Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

Got this on the bench earlier in the week in the odd dry hour we've had ...





and split, to deal with the not insignificant dent hiding behind a weld or three .








little extra point pressure needed in a few spots ...





a 10mm nut taped in position, here and there, worked a treat

back together and it goes full range ...








thought I was gonna have to find a new bit of SHS for the outer other wise

[v8druid]

I'm reliably informed this morning, that all my woes started on this day 20 years ago

took Pam out on our first (blind) date ..... an' she didn't draw breath all evening !! .... some might say a 'wiser' man'd taken that as a sign of things to come
I blame Kevin Philips, her work colleague, and mutual friend, whom she tasked with the 'project' of finding her a suitable fella to accompany her to the BWW crimbo bash in '99, as she was fed up of going on her own, after her divorce some time before!!
I had ABSOLUTELY no idea who she was, or what she was like ... other than Kev's assurances she was "alright " ...
lyin' bar steward
I really have no idea WTF the last twenty years have vanished to but we've made a pretty decent team, along the way .... two strong willed, very independent people, may not have been the best of combinations at times, but between us, there ain't much we can't cope with or handle.
Can't imagine what she went through in 2010, having not long moved here, when I got whisked into hospital, middle of the night, on a blues and two,s ride, body shutting down, with a distinctly serious possibility of not coming back !!!

she coped, nursed me back from, what was at the time, the edge of an abyss and has taken on the weekly responsibility for keeping me alive and 'healthy', ever since.

Women huh ...... WTF'd we be without 'em

[v8druid]

Got an email this morning from me Consultant in the Heath .... we got the official appro. to change me treatment regime so this ...





.....'ll be a thing of the past on a Monday in the New Year ...


could start sooner, but have a delivery booked tomorrow for the next months-worth and REALLY do not want to be trying summat new over Crimbo, with no access to him if I have any problems ....


so hopefully, barring any issues, Jan 8th, 2020'll be the day I cut my ties to the fridge, for keeping me 'hamster juice' chilled and it'll be two lil' tabs a day for the rest of me natural


Can always go back to this if it doesn't work, or pisses my system off ... but hopefully all will be fine.


The huge significance of it, aside from the obvious, is we'll be able to travel, tablets in pocket ... might have a holiday to celebrate ... once it's had some time to settle and prove itself


Me Cerezyme (hamster juice) is made in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by an outfit called Genzyme ...
an artificial enzyme (imiglucerase) grown on the back of hamster ovary stem cells ... hence the nick name ...


and no, I've not grown cheek pouches, become nocturnal, or started making nests in corners, with shredded newspaper (I've heard most of 'em from me mates) ...


it has to be kept between +2C and +6C or it's knackered ...
hence the fridge's importance in life
although we can theoretically do the infusions anywhere ...
try transporting very expensive 'drugs' at a consistent temperature, without a monitored, regulated fridge


they gave us a medical fridge .... half the size of a normal one for 8 little bottles ....
never turned it on and used ours ... has its own monitoring built in and I also have a secondary thermometer checking it, with it's own external display ....
glancing at it every time I go past has become such second nature, I don't even notice ...
visitors sometimes ask why I pay it so much attention


some winter sun'll be high on Pam's priority list ..
and have to admit it has a certain appeal for me too .. been bleak here today


the infusion routine's been wearing a bit thin after seven years doing it

[v8druid]

Hopefully we'll be able to have a lot more freedom than we've had the last few years ....
couple of months on this new stuff, to see how my body behaves with it and with any luck, we'll be able to do a lot more of what we'd hoped retirement'd be about.

they tell me that once it seems to be OK, month on month, my supplies will be made three monthly, instead of four weekly so that'll really broaden the horizons .....

had almost forgotten how miserable the shittier months here can be ... especially with it dark around 4pm



... today did not start quite how i'd imagined it would ........







..... thankfully not one of mine ....


had Doug (Monaro man's) wife on the phone in tears first thing ... found their eldest, Berty, stiff outside the cat flap ....
at least the lil' fella'd made it home.


Nothing worse than fruitless searching for your missing animal.
Since Doug's stroke last December, he's not been good for a lot and although he progresses, oh so slowly, digging a hole is well beyond his abilities these days.


