Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[V8Druid]

I think it is more likely a Cupboard spider better known as the false widow, although as you say that’s larger than normal for that spider they grow to about 10-15mm

reckon you're on the money there Boyo ..... but as said ... a big bugger ....

 

[Left hooker]

reckon you're on the money there Boyo ..... but as said ... a big bugger ....
View attachment 23812

Looks like a false widow to me normally loads when you lift up manhole covers

 

[V8Druid]

Pam busy in the 'boiler room' earlier in the week ...

down at Vicki's for tea Tuesday evening .... cake for Clara, et al .... very nice too
also knocked out this ....

all Pam's baking is gluten free and she's about perfected pastry, as well as sponges ..... "what do you want in the tart Gra?" ..... "Cherries please" .... she had one mouthful ..... and didn't like it ........ been working my way through it since .... got one piece left .... only a quarter of the chocolate cake made the trip home .... still got that to tackle

been decidedly cool here this week .....
little box of goodies arrived Thursday ..... fed up paying 4 quid a can in the local factors .... 2-ish quid sounded a lot better ..

Got the splitter on the back of the Zetor for a try earlier in the week ....

much better and no danger of window killing now

got this out yesterday morning ..... not been used in a while ....

BIL came down in the afternoon and's been mithering to have a go at trimming some dead out of some of the oaks ... sun was out so thought I'd make sure this was performing OK .... need a ton to stick on it to exercise it .... bit slow on the descent and didn't want him stuck up in the air .....
anyway .... by the time he'd arrived, 'tweren't so sunny ... bloody snowing !! ... but he was determined so dropped the mast off, stuck the forks and basket on and did what we could reach of the boom alone ... which was a fair bit .....

have spent the afternoon clearing up today and burning all the brash ..

leaving a decent lil' pile for processing
was on about coming back Tuesday for the rest, but have Clara all day tomorrow, so no time to 'exercise' the mast really ..... need to put a dumpy on a pallet for some weight and get all the rollers/slides lubed .... unless granny takes her for a walk for an hour or two ..... see what the weather's up to in the a.m.

 

[V8Druid]

two arrivals before 8 this morning .....
after weeks/months of no school and two weeks holiday ... her school was closed today for a 'training day' .... but her mum was in 'her' school working, as they were all back today

a welcome return from Reo .... been suffering with a bad back last couple of weeks and done sod all this month .....
eleven this morning he's laid on the wall top giving me instructions about which bits to press on, whilst gently applying pressure to his leg hanging off the side of the wall ..... the clicking and crunching noises made me cringe ..... but made him feel a whole lot better

both kept me 'occupied' most of the day ..... So hamster juice time had to wait 'til this evening after tea had been scoffed ....
cold old day to be pointing -- nasty easterly breeze, but Reo climbing the walls stuck at home and glad to be doing something


and brought me a bit of a 'project'/challenge !

 

[Left hooker]

Old pig iron trough that will be fun to repair

 

[Lancs Lad]

two arrivals before 8 this morning .....
after weeks/months of no school and two weeks holiday ... her school was closed today for a 'training day' .... but her mum was in 'her' school working, as they were all back today
View attachment 23896
a welcome return from Reo .... been suffering with a bad back last couple of weeks and done sod all this month .....
eleven this morning he's laid on the wall top giving me instructions about which bits to press on, whilst gently applying pressure to his leg hanging off the side of the wall ..... the clicking and crunching noises made me cringe ..... but made him feel a whole lot better
View attachment 23897
both kept me 'occupied' most of the day ..... So hamster juice time had to wait 'til this evening after tea had been scoffed ....
cold old day to be pointing -- nasty easterly breeze, but Reo climbing the walls stuck at home and glad to be doing something


and brought me a bit of a 'project'/challenge !
View attachment 23898 View attachment 23899View attachment 23900

Buy him a new IAE trough and save the hassle? Either that or its JB weld ?

