Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

Of course But cheap doesnt mean you get your moneys worth

as the old saying goes ... "you only get what you pay for" ......

“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.”


John Ruskin

[v8druid]

Well .... It at last stopped raining here late Sunday afternoon .... and we actually saw some sun for a few hours


this was empty Thursday evening .... before it started ....





Had a good 8"/20cm of water in it earlier and the fish pond's been overflowing since Friday !!


At least the drains are all coping .... just about !! Hell have we had some rain


Gonna take quite some time to get back to a workable state of dryness .... everything is very spongey under foot

Pam's elderly cousins here yesterday ..... the eldest said to me that he'd not seen rain like the last few days ..... that he could remember .... not so persistently heavy it has been some sort of wet !!


anyway ..... once it stopped persisting this morning/lunch time-ish, I had a couple of lil' things to do for Alex .....


Crap/twig catch basket for the feeder supply for the lake over at Ross ..









trip to the galvanisers with this un tomorrow, for Alex


Followed on from there with some much heavier mesh, for a more substantial use ...





"Can you tell what it is yet" ... to quote a not so popular (anymore) antipodean painter and digeridoo player .....





This might give the game away








this little un' appeared at the wrong moment .. as usual, but at least he hopped up out the way, as I was dragging me 40mm clean back into a decent heap .... hoping for some planings shortly and want as much space as poss, for 40 tons!





not content with being out the way he then hopped onto the front wheel and disappeared under the cab ....... all stop, down, out and see WTF he'd gone ......





hauled him up in the cab on me lap to finish off and he spent the rest of the afternoon .....





...fast asleep !! What a life !!


Mesh arrived a week ago ..... on a 10m flat bed, who'd followed a sat nav up the lane from the main road ..... God only knows how he'd gotten up it ... it's tight in the car, but he'd point blank refused to come down our drive, which is a POP in comparison .... so I'd had to shoot up the top and grab it ......





dumper was the quickest/easiest solution, as he was jumping up and down to be gone ...... after it'd taken him so long to get up the lane ... *rick.
Should've followed the instructions on the order .... *ring first from main A465 road for directions* .... he might read the delivery instructions next time !!

[v8druid]

well it hasn't pissed down here all day, today ...... just most of it !!


Did have enough dry spells to have a sort out on't patch and re-juggle several items about the place for better access onto what's left of the ramp, for when it ever dries out !!


Who needs an FLT with a VA duck ....





Lot more space to get up/down easier now, then turned my attention to my next lil' job for Alex, as most of the required bits have now arrived.
Pulled off all that's not gonna be needed, for a better access to measure up..





..... for a bit of serious head scratching.





got me head around it all ...







need to go shopping next week .. not got all I want !!


Welland tomorrow for me guys ... anyone else going? ....
Dehayne, one of the guys off t'other's already there, playing with his dozers and making mud pies I'd guess, if they've had the same weather there today !!


Vicki's well wound up for it and I'd guess Clara will be too, by the time they arrive here in the morning ... supposed to be nice tomorrow, 'til about 6, which seems to be the norm, these last couple of years .. boots, wellies, etc. .. plan for all eventualities and hopefully need none of 'em ... well you got to be optimistic ... it is summer, after all !!!!!!!


Doesn't seem like a year since the last one !

[v8druid]

Well at least it stayed dry for us all Saturday .... as forecast .... 'til just after 6 .... at which point we made a strategic decision to depart ....
must've had some rain here in the afternoon, 'cos it was seriously wet, when we got back.

Paid for the trip out ... which was bloody annoying
dunno whether it was the driving or lugging the little un' about, but it was a tramadol cocktail for bed

Had a few minutes chatting with Dehayne, from the CEF, his son Will and nephew Harry, plus of course the inimitable Mr. Sanders, also a CEF member

Also met yet another, Dave Armstrong, from across the water in Ireland, who came up to me and said "are your Graham?"

"Did well to recognise me Dave" ..... "I didn't" he said ... "recognised Clara" who was sat on a very nice lil' Massey at the time !!

Also got to meet 'Mr Kerb', himself, Johnny Edwards, a bit of legend in his own right, which was a real pleasure .......
found him and Rory laid under Johnny's new acquisition ...
lil' international (IIRC) crawler ..... trying to decide where the oil was dripping from!!

Wasn't a lot of pix, in me phone's memory, worth putting up. ... didn't take a lot

Have to say ..... without doubt, the busiest day I've ever seen there and what a serious gathering of old gear ...... just gets better every year !!

if you didn't or couldn't get there you missed a great show

so... a few worth a look .... as said, didn't take many .. had me hands full a lot of the day !!

