Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[V8Druid]

I like the yellow hose wrap. Trying to make something look like an Engcon install no doubt!!!
Good work and keep counting down the days to freedom!!!

Ollie fitted that Shaun .. was on it when it arrived ..... hose came off when I emptied the ram and the hose of mineral oil and been sat there out the way since ... will be the last thing to go back on ... if at all, for now.

 

[V8Druid]

summat a tad different first thing this morning ....... reckon we have a Roland taken up residence in one of me french drains ...

found this a couple of weeks ago and refilled what he'd removed ... damn me ... back again this morning
this connects to a sump in the black shed, which is lid-ed and sealed ... that 'networks' to two more sealed deep sumps (4ft & 8ft deep) and a very long 12" pipe run down the side of the drive, to a.n.other open 3ft deep sump, grate-ed top, with two possible exits to atmosphere .... he is gonna have to walk a bloody long way to find them ... he's going to get greeted by some 1" sq weld-mesh here tomorrow... when I find a suitable piece .... so'll be taking a considerable hike after that

glorious day here again, although the N Easterly is still keeping the air temp down considerably ... but nice enough to chill, lunchtime ...

Pam's 'cappuccino' cake .... one of my favorites ... even i asked if the slice was big enough, when presented with it this afternoon .... went down well though ..... she bakes the most awesome gluten free cakes you've ever tasted ... most are dry as **** ...Pam's are better than 'normal' sponge cakes ... she really has the drop on GF cooking and although i'm not caeliac, eat GF 95% of the time .

apart from a few 'touch ups' in a couple of places, it's about done .....

got the lighting socket on the front this afternoon ....

and t'other side board on with some serious persuasion later on ...

just needs a parking spigot/socket for the leg on top of the draw bar, nip up the O/S wheel bearing, repack it and it's a wrap .... then let the paint harden off for a while ........ oh and a couple of return springs on the brake rods, when they arrive

now WTF am I going to do tomorrow???????

 

[Komatsu]

Looking good, be as good as new when your done

 

[Rob65]

now WTF am I going to do tomorrow???????

Well two choices as I see it, you could either get one of your big motorbikes out and start grafting it on to the trailer.

Alternatively you could turn your attention to your new found rodent friend. Have you seen the Jasper Carrot sketch about dealing with a mole in his lawn. It involves a swivel office chair and a shotgun.

Enjoy.

Rob

 

[Komatsu]

This is one for you Gra ....how does it work though? I take it, it is just with compressed air?
https://vm.tiktok.com/7yya4h/

 

[T whiting]

That's had a squirt of whatever that tin is on the floor in the back then he's pressing a button to ignite it.

 

[pettsy]

You could probably push your finger through one of those doors. It’s a potato cannon. Ammo down the barrel, deodourant/easystart in from other end then click the ignition!

 

[Jimoz]

Would a ferret be any good?

 

[V8Druid]

This is one for you Gra ....how does it work though? I take it, it is just with compressed air?
https://vm.tiktok.com/7yya4h/

won't play for me ..... but guessing from the title ... spud mortar
Made one for Josh MANY years ago ..... would it ever launch spuds .... not long ago chucked it out ... piece of pipe 100 mm Osma with a screw on end cap was good ... bonded the screw on fitting to the pipe IIRC and a reducer down to 3" .... piezzo igniter from an old lighter ... and some butane / lighter gas ..... a good launch'd chuck a large spud a good 1/4 mile.... in an arc of course.... up out and down ..... bloody good laff

 

[V8Druid]

Would a ferret be any good?

might singe his arse in the launch

 

[V8Druid]

Knew there was a "can you just " coming when this was brekky .....

"Tha's not a slice of toast!! " and before anyone says it .... I can't eat eggs .. or too much at a time !! a little and often

" so what you doin' today then Gra? ..... you know that mirror we were talking about " ... " the one i've been pondering HTF to hold on the wall you mean .... I have an idea brewing " now usually I'd just go and buy some mirror brackets ... but !!

these are lengths of vertical blind track that I'd gutted and burnt ... they were just sat under the bench as 'I knew' they'd cuminfa summat ......... and their time had come

the little bit in this pic was my trial sample to see how it'd fit/work ... well was the answer !!

so ..... had to take a flange off the one side ..... carefully

the short ones were easy ... the 1100 mm pieces were a bit more challenging

but got there and ended up with sufficient for the top and bottom of said mirror .... now mounting this on a stone wall was not going to be easy ... especially after i'd sussed just where she wanted it

gave up on a direct mount ... just wasn't going to happen .... without breaking a 5' x 2' x 8mm plate glass mirror ... so got me chippy head on and ......

