Gardening Catch Up

So what has The Fuzz been up to now that he is no longer a productive member of society?
Digging Taters!
Monday morning he was over at the Old Place.  Things had grown up a bit since everyone was out at the beach.  The Tater vines had died back, and it was time to see whether they had done any good. 

It was already hot, even early like this.  But there was nothing for it, but to grab the turning fork, and go to work.

Here's a look at what he dug up.

Some were good sized, some less so.  And there were those tiny ones as well.  But they go great in stew.  And of course New Taters taste so good.

But there was still the Okra to deal with.  It needed to be thinned badly.  And was over run with weeds.  He ran out of time on that one, and had to go back this morning, to finish the job.

But Our Fuzz was up to the task.  Now that's a nice stand of Okra.

When he finished with that, he went to work cutting the grass, which had not taken a vacation just because he had.

And here is a look at the old garden now.  On the left is bare ground!  (This is where the Taters were.)  Next is a row of Leeks.  (There are some out at the trailer also.)  And on the right, those 4 rows of Okra.  The unkept area in the foreground is an untamable patch of Mint.

The Fuzz is hoping tomorrow might be a bit more laid back.  After all, he is retired now.

Blueberries

Well, it appears that The Fuzz's latest Mystery Pix wasn't much of a mystery to Woodie.  But that's OK.

It was many years ago that The Fuzz and His Sweetie planted some Blueberry plants out here in the woods.  But time and the forest had their way with them, and The Fuzz had written it off as a good idea, that just didn't make it.

But then, while we were preparing to make our  Big Move, The Fuzz's Sweetie found them once more.  Amazingly they had not only survived, but spread!

 This year they are loaded with the tasty little berries.

The Fuzz and his Sweetie picked a bunch when they got back from the beach.

   This is the first week that Our Fuzz is no longer on the job with the sanitation department in over 33 years.

(Actually that would be last week, but Beach Weeks don't count!)

So far he has been staying busy.  This morning he went over to the Old Place for a bit of gardening.  It looks like more of the same for tomorrow.

On the other hand, he has been home with His Sweetie eating watermelon this afternoon.

More Beach Stuff!

Last time we saw how a train could interfere with a Beach Trip. But there are more potential hold ups than that.
Here's another.

In this shot, it's closed. But of course, that is not always the case. In fact as we approached The Island, it was open, which means a long line of automobiles, and a long wait. There is another bridge, but it is on the other end of The Island. This is not a long bridge, but since our car is not amphibious, we opted to wait. We finally made it across, and out to the Beach House, where the rest of the family was already enjoying their Beach Experience.

One of the "Boys" found this thing, whatever it is.

Here's a look at some of the Beach Houses from the marsh area out in the Sound. The Fuzz likes to paddle around over there in the canoe. This time he had his camera.
The real beach is on the other side of the Island. It's just a short walk to the wind and surf, but The Fuzz spends more time over here.

Gone To The Beach

It was time for our annual Beach Trip.
For the last few years the family has gathered together for a week at the beach.

So how does a train fit into all this? Well, this is the train that blocked our route, in route, to this exciting event. This one was apparently on the siding waiting for another to pass. Unfortunately, the result of this business was that this road was blocked, for a long time. This was a bit frustrating as the road we were trying to get to was only about 1/4 mile ahead. Eventually, some local folks directed us on a bit of a detour which got us where we needed to go, although it was a few miles out of the way.
But we finally made it out to the coast.
Here is a shot of the sunrise over the town of Topsail Beach, from across the sound, courtesy of The Fuzz himself.

The Bark Is Back

With so many off to that Tropical Paradise, it was time for that Barkley Dog to make another visit. He does seem to miss His People, but he is coping. He is used to taking frequent runs with his Master, but unfortunately for him, The Fuzz is not up to that. They have made it out for a few walks though.

They missed a couple of days there, when The Fuzz was laid up, but he and Young Daughter took that Barkley and their own Stupid, Disobedient Dog for a nice long walk up the road to the grocery store this morning.

Along the way they saw a pile of "Deer Corn" someone had dropped off of their truck. I don't even know why I mentioned that here, but it was one of those "Little Things" you don't see every day. On the way home, they noticed that someone had scooped up what they could. I suppose the squirrels will try and eat the rest, and probably end up as more Roadkill.
Here you can see Barkley with one of his Favorite Toys,"Squeezzel". I don't know if that's it's real name, but The Fuzz calls it "Squeezzel" so I will too. Barkley loves you to throw Squeezzel and he's pretty good at catching it, so The Fuzz usually throws it a few times as he passes though the yard on his way to bigger and better things.

Sunrise at Topsail Island

Whilst on a Vacation, one might expect to "Sleep In" most mornings.

Well, that was not the case with The Fuzz this time.
One can "Sleep In" on a day off at home.

This morning, The Fuzz and His Sweetie took a walk over on the Beach to enjoy the Sunrise.

His Sweetie is from the West Coast, and still finds a Sunrise over the sea a bit unusual.
But here is the proof, it happens.
The Sunrise was Beautiful, but even better with Her in the Picture.