Clara sized traccy .... she was impressed



Mr Rhodes with his latest weapon ....



Rory's latest tracked dumper ... didn't realise he was exhibiting ... LOL



a small selection to greet you as you enter .....



and the main engine area .... couldn't get it in one .... or two properly !!





Given up trying to log into photobucket tonight .... so have been uploading ..... hope they all show up OK ..... but then this isn't the CEF so they'll probably be fine, thanks to Muz's stirling efforts here

Got a few more, but I'm gonna stick 'em up separately as I must be near me limit for images, etc., here



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[v8druid]

shamelessly robbed these from Dehayne's lad Will this evening ....






The legend himself .... Rory Sanders all the way from Devon, having a play on Dehayne's International

Q. ... How many tractors can one little girl sit on in a day ??

A. ... A lot!!




that one next Grandad .....



she had a whale of a time



and then she wanted to see ............. the diggers ..... but I'll not bore you all with that

Great show, as usual ..... reckon they might have to have their first duck one year ... a fairly unique one .. (to the UK at least)!! Better start saving for a low loader

[Nobody]

Looks like kick-ass day for both you and Clara Children and old men share many similaritys you know

Given up trying to log into photobucket tonight .... so have been uploading ..... hope they all show up OK ..... but then this isn't the CEF so they'll probably be fine, thanks to Muz's stirling efforts here

Discovered CEF long before this one, but could never join.. Cant for the life of me understand why they dont migrate here.. There is a wealth of history and knowledge there, but it will be lost sooner or later by the looks of it. Better just get started building something here!

[v8druid]

Looks like kick-ass day for both you and Clara Children and old men share many similaritys you know


Discovered CEF long before this one, but could never join.. Cant for the life of me understand why they dont migrate here.. There is a wealth of history and knowledge there, but it will be lost sooner or later by the looks of it. Better just get started building something here!

You might just be in for a surprise, looking at some of the posts on there tonight Hans ... some really pissed off people !!!!

As for Welland ..... yeh, as usual, was a great day .... overcast but shirt sleeves ... if the sun'd been out we would have baked !
I am gonna do the whole three days one year .. even the boss is talking about doing it ...... might even take the duck .... never seen one there and she's older than some of the stuff folks take to play with, pretty unique in the UK and has a selection of 'unusual toys'

[Nobody]

Just had a look at some threads.. I understand their sentimentality, and they would ofc be better off with a fix. But when even the easter promise fell through i'd thought more would look elsewhere..

[v8druid]

Just had a look at some threads.. I understand their sentimentality, and they would ofc be better off with a fix. But when even the easter promise fell through i'd thought more would look elsewhere..

there is a serious loyalty to it Hans ... even with all its problems .... bit like an extended family and it has a good craic ... even in its sorry state.

[v8druid]

......... Children and old men share many similaritys you know

Yeh we like toys

[v8druid]

OK ..... bit of a catch up ....
'Bucket has become such a PITA I've just about given up on it ....
but do try to update it as and when I can actually log in to it, so we're back to uploads, but you can try me 'bucket too !!


so.... shot down for some red diesel Thursday ... wanted a full drum as I'm sussing the 'Drema's consumption ATM, from it's last brim-fill to whenever the next one is, with the hour clock, having remembered to get a pic of it after filling her up.


Vicki's dad is home currently, before departing for a new job in Vietnam and 'being made useful' .... parking is/has always been an issue at Pam's old house, where Vicki, et al live and although I'd always promoted the idea of ripping the front hedge out and creating a drive/parking area, I'd never been allowed.


Anyway .. final straws lately and the hedge had to have it ... Thursday!!!


So called by, on the way back from me oil suppliers, with me 10' x 5' trailer on to see if yon hedge had succumbed ..... 'twas in a heap on the lawn, in one piece, together with the chain link fence it'd grown around !!!


having lopped it into more manageable bits, with some wire cutters, I departed along with several other lumps of extraneous garden, surplus to requirements!


After wrestling the damned stuff into the trailer, there was only one way I was gonna be extracting it, on me own .... the 'Drema way !!


Lifted me drum out, stashed me extra 5 jerry cans away and wound her up to stick the VA-r on, to run the Kinshoffer !
Dropped its parking plate on the deck, picked it up and as always, tried rotate and tilt ..... no tilt .... bugger !!!


whipped the covers off and found .....


