Two Towers

Actually this post has nothing to do with the Lord of the Rings or anything of that sort.
But still, towers.

When we got here to Topsail Beach there were a couple of these towers, right next to each other.
So...

One evening The Fuzz was out and about, and chanced to meet some of the town workers.

He remarked that there had been a lot of activity lately in the area behind the fire department/town hall.

This was also the location of these 2 towers.

They told him that they were preparing to remove one of them.

It seems that tower "B" was only temporary, which explains the apparent redundancy.

In fact a crew was coming to work on it in the morning.

The Fuzz chatted a bit and it was pretty much agreed that none of them had any desire to climb up there themselves.

The Fuzz didn't think much more about it.

The next morning, while The Fuzz was out for his morning walk, he saw a crane arriving.

Then as he and His Sweetie were on their way out for a trip over to the Big City, they saw this out of the window.

Then, she drew his attention to the fact that there was a man on top of the tower!

Now this was something one does not see every day.

(Unless I suppose one is in the business)

Naturally at this point The Fuzz grabbed his camera and went out looking for a better vantage point.

And then he realized the man on the top was not alone. 

There was a second guy below him, halfway up.

He worked his way up and around.

And hung up his bucket of tools...

Then went up to join his partner.

It was a long way up.
As interesting as this was, The Fuzz and His Sweetie did have a sort of schedule for the day...

And these guys seemed to have things in hand.
So they left them to their work.

By the time they got back that evening, Tower "B" was gone.

The next morning the crew was out there bright and early finishing up the job.

But this time they got to stay on the ground.

They were even taking up the base that was under the tower...

Loading it up...

And carrying it off.
Later, The Fuzz watched as the crew headed  on out of town.

 
  

  

Alone with Bears and Booms

When we left Our Fuzz, he was out there in the New Jersey Woods...

Alone!

Well... Let's hope so!

His Sweetie helped set up the tent, and then cut a trail for her hotel.  Then The Fuzz finished setting up camp.

He would be here for the next few days.

But there was a complication.

There were a lot of these kind of notices posted around the campground.

The Fuzz had not counted on this!

And it was a little disquieting.

The Fuzz has had some unpleasant experience with bears while camping back in the North Carolina mountains.

He did not enjoy this.

But this was New Jersey for cat's sake!

They have bears here?

All the warnings said to lock your food up in your car.

What car?

His Sweetie had the car at the hotel.

Why did she have the car?  There were no bears there!

Well there was nothing to do for it now.

He could at least hang the stuff in a tree.  That is supposed to help... right?

The grub was in a plastic tub and cooler, neither of which qualified as the "air tight" container recommended on all the postings.

And he had no suitable sack.

But there was the bag the tent was packed in!

So he packed that full of what ever he could, and hung it from a nearby tree.

He couldn't do much with the cooler but tie it shut.  That might keep any raccoons out, but not bears of course.

There were some scented candles in the gear tub, so he tied them on the cooler hoping the stink would not be something preferred by bears.

Then he had some dinner, washed up really good, and settled in for the night, hoping for the best.

Then about 01:00, he was wakened by a loud crash.

His first thought was that the bears were raiding the campground dumpster.

Undoubtedly he would be next.

But that sound was instantly followed by loud BOOM, and a flash of light!
Bears don't do that, do they?
Then all was dark and quiet again.

Of course by now The Fuzz was wide awake.
He got up and started banging pots (which is supposed to scare off bears (although The Fuzz has always had some doubts about that) and lit all the lanterns.
He sat up for a good hour waiting...
and waiting.
But nothing more ever happened.

In the morning, one of the caretakers came through.  He was a bit curious about The Fuzz being there with no car and all.
In the course of the conversation he mentioned the road being closed.  It seemed that there had been a wreck, about 01:00 that morning.  Some drunk had run off the road and knocked down a power pole.
Then The Fuzz realized that the Boom and flash were consistent with a transformer blowing up.