 

[bobthebuilder]

two arrivals before 8 this morning .....
after weeks/months of no school and two weeks holiday ... her school was closed today for a 'training day' .... but her mum was in 'her' school working, as they were all back today
View attachment 23896
a welcome return from Reo .... been suffering with a bad back last couple of weeks and done sod all this month .....
eleven this morning he's laid on the wall top giving me instructions about which bits to press on, whilst gently applying pressure to his leg hanging off the side of the wall ..... the clicking and crunching noises made me cringe ..... but made him feel a whole lot better
View attachment 23897
both kept me 'occupied' most of the day ..... So hamster juice time had to wait 'til this evening after tea had been scoffed ....
cold old day to be pointing -- nasty easterly breeze, but Reo climbing the walls stuck at home and glad to be doing something


and brought me a bit of a 'project'/challenge !
View attachment 23898 View attachment 23899View attachment 23900

get reo on an inversion table

 

[V8Druid]

get reo on an inversion table

I did offer to hang him by his ankles from the 'Drema today and maybe give him a bit of a shake ..... or clamp his boots to the blade, a sling under his arm pits and give him a bit of a stretch ...... I could see him thinking about it

 

[Routy56]

I did offer to hang him by his ankles from the 'Drema today and maybe give him a bit of a shake ..... or clamp his boots to the blade, a sling under his arm pits and give him a bit of a stretch ...... I could see him thinking about it

That'll work. My late mother suffered with her back. Dad installed a horizontal hanging bar in their old stable. It worked well and Mum was often hanging around

 

[V8Druid]

That'll work. My late mother suffered with her back. Dad installed a horizontal hanging bar in their old stable. It worked well and Mum was often hanging around

usually around the time of a full moon??

 

[bobthebuilder]

I did offer to hang him by his ankles from the 'Drema today and maybe give him a bit of a shake ..... or clamp his boots to the blade, a sling under his arm pits and give him a bit of a stretch ...... I could see him thinking about it

no joke ,i used to go to chiropracter 250 quid a time,bought a cheap fleabay inversion table 80 quid ish 10 years ago ,never been back to the back man

 

[V8Druid]

no joke ,i used to go to chiropracter 250 quid a time,bought a cheap fleabay inversion table 80 quid ish 10 years ago ,never been back to the back man

tell me .... did for mine at 16 ... have learnt not to ignore my limits , ever since and taken care of it. Fine as long as I don't push it, or twist around awkwardly .... learnt to reverse on mirrors very early on and never turn around sat in the seat. It's fatal

 

[V8Druid]

well we have had a few white mornings this week ... most of 'em in fact ...

upside has been some lovely days to follow .... but chilly 'til well after lunchtime....
touched up the last bit of the box where the fork mast has been stood ....

one evening after tea and covered half of the far side of the box that's against the bank, in readiness for its move ...... hopefully shortly ...

Reo is working his way down the drive quietly

doing his usual lovely job .... on the home straight with the wall pointing .... caps next

Side of the drive got 'Dane-ed' after tea this evening .... second time this week ... growing quick, considering it's been so dry all week, but keeping it down makes for an easier cut.

Mission for this morning was to extricate Josh's BMW F650 from the back of the shed .... have sold it for him and needed extricating .... there was a lot in the way

having gotten all surrounding it out the way, (spare new dishwasher, new fridge, sideboard [all from me old house in town], powered sweeper-billy goat type thing, Ransome mower and the countax) it eventually exited out the doors ..

hard to credit all this tucked into the back corner ....

bloody sideboard thing would've gone in the wood shed if I'd had my way, but no apparently it's Stag or G-plan or some retro shite that Josh's missus fancies, so it's been kept (for far too long already) ... so it went in the now empty wood shed ... if it's still there when it's time to refill it, it'll get flat packed and stacked with the rest

anyway ... all returned in a different order with yon siccle now easily accessible, behind the Countax, for a quick exit
'fore the Ransome went back in I needed to take a look at its one drive wheel .. grass has not been kind to it ....

and I have been searching for a n other or new wheel assembly for it for soooooooome time - hen's teeth job .... pulley and brake drum are both welded to the rim/carrier tube ... found some loose pulleys (two types - later ones were a bolted assembly) on ebay last night - in the states and needed a closer inspection of whether I could 'persuade' one to work .... gonna be an uphill task, but have a few ideas ..

so ordered a pulley tonight ..... at a piss take price ... mower's burgered without it and is a damned good mower.
gonna have to make a mandrel to get it in the lathe to machine the welds off the inside of the brake drum .... the rim's not man enough to grip and the centre spindle just doesn't protrude enough to get hold of it .. gonna be an interesting challenge

so ... having sussed it, stuck the tyre back on the rim so's i could put the wheel back on to make it mobile and tucked it all away .... for a n other day, when the pulley arrives

will have more space when the beemer departs next weekend

 

[V8Druid]

so ordered a pulley tonight ..... at a piss take price ... mower's burgered without it and is a damned good mower.