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Bugger !! Screw completely bolloed, so had to hack me way in with a junior hacksaw ...


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and after eventually extracting the guts ......


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I concluded it was 'beyond' rescue/serviceable life !!!


T'other six were fine


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and all fitted new at the same time ... can't see WTF this one had gotten into this state ... they all live under covers ???


Anyway, new one fitted,... had to cable tie it in securely as the screw into the solenoid was ****ed ....


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..... knackered fuse located and swapped .... and away she went, like a good 'un.


Imagine trying to locate that in a black plastic cover !!!! See through. LED DINs are deffo the way to go on anything like this ... if it ain't lighting up, summat's up !!!


so ..... the ex-hedge didn't hang about in the trailer for long, once I'd gotten the clamshell on .....


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and soon turned into a tidy heap ..


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ready for ...


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didn't last long either


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middle of sorting this lot, I'd had a call from my planings guy .... could I take delivery tomorrow (friday) morning? " Yeh fine, what time ", expecting 8-ish ..... nope .. seven o'clock ... they had to be 10 miles down the road for 8 to be under a planer !! Wouldn't bother me, but doubted the neighbours'd be too impressed !!!

[v8druid]

7 a.m. Friday .....


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the first one arrived .... I'd gotten everything parked up top in me newly 'acquired' space to give the 8 wheelers a better chance of getting where i'd wanted 'em ..


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first one in no sweat ... good job I'd stuck me grading beam at the edge of my clean 40mm though ...


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separated it out nicely ... when it came out a bit quicker than expected - under and over the top of the tailgate !!!


Second load went - - not quite where I'd expected it!!
After seeing the 'Drema parked up and being late, Mike the transport fleet's owner, was well keen to 'drop and run' .... which he did!!


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That was going to keep me busy for an hour or so to get it sorted out ... shifting yon heap .... once the neighbours'd surfaced.


before I could shift said heap, I had to extract a couple of pallets of 3ft x 2ft paving slabs from amongst all me crud, sat up the top and get 'em in the trailer, to go down the village to Vicki', for a 'pro tem' parking area, 'til a more permanent 'arrangement' can get sorted.


got the slabs sorted and loaded, then had to shift yon heap as the car, trailer and the slabs were the wrong side of it !!


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hell of a heap of nice tidy stuff, with very little in the way of lumps and plenty of dust ... excellent


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eventually got down the village, set out some string lines and got the old slabs laid out, with some assistance from Vicki's hubby and her dad ..... they'm bloody heavy little sods


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not the ultimate of jobs, but'll give them somewhere to get one of their cars off the road and stop everyone else parking in their way, outside their place.. 'til I can sort a more 'professional'/permanent job out.
Least it won't turn into swamp, after a few times of putting a vehicle on there


That remaining hedge is next ... new fence required ... bloody thing is a good two feet plus into their garden!!

Job for another day

[ianoz]

Was that a bit of blue sky i saw in the photos .
Well looks like you will be busy laying out the heap .

[v8druid]

Was that a bit of blue sky i saw in the photos .
Well looks like you will be busy laying out the heap .

Could well have been Ian ....... we had a bit more this afternoon too ..... ****ing pissed down all morning though

[v8druid]

had a couple of hours dry Sunday afternoon, so after massacring all the grass ....
hadn't seen a mower in over 2 weeks ... just rain, so you can imagine the state of it .....

I got Stanley out of his box


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and persuaded Pam to hold the staff for me ... closely supervised by the G.F.

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Not too bad ..... low where I was expecting it to be , as I'd kept it down a bit in the back corner to accommodate any serious downpours .... good job too ... we have had plenty of them

drains are coping well though

Monday was a wash out and Tuesday was a Clara day, but did get a few bits cut for a lil' job I've been trying to sort for weeks ....... and weeks.

Had a flash of inspiration to solve an issue I'd been pondering..

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Got the mag out after the little un'd departed and got some holes into it ...

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and a few bits salvaged from the original beast .... knew they'd come in handy and saved me having ot knock a few out .....

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loose assembled, for a suss and ready to nail yesterday .......

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when the rain stopped !!!!!

which it did about half twelve ..

whipped the head off the Mk1 incarnation

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and set up its new bits ...

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to check for alignment, before getting it stuck together ..

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and trialed again ...



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before trying it on t'other end of the unit

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all ok ... so on to the next bit ....

Got things set up level ...

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so's I had a datum, to set everything else to ...

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