In Context

Exhibit "A"

So what are we looking at here?

No, it's not one of those "Mystery Pix" that turn up here at Kinda Fuzzy from time to time.

It's actually a shot of a tree stump next to the back porch of the trailer out here in the woods.

Here it is shown in a bit more context.

Ok...

So, The Fuzz admits that the pix "A" is really not so much about the stump itself, but the Fungus.

Or is that Fungi?

Whatever.

But one does have to admit that without said stump, there would be no Fungus!

(Or Fungi- if that's what it is)

And so it really is a pix of the stump.

It's just camouflaged!

On the Ground

Both of our loyal readers will remember how The Fuzz and His Sweetie rely on the old woodstove to stay toasty this time of year.

Well that "P-Factor" is a factor here as well.

One of the neighbors out here in the woods had given Our Fuzz a dead oak tree.

But the thing was, it was down in the woods-

and still standing.

And this is where that "P-Factor" came into play again.

There were a few smaller ones nearby, but The Fuzz had already gotten to them.  He would finally have to face the big one.

He still doesn't know why he had put this off like this.  Really, he has handled bigger ones before- some really big!

Maybe he's just getting old-

But then...

It's probably just Laziness- and that "P-Factor".

But not even The Fuzz wants to spend the winter freezing his tush off.

It was one of those trees where the saw won't quite reach all the way through.  But that doesn't have to be a problem for an experienced wood cutter like Our Fuzz.

It turned out that the tree fell right where it was planned.

There is a sort of a road down into these woods.

But there is one kinda wet spot.

These blocks are bigger than they look in these pix and will have to be split up of course.  And the best way to handle this is naturally with power tools*.  But there is no way The Fuzz wants to pull that heavy splitter down here with that little Accord.

At this point the plan is to wait a couple more days, and hope that the "road" dries out enough to get in-

and out-

with the trailer.

The splitting will be done at his own woodlot-

with Power Tools.

*The Fuzz actually took a shot at splitting this stuff Old School with a maul.  It wasn't going all that well.  And besides- that's why they make power tools anyway.

A Bit of Plumbing

It was previously mentioned that The Fuzz & His Sweetie were involved in a bit of Granddaughter Duty not long ago.

This involved some time spent away from their Home in the Woods, in town.

While there, They offered to replace a kitchen faucet that, while functional, was not, shall we say- in pristine condition.

Once it was ascertained that this would be agreeable to all concerned, (it's a guy thing) The Fuzz and their hostess slipped over to that Infamous Home Improvement Store;

(There seems to be one in every town!)

...And a replacement was procured.

The next step was to get under the kitchen sink-

which is never much fun.

But once everything was out of the way, things went surprisingly well.

The tools were gotten out-

And really, when it comes down to it, it's largely a matter of having the right tools.

You might notice that The Fuzz's shirt is just a wee bit damp in this picture.  But really that is nothing compared to what can happen if one is foolish enough to tear into these things.

And here is a look at the new faucet.

Of course it took a couple of days to realize that the reason the dishwasher wasn't working right was because The Fuzz had inadvertently turned off the valve to it!

But then-

All's well, that ends well.

Right?

The "P" Factor

Ah yes- that "P" Factor!

So just what is this?

It's the reason The Fuzz has not been heard from for 20 days.

Otherwise know as Procrastination.

The Fuzz is an expert at this, having been an active* procrastinator for years now.  In fact he has become rather adept at this useful skill.

Of course there is a down side to this.

Procrastinations seem to pile up after a while until the pile is a bit hard to even see past.

Well, The Fuzz and His Sweetie have been kinda busy, in a way;

But that is no excuse.

Anyhow...

Previously The Fuzz mentioned something about things getting back to normal.  Well what is "normal" anyway?

In this case it turned out to be looking out after a grandchild whilst her usual caregiver was out of town.

(actually out of the country)

It's not that they have no experience in this matter, but it has been a few years since they were dealing with a Sweet Little 2 Year Old!

But all in all, they were glad to have the opportunity for some of that "quality time" again.

But getting back to the woods and "normal" it was time for The Fuzz to get back onto the project he had started.

He had picked up the motor for the table saw from the Electrical Motor Doctor and actually gotten the thing put back together.

