Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[AndrewMawson]

Is it just going to appear one day, or are the local council going to get the opportunity to be awkward?

[v8druid]

I'd hate to sound like a cracked record but ," Where's the flaimin shed " ....

Still in the stockholders Wazza ..... in need of creation

[Wazza]

I'd hate to sound like a cracked record but ," Where's the flaimin shed " ....

[v8druid]

couple of pix of the sign gibbet sent to me today .... looks alright

sign 2 mod.jpg sign jpg mod.jpg

rudely awoken this morning .... at 5.30, by Sparticus puss and his unearthly wailings .... he is loud when he wants to be .... thought is wrong with him ?
came down to find this in the middle of the kitchen floor ..... and him telling us all about it ..... almost certainly Squeak's handy-work .. too big for Sparts ... and Squeak has 'previous' for bunny-napping .....

WP_20181026_10_10_35_Pro.jpg

when the young 'uns are about, he'll have 2 or 3 a week ...... not a mark on it, but broken neck ..... he's lethal, is Squeak

been some bit cold here today ..... proper Nor Nor Westerly and snow blowing in the air several times .... see a lot of folk up country woke to a severely white world this morning .... like several inches of white .... I hope it stays "up country" as long as possible ..... we had it here in '10, thirtieth of October and stayed for many weeks, plus a fortnight at 14 below in the middle of it ..... our first winter here .... not so much a baptism of fire, as ice........ a hell of a lot of it

[v8druid]

stunning pix Stock ..... phone or proper camera ??

[Stock]

The first two are sunrises taken on the way to work, the third is across a lake one evening in December just as I was leaving a waste water site................................picasabackground.jpgsunrise in woodford 2 (9).jpgShannon sunset (2).jpg

[v8druid]

Very nice Druid, but a bit easy to climb for a gate!

Cheers Andrew ..... don't think of it so much as a gate, but as a movable screen ...... the rest of the fence line is trellis ... you should see the cats go up it

Said 'gate' needed 'the treatment' when the clamps came off this morning as expected TBH .... can't put that amount of heat into summat and not have it 'go'

Clara day today, so been a bit patchy on time to sort it, but did eventually get it back into the flat shape I started with and as to be expected Pam wanted 'to see what it looked like' ......



..... alright, IMHDO




it will eventually have the same brush screening on the back of it to screen me patch, as the rest of the trellis




when I've figured out just how to secure it ..... I have a few ideas

[AndrewMawson]

Very nice Druid, but a bit easy to climb for a gate!

[v8druid]

great sky again this evening .....





missed most of the orangey/pinky stage, packing up me tools .. was good too




........ been gate building all day ......





not content to just let me get on with it ..... Pam had to see what it looked like so far ..... "but it's only tacked up Pam" !!!!!





she wanted to have a play with the next bit, that she's lined up for me ..... never be out of work with Pam about ... it just ain't the paying kind !!!!!


so.... back on the bench and carry on with it 'signed off on' ....... next bits ......




consolidated .... one side, anyway..





flipped and ready for some sequential nailing together ......





Very firmly clamped down and 'nailed' ....... I left it to cool for the night, as I was running out of light .... I will be very pleased .... and surprised, if it's still flat in the a.m. ........and doesn't need ..... 'the treatment' !!





and then it's start all over again on #2 ............................ and then ........ dig out a sheet of 3mm stainless for producing some swallow profiles for SWMBO's delight !!......................... and then ..........

[v8druid]

round it all three times this morning .... didn't look too bad but needs to be wet to get it down anymore ....











and maybe that 1200 roller


tonight's sky !!!!!


all in 15 minutes














a lot more in photobucket

[v8druid]

Rough night, last night , for no apparent reason so was lunchtime 'fore I'd 'sobered up' from the Tramadols .... and in no fit state to go chasing yon roller about the patch.
Alex has been in need of this for a while and now I'd had the base plate for it, thought 'twas an ideal time to finish it off .... now't too strenuous and a lil' job in the sun for an hour or so, whilst I reclaimed my head


set out the plate and holed it, before chucking the gallows on the bench .....





set up the end plate ....





stitched it on and tacked on the braces ...





before welding it all up ..








gave 'the man' a call, as I knew he wanted to get it off to the powder coaters .... soon as .....
on his roof rack an hour later ..... and in the powder coaters' before tea tonight


sorted.


