Olympians amongst us

Hurricane Fay hit both Clemson and our humble hamlet hard -- Woody and I returned home on Tuesday night to find our kitchen, dining room and living room floors soaked from leaks. Once again Brian came to the rescue, racing down from Spartanburg with tarp and Petzl head lamp in tow. Woody and Brian scaled the house in the rain in the dark to put up our roof Band Aid. "I think we would win the Stupid People Olympics with this one," said Brian. Here they are competing in the Team Tarping event:

Brian on the roof

Woody on the roof

The result of their handiwork:

This is particularly wonderful because it eliminates the need for window treatments in our home. As you can see, we now have gray tarp sconces. These are all the rage in Dubai, I hear. One day maybe Brian will be able to come to our home and keep his feet on the ground the entire time. When this was mentioned, he replied "But what fun would that be?"

We have moved on up to cabin camping!

Woody had two goals yesterday:

1. To brush his teeth at a bathroom sink.
2. To see Death Race.

We accomplished both!  But will only discuss one here.  Behold our bathroom vanity and sink!!

We can now do insanely convenient things like stand and engage in our evening toilette, rather than squat over the bath tub.  We also have mucho storage space:

You might notice that there are no doors or drawers yet.  This is because I spent much of yesterday morning fighting with the washer at the local laundromat (Speedy Washerette -- give me my $2.50!!!!!) and cleaning under my nails with folded-up copies of the fine Jehovah's Witness publication The Watchtower.   

Camera shy

Woody and Mady are equally fond of having their picture taken, in fact it is perhaps the only thing that will make them sprint (other than cheese -- who doesn't sprint for cheese?):

When they finally tuckered out on the front porch, I captured one of the cuter man with his dog pictures ever.  

Woody is wearing his brand new coveralls, I wanted him to unzip them down to his bellybutton for a more 70s disco vibe but he was strangely not into this idea.

Pics from Ginger!

Ginger did a much better job capturing the high altitude moments of Manapalooza, take a look!


Also pictured here is the illusive Whoolery (the flurry of arbor destruction in the green t-shirt):

MANAPALOOZA!

A smog of testosterone and saw dust lay over 517 O'Neal yesterday as Brian scaled the unruly and decrepit trees in our yard to lop off some giant limbs. Woody and Jamie watched with contented and mildly delirious grins on their faces as Brian revved up one of his (numerous) chainsaws and waled on some oaks. I did not witness any chest beating, but it may have happened when Ginger and I were on one of our two trips to the hardware store. (The first to get a new chain for the chainsaw, the second to get an outdoor faucet to replace the one a mighty limb sheared off.)

Some before and after pics:

BEFORE

AFTER (note no large branches menacing our roof):

Trees in the back and on the side of the house were also tamed by Brian. (More pics of Brian in the treetops will be posted once I get some images from Ginger). In the backyard, HUGE parts of the oak came down:

Here is Brian chainsawing the limbs into luggable pieces:
Ginger had to coax Woody into working:


And then had to show him how to move limbs:
Where is Jamie you may ask? He is moving some of the most hulking massive logs you ever did see, much larger than these twigs Woody and Brian are piddling with here:

Behold the power of propane!!!

We got a new BB..er, Woody says I have to call it a grill. BBQ, I am told, is a method of cooking over low heat in which smoke penetrates the food. Grilling, says the Guru of Pig, is hot cooking over direct fire (akin to broiling). Both can involve aprons though. And bad puns (i.e., Woody's competitive BBQ nemeses "Silence of the Hams" "Butt Rub" "Butts and Breasts" and "Red White and 'Cue").

Since the grill represents the entirety of cooking appliances "in" our kitchen, we decided to purchase one that had less rust and more burners. Introducing the Char Broil Commercial grill, complete with Consumer Reports seal of approval:


The first meal cooked on the fine Char Broil was New York strip steaks, baked potatoes and a salad with blue cheese (as if that needs to be said).


The results were impressive, I thought a protractor would melt near the grill but Woody used it judiciously. Behold the geometric precision of the grill marks!

Still life of disturbing junk returns...Entry V

In this installment, Rachel uncovered a single Tasmanian Devil earring (which she only handled using rubber gloves). Why, she wondered, was there only a single earring? Perhaps some B'ton tough wore this to intimidate others. Perhaps some B'ton belle is still looking for this earrings' pair (and substituting her Yosemite Sam jewelry in the meantime). Who knows.

Where the magic happens

Like the finale of any good MTV cribs, the first entry for our now-in-residence Belton blog is the bedroom. It is a sanctuary from the mayhem that conspires daily in the kitchen and dining room. We have a steadfast window air conditioning unit, a sitting area with love seat and TV, and, of course, site of the future round bed. The giant champagne glass in which we will bathe hasn't been installed yet but...all in good time.