Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[ianoz]

OM aNeLe the TeL is eN
see how translate works on that Mr Druid .

[v8druid]

OM aNeLe the TeL is eN
see how translate works on that Mr Druid .

Best guess ...... I'm nearly at the end

[v8druid]

any amateur or otherwise, geologists here ??

Found a really 'interesting' lump of rock today .... climbed down out the cab and was on the deck by my foot !!

another best guess'd be petrified tree / plant perhaps ??












Anyone???

[v8druid]

shifted those two 'lumpers'....





......and a load of pallets, out the way .... dumper has lost its parking spot to seven pallets and my 4ft bucket .... so's I can get a better 'pull' at the remaining rock bed ..... if the bugger was 6 " lower, it could've stayed!!


Ol' girl has had a hard afternoon ...





B20 adapter has stuck it very well ...


I've now dug meself into a/the corner .....





......and need somewhere else to stand ...
not really fancying shifting another dozen or more pallets, but may have to .. where to put the damned things is the question ??


that Akerman bucket is some rock ripping tool !! ...... especially if you can get under it !


need to turn the remaining bed in the corner into a bigger pile of crushed rock and get it back down





I do have a very sharp, short, 4 t set of forks .... might try swapping 'em over tomorrow and getting under the bed with 'em ... got an edge to work from ... but currently no where to stand for a pull ... see how a push and a bit of leverage performs !!!!





or bite the bullet and shift a LOT of pallets

[v8druid]

Busy day Wednesday .....


decided to take the 6" off the rock bed that was left .... and came off pretty well .... would not have wanted to do it all though !!! Took a while to get it down !





all tracked in and leveled off on the 'way out' with the last pass.











ready for some serious rolling down ..... which I'd be doing today, if I didn't have to go to Cardiff for another bloody scan ... 14:15 appointment for a 10 minute DEXA ..... local boys got a 3.8t 1200 ride on sat in their yard ATM .. could've had it this morning!!!!!! Forecast is peeing down Friday night / Saturday morning ... and on / off the rest of the week too ....... BUGGER !!


this may well be the last load of stone, to contribute to me neighbour's 'road building' rock pile ......





... he's had a decent contribution from me ... and's like a pig in poo with it all !!





load count may go up a few more with a bit more soil still to shift off the last bit of bank





then get the field all squared up and leveled off again


Got to get it all rolled down hard, trim where needed, if it needs any, get 6"+ of planings on it, rolled down hard, blended in with the existing, with some 40mm round the edge and I'll be well happy with it.


I'll pull the drainage channel where necessary, once it's been rolled and have a.n.other drain to connect the other end up to, heading down to me system, by the black shed.


Will be nice to have a lot more space to spread out into and get the jumble, all crammed in, ATM, sorted properly .....


If the stone wall guy'd get his arse into gear and turn up, I've got 23 pallets of stone that'd not be in the way, once they're all 'stood up' in front of the retaining wall. THEN I'd have some space
Oh and another 8 pallets of rock that got ripped out, to do summat with too .. either used or sold off.


'tis a bit tight for space in places ......

[v8druid]

so .... peeing down this morning !!!! 2.15 appointment ..... 75 or 90 mile round trip depending on route ..... Friday traffic is always shit so 12.15 departure - in case!! .... in the Dept. of Physical medicine by 1.30 .... amazing, considering the traffic ..... even more amazing - - I am the only one there !!!


Sat waiting for 20 min.s and got called in ... nice and early. Back in the car and en route home by 2.15 .... result !!


despite horrendous traffic and some old biddy doing 28 mph, that I just could not get past for 4 miles, I was drinking a coffee at home at 3.15.
always a 'quick run' on me own !! No funny whining noises from the passenger seat .... LOL


day knacked, so thought I'd tackle a job I've been less than enthusiastic to sort for a while ... was 'in the mood' ..... repair me roller ... again !!


been on the bench for months awaiting my attention !!


Had it in bits in about 30 minutes ... know me way around it now ....


'the lumpy bit' wasn't as heavy as I recall it being, the last time I humped it off !! Must be getting fitter again .... LOL .... older for sure !


As I thought .. one of the drive bobbins had worked loose and wrecked its hole .... and wrecked all the other bobbins as well.


a 'fix' was required ...







