Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[bobthebuilder]

did last year and wasn't flowering then ..... might put a mask on and give it 150psi when it starts, then retreat in the opposite direction .... snot season has started already .. bloody grass gave me some shite this morning .... grass as such doesn't give me grief usually.... it's all the bloody tree pollen lying in the grass on a first cut ... can mow the grass no issues through the year, but that first one's a killer

never used to suffer till about 15 years ago ,now its snotsville unless i keep up the antihystamines

 

[V8Druid]

never used to suffer till about 15 years ago ,now its snotsville unless i keep up the antihystamines

was taking 10mgs of cetyryzine daily for the last 14 years, constantly all year round .....
last couple of months I haven't needed it at all ...
came on me when I turned 50 and was desperate ....
allergic to all sorts of things and the weirdest things would set it off big time ... have stopped eating all manner of things, once i realise they're a trigger ....
oak pollen last year was terrible ...
grass doesn't bother me ...
if I eat peanuts/cream/milk chocolate/all sorts, I'm wiped out for 36 hrs,'til it gets through me ....
I'm hoping after the last few months cetyryzine free, that I've grown out of it, but had to resort to 10mgs last night

 

[V8Druid]

bitterly cold night and snowed on/off most of it ..... still getting snowed on, on/off this morning, 'til about two. !! a biting north wind here all day
wanted some shackles for me lift eye bolts and knew I had 4 matching ones attached to some chains .. old man riding basket chains i had sat - outside sadly .. so had to spend an hour or two separating the split link couplers off them and the chain legs and then rejuvenating said shackles, indoors out of the bloody wind and snow flurrys

handily I had some 7/8" BSW taps and die nut to run down the threads for a good clean up and all functioning very nicely again now with a bit of lube to help 'em along

Josh turned up just after three ... smelt the kettle and lunch-time ham rolls, so after some scoff and a warm up, his beams got man handled into his camper .... he was glad i'd told him to lose his front seats for the trip ... the two 3.1m, s were on the limit for the pair of us, at going 100kgs each and wouldn't have gone in with the seats in place

his mum's gardening coat looked quite 'fetching' on him
bolted the beams together in pairs for the trip .. they weren't gonna move anywhere ..... has some of his mates with him this weekend to hump 'em up into the loft and into situ .... I'm promised pix of the operation

Bye bye beams .......one of the more original birthday prezzies he's had from me ..... they might even beat the cantilever box of spanners/tools he could barely pick up a couple of years ago

 

[V8Druid]

well I got the full 'treatment' this morning .......
back to Caeeerdiff for yet another MRI ... last one got cancelled the day before, due to the dept. going down with the coof.
lightest traffic i've seen in a long time and made good time, so was early.

I choose my clothing carefully, so's not to have any metals on board .... not good enough this morning .... strip and gown job, in a particular type of fabric gown
Canulated me for a dye job and in the tube we went.

man was this unit a loud bugger, even with the ear plugs ..... totally different 'sound track' and gave the Druid a bloody good cooking ...
The very pretty young radiologist tells me on exit, after asking about the generated heat, in the machine and me, that this is their latest 'tool' ... supercharged, double strength jobby and yes you do get a lot hotter in this 'un
she weren't kidding

anyway, back in the car by two ... Pam'd come with me today and'd been sat around a while - ( not allowed to be accompanied for appointments )... waiting to troll off to the next destination.
we've been wanting some new outdoor furniture for the patio for some time .... had decided what we wanted last year, but no one had any stock (surprise) so we didn't get it ... Pam's been keeping an eye on the 'stock' situation and we were off to a place 20 miles further on from Caeeerdiff ..... 'cos they had 'em there to eyeball and try along with a big range of other stuff ..... but this was what she wanted and have to agree, was the comfiest by far and nicely made, on a powder coated ali frame (no rust ) ... so .....

90 min.s, or so, later and wallet considerably lightened, we were on our way home.