Other more pressing matters (such as working up a bit of firewood!) had been taken care of, and The Fuzz felt the itch to get out into the shop again.

He had fun playing with his toys-

and even made a slight improvement to the design.

And here's a look at the new arrangement.

It seems to have turned out rather well.

Now the rest is up to His Sweetie.

*as if this word can be applied to the phenomenom!

Fun Pix

Just a couple of fun pix here...

And...

Getting Back to "Normal"

Getting Back to "Normal"

And just what is this "normal" stuff anyway?

I believe it was Junie B. Jones☺︎ who once said-

"Nobody in my family is normal."

Be that as it may, with the bathroom fully functional, it is time for The Fuzz to move on to other things.

And of course there is no shortage of other things.

Today, it seems that indoor things would be appropriate.

Even the Kitties agree.

The Fuzz's Sweetie saw an idea for mounting various bits of art on the wall and The Fuzz thought it was something he could handle.

In fact he had already done something like this-

although on a smaller scale.

To do it right, he would want to use the table saw of course.

But now there appeared to be a problem.

Whilst he was cutting a few chunks of firewood into smaller boards the other day, the saw quit.

(Well actually, it wouldn't start back up after he had shut it off)

It would just buzz and act like it wasn't getting enough power.
And there was that disquieting bit of smoke.

The Fuzz quickly determined that there was nothing wrong with the blade and bearings.

The trouble was the motor.

Bummer.

So it was time to take the thing apart.

In this first shot, the motor has already been removed.

But of course even that turned into a bit of a project.

In order to do this the drive pulley needed to be removed.

So he backed off on the set screw.

Unfortunately, the pulley still did not want to slip off of the shaft.

Step 2

So he got a rubber mallet and tried tapping on the shaft to loosen it.

Step 3

Tapping while while prying on the pulley.

(Which didn't work either)

Step 4

It was time to get out the gear puller.

Or what was left of it.

The Fuzz has this tendency to pick up cheap tools at- for example, Big Lots.

Sometimes this works out...

And sometimes not.

And...

The Fuzz has a tendency to push these cheap tools just a little too hard.

And that was what had happened to the gear puller.

If one closely examines this pix, one will see that the shaft of this precision tool is just a little bent!

This does make it a bit more difficult to use.

 But in this case ti did the trick-

The pulley was pulled-

And the motor is at the Electric Motor Doctor's.

The Fuzz should probably be using this time to clean up the mess in the shop.

But instead he is playing around here on the computer!

Well, there'll be time enough for that later.

Bathroom Update

The Fuzz is pleased to report

That the tile and baseboards are in.

And the Brand New Shower is hooked up and ready.

It has been one of those projects that grew a little as it went along.

At first the idea was simply to replace the bathtub.

But it was decided that a walk-in shower would be a better arrangement.

And since that would be a different size, a new wall would need to be framed in.

And then there was a matter of raising the floor just a bit as well to accommodate the drain.

Then-

since a few tiles would need to be added to fill in a gap-

It might be a good time to replace those stick-on vinyl ones with some real tiles. 

And that was a project in itself.

But all that is behind The Fuzz now.

All that remains is a new shower curtain and then-

a nice hot shower!

Back to Work

Longtime followers of Kinda Fuzzy may remember the Bathroom Project.

Well...

That one is still in progress.

At the last report The Fuzz was about to tackle the floor.

And while the Project is still in progress-

The tile is down!

Here's a look by the new shower.

As can be seen there is still a lot of work ahead.

He needs to work up some baseboards.

And...

Get the commode back in!

Fortunately there is another bathroom in the trailer,

so The Fuzz and His Sweetie haven't had to "hold it" all this time.

But with this tile down and grouted they should have the "can" back on line very soon-

Like Tomorrow!

Back to Normal Life

Well The Fuzz hasn't been too active here since returning from his Motorcycle Trip.

But life does go on.

There was plenty to do around the Home Place.

And then there was a Family Camping Trip to Jordan Lake.

From time to time those who can make it, like to meet up for a day or two of camping and some time together.

For many years The Fuzz worked collecting trash and of course "trash" often included some pretty good stuff.

One of the finds was this 15" cast iron skillet.

