Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[Stock]

Look at the cages in the back round in the pictures.


PLEASE NOTE THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME i HAVE ONLY LINKED THE PHOTO FOR REFERENCE..................

Here is a link to a specialist forum ......................
https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/110107-potato-boxes/

[AndrewMawson]

I use apple totes as that's all I've got, but I've been keeping an eye out for mesh stillages on eBay. So far they've all been too far away

[v8druid]

not been great since the day out Monday.


I'm claustrophobic and the 'smarty tube' is never my favorite place to spend a good hour, getting magnetised , clamped motionless , head in a 'vice'


Not supposed to affect you , but felt like shit when I came out of it .. "beam me up Scotty" would've been far preferable to the 50+ mile drive home


Anyone who knows me through FB will also know that I had a senior moment and went to the wrong bloody hospital first ...
all the paperwork came from the Heath, where I normally go and assumed the Llandough MRI suite was the name of the dept. .... not a completely different site, t'other side of Caerrrrrrdiff !!
Got there with 5 min.s to spare, after arriving at the Heath with an hour in hand .... Both UHW places ..... just separated by a city


I'll know next time ... been down roads I ain't driven in 30 years, Monday !!!!



Birthday girl yesterday .... hard to believe where the years have gone ... she was a young school girl, when I first met her and suddenly she's 32 with a little girl of very her own !!!




"Clara blow the candle Mummy "




WTF did the last 19 years go ????


got the last of the last load blocked up and split this afternoon ...





bit more tidying up and got the ol' burning bin on the job, disposing of all the crud ...





it's gonna be some vented bags for now I think ... get this lot sorted and stacked away ....





then maybe a few more loads, just to have a 'bit in hand' ...... save doing it again for a while ...... plus I got an oak to come down and get the treatment too ... once it dries out again ... jeez did we have a wild night, last night .. chairs, pots and all sorts, everywhere this morning !!

[v8druid]

managed to get t'other two baskets filled Saturday, .. between the deluges ....





must get the leg welded back onto that basket, too, 'fore it gets parked up, where ever it's going to end up !!





made a bit of a hole in the pile......





and kicked it all back into a bit of a tidier heap sunday morning ......





after an earlier than planned exit from bed .....


eldest cat, Sparty (the digger seat lover), snuggled down between us and suddenly, without the usual moggy wail of impending chuck up, projectile vomited his breakfast over the both of us, four pillows and the bloody duvet !!!!
Don't know who was more surprised .... him or us !!!!


washing machine's been on overtime since eight o'clock !!


I'd have had Charlie out and sorted the rest of what needed lopping up, but Pam gave me a dirty look at the suggestion -
"It's Sunday"
I'd have given it some, ..... end of !!


To quote the knobhead next door from a few weeks back's 'discussion'


"things change .. you'll get used to it"


Cheeky ba***rd !!!!!!


Wasn't gonna happen Monday either.


Even earlier kick off for then....
got to be in the Heath Hospital, in Cardiff, for nine o'clock, for a full body MRI scan, so 07.00 departure -
traffic will be a nightmare down there, first thing !!!!




on the wood storage front .... what're people's thoughts on .... either spud boxes, .... or ...... IBCs with the tops cut off and plenty of perforations in the way of say, 2" holes, inserted with a hole saw, all over said tanks, for venting purposes.


I know the mesh type IBC cages'd be good, but may have found a sensible source for them, with the bigger, more open frames, but they have tanks in them and are unsuitable for water, due to previous chemical usage.
Seems they'm not so valuable, unless you want to store waste oil / chip fat / etc.


Any one got any thoughts on that as an idea???? ..... Emmental IBCs

[v8druid]

looks even better from the bedroom window .... proper pile .....










Poxy raining again yesterday morning!!! With serious downpours forecast for the end of the week. ..... and everything just starting to dry out nicely !!!!!!

Got a bit more of it lopped up yesterday, between the deluges ...





and split





'the boss' nagged the hell out of me this morning, once the bloody rain had stopped, to get the baskets out from where they've been sat all winter!!


Get down onto the drive and lifted a couple out and she announces that she's got to go out by three ... "it's only quarter to two FCS, Pam" ... !!!!


Got the others out and slung a couple up onto the patch through the gateway, then carried t'other two back up with me ...


Sorry no pix of the op. ......due to the 'perceived urgency' !!!!





SWMBO burgered off out and left me to fill some baskets ..... which she was supposed to have been doing!!


#1





#2





stuffed with all the odd shaped bits and pieces ....that I could find ... of which there are a lot !! Dare say more will appear as i work me way down the heap!





Pile has started to diminish, but there're going to be a lot of bags required too I think.


Having measured the space the baskets came out of, I reckon I can get 9 bags in one layer, into the same area .... the baskets'll get a new home


stack 'em two high and I may need a bit more wood to fill a second layer ...... but should see us right for 'heat' for a year or three .. maybe four


Method in my madness ....
get this lot dealt with now whilst the ground is still 'unfit' and I'll hopefully have some uninterrupted 'digging time', when it does dry out enough to deal with it !!


Still got the last few bits to 'lop and block' ...... oh and there is of course, an oak to come down yet .....
BIL is calling round tomorrow, to collect his daughter's patio fencing ... he's bound to ask when we're gonna drop the rest of the tree.