Looking forward to it getting delivered (could not be arsed to (a) empty me big trailer and (b) flog all the way back down there to collect it ) and having some comfy stuff to lounge about on when/if we get some decent weather (as some are forecasting) later in the month
hopefully should outlast us

 

[V8Druid]

dragged some chains out yesterday morning in readiness for it's 'first flight' ..... might have to drop some shorteners onto the master links .... we'll see but I know these are a 'perfect pair'

Had the BIL and Pam's sister here all day yesterday, so didn't get much else done
got some treatment onto the timber clamp strips for the flaps, this morning, after length-ing them up

and then went in search of a suitable lump of timber for me tailboard, to finish that little number off ... found summat suitable to lop it out of and sized it up .....

ready to get it fixed ....

before moving indoors from the threatening rain, to give it a first coat of Yacht varnish to seal it off

was going to drop another on after tea, but still tacky, so job for tomorrow, after me 'hamster juice' ...... then maybe an inaugural flight and get yon frame somewhere near spot .... for the next stage

 

[Mogman]

dragged some chains out yesterday morning in readiness for it's 'first flight' ..... might have to drop some shorteners onto the master links .... we'll see but I know these are a 'perfect pair'

looks like some dodgy hooks to me

 

[V8Druid]

looks like some dodgy hooks to me

nah ... just missing the latches .... they're here somewhere

 

[V8Druid]

got some pix and some vid.s from Josh today .... they're in ...... no idea HTF to share the instagram vid.s ... so a few screenshots ...... boy did well ... bit less crap in the working area might've helped matters

 

[Lancs Lad]

got some pix and some vid.s from Josh today .... they're in ...... no idea HTF to share the instagram vid.s ... so a few screenshots ...... boy did well ... bit less crap in the working area might've helped matters

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Tidy. Drop that and it be fun reminds me a job in town few years back.. Htf it didn't hit anyone ill never know.

Steel firm drops girder on estate agent

Contractor Pocklington prosecuted after beam falls from crane and crashes through three floors of a Preston estate agent

www.constructionenquirer.com

 

[V8Druid]

Tidy. Drop that and it be fun reminds me a job in town few years back.. Htf it didn't hit anyone ill never know.

Steel firm drops girder on estate agent

Contractor Pocklington prosecuted after beam falls from crane and crashes through three floors of a Preston estate agent

www.constructionenquirer.com

sometimes you have to sling at an angle ... you just make sure it's well gripped ... " The investigation concluded the beams should have been lifted when level and not at an angle. " know nothing pr*cks

 

[GazCro]

sometimes you have to sling at an angle ... you just make sure it's well gripped ... " The investigation concluded the beams should have been lifted when level and not at an angle. " know nothing pr*cks

Slings rather than chains would have had some grip

 

[V8Druid]

Slings rather than chains would have had some grip

not always ... needs to be weighty to get a sling to grip really well .... block of wood in the bite in the chains is as good as anything

 

[V8Druid]

had a non-windy day here today .. first for a while .... so it had to have it
got all the canopy clamp boards attached loosely

and cranked the 'Drema up to hang a sky hook off

and carried it to a closer location to get yon poly-tunnel onto it for securing .....

then humped 33 sand bags off it and onto a convenient pallet so we could shift it

could have done with a couple more pairs of hands, but didn't have 'em so had to manage ... Pam could've done with another 6" in the height stakes too !! .. but we wrestled it on there
have spent the rest of the day fixing it down and securing all the flaps ... annoyingly ran out of suitable length bolts, so gonna have to go shopping in the morning ..... enough in there to secure it for the night though and all drilled ready

rolled all the vent flaps down last thing .... sposed to pee down again tonight ... will hopefully give it all a good wash off, 'fore it gets lifted back into its usual spot

just got to sort out a couple of stiffener/rollers for the flaps, then it's ...... " let it blow, let it blow "

 

[Monkeybusiness]

had a non-windy day here today .. first for a while .... so it had to have it
got all the canopy clamp boards attached loosely
View attachment 34148
and cranked the 'Drema up to hang a sky hook off
View attachment 34149
and carried it to a closer location to get yon poly-tunnel onto it for securing .....
View attachment 34150
then humped 33 sand bags off it and onto a convenient pallet so we could shift it
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could have done with a couple more pairs of hands, but didn't have 'em so had to manage ... Pam could've done with another 6" in the height stakes too !! .. but we wrestled it on there
have spent the rest of the day fixing it down and securing all the flaps ... annoyingly ran out of suitable length bolts, so gonna have to go shopping in the morning ..... enough in there to secure it for the night though and all drilled ready

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rolled all the vent flaps down last thing .... sposed to pee down again tonight ... will hopefully give it all a good wash off, 'fore it gets lifted back into its usual spot
View attachment 34156
just got to sort out a couple of stiffener/rollers for the flaps, then it's ...... " let it blow, let it blow "

How heavy is the base Graham? Will you fix it down or let gravity do it’s thing alone?