Well the guy was a decent bloke and responded to my queries in time to stop me pressing BIN .... pulley was a later model and two required per side .. won't take a B section belt...... but after some msg exchanges he tells me he sort of has what i want .. but an earlier model with detachable wheel ....

$ 40 US ea. will get t'other side off and investigate that one too, but looks to have been replaced ..... thinks he has some rims too down side is the shipping and import duty's $39 US ea. ..... plus the rims if he does have any ....... waiting for him to get back to me.

managed to stitch that trough back together earlier in the week after a day in the sun ... nice and warm ..... not pretty but it's holding ok .... then knocked out a bit of a patch .... it's only got to hold some soil and compost for Pam to plant it up

and stitched that in yesterday after another sunbathing session to warm it up a bit

it'll hold compost and the iffy bit is against a wall ....

Reo is progressing well ....

covered up tonight ... get a pic in the morning ...... we've had this every morning this week

and the grass, etc. has been whiter ..... -3C here last night, but has been a spectacularly nice day, aside from the nippy N Easterly breeze .... get out of it and it's been lovely .... Reo's actually had his shirt off this afternoon ...... and I was in a fleece all morning, in the shade ...... exercising the block splitter

 

[V8Druid]

so ... one happy SWMBO ...

Reo turned up with this lot yesterday morning .. leccy boys had been clearing a path under the lines through his wood and had dropped this ....

lovely Cherry .... I'd have been well miffed if it'd been mine and they'd disc-ed it up ..... would've planked up nicely ... however 's fire wood now

he didn't want it as he's likely to be moving shortly and wasn't going to leave it to rot or get pinched .....

and the discs were 'shaking' already

all contributions to the wood stock greatly appreciated
Reo'd not quite gotten to the end of the wall last night ....

much to his annoyance ..... so kept it damped down all evening, 'fore covering it over for the night in anticipation of -3C again last night

which didn't materialise -- first night in a week where we haven't had the white stuff everywhere in the morning ..
Squeak brought me a present, late evening ..

sadly defunct .... not a mark on him ...... knowing Squeak and the way he carries 'em, he'd probably suffocated the poor lil' bugger .....
handsome mouse and a hell of a tail .... not yer average field mouse

anyway ... couple of hours this morning and Reo'd gotten the last bit at the corner done ....

and was on with the caps ....

he'd planned to have the upper run, up to the gate, all done tomorrow ....... 'til he got hijacked, at the garage this morning, by one of his regular customers, desperate for his time tomorrow ......so will hopefully be all done Monday evening, bar the pillar at the top of the drive, which has always been a last item.
SWMBO over the moon .... but still didn't stop the 'can you justs' coming thick and fast today ..... have spent the afternoon shifting dumpies about and dropping a couple over the trellis between her veggie boxes .... and shovelling their contents into her boxes for her .... needed topping up, by a good 4" each ...... dunno WTF that's all gone??

 

[V8Druid]

looks better today for a good tidy up

lovely day, but a cold N Easterly,

all grass massacred ..... again ..

at least it ain't growing too rapidly, with the lack of rain ..... staying on top of it saves a lot of tidying afterwards

a certain Squeaky-Mog enjoying the sun ..

my co-pilot is still with us ... God knows how, incredibly frail but still eating well and enjoying the sun - through glass - wind is too chilly for him to venture out much.

 

[V8Druid]

well Reo got the top run done monday ...

and finished off the day sorting some loose slates

then I spent some time the next day tidying up where he's had his mixer and bags for several months ....

had to resort to the 1RB for the last odds and ends which got dropped down onto the drive for a waiting barrow to re-distribute it on the old drive in a trench that'd sunk, standing ...... filled it up nicely....
said barrow fell victim to this .... on the last run fortunately

sorted after tea wish all tyres were a hand job, off/on ... so easy ..... this had to wait whilst i'd gotten the Thwaites round with circa 5t of planings in the skip ......

