Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[V8Druid]

I know the pain of the Hydrema ruts!!

annoying thing is there's a good 250mm of hardcore/stone/planings under there on top of some pretty firm shaley sort of strata .... but does compress over time .... it has had a fair few 8 wheeler loads of stuff / artics with loaded boxes / crane and the 'Drema innumerable times over it though

 

[V8Druid]

something a bit different today ......
our cooker's been playing up lately ... a Stoves multi ring job .... 2 conventional type of rings and 5 induction .... the induction's brilliant, but when the power trips, which it does frequently here, the damned thing takes ages to get its head together .... shouldn't but does, so it needs a delve into ... so bought this as a standby whilst I rip the damned thing apart and suss it

works well, but whoever decided where to fit sockets in our kitchen was a complete idiot .... result was there are no sockets on two walls, which is extremely annoying ......
have a 'hood' over the Stoves with power in it to run the extractor off the ring main and a few handy spots for some additional socket installations ... so been at that today ..
however, that necessitates the removal of the extractor unit ...... which wasn't an issue, 'til it got removed and the resultant 'mank' was discovered, from several years of extraction.

sooooo ...... it got stripped for a deep clean ..... not really designed to be stripped, but it was having it .......

lots of pix of the control wiring

and it came to bits

kitchen carnage ... bits everywhere

had to chop some of the motor's leads to get it fully dis-assembled to clean it ... but clean it we did and all went back together with a full function test run coming up A1 .... then set it aside for phase two

looking like a new one ... fair play to pam, once completely stripped to component parts she did a hell of a job on getting it clean ... and was it ever manky .... not the sort of thing one can deep clean regularly, without serious effort and tools.

so phase two was install some sockets....

after a suitable hole had been 'obtained from stock' ........ and installed in the required position
followed by one of Mr Crabtree's best

it's level ....... the beading isn't..... not a lot, but shows against a level socket ...... 'bout a mil out

got one to fit at the opposite end tomorrow .....
as usual the wiring in the hood left a lot to be desired ... would like a conversation with the muppet who cut the earth lead too short, so slipped a.n.other piece of copper into the sleeve, to look right and connected that in the back of the socket, literally thrown up in the hood, out of sight

it got sorted properly

cable laid in ready for tomorrow's additional socket and isolated, 'fore the RCB got knocked back on and the sockets given a try ..... all fine and had to relinquish possession of the cooker area for tea's prep.
hopefully I have another suitable hole in stock, for installation in t'other end tomorrow ...... I can then re-install the extractor .......... and forget about what a sh1tty job it was.

 

[Stock]

So thats where my collection of holes are disappearing to ..............................................

after a suitable hole had been 'obtained from stock' ........

I'll be expecting some form of virtual recompense..........................

 

[V8Druid]

well this hole came in kit form yesterday

one more HOLE and a nice sharp 3/4" chisel and the rest of it came out .... screwed a back box in and a few connections

then wrestled the extractor back up in the hood .....and one happy SWMBO

lashed down here all day yesterday ... again ... wall looks so much better when wet

will have to install a sprinkler system

 

[Mark]

The wall looks beautiful, well worth all the hard work put into it.

 

[V8Druid]

The wall looks beautiful, well worth all the hard work put into it.

thanks @Mark ........ the boss is as happy as a dog with two tails with it .... so that's a result, if now't else ....... Reo has done a lovely job of it

 

[V8Druid]

on the subject of old pix ... Mog (& me) in the oops thread.... from the same folder as the ones I put in there .....
My old Grove TMS 475 ELP 45/50 tonner ... putting cladding packs on the roof of the local hospital, many years ago .... day abandoned, when the wind got up to the point the slew wouldn't hold against it and it was lifting the machine up on it's jacks with the wind against the back of the boom, on one side .... was nice and calm down where I was sat .... not quite so 140 ft of boom and swing-away up out of the shelter of the building.

 

[V8Druid]

on the subject of old pix .. .......

and whilst trawling through folders looking for a couple of pix for Pam ......
a few more, that some here might appreciate, in understanding jus' why the Druid became a 'Drema owner ... Old CEF-ers'll seen some of these B4 .... for them that 'aven't ...
the Jake got outgunned, by what I was turning up

had a whole field/level of these to contend with .... just where i wanted to be, level-wise ...
and a handling device became essential ...

enter the Cranab, which performed brilliantly, grappling some serous chunks, which got quietly stacked out the way .... the start of a serious pile ..

and some were just too big to get a grip on,

so got forked about ...... and the pile grew

and grew ...

as I dug me way further back....

'til I found a new home for 'em all ... and they migrated at the end of '17

two days 'fore we got hit by this

so aside from a serious pile of spoil that needed shifting .... circa 1000+ x 6t dumper loads (usually stuffed to the gunwales) the size of the lumps dictated a bigger weapon was required ... and that's why she's here ... one of the best things I've ever bought.