Bloody casting number exactly where I wanted to park the mag drill ..... so that had to go!!





BIG centre drill soon had centre re-orientated ...





14mm broach ......
....soon had a nice tapping hole for an M16 stud.





which was duly created/fitted and peened in place ..





at which point the bell tolled ....... for tea !!


back to it ..... didn't recall it looking this 'busy' when I left it ???





8.5mm for an M10 later ......





and job did ... six new bobbins and drives fitted, that I'd invested in, from the roller's makers, this time .... over 10 quid each .... they had better be ****ing good !!!





and the drive train re-assembled .......





on a roll, but running out of light .... that phenomenon that's been missing of late, I'm pleased to say!!


the mission was to get the bugger re-assembled before the light beat me, so an acute lack of pix


It's ready to be lifted down in the morning and given a test drive ..... might set the alarm for six and serenade next doors with the Petter's clatter, 'bout 6.30.


As I was told ....... a while back, by a certain knob-head ... " things change - you'll get used to it " ........ works both ways .... they'll get used to it !! ....... me - pissed off - nah - - what ever makes you think that ??

[v8druid]

Was a bit 'sticky' under foot this morning , from yesterdays deluge







but lifted the old girl off the bench and got it to start ..... for about 2 minutes ..... followed by a complete fuel system strip .... drain tank, clean, refill with non water contaminated cherry, then bleed all the water out of everywhere else .... the return into the tank goes through a rubber grommet ... a better system is required .... maybe several months worth of rain infiltration in't tank





eventually got her going and performing very well .... best in a looong time in fact ..... but yon ground was a bit too wet in places ....





did manage 2 circuits though and got it sealed off a bit ...... just before Alex arrived ........... together with the rain .... forecast is diabolical for the next few days ...... after all this lovely weather, the return to 'normality' is a major pisser


MUCH bigger roller required, to smash this lot down ..... when it dries sufficiently, I'll hire that 1200mm, ride on

[v8druid]

considering the rain these last 24 hrs .... 'tain't looking too bad ..... gonna have to take a bit more off the rock bed in one spot and form a deeper channel to me back drain ... other than that .... it'll do






now for it to dry enough to get a roller on it

[ianoz]

Soooooo, what sort of shed is ya getting ?

[v8druid]

Soooooo, what sort of shed is ya getting ?

the "sort" with a waterproof roof, walls, big doors, solid concrete floor and good lighting

[v8druid]

well it's been blowing well .... and it's drying quietly .... gave it a.n.other twice over .... well most of it anyway, before tea tonight .....





gonna need a lot more blow though ..... and forecast wet again tonight .... grrrrrrr!!


got a lil' job done this morning .... been sat about a while and it's needed shortly ..










dragged Alex's big(ger) HPX out of the chaos .....





and got the spigot fitted





followed by an S type ....





needs the spacer spigot to clear the gripper on his SMP





the multi holed mount gives an opportunity to put the head plate in a multitude of positions ..... just in case !!


got it on his trailer later this afternoon ........ after I'd lifted off the next project(s) ......

[v8druid]

Was looking decidedly drier today when I wound the old roller up ... been windy as hell here all day ....








I'm going to have to have a MAJOR re-juggle of some of this lot








and various other pallets of stuff, lying about the place ... gonna need to create some turning space for some 8 wheeled tippers to get some planings delivered!!


looked even better after yet another 'twice over' before we had to go into town at 17.00.





Forecast is a wet night though ..... will undo all the nice drying weather of the last two days

[v8druid]

well they weren't bloody kidding on the rain front !!!!











has dried off a bit ... been blowy as **** here again today





couple to make you smile/smirk .....


had to dash into town last night .... no fuel in the Golf !!! .. pulled into the local garage in the village .... grabbed a pump and got to 10 quid before doing a double take ...... I'd only grabbed the usual green nozzle ..... SHEEEIT !
fortunately I had room for another 50 quids-worth of diesel on top of it .. so reckon on about 5-8% mix, max, with what was left in it too !


don't 'spose I fill the Golf in six weeks or more .... so used to chucking fuel in the P38!! ...... very lucky it clicked, when it did !!!




