Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

you lot know me by now ..... cater for all eventualities, first as last ...

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Annoyingly Mr Bomford had opted to use the only piece of 27mm pin on the whole machine, in the one pin I hadn't checked ....

Oh for a lathe ... gotta get me a new one !!

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Bit of careful setting up though and did the trick .. "where there's a will ....."

combination link..

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30 degree option .....

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60 degree option ...

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was aiming to get all the options into one combination link, but couldn't quite get it without fouling the original bracket's crowd stops, so had to go for two alternates ....

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45 degrees ....

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and 90 deg.s ....

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all firmed up enough for a trial, but have a few tweaks to add yet ..

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Was supposed to be glorious today, for a few days, so was hopeful to get some drying weather ... really need to get down the field and flat out the last of it already down there .... so's I can put some more in there !!

It bloody well wasn't

Clara day today and a wet start .... again,....... has dried up this afters, but sod all done

Tomorrow 'praps, but I see they've changed their minds on the 'nice' weekend, weather-wise ...... and it's Brightwells in the morning ....
might have a lil' wander down for an hour or two, but as I've said before .... they'm robbin' b'stards with all their extras ....
it's gotta be cheap to be worthwhile and there ain't much goes cheap, down there



can finish this off whilst it all dries out !! few odds and ends to firm everything up and need to cap off the main spar .. stop it flexing

[v8druid]

Evenin' all ..... not a lot done since last week .. 'til yesterday.


Clara days and a ropey weekend, has kept me busy or doing little.


'Hamster juice' Tuesday evening and all systems go yesterday ...body feeling 110% and it was nice and dry....
been that way since Monday morning so me ground had dried reasonably well with all the wind we've had.


several hours in the old girl, outing a load of soil I had sat, to down the field and then some time spent quietly reducing the shale layer down to where I want it at.





got a fair load of shale scraped off and spread quite a bit into the low corner, to fetch it up ....





and topped up the 40mm clean for the drainage channels .... all pretty close to where it needs to be now.











still got to shift all the last bits of crud off that top layer, at the back and get the last of the soil out of there, after I finish scraping off the shale across to the corner.
Sort the batter out, shale layer down and drainage channel created round the batter's base.....
then I can get that all 'blacked up', ready to park whatever else needs moving, to get on with advancing forwards, on what's left of the spoil....
before the ramp finally bites the dust !!


Pee-ed down again last night, so all's a tad damp this morning, including the dumper load of shale I left in the Thwaites last night ... and Clara all day, so now't done.
Hoping for a dry night .... and weekend.
If the field's dry enough, that lot's going down there. So'll have to stockpile the dumper load of shale and what else comes up, to get to the corner.


Otherwise I might haul out the spoil and stockpile that in the corner, 'til it is dry enough to tip and get everything down to level, ready for the black stuff !!

[Nobody]

Nice work operating like a pro

[v8druid]

Nice work operating like a pro

thanks boyo .... I try

had a few hours this morning shifting my benches out of the way .... after I'd cleared all the (s)crap from around / under them, ready to start laying out some 'black stuff'








This is a fair weight, but the other one was ..... er ...... 'substantial' on the hook !!





and tucked the anvil in under there too .....





which just left the little bench full of all sorts of tat / crap / crud / useful bits, that I can't bring myself to bin
never know when some of 'em'll come in handy ...... you know - those dooofors ... 'do for later/something'





wasn't sure how this would stick being 'man handled' .... but did stay in one piece





this piece of ground hasn't been clear since I put the benches here some time ago.





and the 'Drema's sat there tonight ..





.... afternoon was a dead loss, after some friends arrived after lunch and stayed the whole afternoon


Tomorrow being 'that day' .... it'll also be a dead loss ... no noise day
but hopefully it'll be a drying day, at least .... no more rain forecast until next Friday
Hopefully start laying out some planings Monday .... may need some more I reckon ... same again perhaps !! we'll see.

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[v8druid]

Was gonna have a day at it today ...... 'til the boss was listening to the radio at brekky time !
They were banging on about appliances catching fire, in particular freezers !!
That was the end of my morning ... drag the damned thing out ... defrost, major hoover out of the back and a thorough check over !!!


Was gone one, before I put the isolator key in the 'Drema's engine bay and fired her up.


Me box bases are my datum for level, so started there, plus they're level across their width. Added some 40mm to the drainage run and worked me way across ...





slowly ..





'til I'd got to the level this side





then gave it the roller for half an hour .....





which is about as much as said roller wanted to play today ???
Started sweet as, after I'd bled it all through the other day, when I rolled the shale out and had done exactly the same then .... almost as if it's 'nipping up' but doesn't feel that hot and oil levels fine ..... and fresh. Very odd .... just loses its revs?? Shut it down and it'll run down quite normally, which i wouldn't expect if it was 'nipping up' ??? Anyone got any thoughts?