 

[TiltyShaun]

and whilst trawling through folders looking for a couple of pix for Pam ......
a few more, that some here might appreciate, in understanding jus' why the Druid became a 'Drema owner ... Old CEF-ers'll seen some of these B4 .... for them that 'aven't ...
the Jake got outgunned, by what I was turning up
View attachment 24561
View attachment 24565
View attachment 24562View attachment 24564

had a whole field/level of these to contend with .... just where i wanted to be, level-wise ...
and a handling device became essential ...
View attachment 24567
enter the Cranab, which performed brilliantly, grappling some serous chunks, which got quietly stacked out the way .... the start of a serious pile ..

View attachment 24568
and some were just too big to get a grip on,
View attachment 24569
so got forked about ...... and the pile grew
View attachment 24570
and grew ...



View attachment 24571View attachment 24572
as I dug me way further back....
View attachment 24573

View attachment 24574

'til I found a new home for 'em all ... and they migrated at the end of '17

View attachment 24576
two days 'fore we got hit by this View attachment 24577
so aside from a serious pile of spoil that needed shifting .... circa 1000+ x 6t dumper loads (usually stuffed to the gunwales) the size of the lumps dictated a bigger weapon was required ... and that's why she's here ... one of the best things I've ever bought.

Fully understand why you have the drema. It is a serious weapon for handling if you have the balls!!

 

[V8Druid]

Fully understand why you have the drema. It is a serious weapon for handling if you have the balls!!

struck gold in Norwich, when i went to buy her Shaun

 

[Left hooker]

Created all that space to fill it with buckets

 

[V8Druid]

Fully understand why you have the drema. It is a serious weapon for handling if you have the balls!!

I've had her up on two wheels pretty regularly Shaun .... cross carriage is the most interesting and is amazing just how far you can go on the balamce, 'fore you gotta put it down again ...... and 'cock a leg out'
cross cambers are the biggest cheek clenchers

 

[Jimoz]

will have to install a sprinkler system

You could probably seal it to get that look but then you'd be messing with its permeability so prob best to stick with plan a

 

[V8Druid]

my first 'jake-beater'

he'd gotten this far ....

between wall and garden building

and then found 'Jake-beater # 2' ..

and a collection of more 'handle-able' lumps .....

but then the boulder field began to appear

'bout all I could do from there on in was lose the ramp at the left ....

......the neighbour's gulley I'd been filling to this point'd been declared 'full enough' (although his missus disagreed and wanted more in there) so i also needed a new 'tip area'.
so had to start stockpiling it out the way for a while, so's I could get the lower area flat in readiness for some boxes

 

[V8Druid]

3rd May '14 ... these dropped in for tea ....... and took root .......... four days after mog arrived with the 'Drema

apologies for boring you all with old pix .... blame Pam

 

[V8Druid]

well it's been lashing down now for over 36hrs .... and counting ..... drains going full on and the lawn's had an aneurism ..... couldn't believe the hump when i looked out the window earlier .... difficult to see the scale in the pix

land drain under there somewhere .... severely blocked IMHDO .... combined with the run off from the field at the top of the bank, where the hedge met its maker a few weeks ago .... which the land drain should also be contending with ..... 'fraid the lawn is going to have to have some 'surgery' later in the year when (if) it ever dries up for a few weeks and a new pipe run gets inserted .

Tony the scrappy turned up this morning to pick up a dead motor for Reo, after he'd taken away a few binfuls from me and a couple of RR cat.s .... had to guide/lead him over to Reo's ... he'd never have found it

and it's still lashing it down ........ even lit the woodburner tonight ...... like January out there

 

[Left hooker]

Still eating dust here even after all the showers lately still bone dry underneath

 

[V8Druid]

at last ... some sun ..... beautiful day yesterday ..



been tasked with re-coating the deck today with the non slip stuff from Blackfriars ... dear tack but bloody good .. last coat has lasted a good 5 years

like a matt varnish with sharp granules/grit in it ..... end up with a surface you'd skin yer knee on, bit like trakmark ... as it says on the tin - non-slip, even when very wet.

massacred the grass - everywhere yesterday ... grew like hell after last week's rains .... looking healthy enough ... body complained though ... and again tonight ... bloody thing!! feels fine .. 'til i do summat

might have a trip out to see Johnny Barnes tomorrow - eyeball a 7t Kommie for one of the guys off the old CEF .... been on the blower tonight asking about JB and his wares .. as always, would recommend John to anyone

edit ..... just had to reload some pic AGAIN

 

[Cyberprog]

Looks good Druid. I'm off to sunny W-S-M for a meet with a friend and to have some food. Looking forward to it!

 

[V8Druid]

forgot to say ..... went to jump in the 'Drema Friday afternoon and discovered that the wren's nest in the wheel chock,

which had been vacated, not seen her for some time, but had some new residents ..... bloody bees ... lots of 'em
said chock is now sat on the bank, out the way and well away from me


as I said earlier .... after all the rain, yon grass is looking good - couple of pix of the cause of the growth

there's a serious amount of clean 40mm under that and a 12" pipe at the bottom of it all .... coming down so hard it was standing all over the place

small river from the field run off and drain under the lawn that just couldn't cope with the volumes lately

it lashed it down last week

edit..... just had to reload all the pix here again @Rivmedia