Was supposed to have been heading for Bristol airport by now .... pick up the kids at midnight.
phone call 20:15 ..... "er...... we missed our flight" ......
"How Josh? ... it doesn't take off for another two hours??"
"er .... it was 10.30 this morning .... not tonight!!" ..... PMSL !!


waiting to hear what they're going to do ... were only coming back, to go to a mate's wedding tomorrow, ..... they'd originally planned 3+ weeks holiday.


told 'em to stay ... rent another car and carry on with their hol.s .... head for a port, eventually and come back 'foot passenger', on a ferry ... cheap as!! .... £450 quid for flights tomorrow!!!! .... FFS !!


I can then go pick 'em up from Portsmouth as and when, or they go Roscoff/Plymouth and catch a bus home --- they live in Plymouth.




here's why the HPX had to have the turret .....














.....and the reason I made the pick up multi-holed for a choice of bolt on position !!
move it back one set of holes, on the 4 hole location and it'd have full opening on the gripper !!
Like I always say ..... try to cater for all eventualities !!

[v8druid]

........Was supposed to have been heading for Bristol airport by now .... pick up the kids at midnight.
phone call 20:15 ..... "er...... we missed our flight" ......
"How Josh? ... it doesn't take off for another two hours??"
"er .... it was 10.30 this morning .... not tonight!!" ..... PMSL !! .........

well they missed the wedding
..... all set and about to jump in't car to go get 'em from Brummy airport yesterday afternoon .... call to say they couldn't get on the flight, after all .....
Missed the evening do too


were gonna be coming into Bristol at noon today.


Called 'em this morning to make sure they were DEFFO coming ... yep 11:55 landing.


I can do Bristol centre in about 35-40 min.s usually, so left at 10:55, knowing they'd be a good half hour getting through check in, etc.


always go old bridge and into Bristol, for the airport .... signs take you bloody miles around and if there's any issue on the M/ways, you'm ****ed!!


M48's 4 miles were clear/completely empty, M4's two miles were reasonable, running at 70mph, M5's mile-ish was the same, clear to Aztec West/Filton and solid stationary traffic on-wards ... hadn't planned quite such a convoluted route through Bristol, but no choice and dived off into Filton !!


their Ryanair plane was coming in, for touch down, as I reached the crest of the hill at Lulsgate and pulled over to await a call, to say they were at the pick up area ...... parking, as at all airports, is exorbitant !!!!!! ..... roadside is free and I got to watch the big white birds coming in ..... never tire of watching those things coming down, or taking off


Loaded and away by one o'clock, decent run through Bristol's back routes, across the downs, through Westbury's 'suburbia' and back home at 14:10 ...... traffic was horrendous ..... in the other direction, on the bits of M/way that were unavoidable ... which weren't much .... without major back-road/country lane detours!!


three years living in Bristol maaaany years ago always gives me an edge


Day buggered again .... but mission accomplished !

[v8druid]

run out of space in't shed .... well the high level space anyway ....

so picked up some more 225 x 47 boards last Friday and some angle to make more with.

after I'd sobered up from the night's 'drug excesses' I thought I'd get one up at least .... had a bit of a rough night last Saturday ... 5 a.m. to bed, waiting for the painkillers to kick in







t'other one Monday, between grand dadding

ground was drying nicely .......AGAIN!! had been blowing like hell here again all day and with no rain forecast for the week, I might just manage to get it all sorted ready for some black stuff and 40mm clean ...... better get it ordered



Monday was a long 'Clara day' ..... takes some amusing for ten hrs
Managed to get an hour or so and got the second shelf up in't shed ...








now to fill 'em both up


also found some 25mm bar for a lil' job I started a while back ... didn't think I had any ..... 'til I was putting away some material I picked up at Pete's fab shop, Friday and there it was


this was too good to turn into blocks ..... be handy between a couple of sun loungers ... always looking for summat to park a cup on .....




Squeak loved it .... and the boss was well happy with it too


Had a visit from Alex, late afternoon .... sharpen his chain saw chain, pretty please?? .... me Lidl chainsaw grinder does a great job .....left us a 'prezzy' on the drive .... brand new courtesy car ... his is in on a recall .....




bloody oil patches !!!!! out the bottom of a brand new Toyota hybrid Prius


he had a bit of a delay on his way home .....










this truck will have left their yard ... less than two miles from this bridge ... a known 'striker' .... gets one a month on average .... some one'll have had a bollocking for this !!