Anyway .... parked that up and shifted JakieB and the Thwaites out the way, so's I could get at the next stretch .....


edged the drainage and slotted some more 40mm on top again...







then worked me way across to the centre channel ..










was a tad late to go winding up yon roller and tea time rapidly approaching ...
time to park her up .......







would appear that the boss has 'liberated' me roll of terram which I was gonna slot on top of the channel, to keep the fines out of it, so that's as far as I could get tonight anyway....







MOT for the body down The Heath, UHW, in Cardiff, in the morning, so bit knackered for progress tomorrow. Be a bit late by the time I get back, probably.


My eye says it's a bit low in the centre, but I'll get the edges sorted and then 'praps drop a few bucketfulls in the middle, cover the channel and stick the beam on to get it spread a bit more evenly. Job for Wednesday !


Think it's looking alright ATM ..... see what Stanley says, when it's had a bit of vibe over it.
Wish I still had me laser beacon ... lent it to a mate a fair while back, who cooked it ....
forgot the charger one day and plugged it into his phone charger ... bye bye beacon ... would make life so much easier !! Might pester him for the promised replacement .... that never showed up !!!!!!


If anyone's wondering WTF I'm not using me 7ft grading bucket ... in favour of my favorite 3ft Geith ..... it's some bucketful at a stretch and TBH the Geith has a much nicer edge.

[AndrewMawson]

Looking very good with the black down !

i envy you your source of road planings. They seem to have dried up in my neck of the woods (East Sussex / Kent border)

I'm going to need one or maybe two 8 wheeler loads in the next few week but the usual sources can't supply :(

[RedLiner]

You'll be knocking on doors next asking folk if they need their driveway tarmacked

[v8druid]

Looking very good with the black down !

i envy you your source of road planings. They seem to have dried up in my neck of the woods (East Sussex / Kent border)

I'm going to need one or maybe two 8 wheeler loads in the next few week but the usual sources can't supply :(

same issues here ... having to pay over the odds for these from my usual guy .... he stockpiles them as he can ... when they're gone they're gone type thing
lots of quarries recycling them

relatively decent loads too .... not too many lumps, but those that are, area big ... they wanna be at 12 quid a tonne x 20t loads ..... there's 40t sat ATM and 'll need a lot more eventually

[v8druid]

You'll be knocking on doors next asking folk if they need their driveway tarmacked

the hell as like .... far too much to do

it's certainly an art getting it down tidy, for sure

I could really do with a better roller ..... one you sit on, ideally ..... my ped roller is a handful and doesn't really whack it down that well

[v8druid]

.......
MOT for the body down The Heath, UHW, in Cardiff, in the morning, so bit knackered for progress tomorrow. Be a bit late by the time I get back, probably. ........ Job for Wednesday ! ....

well the MOT was all good; that's me OK-ed for another 6 months and they've agreed to my idea of changing my regime to weekly .. can but try and see what it does .... be good if it works ..
As predicted, 'twere a late return .... too late to do anything, anyways, at half six !!

Wednesday morning was time for a fuel fill up first thing and the 'Drema'd done 30.12 hrs since her last fill ...... on 165 litres of cherry .... I made that about 5.47808 ltrs/hr .... which ain't bad !!

I recovered my beam from where it'd been sat separating the planings and the 40mm ...



took a bit of latching on to over the top of the heap ... could barely see it ...

then got some more of the black stuff spread about after I'd covered the drainage channel over with some terram ...



and then got even more laid out .....



..... in between keeping a serious eye open for this fella ....



he'd been under, on, in, on the cab floor & on me lap on / off all day .... appeared on my lap at one point, when I came around cross chassis and covered me in grease, with his tail, which was also covered in grease !!

All stop to get cleaned up, then wash his tail off with 'Fairy liquid', after it'd had a scrape off and good wipe down with some rags !!

he laid there in the sun, for a good hour, as I worked over him .... back and forth fetching bucketfuls and coming around, beside and over him ...... he just doesn't care and isn't bothered in the slightest by the movement and noise!! Crazy animal !!

got the roller out and proceeded to give it to 'em ...



but didn't give 'em anywhere near the rolling they needed, 'fore the old girl was playing me up in the vibe stakes ... on / off / etc.

tea time put paid to any major investigations, other than to suss the belt had escaped from its pulleys, when it finally stopped playing ball.

Another shufty after tea and I was well pee-ed off to find the cush drives I replaced circa 3 years ago were not looking the best, which meant the machinery bed of the beast was closer to the roller than its original design parameters!! Hence the belt being loose, as there is no tensioner on it !!!

