Meeting

The Fuzz couldn't resist this shot of 1st Granddaughter meeting her shadow at the top of the stairs. 

Starting from the Bottom

So what has that Fuzz been up to anyway?
Well he, His Sweetie and that Young Daughter (and friend) were off to another city to help out with getting this house together.
The project was the floor.
There had been carpet here.  Nasty stuff.  So tack strips needed to be removed as well as a lot of staples.

It did need a bit of work.

They enjoyed the hospitality of the 4th Daughter and Hubby.

That Skilled fellow was part of the work crew as well.

With this large and talented crew on the job, they managed to knock it out in one day.

And things are looking a bit better.

Then it was time for the fun!

Of course there is still a lot of work left, but things are moving along.  And before long, we hope there will be happy people enjoying their new home.

Remember Da’ Bomb?

How about this-


"Chicago high school student facing charges after hot sauce prank"


"A Chicago high school student is facing charges after reportedly spiking a container of marinara sauce with fiery hot sauce, sending three people to the hospital, police said."

Having had some experience with this stuff, The Fuzz can appreciate this!

Zoo Trip III

A few more residents of the Zoo.

Zebras

And the Baboons.

Look close and you might see the baby.

(It is a crummy pix!)

Here's a better look.

How about a Gorilla mama?

Or a Gorilla Daddy?

Zoo Trip II

After a relatively early start The Fuzz and All finally made it to the Zoo itself, the object of this quest.  After an hour's ride (and everybody's coffee or tea) the first stop was-

Then, of course, it was off to see the animals.

One of the first was the giraffe.

They're surprisingly good at hiding.

And the Elephants.

They have a pretty nice place for the critters.

I suppose if you have to be locked up, it helps.

And there's the Red Rhinoceros way out there.

They had a great time.  The weather was nice.  It was a bit warm, but there is plenty of shade.

The Fuzz promises to get some more pix up soon.

Goin' to the Zoo!

This past weekend while most of the family was out in the mud, The Fuzz and His Sweetie gathered up who was left and headed of for a much anticipated trip to the Zoo!  They lucked up and for some reason school got turned out early, so they were able to get a good start.
The plan called for camping at Morrow Mountain State Park, within driving range of the zoo.  Unfortunately, The Fuzz foolishly decided to follow the Google directions to the park. (Even though he already had a good idea how to get there)  This resulted in an unpleasant and stressful drive though the heart of the Big City!  Perhaps this time he has finally learned his lesson.
Eventually they made it out of the city, and into the woods.
At the recent Family Camp Meeting, both The Fuzz and His Sweetie were impressed with one of the large tents.  Impressed enough to spring for one like it!

They figured that back packing ain't quite as easy as it used to be, so maybe it was time to revert to the old drive-up-to-the-campsite style.

The observation of wildlife began surprising soon.

These guys are so used to people that they come right up to the camp looking for handouts!

At one point The Fuzz saw a group of 8 them hanging out munching the grass.

One even walked though the camp.

Then it was time to hit the sack in our luxurious mansion, and get ready for an early start in the morning.

Kitty Nursery

While working on those signs out at the Work Shed, The Fuzz had to share the space with the Kitty Nursery.

There are still a lot of Kitties around here.  The Fuzz does not really mind sharing his space.  But it can get a little messy.

Signage

Just because The Fuzz is back in the Woods, don't think he hasn't been busy.
With His Sweetie involved with some Vegan Food People these days, there was a request for some signage to be used on a roadside stand.  As The Fuzz says, "I can do that, let me get my tools!"
They picked up a few small boards at that infamous Home Improvement Store, and then grabbed some old paneling that Our Fuzz had been saving for years- and of course, never used.
These signs were to be of the folding portable type.  Of course Our Ingenious Fuzz had a plan.  That plan evolved over the course of the project.

Here's a look at the set- as yet unpainted.  The Numbers indicate the order of construction, and evolution.

The first one was knocked out pretty quickly.  But The Fuzz saw an opportunity for improvement.  This design was quick and easy, but a potential weak point was discovered.  Relying on this thin (and quite old) panel to hold everything together did not seem like a good idea to Our Careful Fuzz.  So he went with a major redesign on #2.

Here the joint was lapped to provide a bit more strength.  While he was in such a creative mood, The Fuzz thought it might be cool to add a handle.

This proved to be a lot of extra work.  And he does not recommend it.  It is completely unnecessary, and adds a lot of complication to the assembly of the thing.

There was also a problem due to the cheap-ass wood warping up.  The Fuzz tried glue, but ultimately was forced to add some screws to hold things in shape.
He dropped the handle on the last two.  His favorite was #4.  There were some bad spots in these last pieces of panel, so it is just a little bit smaller.  As a result, it just looks cool.

Out of Town?

The Fuzz admits that he hasn't been on the ball with this blog lately.  But he had been "out of town" as it were.  Actually he was in town, since one could not really consider our Home in the Woods as "in town" to be "out of".  The Fuzz spent most of last week in another town, helping out "A------- Property Management" with a little project.

Here's a rare pix of Our Fuzz himself, puzzling over an electrical difficulty.  Amazingly enough they got it straightened out!

Here's a look at a few more of the projects involved in getting this place ready for habitation.

Hookups for the laundry room

Drier vent

This door is actually upside down.

This is the Property Management's way of recycling parts of buildings. 