didn't have a piece of ply big enough .... two strips that'd do but not in one piece
so make it a frame to keep it all in one piece ..... bearing in mind that Pam and Vicki have just about cleaned me out of 'sundry' timber with their planter boxes

so ripped a couple of pieces of 90 x 38 CLS in half .. again ... and gave it a bit of a rabbit (rebate to new heads)

if it'd been earlier n the day I'd have hauled me saw bench out .... but had it ripped with a fence and some careful depth settings, by the time i'd have dragged the bench out
out with the chop saw, set to 45 ... and create

this'll be a damned sight easier to fix to / hang on a stone wall, with said mirror attached to it ....... job for Pam tomorrow .. waterproof it ... paint or varnish'll be the decision of the day tomorrow - not mine

have managed a few other odds an' sods through the day .. pix tomorrow .. and cut the grass, beside the drive, with the Dane
Pam insisted on mowing the lawn (for a change) ... She'd been on the Countax 20 minutes, when it went quiet ... so trolled down to see why ......................... and she'd broken it

fortunately not a critical bit ... just the hand brake/brake lock ..... 'nother job for the list .... a new one ... not even I am gonna try welding that ..... although I could always re-drill the hole I suppose .... Hmmmmm !!

 

[V8Druid]

finishing touches to the mirror mount board this morning, 'fore I shifted this ..

and got me bag lifter out ready for some action ..... phone call to say me topsoil was 'en route' to fill Pam's planters, Vicki's veggie boxes and a few other odds an' sods ..


Alex steri-wiping said lifter after he'd been handling it ... fair play

nice to see a 'new' face ... first one in nigh on six weeks ... half an hour's 'distant chat', a large slice of Pam's GF cappuccino cake and he was away .... leaving me to get 'em shifted to where they were needed ....

left the old girl parked whilst they got emptied ... to take back anything we didn't use ..

which turned out to be half a bag ... and six-ish inches in the bottom of t'other, which got dropped into the half bagger, lock, stock and shovels for the return journey

patch looks a lot bigger without a gert duck sat in the middle of it ...

one happy Pam ... now these are full ..... all she needs now are a A LOT of plants ..........

and guess who ended up second coating this, this evening

third one in the morning ....... and that'll be the end of me half gallon tin of varnish .... more for the shopping list
Gonna be some re-stock ....... when we get let out !!

 

[TiltyShaun]

finishing touches to the mirror mount board this morning, 'fore I shifted this ..

View attachment 14165

and got me bag lifter out ready for some action ..... phone call to say me topsoil was 'en route' to fill Pam's planters, Vicki's veggie boxes and a few other odds an' sods ..


Alex steri-wiping said lifter after he'd been handling it ... fair play
View attachment 14170
nice to see a 'new' face ... first one in nigh on six weeks ... half an hour's 'distant chat', a large slice of Pam's GF cappuccino cake and he was away .... leaving me to get 'em shifted to where they were needed ....

View attachment 14166
View attachment 14167

left the old girl parked whilst they got emptied ... to take back anything we didn't use ..

View attachment 14168

which turned out to be half a bag ... and six-ish inches in the bottom of t'other, which got dropped into the half bagger, lock, stock and shovels for the return journey
View attachment 14169

patch looks a lot bigger without a gert duck sat in the middle of it ...
View attachment 14171

one happy Pam ... now these are full ..... all she needs now are a A LOT of plants ..........
View attachment 14172

and guess who ended up second coating this, this evening
View attachment 14173

third one in the morning ....... and that'll be the end of me half gallon tin of varnish .... more for the shopping list
Gonna be some re-stock ....... when we get let out !!

When you start restocking that will be the economic bounce back the government are hoping for!!!! Graham saves the world!!!

 

[V8Druid]

hit a bit of a snag with 'er indoors' mirror job this morning ... bloody thing is 10mm narrower/wider one end than t'other ... whoever cut the glass ****ed up big time ..... which now presented me with a problem for fixing it ... 10mm was a lot !! for the small fixing lip I'd planned ...... so re-think in order

plan formulated, but now needed a small rebate .. too small for a hand-held solution to create, so hauled out an Elu flip I bought off @Delbouy last year .. knew it'd cumminhandy sometime and was a good price

and what a great little tool it turned out to be ..... 3mm rebate required in this scabby old 2 x1 PSE ... only thing I could find enough of to do the job ...

bits cut and sorted .... apparently the 'distressed scabby look' was "ideal/perfect" .. so they got fitted ...

have to say ... much happier with this as a fixing solution ...
1 coat of varnish later ..

and even 'scabby' didn't look quite as bad

'nother coat in the morning and then I'll have to come up with a fixing solution ..... on a stone wall

had a new applicant today for the apprentice sawyer's job ...

he's going to have to keep that tail of his away from the business end of the Startrite though

a.n.other of the odds an' sods jobs yesterday ... this needed a good going over with a flap wheel and sanding disc after a winter's exposure to the elements ..... 'fore getting a couple of fresh coats of lacquer ...

