April Family Dinner

After a not-so-quick stop at Liming's, The Fuzz and His Sweetie headed back to the Family Gathering.

There are often a few "refreshments" at these times.  

And these sketches seem to have caught this young'un's attention.  But The Fuzz sticks mostly to a camera on these occasions.

As the afternoon passed, it was time for a fire, and some dinner.

And as night fell,

a dip in the hot tub!

Everyone had a great time, and many thanks to the hosts.

A Stop at Liming's

After the birthday party, The Fuzz and his Sweetie dropped off their passengers, and headed to Liming's Globalmart to restock.  Some things, one just can't find very easily back in the woods.

The Fuzz gets off on reading the weird labels one finds in these places.

Actually, the stuff might be quite tasty.

Then, it was time to head to our Monthly Family Gathering.

No GMO

No GMO !

No MSG !

That's the kind of label

That we like to see

Just a plug here for health food-

or at least a chance to choose it.

ALS Walk

This past weekend The Fuzz and family participated in the Walk to Defeat ALS.  The Fuzz's Brother is unfortunately a victim of this awful decease.

The festivities started with some music and a bit of dancing.

There was quite a crowd there.

The walk made a circuit downtown, around the State Capital, and then back to the starting place.

Then it was back to His Brother's place, to celebrate His Birthday with snacks and beer.

More Signs of Spring

Out here in the woods, we are just a bit behind town spring wise.  But the Dogwoods are beginning to bloom.

The Fuzz is fond of these little guys.

And in another sign of things to come,

The Fuzz had to get out the ol' lawnmower today!

No Shade

The weather is finally getting warm here.  This is a kinda awkward time of Spring for us.  The sun is out and quite warm, but since there are no leaves as yet on the trees- there is no shade !

These Dafidills are on the way out.

But now we have a Tulip to make up for it.

Back to It

Well it has been a while since The Fuzz and His Sweetie started this project.  But things come up.  And weather is a factor in these things as well.  Of course there has been some progress.  In fact the whole back side- which was the worst & leakiest, was finished before the holidays.  But now it was time to get back to work.

The back side had been done by overlapping shorter pieces.  But the remaining area could be done with single 12ft pieces.  This would certainly simplify things.  And the tin would still not be too long for the Increasingly Decrepit Fuzz to handle.
But there always seem to be surprises on these jobs.

The Fuzz intended the tin to overlap an older tin roof that was over the porch.  But with the change in the pitch of the roof, the new tin could not lay flat.  Forcing it down too far would buckle it, which was not part of the plan.

Our Resourceful Fuzz determined that by adding a second 1x3 layer, while there would still be a bit of bow, the tin could still be screwed down securely.  Fortunately there were enough strips on hand to accomplish this.

And so with a little help from His Sweetie, the first phase was completed, and they headed back to the woods.

Knowing that it could get complicated, The Fuzz was allowing the whole next day to do the work around the chimney pipe.  Rather than attempting to cut a perfect hole in a long piece of tin, and try to slip it down over the pipe, The Fuzz decided to piece this area.

First two pieces (since the pipe was located at a joint) were cut to fit around the bottom side.  Then, again after careful measurements, two more were cut to fit the top side, overlapping the lower two.  With His Sweetie's help these were positioned and screwed down securely.
The Fuzz regrets that there are no pix of this to post.  In the middle of these complicated things, the camera is sometimes forgotten!

And here is how things stand at the moment.
It may be wondered how a roofing project can be stretched out over so long a time period without disastrous results.  But it must be remembered that the original shingle roof (what was left of it) was left intact throughout this process.
The Fuzz and His Sweetie are hoping that one more day should finally finish this job up.

The Little Tease

It may seem that life could get kinda boring out here in the woods.  But the truth is, there is always something going on.

Here's one of the many kitties that are often seen around here.  So what to do when one is tired of chasing birds?

Squirrels, of course !

This requires a lot of patience.

This went on for quite a while.  The Fuzz had plenty of time to get his camera out.  He thinks Kitty must have more patience than he does !

Finally, the little scamp has decided to come down.

What is he, crazy ?

What ?

Why that little *@#% !

It was all a trick !

Again ?

Oh no

Oh no

More ice and snow

Yet it is winter's time to go

The sun shined bright a day ago

But clouds are back the temp is low

It's true it's so

This tale of woe

Again it's time for ice and snow

Signs of Spring 3-20-14

Yes, despite the snow and ice storms,

Spring is

Actually Here !