 

[V8Druid]

How heavy is the base Graham? Will you fix it down or let gravity do it’s thing alone?

360kgs MB ... hopefully gravity'll do its thing .... the reason it escaped last year was the 8" flaps around it, that the sand bags were sat on had worked their way loose, from under the bags and it was away .... no way is it going to work its way loose from 360kgs of steel base it's bolted to in future..........unless we get a hurricane ... then all bets're off

 

[LKSF]

What's the story with the polytunnel? Bought cheap and blew away? I have experience of that! I got my money back as it wasn't fit for purpose.
Sorry for not reading or being up to date, your thread is 254 pages long now!

 

[V8Druid]

What's the story with the polytunnel? Bought cheap and blew away? I have experience of that! I got my money back as it wasn't fit for purpose.
Sorry for not reading or being up to date, your thread is 254 pages long now!

perfectly happy with the tunnel ....
there are 8" wide flaps around its entire base for weighting down/digging in (sod that) .....
had 1/2t of sandbags round it, on the flaps and had been perfectly stable, for quite some time, 'til we had a really freak gust from the East, late one evening, (had been blowing hard all day) and it literally pulled it out from under the bags ...
all were still in place on the deck ......
took it end over end into the neighbouring field and TBH were very lucky there was little damage sustained.
Bags were hessian (supposedly rot proof - er not! ), so re-handling them was a case of do what i could and shovel up the rest ....
bought the white ones you see in the post and then put the cover back on ...
has been good since, but when it really blows (frequent event here) I keep a 'weather' eye on it ...
the recent winds have resulted in it getting ratchet strapped to the planet ...
has been some bit wild here a few nights - as in difficult to stand in it.

Been planning the base frame for a while, to
(a) make it integrally secure - full stop
and
(b) make it mobile, for the occasional shift out the way
Mission accomplished yesterday ('cept I was short on a few M6x65 bolts - arrive Monday) ... all drilled ready to drop in though and secure enough for the delay.

 

[LKSF]

I see. I recently got one from Northern Polytunnels. They have a system which is like a corkscrew, so you screw them into the ground and then anchor the hoops to it. Luckily for me I didn't buy that, but opted for dig holes and concrete in fixings instead. The ground where it sits is so stoney I had to get the road drill out to dig the holes!

 

[V8Druid]

I see. I recently got one from Northern Polytunnels. They have a system which is like a corkscrew, so you screw them into the ground and then anchor the hoops to it. Luckily for me I didn't buy that, but opted for dig holes and concrete in fixings instead. The ground where it sits is so stoney I had to get the road drill out to dig the holes!

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we originally bought this one .. was only a couple of hundred quid ... as a "social distancing" (remember that) meeting area ..... at 6m x 3m was way bigger than any thing else, properly waterproof/windproof and would have a secondary use afterwards

 

[V8Druid]

well I'm sorry fellas, but no actual pix of it taking flight ..... needed both hands and full concentration to juggle this into spot, under the power cable to me boxes ..... was 'kin tight and called for some inventive slinging initially, as I could only find two of me four shackle on clutches this morning .. and could not be arsed to drag out a couple of different sets of chains

but got it in there with Pam providing a steadying hand - sort of

'The boss' is happy to have her tunnel back where it was and'll hopefully stay put, .................. 'til i get a hold of it again with a 'sky hook'

just got to fix some edge stiffeners/weights to the door flap bottoms tomorrow .. and chuck the rest of the bolts in when they arrive next week.

stuck the tailgate on the little garden trailer body after a couple of coats of yacht varnish, over the last few days .... happy with that ...... just got to get some muddies on it.

then gave the grass a bit of a going over .... and spread a few mole hills about

while Pam gave the fiddly bits a hooking .... with the husqy while it was all relatively dry ..... next week looking pretty unpredictable, judging by the speed they keep changing the forecast



And just to round the day off ..... feel like i got a cold coming on ..... but could be my allergies kicking in ..... oaks're leafing up, as is the Lyme I've been mowing under and a few of of the others are well advanced too ... tree pollen really knackers my system.