Could be soon .... very soon !!

[v8druid]

Well that was three hours of my life i'll never get back !!!!!





Along with the other three that the strimmer consumed yesterday !!
Trouble with it NOT raining, is there's all sorts of other things need doing!!!


Bag lifter got a try out this afters .....





.... and worked exceedingly well .....




hover in place, slip the straps on and away .....
bags keep their shape real well and pack nicely ......





It's also a very handy little spreader for cradled lifts too ......





beats the hell out of choking a pair of chains around a bundle and holds 'em nice for re-banding




'fore getting slung out the way ...... again .........





also handles bags of stone real well .....





and makes 'em a lot easier to place tightly with each other ....
the single point lift seemed happy enough with a partial load, but I'd go for a 4 leg-er lift for a stuffed to capacity bag of stone ...... just to be on the safe side


The pile's getting ever bigger ...... fair bit the other side yet to be blocked up and split ..... job for tomorrow, 'praps





.....and Jeez, have I burnt some serious quantities of 'Charlie's' sawdust / shavings .... seems a shame to waste it ... but ........

[v8druid]

Will we get to see the lifter in action????????????????

Was on me own most of the day yesterday Stock .... didn't seem much point in cranking the 'Drema up for just 3 lifts ..... needed to get down and lift a few black cages out, which needed a hand, so left it .... might get it done today though

[Stock]

Will we get to see the lifter in action????????????????

[v8druid]

well Charlie got some attention this morning - chain ground, everything cleaned / blown out and been busy lopping and chopping all day ..... the sharpener I bought from Lidl a few years ago does an amazing job .... like having a new chain, every time I use it and so easy to use ..... 25 quid well spent - (Makita copy)











spent way too long stood in the sun today ....
not used to it and feeling pretty ropey by 18.00 .... despite loads of fluids through the day .... been an amazing 23C all day ... another day'll see it all done ----- I hope
If it's this warm again tomorrow, it might be a 'packing day' .... absolutely knackered, now I've recovered from the 'too much sun' ropeyness
4 cages and a load more bags to pack ...... then get 'em all parked up

[v8druid]

well between the grand-dadly duties today ......





it got gusset-ed up


cleaned off/de-spattered .... and a coat of shiny sh1t after tea





Phone call this afters ..... me mate the tree surgeon ..... "got any room for some more?"


" Aye fetch it up Clive "


first load





second load





and got about a dozen discs split up after the paint brush got cleaned.


give the bag lifter a try out in the a.m., to get those three bags out the way,





...... sharpen Charlie's chain ....... and go again !!!


Clive saw the bag lifter on the bench and said "ooh, a bag lifter - how much to make me one of them? .. just what I want "


there could be some barter negotiations coming up!

[v8druid]

Well I certainly use chains too .. not all bags are 'exactly' the same size or strap length, plus depending how theyve been filled, the loops dont always present themselves in a diametrically perfect position, and ... you only need to get out of the cab once to hook the bag on.. no pi$$ing about adjusting positions... just my humble opinion of course

but the bags tend to stay in one piece a lot longer Muz ...... and don't split their guts, when they get a nice 'spread lift'

[Muz]

Well I certainly use chains too .. not all bags are 'exactly' the same size or strap length, plus depending how theyve been filled, the loops dont always present themselves in a diametrically perfect position, and ... you only need to get out of the cab once to hook the bag on.. no pi$$ing about adjusting positions... just my humble opinion of course

[v8druid]

Them bags are rated for 1 ton so the need for the brothers may be mute.

We have used lifting frames, forklift toes, tractor FEL and the easiest I found was the chains on the spreader frame, easier to load and move, especially when one is alone......................of course now I have an apprentice in the seat.......................

LOL ...... you ain't seen the lumps of stone I got bag-ed up in some of 'em Stock ..... they'm 'sposed to have a 6:1 overload factor
Personally I can't see them straps sticking that level of abuse , but dare say there's a good 1700kgs in some of 'em ... which is why a lot of 'em are palletised

I find on my own, the easiest way to lift 'em with forks, is with two 114 dia. pipes slid across the forks and through the loops
hopefully this'll change that

As for an apprentice ........... be a while 'fore Clara can reach the pedals on the 'Drema

[Stock]

Know exactly what you're saying Boyo, but want the 'softness' that the 'snubbing posts' give for the strap loops, especially for 'heavies'
plus those loops are a fair size, to get over the posts, as long as they're somewhere near in position

as you've probably guessed ..... single centre point lift for firewood block bags and a '4 leg-er' lift for HEAVIER bagfuls

Them bags are rated for 1 ton so the need for the brothers may be mute.

We have used lifting frames, forklift toes, tractor FEL and the easiest I found was the chains on the spreader frame, easier to load and move, especially when one is alone......................of course now I have an apprentice in the seat.......................

[v8druid]

Four short chains would be better Mr D, the degree of flexibility the chains give will make attaching and detaching easier.................

Know exactly what you're saying Boyo, but want the 'softness' that the 'snubbing posts' give for the strap loops, especially for 'heavies'
plus those loops are a fair size, to get over the posts, as long as they're somewhere near in position

as you've probably guessed ..... single centre point lift for firewood block bags and a '4 leg-er' lift for HEAVIER bagfuls