Spool & Cord Gears

This is a pretty cool gadget. You can rearrange the spools wherever you want them on the pegboard, and there actually is a double drive gear (the small black thing behind the red spool). DS8 is laboring hard to turn the crank and get everything moving. He did it!

Racecar for Two

One's a wild driver, and the other looks less than thrilled to be there ;-)

L'il Racecar Driver

Every young man should have a GREEN racecar, right? OK, he won't get far...but it was fun pretending, and playing "pit crew".

More License Plate Art

Two sports cars created entirely from license plates. They were more monochromatic (or is that monostate-ic) than the US maps I posted yesterday, but cool nonetheless.

License Plate Art

These US maps are made from old license plates, with each state being cut to the proper shape from a plate from that state. Even Hawaii makes it into the picture (lefthand photo bottom lefthand corner) with the islands showing the letters to spell "Aloha St."

Happy Pi Day!

A party isn't complete without decorations!

Chique Pot Pie from vegweb.com http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=14660.0

Even the salad looked like pie :-) And then there's this dessert concoction...PMS Pie. Nobody in our house has PMS but the pie was good anyway! http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=25721.0

Blue Skies, Smiling at Me....

I just can't resist an incredibly blue sky photo!

Maple Tree Knothole

Proof Positive...

that the fire burns! Every time I stick my nose outdoors (which seems quite often, for some reason ;-) I savor the sweet smoke that wafts over my yard.

It Only Takes a Spark....

To get a fire going....

Gathering Kindling

Breaking sticks for kindling...

Woodpile for the first fire...

Loading the fireplace. Ready, set, cook!

A Little Bubbly, Anyone?

Mmmmmm, sweet bubbles. Now, somebody light the fire!

Sapsicle, Anyone?

Mmmmm, frozen sap in natural popsicle form ;-) She said it was good!

Icy Sap

That sap freezes in the buckets overnight...here it's being filtered to screen debris and the ice is caught on the screen as well.

First Sap Collected!

On the left, you can see the first day's haul...20 gallons. On the right is just one tree, and you can see that the bucket is already partially full and it hadn't even started flowing yet in the morning! As it warmed up, I could see the sap dripping into the top jug all the way from in my house.

How'd He Do That?

This squirrel appears to be growing right out of the tree!

But, this proves that he really wasn't...and there's no hole in the tree nor is there a branch for him to perch on. He just suspended himself, for no apparent reason ;-)

Looking Rather Pathetic...

Wouldn't you say?

Even the tail over the head wasn't keeping off the chill that day!