Art on the Wall

The Fuzz and His Sweetie have collected a bit of art over the years.  No Van Goghs or anything like that of course.  But there are not a lot of places to display all these treasures out here in the woods in the trailer.  One solution is to swap off every now and again.  But even this requires a place to swap off to.

So His Sweetie recently requested that The Fuzz put up one of those little shelves where one could set a piece, and easily change it when desired.

So, taking a mental inventory of his small wood stash, The Fuzz headed out to the shop.

Earlier in the woodcutting season, The Fuzz had experimented with cutting some small boards out of a piece of cherry firewood.  They had been just laying around the shop (like so many other things).  But this looked like the time to put them to use.

Here's a look at the finished product.

Why only 2 off center mounting screws?

That was the only wall stud in the area.

But it should be plenty strong enough to hold a painting...

Like this one.

Not Dead Yet

No, The Fuzz has not fallen off the face of the earth, died, or anything.
He has been up to a few things, here in the Woods and over at the Old Place.
And of course there is always the Laziness Factor to consider.
There has been a long term project over at the Old Place.
This one involves electricity.

The existing wiring was in pretty bad shape.  It had been done back in the days (BC*) in an absurd manner.  And The Fuzz's hurried and improvised "up grades" over the years were admittedly "Micky Mouse".  And besides all this, the insulation had become brittle.  It was not to be trusted.

The Fuzz basically eliminated all of the original wiring.  But of course it had to be replaced by something.

Some of the improvements were in the kitchen.  The way things were, one had to go into an adjoining room to turn on the ceiling light & fan.  But since that wiring was no longer being used, The Fuzz was able to install a wall mounted switch in the actual kitchen.

Since the cookstove had been moved out to the trailer, any cooking** has had to be done on a hot plate or toaster oven.

 (The Fuzz does often use the wood heater as well, but only in cold weather.)  

These appliances were being plugged into one poor overloaded outlet mounted on the wall.
The Fuzz ripped out this jury rig and ran some new wires through the wall.  You can see where the old boxes had been mounted.
Here is a look at the new arrangements.  These are now on separate circuits, which should help with the Countertop Cooking.
There are still a few more things he wants to do over there.  But at least the main issues have been addressed.

Maybe we can get that Lazy Fuzz off his butt and be able to do a bit better with keeping up with this blog before he gets reported as a missing person.



*before code

** Part of The Fuzz and His sweetie's plan for Post Retirement Sanity involves them alternating one night a week spent at the Old Place.  This gives them a bit of personal time, and may help avoid Mutual Madness.

Ice Is Not Nice

The Fuzz has been spending a few days over at the Old Place.
He had finally gotten around to one of those projects that had been on hold for a while.
There'll be more on this in the future.
But for now, here's a teaser.   ☛

He had been living "Old School" for this time.  It may be recalled that using the "facilities" back there, involves a walk "down the hill".  This can be an adventure in itself this time of year- like on a 9℉ morning!

So after a few days of this, Our Spoiled Fuzz was glad to get back to The Woods, and all those luxuries.

Of course these particular facilities at the trailer are located as far as possible from the wood heater.

While The Fuzz was toughing it out at the Old Place, His Sweetie was holding it down back in The Woods.  She has a definite preference for the other bathroom, the one closer to the heater.  So the back potty hadn't had much use.
This means that it hadn't been flushed, which also means that the water had not been run for a while.

When The Fuzz got home he eventually felt the call of nature.  He did notice a skim of ice there in the bowl, but thought little of it, since there is no effort made to heat that room.  But when he flushed, he discovered that the tank would not refill.
Well, after a good bit of work with a hair drier, and His Sweetie pouring warm water into the tank, the pipe finally thawed out.
But it was obvious that the problem was under the floor.
The only thing for it was to crawl up under the trailer and investigate the situation.

And here's what he found.

For some reason, the insulation had been pulled back, exposing the pipe.  Perhaps it had been a previous repair?
But, with the weather into single digits, this would have to be addressed.
Since they were going into town that afternoon, they made a stop at the Home Improvement Store on the way home.

There, The Fuzz grabbed a small packet of insulation to make the repairs.
The actual repair was "a piece of cake", as they say.  He just crawled in there and stuffed a bit of the insulation up around the exposed plumbing...

... and ...

... sealed it all back up with his trusty Gorilla Tape!

So now, as long as the thing does get the occasional flush, there should be no more problems.