came up quite well ... compared to the rusty mess it'd deteriorated into through the incessant winter ....

big old cast iron mixing bowl off a commercial mixer, I removed from a bakery in town, must be getting close to 40 years ago ... another one off the 'keep SWMBO happy' list (new can of spray lacquer to add to the list) "when can I refill it with water Gra?" ... " when the lacquer's had a decent chance to harden off Pam .... wait for the rain to dampen it first " that should give it a fighting chance ....... Swear she'd have filled it 'fore it even dried, given half a chance

 

[V8Druid]

"what did you say 'bout my tail dad ?"

different day .... different job(s) ...

so .... instead of chucking a dumpy in the trailer and burggering off down the village to Vicki's ... mini dumpies deployed ....

and the Skoda has to earn its corn .... topsoil for veggie boxes and put the rest onto a pallet .. them bag straps'll only stand so much handling, even with the right gear picking 'em up ...

Milk arrived and got swapped for topsoil

then, as it was on and I was in her ...... these took some flying lessons

Pam been sneaking a few crafty pix today too

full stretch to get that down there ...

and then came down to drop 'em outside the wood shed ...... bit of an early shed stuffing, but she volunteered

and did the one on her own, whilst I applied some dark Brunswick ....

to the bits i couldn't get at when the boxes got a coat, last .... IIRC, year, but may have been 2018??

me one paint pot i'd decanted into, from the 20 litre bucket still felt a third full so pulled that out ... only to find ...

 

[V8Druid]

paint bomb !! imagine that landing on yer head
and the bucket had started 'imploding' !!

weird !!
anyways ... I did the second basket and reckon the shed'll take the other two, too, just !!

may have to relocate the kindling boxes next door though

job for a.n.other day ... by the time these two were back in spot ...

'twere tea time and left me grading beam down out the way for tonight ..

Green Thai chicken curry, a la Pam style ... with extra cocnut milk and plenty of water chestnuts ... luvverly ... 'cept you have to fight a certain elderly cat for the chicken pieces !!

they decided to go for stereo tonight ...

it's usually one or t'other/one each .. not tonight !! ... they are quite their own characters LOL

Apple tree looking good earlier on when I went down to let Vicki in ...

looks like it's going to be a good year for fruit ... and these are eaters .. the cooker tree's about two weeks behind this un .


remember these going together ... have come on remarkably well ... 'cept the corner that Pam got a bit enthusiastic with the pruning on ...

couple of new plants required ... and for her new planter boxes too ...... may be some time 'fore we can get out to acquire any though ...... much to her annoyance .... she likes to 'get on' with it

and that's been about it for the day .... did mean to pick summat down onto the bench for a potter with tomorrow, but forgot 'til after i'd parked the 'Drema up ... 'll have to wait til the morning

 

[Cyberprog]

You can also sell pasteurised at the farm gate!!! There are now some vending machines that are popping up in farm gates!!

Our local farm does this, we've got very friendly with them as the couple are our age! Raw mmilk at £1.10 a litre, H loves it.

They have a pasteurizer but it's not in use yet. I keep telling em to speak to the local farm shops, put their current single output machine in there with pasteurized milk and buy a dual machine for the farm.

In England and Wales you can sell raw on the farm, off the farm at farmer's markets, and you can deliver it from the farm also. It's banned in Scotland.

Was raw for last few years but he's just put a plant in ....makes sense if he can get it to pay off...get paid about 10p a L from supermarkets or a quid direct...

Ours if £1.10/L. We are buying eggs from the farm also, a tray of 30 every fortnight!

 

[TiltyShaun]

Been thinking about the additional work to the mirror frame. Are you sure it was the mirror out of square? Man of your experience would have surely checked the item he was making the frame for!!!!

 

[DaveDCB]

Your thread makes me wonder how anyone can maintain a home without a duck? no wonder my Dad was upset when I sold the last machine left at his place!

 

[Shovelhands]

@V8Druid Gra, I forgot to say the other day, this mirror, does it sit against the ply? I am assuming it does?
I fitted some 8X4 mirrors around a horse riding school , the mirrors came on a sheet of board, like Wisa board, held around the edges with galvanised angle strip. Anyway, I made the frames to mount them on, they were well over built, but I took the view that they can’t be too strong! And mounted the mirrors to them as suggested by the supplier, which again was round the edges.
Unfortunately one of them broke in half, when I went to have a look at them, the board had buckled in the middle and something simply had to give, which was the plate glass mirror!
So just make sure the ply can’t warp and buckle and apply pressure to the middle of the glass

Funny enough, when the replacement mirror came, at a cost of about £600 iirc, they were no longer on the Wisa board, the design had been changed, they never said anything, but the board had obviously been an issue elsewhere.........