For many years it was just stashed away-

One of those things that's just too good to get rid of-

But there is really no use for it at the time.

It's not the sort of thing one would backpack with, and it's a bit too big to use on the kitchen stove!

But a Family Campout is another matter.

So The Fuzz got it out and gave it to the folks who usually are organizing these affairs.

And what better way to cure an iron skillet than a couple of pounds of bacon!

The Lake was beautiful this time of year.

The leaves were starting to turn.

And it wasn't too cold for Our Fuzz to get out in his Kayak!

The weather was perfect-

The rain didn't move in till everyone was packed up and on the way home.

For now it's time to get settled in for the winter ahead and the coming Holidays.

The Rest of Boat Works Stuff

When we left off last time, the centerboard had made it into the boat, but was propped up by a timber.

This of course would not do for the long term-

or even the short term.

(The need to get back on the trailer)

It was necessary to provide a way to raise, or lower the thing as needed.

So a Temporary Winch Arrangement was provided.

This would serve while the rest of the work on the boat continued.

This pix shows what was finally put together.

But several earlier attempts were not as successful due to the weight of this massive piece of steel.

This winch is what will be used when finished, but probably not in this exact set up.

The final arrangements will be made as the boat is finished up.

But this will work for now.

All that was left now was to get her back onto the trailer.

This of course was the reverse process of taking her off.

And eventually accomplished.

The Fuzz would like to thank everyone involved, for letting him observe.

He does have a bit of interest in the subject.

Who knows?

Perhaps someday he may be involved in these things himself-

But probably not on this scale!

More Boat Works Stuff

We left our last post with the Boat Guys breaking for beer and burgers.

But now it was another day, with a big job ahead.

Cinderella had to get off her trailer somehow.

But these guys had a plan.

The plan involved supporting her with "Poppets"-

And a lot of patience.

(An example of a Poppet)

The  patience comes in because these nifty little stands will need to be placed between the cross members on the trailer;

Which means, that the trailer can only be moved as far as the next cross member.

At which point...

The whole thing must be let back down...

And the poppets moved back to the next section.

The process is repeated until the trailer can be pulled clear.

Now it was time to get to the centerboard-

which was the reason for all of this!

A template had been made;

And now it was used to determine exactly where the hole for the mounting pin needed to be drilled.

Everything had to be lined up perfectly and drilled through the solid oak keel.

The pin for the centerboard had been specially made with a flange to help secure it.

It needed to be inset into the keel.

Meanwhile, another hole had been dug for the centerboard.

Now the centerboard was raised into position in the centerboard trunk.

(Note the 2x6 being used to lever the 3/4 thick solid steel centerboard into place- that thing was heavy!)

Then the pin was installed, and the centerboard raised and propped up with a timber.

So far- so good!

But this post is getting a bit long-

Maybe it's best to break off for now.

To be continued....

At the Boat Works

It was getting to be time for The Fuzz to leave the coast.  After all, there were plenty of projects waiting for him back in the woods.

Checking the weather predictions, The Fuzz saw one day of good weather, and then rain ahead.

So he strapped his pack back on the bike and headed inland.

The Fuzz was fortunate to be able to break up the trip again with an overnight stop with family at Durham.

But this time there was a lot going on in the Boatyard.

When he got there, he found work in progress on Cinderella.

A friend had driven down from Michigan to help install the centerboard in her.

This would be a major undertaking since the boat would need to be removed from the trailer to do it.

And as Cinderella is considerably larger than your average sailboard, this was not a simple matter.

But the first job involved installing the rudder.

This also needed to be done from below.

But the boat could not be safely raised high enough, so a little extra space was created.

If you look closely, you will notice how the rudder is setting in a small hole.

This worked out fine.

Here's a look at the bottom end of the shaft.

The metal piece needed to be 

precisely lined up and fitted to the keel.  Here you can see it clamped into place before drilling for mounting

 holes.

And mounted.

Later these bolts will be replaced with something more saltwater friendly.

One more pix with the rest of the rudder attached.

This part can swing up, which is a handy feature in North Carolina's shallow waters.

Next time, The Fuzz will address the rest of the project;

Somehow getting 2½ tons of boat off of a trailer-

without leaving the boat shed!