011

Last Day

Yes, it is the last day of 2010.
But life goes on. And in our case, that means we need Firewood. One of the neighbors had asked The Fuzz if he wanted to cut up some trees he had down due to some previous windy conditions. The Fuzz knew we could use the wood so he took him up on the offer. But before going over there, it seemed like a good idea to touch up his chain. He had invested in this cool little gadget to convert that always useful "Dremel Tool" into a Chainsaw Sharpening Device. Here is a closeup look at this amazing device!
And now, Here is one of The Fuzz's exciting Techno-Tips! Note, at the arrow, how that ingenious fellow has applied a small amount of Nail Polish to a particular link of this deadly Saw Chain. Those familiar with these dangerous pieces of equipment, will realize that the chain is a continuous loop. The Fuzz has developed this technique, to prevent him from spending the entire day sharpening, and resharpening the cutting chain of this confusing machine.We are pleased to report, that he was successful in this endeavor, and here is a look at some of the results.

Glacier Again

This keeps amazing The Old Fuzz.
Shortly after we moved out here in the woods, we got together a Roofing Party.
The Fuzz is partial to tin roofs for a number of reasons that we won't get into at this time. But, one feature of this tin roof is our own, "Personal Mini Glacier".
Note, in this first pix, how the snow and ice buildup has slowly made its way out, and over the edge of the roof. In this next pix, you can see, at the arrow, a strange little icicle, sticking out at an odd angle. This little fellow was at one time hanging down like any other respectable icicle. But as the Mini Glacier slowly move on, said icicle, found itself a bit disoriented, as can be seen.
And in this last shot, you will notice*, at the arrow, The exposed roof, that has been deprived of its icy coating.
Well, the main roads are pretty much clear now. There has been a bit of wind though, and drifting snow, which is unusual for this area. But, the sun is out, and it is expected to reach the high of 33°. But then back to 17° tonight.


*As always, you can Click on the Pix for a closer look!

I'm dreaming of a white Boxing Day.

We went off to visit family in that City, The Home of a Famous University, for Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve there. We were running just a bit late and barely had time for a quick bowl of soup before heading off to a Christmas Eve Mass at a Huge Local Church.
Then, it was back to the apartment for wine, snacks and finally, Eggnog and Cookies.
It seems that The Fuzz and His Sweetie had forgotten to bring the Lebkuchen. This was realized upon our arrival. However, since a return for these tasty treats would have involved a drive of many hours, it was decided that we would somehow manage without. After all, the friend soon to arrive was also bringing cookies! But it was discovered that he, also, had had this particular form of memory loss. However, We are happy to report, that at that critical time, there were plenty of those delicious treats, to compliment the eggnog.
Somehow, in the course of the evening, the contents of a bottle of Southern Comfort and some Bourbon seemed to have disappeared.

Christmas day, we were joined by more family to open Christmas Presents and enjoy a delicious Ravioli Dinner. This was followed by the traditional game of Pictionary, in which the Girls slaughtered the Boys. (It was those cursed "All Plays" that did them in!)

Finally, it was time to leave, and we packed up the motor vehicles for the return trip. The weather forecast was not encouraging, calling for a bit of snow.
All you Yankees have to realize, that this is North Carolina. We like snow. To look at, or make Snow Cream with. But driving is not so high on our "Want to Do" List. Suffice it to say, that The Fuzz and His, made it home just in time.
Here's a look out of the kitchen window, this morning!

Merry Christmas

A Sumo Christmas

Not Yet

Still workin' it out

38 Years

38 Years TogetherAnd sill in love.

Exciting New Battery

Well, the weather hasn't been real pleasant lately. But today promises to be a bit of an improvement.

With the Academical Son home for the holidays, it was time to attempt the resurrection of a certain motor vehicle. After such a period of inactivity, the battery seemed to lack that certain "spark". The Fuzz's Sweetie and said Son were able to fire things up by the use of common jumper cables. Unfortunately, their success was short lived. This brought The Fuzz, himself, into the picture.
In an attempt to avoid the expense of a pricey new battery, it seemed reasonable to give this one one last chance. And so it spent the night in this intimate relationship with The Fuzz's Diehard Battery Charger. Alas, this did not produce the desired result.
But after a trip to the local Auto Parts Place, this motor vehicle is now fully functional.
There remain a few complications, involving a Tag. Big Brother insists that there must be an inspection first. This will have to wait until Monday at least.Still no tag, but at least it made it out here to the woods.

Sam

Dog Days

Not your usual "Dog Days"

Not those summer ones at least.
These are those Winter Dog Days.
This is where they like to hang out these days.
Actually, this is where we all like to hang out thee days.
We're moving swiftly into the Christmas season here.
We have a Christmas Tree,
But it is still waiting for it's brief moment of glory.
It will come soon enough.