Super Soaker

Well, it's been raining for several days now out here in the woods.

When The Fuzz and His Sweetie moved out here this place was just trees.

The trees had to be cleared just to make room to drive in and for a place to put the trailer.

And so the yard is the sort of place that soaks up rain like a sponge.

This is not the sort of thing that is appreciated at all by the Kitties.

And at times this could be a bit of a problem for moving vehicles.

But that situation has been taken care of for now.

But this morning it is just one of those...

Saturation Situations.

Micro Forest

While waiting for guests to arrive on Christmas Day, The Fuzz decided to have a stroll in the woods.

It was a nice day with beautiful weather.

Among the other woodsy wonders, he discovered this Micro Tree.

And not only 1 Micro Tree, but

A whole Micro Forest.

A forest within a forest.

Looks like this may be some kind of a fractal thing.

Merry Christmas

Winter Garden Greens

It's wintertime here in the Northern Hemisphere.  And that means not a lot of gardening for The Fuzz and His Sweetie.

But here is what is going on over at the Old Place.

In the foreground are a few leaks.

And then toward the back some turnips and mustard.

The turnips haven't done very well this year.

But the mustard is great.

The Fuzz's Sweetie likes turnips fine,

but is not overly fond of the mustard.

But that means

all the more for him!

So while over there the other night,

he put a bit of fat meat in the pot,

and cooked him up a nice little mess.

It was delicious.

A Street to Nowhere

The Fuzz and His Sweetie were off to another Big City.

It's getting hard to just stay out here in the woods these days.  With Holidays, and Family spread out, there's always something going on-

someplace else.

This Big City was the seat of one of the great Tobacco Empires.

Of course Tobacco ain't what it used to be.

So the city has had to diversify, and has done well, The Fuzz supposes.

But Our Fuzz does find himself drawn to the relics of the past,

some of the things left behind as progress...

progresses.

Like this street to nowhere.

How often do you find Cobblestones any more?

There was a time when even a street could be a work of art.

Oops...

It looks like this could give away the latest

Mystery Pix!

2nd December Mystery Pix

 Might as well give it another go!

1st December Mystery Pix

Here's an easy one.

Not Quite Blind

Some readers may remember how The Fuzz or His Sweetie will spend a night over at the Old Place from time to time to keep their sanity.  Well, this was The Fuzz's turn.

With the colder weather he had decided to not ride over on his bike.  The arrangement was for His Sweetie to drop him off, and then in the morning pick him up.  Then, they would go for a fine breakfast at a local cafe.

Since it was a sunny day, Our Fuzz was wearing his cool shades on the way over.

His Sweetie was on a tight schedule, so they hurriedly unloaded some firewood from the car trunk, and she headed out.  It was only then that The Unfortunate Fuzz realized he was still wearing his shades.

This was fine in the bright sunlight, but sucked in the dim light inside.  The Old Place always has been a bit dark on the inside.

When he was unable to flag her down, The Fuzz tried his cell phone.  But the thing wouldn't work.

After a bit of frustration, he took out the card, cleaned it and then reinserted it.  Now at last the thing worked.

He had hoped to catch His Sweetie while she was still in town and she could drop off his real glasses, which were still in the car.

But alas, it was not to be.

So Our Fuzz resigned himself to an evening without glasses.

This may not seem like much to those blessed with the proverbial 20/20, but for The Fuzz, it was a significant thing.

The first thing, was of course a fire in the heater.

No Problem.

It's not like he is plumb blind or anything.

With a good fire going it was time for some dinner.

The Fuzz went for some spaghetti.

Here's a look at how wood heat can double as a cookstove.

The dinner was good, and he was also able to find his mouth without his spectacles.

The Fuzz did make it through the night okay.

After all, he can see his dreams well enough without their assistance.

Rocks

Another project that's been in the works here in the woods, is a Water Garden- or something like that.

So far it hasn't gotten too far.

But sometimes these things take time.

The concept involves a small pool and a way to recirculate the water.

It should be pretty nice when finished.

Rocks were needed for this project, but rocks are one thing we don't have here in the woods.

So The Fuzz and His Sweetie decided to have some brought in.

The driveway in was a bit small for this big truck.

But they have ways to handle these things.

So off the truck...

And down into the yard!

Now it's up to The Fuzz to move them the rest of the way.

The New Twig Box

The Fuzz has not been very good at keeping up with things here in cyberspace.

Oh well.