had to fight 'em out of the skip with the bucket ... set like concrete almost ... but have been in there a while ... should've dropped a little more out, but can tidy/finish off tomorrow after the roller has had a go at what's down .... been wanting square this area up for ages, but glad I hadn't as didn't matter too much about Reo's 'mess' being there
's a bit tight working here ... good job the 'Drema has such a small bum to avoid the trellis fence .....

took these with me when I went, anticipating bringing a couple of bags of stone back with me ...... so for anyone wondering why me forks are shaped so, who's not seen them here before ....

dropped 'em on with a sling as it was easy and quick ..... they're perfectly balanced for a level lift there ....

but thanks to that lovely VA boom on't 'Drema, I can pick them off loaded with the hitch too (or place them on there )

 

[V8Druid]

'twas a 'kin cool start to the day yesterday ... as the boiler flue'll testify ... steaming well ... a different view, from a Velux ...

(even cooler this morning .. hell of a frost! ... and been cool all day)

made the mistake of lifting half a bag of topsoil down onto the drive, at the bottom of the steps, a few days ago and while I'm trying to get on with my tidy up, Pam wanted me barrowing it round the front and spreading it about ......
she got out of bed yesterday morning and kicked the bed leg with her little toe ... did something similar myself maaaany years ago and broke mine ..... IMHDO she's dislocated hers .... so it got taped up to the next one and she's been hobbling since .... hence me having to barrow, after she'd filled it.

filled a fair gulley here some time ago and this was to top up the edge that'd sunk ... 'sposed to be some bit wet Monday, so might seed it tomorrow evening. Rest has taken well, that was done a while back and might push through, but a bit of extra won't hurt.

anyway .... between all that i got what i'd put down rolled and shifted 5 bags of clean 40mm to their 'new' resting place (for now) ....

and set about a grassy 'berm' that much tracking had raised, .......

re-located the first bucketful of grassy bits to a spot down the garden that was looking 'in need of', followed by the remnants that wouldn't go in the first pull.....
fought some more out of the dumper with the Geith and got them re-located, as required, filling several ruts as we went ...

I wanted to drop the lot at the end of the shed and pull it all through with me beam (original plan), but that got veto-ed ...... she liked the green, mossy bit, in the middle ........ hence the green, mossy bit, in the middle

"it'll grow back" wasn't acceptable ... "bloody grew there in the first place" didn't cut it either ... so gave in (for now)... and filled the ruts that 16t of 'Drema has a habit of creating, running back and fore over time ..... I'll get another crack at it after Russ has brought 30t of crane in and out

still got a bit more to do further up and the drain to top up with more 40mm, but having had much ear ache for some time about the two bags of stone, dropped further up, for Reo to finish off with, as he was walling, I had 'instructions' to re-locate them A.S.A.P.

in anticipation of 'issues' I'd parked a couple of solid pallets as close as poss. to 'em ... what was under them was burgered ... and very gently lifted them from one to the other ... one was fine, t'other a tad older, just about hung in there long enough to trans-ship, so gave that some bale wrap after, to keep it put, on the pallet ...

gonna have to re-bag it when I'm feeling enthused .... but managed to fork them out of the way .. (for now) .... tidied up and parked the 'Drema back in her usual spot and fought the planings off the skip sides, with a spade, ready for some rut filling today, 'fore tea time got called....

Pam'd been slaving over a 'hot stove' creating 'puds' for tomorrow's Birthday tea for Vicki ... 35 today .. and her (V's) fave GF choccy cake .... all afternoon, which got delivered this morning

So, other than a couple of hours chatting with Alex, who called by for a cuppa and natter, wrestling a new main 80A RCB into the consumer unit (as the old one did my swede this morning, tripping every couple of minutes - luckily had a new replacement sat in anticipation of it giving up the ghost - it has been known to play funny burgers, occasionally) and a major square up of a hell of lot of leaves into me burning bin, which were now accessible, with some gear moved about (and nicely dry too), it's been a bit of a more 'leisurely day' ...... mostly due to the bitter N Easterly, keeping it 'kin cooooool out there ... and a lack of enthusiasm to venture out into it.
if it's a bit warmer tomorrow, I'll finish off filling the ruts and get it all rolled down, 'fore Mondays forecast 25mm of rain, ready for another good pounding Tuesday, after it's had a good soaking

 

[Jimoz]

I'm with the missus don't mind a bit of grass on the wicket
Not so industrial

 

[TiltyShaun]

I know the pain of the Hydrema ruts!!