The Fuzz was just doing what he was told on this one.

More recycling

Some of the old cabinets were modified for reuse as well.

Actually things are looking pretty good now.

The Fuzz had planned to get some great pix of this work in progress.  But alas, he forgot to take his camera out on the job.

Fortunately he was able to rip off a few pix for Kinda Fuzzy.

Thanx.  You know who you are.

Purity Concerns

Purity Concerns

(From Speigel)

"Forget environmental concerns: When it comes to fracking, Germans are worried about how it might affect beer quality. In a letter to several ministries in Berlin, brewers expressed concern that the exploitation of shale gas could contaminate water supplies and thus violate the beer purity law of 1516."

"The process threatens to contaminate drinking water, according to a letter written by the German Brewers Federation to the federal government…"

This looks serious!

Let's get our priorities right!

Father's Day in Germany

The Fuzz ran into this on Spiegel.

Father's Day in Germany

"Father's Day in Germany, coinciding as it does with a national holiday, has long been a day for men to get together and get drunk. Excursions into the countryside are common, with beer being the beverage of choice, though some carry walking sticks with baskets full of schnapps attached at the top." 

There's even Pix!

Mysterious Vine

Recognize this luxuriant vine clubbing the lucky tree?

Yup.  You guessed it.

This is a story of some young'uns some years ago.  At that time, before the Encroach of Civilization, The Old Place was a bit less urbanized than now.  Behind the wooded patch of backyard lay a horse pasture.  It was great fun to feed the horseys carrots and such.  One day it was discovered that the horseys found this particular type of vine rather tasty.  It was gathered in great handfuls, and devoured with much enthusiasm by these beasts.  It was only later that the identity of the vegetation was discovered by the unlucky children, furnishing a never to be forgotten lesson.

The Other Garden

The Fuzz took advantage of a break in the rainy weather to handle a bit of yard work at the Old Place.  It had been a while since the yard had been mowed, and he was expecting a rough time.  But apparently the cooler temperatures, and lack of sun slowed things down a bit.  They claim that the crops are about 2 weeks behind here because of this.  But we are thankful for the rain.

Here's a look at the  House Garden.

We do still plant there.  The ground is so much better than out in the woods, having been built up over 30 years.

There's taters in the foreground, then some beets and a couple rows of leeks.  Behind that is a patch of kale.

Here's a brand new baby okra sprout.

And a tiny peach.  They're so tasty, but unfortunately the bugs get most of them.

The Chase

We do have a lot of squirrels around here.



And they do give all the cats something to do.



The kitty was just a little too slow this time.



Well, some times you're winners, sometimes you're...

Wet

We have been getting a lot of rain lately.  But it seems to have let up this afternoon, at least for now.

Here's a look at the coulee next* to the trailer.  Most of the time there is little water in here.  But the ground is pretty saturated right now and it's flowing pretty well.
The weather has been just a bit cool also.  Today The Fuzz went over across the creek in search of some dead wood to cut up.  The pickings were a bit slim.


*About 50ft.  We are in the woods here!

Wet Days

Well, we haven't seen much of the sun lately around here.  Oh, there may be a brief glimpse now and then.  But mostly wet and gloomy.  And more of the same for the next few days.

But The Fuzz did take advantage of a break in the rain for a walk in the woods not far from the trailer.  It was a nice break from being inside.

As can be seen, there's plenty of water in the creek.

Here's a look at the old "Footbridge".  The Fuzz put it down here years ago when this was our little campsite.  It's still here, and still solid enough.  It's an old timber from railroad bridge torn down and replaced years ago in town.  

Well, I guess it's still a "bridge" at least.

A Gardening Update

Been getting in the garden a little bit.  Actually things are looking pretty good so far.  We are getting plenty of rain.

This pix is taken on another rainy day.

The Fuzz's Sweetie has an unconventional approach to gardening, a patch of this, a patch of that- scattered around the area.  But it seems to be working pretty well.  We are getting plenty of green things for our salads these days.

The Fuzz finally got some green beans in yesterday, and put up some poles for them to climb on.

Family Camp

The Young'uns were planning a camp-gathering at Lake Jordan but The Fuzz and His Sweetie had a lot of stuff going on and had planned to skip it.  But there were some changes made, and the planners and the Young Daughter managed to get The Fuzz's Sweetie on board.  So he caved as well.
With little lead time, and still some very necessary garden work to take care of, Our Fuzz and Sweetie had a busy morning.

But after some scrambling and quick packing, they managed to get on the road only a little behind schedule.

Here's a view of the main camp.  There were a few other tents pitched nearby.

There was a threat of rain, so a tarp was put up, just in case.  While there was no major rain, it did protect from a few sprinkles- besides providing some piece of mind.

Of course there was a campfire, and even marshmallows for "sa'mores".

The Fuzz got himself out of the sack early the last morning and enjoyed a bit of quiet and a cup of coffee.  Here's a look out at the lake in the light  rain.

The trip was enjoyed so much we are hoping to do it again.  The Fuzz and His Sweetie are even getting a larger tent to make things more enjoyable.  Now they only have a few small, backpacking-type tents.  And they can get a bit crowded* at times.  Especially in the rain.

We're all looking forward to the next time!

*Due to a slight foul up on The Fuzz's part, we had to squeeze 3 into a 2 person tent!  It was hard on The Claustrophobic Fuzz.