He was just glad there were no bears!

Global Wine Shortage!

From the BBC

"World faces global wine shortage"

The Fuzz says this could be serious.

"Global wine production peaked in 2004, and is continuing to fall, the report says."

"The world is facing a wine shortage, with global consumer demand already significantly outstripping supply, a report has warned."

"They say this could be partly explained by "plummeting production" in Europe due to "ongoing vine pull and poor weather".

Rats.

The Dangers of Fire

Only having brought a limited supply of firewood on the trailer, the campers were on the lookout for anything suitable to augment their supply, especially with the wet weather.  Under these conditions it's best to keep the fire going it possible.

The Fuzz's Sweetie had found this nice chunk of wood nearby and brought it back with her.  Being too long for the fire ring, and not feeling like sawing though the thing, she decided to let the fire itself do the job.

Just before The Fuzz hit the sack, he was able to break it in half.  Then He planned to take the hot water and clean up the supper dishes.  The pot was now sitting over the place where the log had burned in two.  But when The Fuzz lifted the pot...

With the weight of the large pot of water gone, both ends of the log fell to the ground propelling  the burning ends into arcs of flame in the gathering darkness.  And one of those arcs, landed squarely on Our Poor Fuzz's foot.  Nature boy that he is, he was only wearing sandals at the time.  A few bad words were said at this point.

We are happy to report that some fancy footwork, and a step into a conveniently close by creek minimized the trauma.

After washing up, The Fuzz laid the pieces next to each other over the coals in the hope that they might be able to protect the fire though the rainy night.  And it did rain.  But they all stayed quite comfy in the big ass tent.

In the morning, The Fuzz got up to assess the situation and if possible, make a pot of coffee.  When he looked under the pieces of log, there actually was a dry area and a few (very few) coals!

He found a bunch of dry hemlock twigs, and managed to breath some life into them.

And so there was morning coffee.

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!

Red Meat

While on his own the other day, The Fuzz had to feed himself.  But this was an opportunity to try out a new recipe.

He picked up a piece of that deadly red meat at the store.  Normally he would have slapped it under the broiler with a little seasoning and let it rip.  But The Fuzz does have a soft spot for iron frying pans.

The first step was to slowly cook up a piece of bacon- for seasoning, and of course the grease.  Then he added some jalapenos, leeks and mushrooms.  Once these had sautéed a bit, that dangerous slab was laid in there.

&

After a few minutes flipped.

And finally served up with a fresh salad, and a glass of red wine.

Doctoring Kitties

Here's a look at the method The Fuzz's Sweetie has developed for Doctoring Kitties.

It's actually pretty effective.

This one only needed some drops in the ear, but it's best not to take chances with a cat.  Those claws can do some real damage.

Rescued!

The latest addition

It's just a little thing.  Young Daughter brought her (?) home from the schoolhouse the other day.  It seems that some sadistic students, had run mamma off, and were preparing to do in the little ones.  But she and a few others, managed to pull off a rescue.

 Cute thing, ain't it.

You Know You Want One

You know you want one

This great Apron is only available here.
Don't delay, Buy today!
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"Forks, knives, cleavers, yeah. But those are just the obvious ones. Do you realize how heavy a rolling pin really is?..."

Kitchen Warfare is now available as an apron until December 9th.

A 200 lb Mystery Solved

The Fuzz's latest Mystery Pix was correctly guessed by Woodie.

"Woodie said... Heh, well.... This is a hard one... Maybe a storm drain, but the numbers on the side are throwing me off..."

