The Plus Side of Rain

While The Fuzz and His Sweetie have been happy with the weather during their stay on the island, it might have been a little disappointing to folks who only had the weekends available.

That was when most of the rain occurred.

The streets were pretty much deserted.

But once the rain had passed The Fuzz was back out for his morning stroll.

And rain does have it's plus side.

There were some remnants of the rain in puddles on the ground.

The Fuzz hasn't given up on his quest to photograph the Moon yet.

Here he found a reflection of it in this rain water.

In fact those puddles were a great photo opportunity.

And here's a look at this Topsail Beach Icon.

 

Tomorrow is the end of the month, and the end of this stay at the beach.

The "off season" certainly has it's good points.

Maybe The Fuzz will be back again next year.

That would be nice.

On the Island

Well it turned out that the weather was not permitting.

(" hoping to cruise up to Topsail Island tomorrow...

...weather permitting.")

So that turned into a hanging out day.

But the next day...

...the weather was permitting!

So after a quick breakfast at a nearby coffee shop, The Fuzz strapped on the saddlebags and headed up the coast to Topsail Island.

He crossed the drawbridge into Surf City and turned south toward Topsail Beach.

The Family had spent several summer Beach Trips here before having to move to larger quarters on the other end of the island.

But The Fuzz wanted to see the place again.

First he rode out to where the road ended.

There he found these work boats tied up.  Not sure what they were up to- maybe dredging the channel?

Next he parked the bike and went out to the beach.

It was pretty deserted compared to the summertime.

It was hard to resist, so The Fuzz did pull off the boots and get his feet wet.  The water was a bit cold.

There were a lot of Pelicans out.  The Fuzz always enjoys watching them fly over in a line like they do.

Then it was time for a beer at the Quarter Moon in Topsail Beach.

He had some fish & chips in Surf City, and continued north to the other end of the island.

Then it was back to Wilmington.

He got there right after one of those "Gully Washer" storms.

That was good timing!

And today...

...more rain.

The Fuzz's Excellent Motorcycle Adventure 11

When we left Our Fuzz, he was puzzling over whether to take a chance on the weather.

The original window for this trip had been pretty optimistic.  But of course the trip had been extended several times, and now there was talk about some sort of "tropical" situation moving in his direction.

It was not a long ride back to Charlottesville, but things could get a bit wet.

Of course it has been said that "If you don't ride in the rain, you don't ride!"

And this was supposed to be an Adventure, wasn't it?

There had been plenty of times when rain had been forecast and in the end, nothing much came of it.

So The Fuzz decided to go for it.

A light drizzle began shortly after he left, and gradually increased.  And there was traffic.

At this point The Fuzz figured it was time to break out some rain gear and stopped to pull his rain pants over his leather.

The rain increased in intensity forcing him to wipe his glasses frequently now so he could see.  This was important with all the traffic.

Next, he realized that his jacket would not be able to turn  as much rain as he was now getting.  So it was time to stop and put on the rest of his rain suit.

It wasn't long until the rain required him to put the goggles on as well.  But even with them on, he could barely see the road.

More Adventure!

But he was making progress, if in slow stages.

Finally he stopped at a gas station for a break and hot coffee.  The women there checked the weather on a iPhone and told him that the worst was just then passing.  Things should be a little better the rest of the way.

So after getting warmed up a bit, the Intrepid Fuzz got back on the road.

And the rain had lightened - just a bit.

And that was just enough.

The rain continued to decrease as he was getting closer to his destination.  But it had taken it's toll.  He was wet, but could have been much wetter is not for the rain gear.

He was also hungry.

So he pulled into a KFC for some greasy chicken.  For some reason, they didn't serve coffee here, which seemed a bit strange to The Wet and Hungry Fuzz.  But the greasy food did help, in it's way.

As he approached Charlottesville, the rain actually stopped, and he found his way to his sister's house, and a chance to get dried out.

International Travelers

The Fuzz was wanting to take his bike up to the mountains.  

But the weather wasn't cooperating very well.  Things were looking a little better today, so he decided to go for it.
The trip went well for the most part, although he did get a bit wet on the way home.

He was following a route that he has taken on several occasions.  This included a lunch break at the Crabtree Falls Picnic Area.  But when he got there the gate was closed!  We suspect this could have something to do with the current budget problems in Washington.  But the result was that Our Intrepid Fuzz rode on, looking for a nice picnic spot.  He finally found some tables at an overlook, and broke out his grub.

There was an un usual truck there.

And he noticed the tag.

These folks weren't from around here.

While TheFuzz ate his sandwich and beer, he attempted to draw this odd vehicle.

This was the result.