One of the projects he has been up to has been a new "Twig Box".

Out here in the woods, the trailer is heated with a Wood Stove, as many followers of Kinda Fuzzy no doubt realize.

Well, when The Fuzz and His Sweetie are off on one of their frequent forays out into the wide world, the fire may burn out.

So it is necessary to keep a supply of kindling handy- and out of the weather!

Trying to start a fire with soggy twigs is a pain.

(you know where!)

They were keeping an old bucket of twigs in there near the heater.  But it didn't really hold much, and tended to be very messy.

The Fuzz's Sweetie wanted to start keeping the stuff out on the porch, which would be handy enough,

But-

also exposed to the weather.

So they came up with the idea of this

Twig Box!

There was an old chest of drawers that had been retired from bedroom duty.

So The Resourceful Fuzz disassembled the thing.

He then used the sides and drawer fronts to put this thing together.

The bottom is a piece of old fence wire, so any tiny bits and dirt can fall through.

An old piece of tin made a reasonably weathertight lid.

The interior was divided into 2 sections.  One for "small stuff" and the other for "Twigs".

Firewood Followup

The Fuzz took advantage of an offer from the #1 Son and Son-in-law to help with a bit of wood cutting.

And it was an excellent opportunity to try out his brand new chainsaw.

There were a couple of rather large trees at a neighbor's place that The Fuzz had been offered.

But they were a bit much for The Fuzz to handle on his own.

But with all this good help, things would be different.

The trees were dropped with no complications. 

(thankfully)

And the rest of the day was spent in cutting them up, and hauling the wood home.

Unfortunately the early darkness cut the job off before all was finished, and this sizable piece of the main trunk remained.

The Fuzz will take care of it later.

The pieces will be pretty big, but he should be able to roll them up the ramp into the trailer with out hurting himself.

In the mean time...

It was time to fire up the old log splitter.

The Fuzz will have to use the vertical configuration for these big guys.

That way he won't have to try and lift them.

But the woodpile is starting to look a bit better already.

Saw Situations

Well, the winter weather has seriously moved into the woods.

So that means a fire,

Which means.

Firewood.

The Fuzz was working on this the other day when his cheap chainsaw finally tanked on him.

This thing has been aggravating off and on over the years, but he had always managed to patch it together somehow.

The Fuzz suspected the carburetor this time.

But after he took it apart and cleaned it, there was no improvement.

At this point he suspected the fuel pick-up in the tank.  Perhaps it was clogged.

So he got a piece of wire and fished the thing out of the tank.

Something was missing here!

He managed to get the filter thing out finally.

But there seemed to be no problem, other than it had become detached.

So...

He put it all back together.

But the thing still refused to do more than spit a few times before it quit again.

A new spark plug didn't help either.

And so The Long Suffering Fuzz finally gave in.

It was time to "bite the bullet" as it were, and get a new chainsaw.

This time he decided to go for quality over economy, and went to the Local Stihl Dealer.

He did get to break it in on a couple of large trees over at a neighbor's place.

And it cut good!

Well, they say you get what you pay for.

Let's hope they're right in this case.

Power Tools

It is sort of a long term project, But The Fuzz is still working on getting his shop together.

One of the things on his wish list was a Drill Press.

Not having a lot of room in there, or a lot of money to spend, he had decided to go with a bench top model.

Having come onto a bit of cash, Our Fuzz decided now was as good of time as any.

So after checking around a bit on line, he headed over to the brand new Harbor Freight Store.

I guy could spend a lot of time in there, just looking and lusting after guy stuff.

Well, here's what he came home with.

Step 1 was to unpack it all.

Actually it was not all that difficult for The Experienced Fuzz to assemble this brand new piece of equipment.

There was a bit of a complication in mounting the thing.

Amazingly enough, in his whole collection of bits of everything, there were not any bolts suitable for mounting it to the small work bench.

But he was able to improvise something for the time being.

He will have to do this properly in the future.

But for now, here it is!

The Death House

Sounds pretty sinister.

At first glance it seems to be just another picturesque old country house that has seen better days.

So one day, whilst The Fuzz and His Sweetie were out walking, they decided to check it out.

That's when the creepiness factor kicked in.

As they got closer, the bad vibes intensified.

The destruction and debris spoke of foul deeds and a dark past...

Blackest murder !
Who knows what evil lies in the Hideous History here.

And so, we will slip silently by and leave these spirits buried in the past, hopefully, undisturbed.