Altered one of the hinges on Pam's gates ... as the damned posts have moved with all the bloody rain last weekend ... hopefully they won't be doing it again, having had a good soaking


Picked up me materials for the infill Friday and was going to get some of it chopped up, but as it'd been dry and sunny all day, with a good breeze, yon grass all needed the chop and it was dry enough to get it done ..... 'least most of it was, so said gates had to wait ..... AGAIN!!
good job I did .... started to rain just as I was putting the ride on away .... they did forecast an hours light rain at 5 tonight and it was bang on schedule
dry for the rest of the week though


Body dependent, it'll either be, gates in the a.m. or a few hours on the roller .... or might even treat meself to a 4t ride on for the day, if the boys in the village's 1200 is sat in their yard .... or gates tomorrow and the 4 tonner on Tuesday even ...... get it whacked down

[v8druid]

they say, "the sun shines on the righteous" .. they'm bad buggers down in the village ... no sun for them 'till lunchtime today .... where as we had a glorious morning .......








even Berrrrt turned up for brekky..





..... not seen him in a week .... too many other pheasants about for his liking, I think .... a good 50+ on the lawns first thing .. everywhere!!!!


anyone know WTF these things are ?





they'm everywhere ...... and spreading !!!!!




managed to get 'in the seat' by 12-ish and hauled the beam out, after I'd deposited a bit of stuff around the edges with the bucket to start with .....





Alex has used this a lot and says he finds it better on backwards, with out the roller, so thought i'd give it a try ....





he's right .... float it so the trailing edge is smoothing it out and the 'front' is just cutting .... great results ....





and still makes a great 'shovel' - face shovel style .... drop a beam-full and pull it through ... can place lines of material really accurately ....

worked me way down,





'til I ran out of black stuff .....





....... more required








Odd few lines to lightly pull out with the back of the rake ..... then it's roller time ...... again ..... well happy with the results ..... a lot happier than the neighbours are gonna be with me and the roller tomorrow

[v8druid]

Monday, as forecast, was a total right off ...... Tuesday was a drier but seriously foggy to start ......


Kicked off the day with a filter change in the water system, after all this bloody rain,the ol' spring is a bit stirred up and even two ten inch, 1 micron filters were struggling a bit .... job done and clear water restored to the household, I headed for the piles of black stuff


the rest of the day didn't start so well ...... run the 'Drema up and left her to warm up a bit, whilst I dragged a few lumps off the top of the planings pile .... grabbed me rigger gloves out the cab, slipped on the right one and slid me hand into the left, as I bent down to grab a lump ..... WTF ... must have a thorn in that ...... nope, hurting way too much ...
****ing wasp hibernating in the lil' finger .... b'stard had my second knuckle 3 times before I got it off .... very swollen fingers and wrist not working too well today, to go with the problem I already have had for a few weeks with my left shoulder/arm ... 'swhat the MRI was for the other day ... Gaucher's is known for producing skeletal problems in sufferers ... me left side is not working as well as it was ... and even less today.


so after I'd stamped the lil ****er into oblivion and tried in vain to suck out his sh1t from my finger, I hopped into the cab, dropped onto me 3ft which was easily accessible and started chucking it about a bit ......








got to about here, looked down and there's Granny and Clara .... "can I come and sit on your lap Grand dad ?" .... slowed proceedings a tad





hour later and the little un's ready for her lunch ...





so got on a bit quicker ...





spread about reasonably evenly and tidied up again, having tracked it in as much as poss ... she's a bit of lump in a relatively confined area..... then get it rolled down a bit and ready for a top off with the beam
that was until Clara wanted me to go play with her for an hour !!!!


so ...... a bit later ..... it got the roller for an hour and a half .....











apologies for some of the pic quality .... not been the brightest of days ...... and 'twas getting on ...