And so The Fuzz presents actual, photographical Proof !

These are a few shots The Fuzz caught at the

Old Place last week.

Day in the Real BIg City

With the furry little kitty safely delivered at the Kitty Klinic, and coffee and donuts in the tummies, The Fuzz and His Sweetie continued on into the Real Big City.

(Kinda looks like it's collapsing on itself)

The first stop was, of course, the Goodwill Outlet Store.  They found a few cool things there, and the price is always right.

Then it was over to Luna's Living Kitchen (recommended by a schoolteacher) for an unusual lunch.

"Gaia's Treasure" for His Sweetie

And for The Fuzz, "Lunasagna".

The weather was pretty nice.  So after lunch, they had a glass of wine and watched the Blue Line light rail pass by a few times.

With a bit of time to kill, they moseyed around a bit and stumbled into the Savory Spice Shop.  It was a trap.  They didn't leave empty handed.

Although it was still a bit early, they decided to clear out before they got sucked into any place else.  Then it was back to the Sorta Big City to rescue the kitty, and head back to the woods.  And so arrived home safe and sound.

Day in the Sorta Big City

It is no secret that there are a lot of cats out here in the woods.  One might even say too many cats!  In an effort to get things under a bit of control, The Fuzz's Sweetie made arrangements for one more of the potential mama kitties to visit a clinic.  This clinic was in a neighboring Sorta Big City.
After making the early morning drop off, The Fuzz and His Sweetie headed for a coffee house they had visited on a previous expedition- only to find new hours posted.

But Our Fuzz had a Plan B.  He had gone on line previously, searching for coffee shops in the area.  And there were supposed to be 2 more, located just around the corner!  But when the corner was turned there were no coffee shops there.  But there was this interesting building.  
So while The Fuzz was off questioning a police officer about coffee shops (figuring he would know) His Sweetie took the opportunity to make a few sketches of the cool architecture.
They ended up at a Dunkin' Donuts !
But since they would have to wait all day to take their little kitty home, The Fuzz and His Sweetie moved on to their next adventure, the real Big City.

Firewood, Still

It ain't that The Fuzz has been so busy or anything.  Let's just admit it, he has been slack.  There have been some things going on, like Birthday Parties, wood cutting and crummy weather, etc.  But just so everyone knows, he is still living.
Over the weekend He and His Sweetie cut up a tree over at the neighbor's place.  The old wood pile has been a little low lately. But it is looking a bit better now.
The most urgent need was over at the Old Place.  It has been mentioned that they do spend one day/night a week over there- to maintain what is left of their sanity.  And at this time of year that means a fire.  And "a fire" means Firewood!
Well, the stash was getting kinda low over there.  It takes a lot to heat up the old drafty house.  So The Fuzz and His Sweetie loaded up the trailer and made a delivery.

Now things are looking a bit better.

And it shouldn't be long till this is no longer necessary.  Spring is on the way!

A Place to Sit

So, what's the story here?

At the Old Place, the living room seating was a built-in "couch" of sorts that ran along two walls.  It served a large family well, in fact it is still used when someone is at the Old Place.  But, when The Fuzz and His Sweetie made their move to the woods, it had to be left behind.
There was a "sofa" of sorts in one of the back rooms.  It had the added benefit of folding down to make a bed.  But it was really a cheap piece of junk, and quite uncomfortable when it came down to it.  So The Fuzz and His Sweetie decided to find a replacement.
Whilst in town the other day, they popped into a couple of Thrift Stores without any success.  Then His Sweetie suggested they try a localmultimerchandizer*.  The Fuzz had been to the Norris Merchandise in the past for work clothes, and he and His Sweetie once found a good deal on a coffee table there.
Well, it turned out that they had lots of new couches there, nice couches.
They found this one.  There was plenty of room for everyone!  

But Our Home in the Woods is actually only a trailer.  Would it fit?  Careful measurements were taken, to be compared to the actual space available.  It turns out that no, it wouldn't.
But by then it was only a matter of curiosity.  For Our Fuzz and His Sweetie had found this one!

And they deliver!

It was a tight squeeze getting it in.  The Fuzz had to take the sliding glass door out.  But the Two Stout Fellows from the store managed it.
So here we are, genuine leather and all.  And it sits so nice.


*There must still be a few drops of that old Germanic blood left in Our Fuzz!