Home Again

Well, we made it back safe and sound.
And had a great time.

Complications in Travel

It's a tale of fun,
In the surf and the sun.
There's no reason to grieve,
Even though we must leave,
So it's homeward at last,
This vacation is past.

Last year as we left our Beach Experience, Troubles arose. This year, they actually arose the evening before the exodus.
You may notice the size of the load which has been placed on this puny rack on my puny truck. It should be noted that this rack was hastily constructed for the purpose of carrying only a Kayak. The Fuzz must take responsibility for this. That seems to be what people do these days when there is trouble. Maybe he could refer to this as an "error in judgment" or something. In reality it is more like a bungle. This rack was actually constructed quite flimsily on the foolish assumption that it would not be under much stress. This is actually rather uncharacteristic of The Fuzz who has historically overbuilt everything. It may have something to do with the "Downsizing" of his Truck to this tiny Oriental Thing, and the desire to travel "Light".
Be that as it may, on the evening before the exodus, a Heavy Duty Son, decided in his youthful exuberance, to use this Light Duty Rack, for what may be referred to as "playground equipment", with some disquieting results. You may notice that this inferior weld in this inferior design has failed. This is not a good thing. This has happened many, many miles from the Home Base. While these things were transpiring, The Fuzz was blissfully unaware, peacefully laying in the air conditioned beach house reading "The Brothers Karamazov" (which is pretty good if you have the time). There, he was approached with the words, "We have a mechanical problem". This might not have been entirely accurate, but it was a problem nevertheless.
There is, I suppose, some advantage to not knowing about your problems in advance. The Fuzz would probably not have enjoyed this seaside excursion so much, knowing he would have to drive hundreds of miles beneath a canoe which could fall off the truck at any moment. This was a mercy.
So the canoe and kayak were gently placed on the now somewhat unstable rack. Then, The Fuzz, with the assistance of the Sons, strapped it all together, very tightly. Those straps with the ratchet things on them work very well. The Fuzz highly recommends them for times like this. The theory was, the canoe and kayak would keep the rack from collapsing on it self, and some other straps would keep it from falling apart. It was The Fuzz's Sweetie that recommended lashing the paddle to the rack in the hope that if it did come loose, it would at least stay in the truck.
And so, the next morning the rest of the stuff was loaded, and the trip began.
The first leg was over secondary two lane type roads. This was good because of the low speeds, but there were a lot of bumps. By the time he got to the Interstate, The Fuzz noticed that the canoe seemed to be moving around more than he liked, so he pulled over.
Things were beginning to get interesting now. The Fuzz discovered to his dismay, not one, but three defective welds. This is 3 out of 4, not good at all. This seemed to be some sort of "domino effect" due to the extra strain. Back into his bag of tricks. This was a little army surplus pack crammed with straps, ropes and stuff like that. The Fuzz highly recommends carrying these sort of things on trips, when it is inconvenient to bring a welder.
Now the strapping, tying, cussing and praying began in ernest. The State Troopers stopped to see if things were all right. They left on the assurance that there were no mechanical difficulties. They probably would not have been happy with the condition of the load. The end result was an incredible web of strapping and ropes, that fortunately held up the whole way home.

And so, the Beach trip is over for another year. Once again the Return Trip was a bit traumatic for The Fuzz. But once again all is well. It's all just the grace of God.

At the Seaside

Well yes, been gone for a while. It was for a good reason though. You see, we had to take this trip. Yes it was the Second Annual Family Beach Trip. Here you can see The Fuzz, himself, on the road again. The Fuzz did not take this photo himself. He had help. He is not able to be in two places at one time, he is just not fast enough.

You may notice that the Little Truck has a big load. This will be the cause of sort of a problem at a later time, but, we won't get into that right now. Last year, the Kayak rode on the Little Truck by itself. But as this Kayak is a "Personal Water-craft" in the fullest sense, only one person can "water-craft" in it at a time. So, not wanting anyone to miss out on the enjoyment of simply messing about, The Fuzz loaded up the big stuff. This was a good move (except for that problem that turned up later).
So there we were on the N.C. Coast, on one of those Big Sandbars they refer to as islands. The place we stayed at was on the Sound side of the Big Sandbar. This means that we had to walk a couple hundred yards to the actual "Beach". It also means that we had access to our own pier and swimming beach, on the relatively quiet, Sound.
Having the canoe, The Fuzz was able to take His Sweetie out across the Sound to where all these weedy things were. When the Tide is out, this is mostly mud with a few channels, and a bunch of birds with long legs and necks hanging around. When the Tide is in, this is a maze of channels though the weeds with a bunch of the same birds. There are also fish and stuff swimming around in there. The Fuzz really likes poking around in places like this. This is looking back toward the Sandbar where we were staying.
Across this muck was the Intercostal Waterway. The Fuzz and His Sweetie paddled their little canoe across to have a look. This boat passed by as they floated there amongst the weeds. It even has Spare Boats on it. Shoot, the Spare Boats are bigger than The Fuzz's canoe.
The Fuzz and His Sweetie had a pleasant morning out there, messing about, one of many pleasant times.