I think jake and the Thwaites are gonna get shifted out the way tomorrow; give me some more maneuvering space .... and a nice level stand for pulling a top with the beam .... few bits to 'trim' at the bank edge, for the drain first though


looking a hell of a lot better than it was, anyway .... and before anyone says .... why didn't I use me 7ft bucket .... it's full of buckets and buried amongst everything .... bad planning that !!!!


sod all achieved today ..... Clara-ed ..... yesterday however I did get a bit done .... not as much as I'd planned, due to a dead battery on't Thwaites .. new one time me thinks .... so got the long narrow bit filled .....





and rolled down .....








hopefully at some point tomorrow I'll get Jake an' his mate out the way, so I can spread the rest of that pile about to top off and flatten what's gone down reasonably well already ........ with me beam





after I've filled in the odd gap here and there and shifted the burning drum .... bloody leaves take some getting going ..... gonna need a new drum soon too ... t'ain't gonna last much longer





Alex called by this afters, to borrow a set of chains ..... he's had his tool boxes delivered this week .... really finish the job off in some order ..... we must've got the measurements right, even though they took some sussing ....... like a glove








the guys who made the main body did a lovely job of these !!


should've taken one, with them open ..... they are some shape inside ....... and amazingly voluminous

[v8druid]

well it finally stopped persisting down 'bout 2pm today .... man have we had some rain ... but not as much as a lot of folk, it would seem from the news and social media posts.
this had about an inch in it Monday when we went off to Longleat .....







Abergavenny has had some quite serious flooding on the roads in and around the town, so friends have told me .
the fungi seem to like the rain at least ....





and an even bigger patch beside the drive way ... of some weird looking things.


had an hour trying to clear up some of the leaves and numerous lumps of dead tree bits off me patch, in the hope I might get to spread some black stuff about tomorrow .... hopefully some of it will have dried a bit tomorrow and get what's left off there....as much as poss. anyway





the propane weed flame thrower makes a great fire lighter, especially when it's a bit wet three drums of leaves have bitten the dust this afters ... 'nother one to go
spread a bit along the side nearest the machines first, so's I have summat to track onto and can get at me beam .... either that or have to put the batteries back on't Jake and the Thwaites to shift 'em out the way .....


looking at this I can see me needing a.n.other load , but hard to tell 'til I get it cast about a bit and see how far it'll go
Cold old NE wind this afternoon, but s'posed to swing back around to the SW tomorrow so'll hopefully be back to warmer breezes and not so bloody wild as it has been all weekend !!!!!


very strange sky tonight





Forecast is good for the week so here's hoping ........................ correction - it WAS good ... just looked again and crap tomorrow now, but better the rest of the week ...


wish they'd make up their minds !!!!

[v8druid]

yet another cracking sunset last Sunday evening ....





and been a lovely week .... until last night/today, at least .... unfortunately I ain't been here to get them planings cast about the place and off line
got hauled off to Centerparks in Longleat, Monday morning ... 'packagey things' ain't really my sort of 'bag'
have to admit though ..... they have it sussed ... big-time!!


very nice 'villas' in the forest ... very well equipped/appointed, with good quality finishes and 'proper' gear installed.
If you're buying kit a thousand units at a time I suppose you'd get some serious deals !!


Even with that number of 'villas' littered about the forest, it didn't seem over-developed at all





no motors on site other than for loading/offloading your gear, so very child/pedestrian friendly ..... and the staff couldn't have been better/more helpful/cheerful in their work.
free road-train service to transport you about from virtually outside your door...





... to the various 'attractions' and lots to do/see/enjoy.
This company has spent SOME serious bucks on creating some very impressive structures/buildings/venues within their grounds and all incredibly sympathetically placed in the environs.


I may sound like a salesman for Centerparks, but it is rare I am impressed on the level/scale that I have been this week ... eleven out of ten for everything ... honestly ... bloody superb!!


Pam, the kids and Clara have all had a great time .. and so have I .... I would without doubt, visit there again ..... and the prices were just so sensible, they were damned near unbelievable








we were even greeted by a 'local' on arrival











Lil' Clara has had a great time ....








.....capped off by a pretty impressive pool complex .... 28C air temp. and 30+C water temps ...
even I've been in the water.....I don't swim and hate the water, having nearly drowned as a young kid, I have zero confidence in it and have struggled to try to learn to swim on/off for years ....
plus I bloody detest COLD water and see no pleasure in getting in the stuff.


30+C was a major help though and again tried to learn .... sort of managed to cover some distances, with some flotation assistance (I also have negative buoyancy, so I'm told), which is a real downer - literally - in overcoming my 'water' issues !!!
Feel a bit of a prat at 61 with a float, but ..... it gives me the confidence to at least have a go and floating about semi weightless is great on the old bones.


all in all, it's been a great few days away .... went too quickly and yet seemed like a lot longer .... can safely say I'd go again ...... pity about the monsoon conditions today !!!! Been in shirt sleeves all week .... and will be next week too, looking at the forecast .... planings'll wait !!