Well, the numbers on the side were a bit tricky. Yes it is a storm drain. Or at least a grate from one of many that had disappeared from the streets lately. The "200" is the 200 lbs these things weigh. And that is the key to this all.
200 lbs is a nice chunk of metal, which can be sold at a scrapyard. And, 10 to 15 of these things are a really nice chunk of scrap to sell.
A few weeks ago as The Fuzz was making his rounds, he noticed one of these things missing. This left a rather large hole in the edge of the road.
He duly reported this, and it was replaced. But then as he was making his rounds the following week, he found 2 of these suckers gone. And these mysterious disappearances continued. It got to the point that the Street Dept. could not continue to replace them, even if they had had any replacements left.
But our Dedicated Detectives determined the location of these valuable pieces of Public Property, so essential to the safety of the motoring public.
And so The Fuzz, and another dedicated coworker pulled a trailer over to one of the local scrapyards, where an unhappy man loaded our trailer with these valuable vehicle protectors.
But as of yet, nobody is in jail.

"Gypsy Geoff"

On our recent visit to the Renaissance Festival, The Fuzz, His Sweetie, and Young Daughter once again had the opportunity to see Gypsy Geoff *in action.
Here's a look at him setting up for the exciting climax of his Dazzling Demonstration of Daring Dexterity.
From top, to bottom-
Washtub,
Chair,
Broom,
And Gypsy Geoff Himself!

Kids,
Don't Try This At Home!

*We've seen this guy before.

Why One Should Never... (Warning Graphic Content)

This is an example of why one should not ride a motorcycle wearing flip flops and shorts.
The Fuzz, himself, does not do that sort of thing.
First, I should say that he is OK, mostly. He was wearing the boot. But what if he had not? Would all those cute little tootsies still be there?
This is the condition he arrived home in. The bandages were provided by some friendly, and helpful medics. Beneath them is a rather unpleasant case of Road Rash, some examples of which will follow.
(Warning! The squeamish might want to stop at this point!)
As the Intrepid Fuzz was running some errands Saturday morning, he was shocked to see a big old SUV make a left turn, in front of him, as if he wasn't even there!
He grabbed the brakes, but alas, there was no room. That Poor Fuzz ended up sliding along the pavement with his bike. It was an unpleasant experience.
Fortunately, none of the other cars in the area ran over our Prostrate Fuzz.
The medics came and checked him out, but our Stubborn Hero refused the offered ride to the nearest medical facility. In fact, after the legalities were attended to, he completed his errands, and rode home. However, he is a bit sore today. One side of his body hurts. And, his left hand is a bit chewed up. He will probably be out of work for a few days.

Up There

When we got to our room, we found an incredible view of the mountains.

We also saw this guy up there. But, really, maybe it wasn't a guy. I mean, who could tell at this distance? I'm sure it is exciting up there. But The Fuzz thinks that he wold prefer it down here for now.

Mother's Day

Some of the "Young'uns" (who aren't so young) showed up Sunday to see their Mommy.
We all had a pretty good time.
Here is one of the other Mommies throwing these silver balls around. I guess you could say we had a ball. Please excuse this.
The little Dirt Bike was a big hit too. Here is that Schoolteacher Daughter zooming on up the dirt road.The Fuzz is happy to report that nobody was seriously injured. It was a good day.

Fireside

With the Young Daughter in town,visiting a friend, The Fuzz and His Sweetie took advantage of the situation to enjoy a taste of Mescal by the fire. It was an enjoyable evening, but they never made it down to that little old Gusano. After all, tomorrow was a work day.
After a long day at work, The Fuzz and His Sweetie got home a bit late. It was a little late to start on dinner. So after some thought, they went into town for a session at the Infamous Golden Corral. They did get there a bit late. The up side being that they were able to avoid the crowd. The down side was that some of the tasty treats were in short supply.
The Fuzz, having just had a tooth situation, for once, avoided the steak. But both he and His Sweetie enjoyed the salad and fish.
And we are pleased to report, that that dental situation is working out as well as could be expected.

Up

The Truth Is Out There

It has come to our attention that there are some who think that this is some kind of scam, some sort of Photoshop creation of a sick mind.
Well, here is an actual, un-retouched photo of this strange phenomenon.

The Fuzz claims this was made from about as close as he felt safe.
But we will get to the bottom of this-
The truth is out there.