Before he left, The Fuzz did introduce himself.  It was indeed a German couple, Elke & Axel.  They brought the truck over by boat (obviously they couldn't drive it!) and started in Canada.  It was nice to meet them, but The Fuzz had to hit the road for home.  He made it most of the way without getting wet.  But he was not so lucky for the last 4 miles or so.  But hey,  it's all good, right? 

Mountain Camping

With all this nice (if wet) summer weather, and no school, The Fuzz and His Sweetie decided to take advantage of the situation and head off for a short camping trip in the mountains.  So they took that Not So Young Daughter and friend and loaded up the trailer, and headed up the winding road to the Black Mt. Campground.  This is a really nice place located on the Toe River at the foot of Mt. Mitchell.  Since they have retired, these trips are no longer limited to weekends, when the campgrounds tend to be a bit more crowded.
Of course, there was a good chance of rain (a definite trend these days) but it usually rains in the mountains anyway.  And, The Fuzz has this nice big new tent!  So let it rain!

Camp at Black Mt.

Here's a look at the campsite...

View from Camp

And surrounding area.

View from Camp

One of the Happy Campers is bringing in a few sticks of wood for the fire.

The South Toe RIver

The Fuzz took this shot of the river while he was out for a morning walk.
Surprisingly, there were not many other campers around.
Yeah, it did rain, hard.  But not all the time.  And when it did, they were able to get under the tarp- or into their Portable Mansion.

The Morning After the Rain

More Rain

More

Rain

Things are getting a bit soggy around here.  

The road is a mess.

But they claim we will see the sun this weekend.

Wet Things

We've been getting plenty of rain storms lately, and The Fuzz was out tripping on the remnants.

You might recognize the latest Mystery Pix in the bunch. This morning he went over to the Old Place and did a bit of yard work, cutting a bit of grass. Since we started getting rain, it's growing again. He also cut a bag full of Okra, and wallowed in poison Ivy for a while. We'll have to wait to see what comes of that. But here's a few more pix of wet things. 

Sad Situation

Here we see a sad situation.
We did have a bit of rain here. Our Patio Tarps had been getting a bit saggy lately. The ropes had deteriorated a good bit from the sun. The extra weight of the rain water was just too much.
Our Fuzz tried to tie this mess back up, but it was a lost cause.
But not to worry. The Fuzz has plans to replace these pitiful pieces of rope with steel cables!

Friday and More

It's a rainy weekend here in the woods. And, one would suppose, on the road. But The Fuzz and His Sweetie did enjoy another Free Friday with the new work schedule and all.
They wanted to find a place where they could enjoy a small "Second Breakfast" and some coffee. They like to just hang out a bit for some sketching and perhaps a bit of writing.
In an effort to find a new place and a change of scene, they stepped into the local IHOP. As they were seated, and scanned the high priced menu, they realized this was not what they were looking for, and cut a trail out of there.
Their next attempt worked out a little better at Jack In The Box. It seems to be more their speed. The Fuzz's Sweetie even had a "buy one, get one free" coupon that came in the mail! And, they had Kona Coffee! So they did get to enjoy their Friday Coffee Outing after all.
The picture here, has nothing to do with that, of course. This is The Fuzz's Brother, and Family's little home away from home. We were pleased to enjoy a visit from them this weekend. It was a bit wet out here in the woods, but we had a good time, and were glad to see them.

Rain, Finally

Well, we are getting a bit of rain at last.

It is that time of year. It normally starts to rain around the time for the fair, which starts this week. But it has been pretty dry around here lately. The Fuzz had plans to work on his Work Shed Project, but that appears to have been rained out.
The Pooches are not real fond of the rain, as can be seen. They are huddled up out here on the porch. Wet dogies aren't real welcome in the trailer.
But it's not certain that The Old Fuzz would have gotten much done anyway. With the threat of bigtime rain, he had been out gathering some dry kindling just in case we would want some heat. He seems to have made a wrong move out there. We hope his back will be better soon.

Then The Rain Came

The Fuzz hopes everyone enjoyed all those wonderful Snow Pix. But it must be noted that he was running a bit behind on these posts. All that snow actually came a few days before Christmas. Hence the title "White Pre-Christmas". Although there was still a bit of snow still around, Christmas Eve was rainy, very rainy.
You may remember this snow covered foot bridge (actually a couple of logs) from that snow post. Well, here is another look* at it Christmas morning.There is quite a difference. Amazingly, the logs are still there after all this.
The Fuzz would like to wish every one a Happy New Year. This year, we actually stayed up for it. We had a few White Russians, and got out the Pride and Prejudice tapes. The Fuzz even got the old muzzle loader out at midnight for the traditional salute.
And now, here it is, the year 2010. It has been a big year for us here. We moved from the old home place out here to the woods. There's still a whole lot of work to do, but we are pretty much settled in now.



*As usual, click on pix for a closer look!