Clara day today, so that put paid to stripping yon roller. It had to have it for an hour or two after she'd departed and I just kept refitting the belt a few times and rolling said planings as much as it permitted !!

Think they're looking a bit better .....







If it stays as dry as it has been the last few days, it's gonna be JakieB time down the field soon and I can get on removing the rest of that back end !!

More to go down there yet, but gonna need to check out some levels again to give me a more definitive idea of what's required and where .... middle is deffo low .... I can see that without Stanley's able assistance !!

Clara again tomorrow ..... see If I can't get her to 'drive' a staff for me !!
Otherwise, as long as it ain't rained tonight .... got some heap spreading to do.

[Nobody]

That fuel consumption is pretty damn good if you ask me! Not a very good comparison maybe, but mine does about 6l/h

That cat of yours is absolutely boss

[v8druid]

That fuel consumption is pretty damn good if you ask me! Not a very good comparison maybe, but mine does about 6l/h

That cat of yours is absolutely boss

"that cat " has had a few close shaves this afternoon/evening .... saw him coming and he just walked straight up to the front wheels heading his way and sat down in front of 'em ... have had him on my lap, since.... whether he wanted to be or not

Parked her about half seven this evening and had to wake the cat up, an hour later, to get him out the seat, .... so I could close the door ..... and he complained like hell


I was pretty pleased with the fuel too .... always seems to want it fairly frequently, but then when you clock it, it ain't as bad as it seems .... I'll give it another one (check) to get an average take on it, but I have been working her fairly hard of late, so will be interesting

[v8druid]

Clara's mum appeared earlier than usual this afternoon, so I took my cue and disappeared up the patch for a couple of hours

Wanted to get that stuff moved off the top at the back and having worked out WTF I was gonna shift it to ... bar the steel, I wanted to get it done, as it's nice and dry here ATM .... want to get that back end dug down to finish dig level







ripped out a bit more of the shale level in the corner .......



and got what i could done, before tea time .....




in readiness for some concerted digging tomorrow ..... it had better not rain tonight

As said above ..... had to wake Sparty up to close up tonight

[v8druid]

"Warmest and driest August Bank Holiday weekend in decades" ... so the TV said this evening !! .... unless you live in Texas !!

Clara all day yesterday .... dunno which is the worst .. her on my lap or Sparty ...
at least he can only head butt one stick at a time .... Clara has two hands !!

Managed to shift a pile of spoil from the batter base and channel clean up, off the level and up onto the top of the back corner out the way ...
ready to depart with the rest of that corner ....



After I'd given the shale layer a good ripping with the 4ft toother right into the corner at the far end of the ramp ... creating a fair pile of shale ..



and pulled a batter line down through the bank to get an idea of what I needed to work to...





interspersed with Clara minding with Pam and entertaining her elderly farmer cuzs, who turned up after lunch and departed about six!!

Managed to shift 6 loads of shale up onto me neighbour's turning area, after giving them a call, to see if they were up for a 'little something', a lot harder than the current muddy area, to the one side?

"Just keep on 'ossing it' in there" was good enough for me ... next job'll be get that spread ... after that corner's come out and taken a trip up the field.

Today has been glorious ..... and bloody Sunday!!

Massacred an acre plus of grass, got it all collected and in the grass boxes.

All machines fuel-ed and greased, ready for a busy week, hopefully, if the forecast is to be believed.

First job in the a.m. really needs to be some heap spreading in't field, with JakieB, in readiness for some fairly decent soil to cap over it all with.
Gonna be a few dumper loads there, looking at it tonight.

Piccy from the top of said heap/bank, from t'other end .... hopefully the last time I'll be stood on that spot.



Home alone tomorrow, so anticipate getting lots done !!

[v8druid]

........ Home alone tomorrow, so anticipate getting lots done !!

Well Monday was glorious here ..... but before i could get any more shifted down the field, I just had to have a few hours on Jake, to square it all up a bit ... and make room for some more ....



got it roughed out, ready for some better stuff to cap it over with...
then set to shifting the bank again





spot the lunatic cat ....



in, out, on, under, as usual .... then he tried a new tack .... lie where I want to put the bucket ....



anyone'd think he had a death wish !!!

came out pretty well but slowly, gently, once I started to get to the finnicky bits ...





one chance to get this right ..... wasn't gonna go back in a hurry

Eight loads later, to fill the hollows ......



and it was getting on for tea time .... by the time I'd had that the light was starting to disappear so .... unusually for me , I left her where she was .... sky didn't have a cloud in it and the forecast was good .....