Rain vs Windows

As we were learning the ins & outs of this new sort of life, we found that we couldn't keep our windows open during rain storms. Unlike our old house, the trailer has no eaves, and so the water ran down the walls and into the windows. I suppose this is because the extra width would preclude towing on narrow roads. This probably wouldn't matter much under drought conditions, but thankfully we are not under drought conditions these days.
This was "unacceptable", but unlike in politics, we actually tend to do something about "unacceptable" situations besides talk.
So once again The Fuzz went to work.
We had a fair amount of this flashing left from when we did the skirting, so he decided to use it to make some awnings over these windows.
*First, he cut some triangle pieces of scrap 2x6, and mounted them over the windows. Next he took a piece of a discarded (it was very ugly) cabinetry and made a cross piece to support the flashing.
He smeared "tar" on the area where the flashing would meet the wall and cut some flashing to fit. He then made the appropriate bend in it and stapled & nailed it in place. On the narrower window (left) he dispensed with the cross piece and simply added a bottom crease to hold it in shape. He then went back and added another coating of "tar" to seal and reinforce it all.
There are still a couple more to do, but so far it seems to be working out pretty good and we can leave these windows open when it rains.Here's a look at some of them. We are hoping to put a new roof with some eaves on soon. That should keep most of the rain off of the walls.
The Fuzz's Sweetie has been doing some unique work on the floors. We'll try to get some pix up soon. We are slowly moving in, but it will be a process, some days at the old place, and some at the new. But we are getting used to being out there, and soon we hope to be posting from our New Home in the Woods.

*As usual you can click on the pix for a closer look

Mud

This is mud. .

We seem to have a lot of it lately. It seems the drought is finally history.
This is a look at our "Driveway" into the trailer the other day. It was kinda slick. It has poured down rain several times since then. We plan on doing some work out there this weekend that will require moving some heavy supplies in there. Since our 4x4 is out of the picture for now, we will need to somehow get in there with a trailer and a normal automobile.

Here is a look at One of The Fuzz's attempts to improve this situation. Note, at the arrow, the large chunks of cement that he has filled in this mud hole with. We used a variation of this system at the house, and it was quite effective there. But that was a small thing in comparison to this "Driveway" which at this point is a muddy trail in the woods. This made for an interesting ride on The Fuzz's motorcycle the other day. Of course, we could simply have numerous loads of gravel brought in, but that would require numerous dollars which are needed elsewhere. But "They" claim the rain will stop soon. If we are lucky, the road may dry out enough by the weekend and we won't have to hand carry all that stuff in.

Still Raining

A rainy morning

It was a rainy morning here. The Weather Service got it right this time. The Fuzz took Young Daughter out to the Waffle House for breakfast. It was still raining. When they came home, the dog pissed on the floor. It was still raining. Latter The Fuzz discovered this same dog in the "Dog Box" chewing Young Daughter's gum. It was still raining. They are calling for rain tomorrow. I wonder if this means the drought is over. It is still raining.

Rain

It's been dry here, but just lately we've gotten a bit of much needed Rain. When The Fuzz finally got up this morning, he found this stuff in the wheelbarrow.
A couple nights ago, whilst The Fuzz was out of town at the Home of a Famous University, the home place received almost an inch of that good stuff.
But last night, as the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled, we were blessed with almost 2in of that rain so necessary for the Garden and Well.
You will note the high level of water in this Spiffy Rain Gauge, Yankee Sister sent. The red tape about halfway up is at 1in. The arrow shows where we're at here. Much more and it would be off the scale. This is Good.
And since we're on the subject of moisture now, The Fuzz would like to share these dewdrops he found out there one morning. After all, this blog is about the "little things of daily life".

Floating Again

With all this nice summer weather, it was time to break out the old Canoe. So The Fuzz loaded it onto that wonderful little truck and we headed of to the river.

The river is dammed up in this place, so it's really a sort of lake here. Last year The Fuzz and His Sweetie were down here and found this Creek running into the lake.
We paddled up it about as far as we could get and came here. This is the same place we found last year.

This time we were joined by Young Daughter who you can see enjoying this Spring Fed Swimming Hole.

It's kinda funny, the creek is so shallow here, but then, here is this nice deep Swimming Hole.

The Fuzz's Sweetie did some painting, we all did some swimming, and then had our picnic lunch.

We saw several of these Bird Houses near the mouth of the creek, but nobody seemed to be home.

The water was surprisingly high, considering how dry it's been lately. But I'm happy to say that we got about 1/4in of rain last night.

I know this because I looked in the Rain Gage that The Fuzz's Yankee Sister sent him. He used to have one before, but it froze and busted. I guess it was a better rain gage than an ice gage. But this new one works great, of course it only works when it rains.

The Fuzz just reminded me, that it works equally well when it doesn't rain. I guess he's right, now that I think about it.