Could I provide a home for Berty, so he's now resting with / alongside my eldest four, up on the bank, with a great view and a location that'll never get disturbed.


My initial thought, when I saw who was calling and she burst into tears, was a far worse scenario.




Least it was dry this morning ... contrary to the forecast ... pity this afternoon didn't stay the same








been finding lots o' these about the patch lately ........ another this morning ....







.... as the culprit dropped it and fled when I appeared .... Squirrels' breakfast
... God knows why they haul them all the way back here to devour them ??
Must be a good 3 or 4 fields away, where they're growing??


perhaps they share them around ..... be one full squirrel, eating a whole one, for sure

[v8druid]

Pam off down her daughter's this morning, grouting their new conservatory floor
... she loves grouting - God knows why ? ...


so got forced out the door in the torrential rain, to go find her some sponges, buckets, knee pads mixer/stir-er and a few other tools. ... was LASHING down
Got to me bench and these were empty yesterday .. I'd used 'em to clear all the leaves from me doors ....





a good 50mm of wetness in them and a few tins on the benches .. been a wild night.
got it all together and about to head back down the house when there's a hell of a crash and thought WTF was that ...


this narrowly missed Josh's van roof .... a fair lump ... well it was 'til it stopped falling





so came back up and shifted the boy's van to somewhere a bit further away from yon trees, ....
there were a few more 'iffy' looking bits still clinging on, defying gravity up there .....
time to get the BIL down and stick him up in me basket again ...
some pretty 'ripe' looking limbs up there, in places and easier to see now the foliage has departed


Russ rang to confirm tomorrows job, mid morning, so came back up later to get me gear together, for the morning's escapades ....
still lashing down and had accumulated even more .....





....volumes, exceeding run off capacity, again, but no where near as bad as the last time ....


Forecast says dry for the morning .... I'll believe it when I surface in the morning ..... right now it is still persisting down in a biblical manner .... Thank the ferk it ain't solid and white , like it is 20-ish miles away

[Wazza]

Just as well you got that shed built to keep all that good stuff out of the weather then ay ,oh thats right now I remember hmmm.........

[v8druid]

Just as well you got that shed built to keep all that good stuff out of the weather then ay ,oh thats right now I remember hmmm.........

[v8druid]

well today has been 'interesting'


On site for eight ... signed in and says to security, "Russ round the back already is he?"
"nope .. not arrived yet "


Odd ... he's never late


Parked up and wandered back round the front to their smoko area to wait for Russ
half eight this red Liebherr 30t AT rolls down the entry ramp to security ... WTF ..... didn't tell me I was rigging for anyone else today


Out clambers 6'6" of Russel .. " Where's yer Lieb mate ? "
" Loooooooong story Gra ... this is a 'loaner' "


So he trundles round the back and I walk back around, sort a fork lift to shift the crud, some idiot had dumped there yet again and get Russ into spot.





jacked her up .... knocked her off to switch over to 'upstairs' .... and the b'stard wouldn't start ... " 'Swhy I was late Gra ... had to give it the booster this morning ... ****ing thing! .... got the jump leads in the locker .. see if you can blag a forklift "


Maintenance guys appear with a truck ... battery buried in the guts ... eventually get it connected up to the battery we suspected had died ... and the bloody FLT won't start .... driver doing all sorts to it ... "put the hand brake on drive .. it's bound to have a lock out " " Oh aye " and we were in business.


Truck pulls up, after they'd woken the driver up, who'd been here since yesterday at 6.00 am ... Italian reg. .... this is going to be fun




" Lei parla inglese? " .... nope " Parlez francais? " ... Nope " Sprechen ze deutche? " Noooope ... "we'm buggered guys, I'm clean out of lingos"
So showed him where we wanted him and left him to it :giggle: was close enough


Dropped a tonne of air receiver into spot, whilst the gathered throng unstrapped and removed all the packing and cribbing coach screws ... dropped the cat head and stuck another fall on, for the supposedly 6.5t 'BIG' bit, slung the spreaders and dropped it all into place over the lighter load ready to take it ... and find the lift points are not as per spec. ... 20 minute hunt in their workshop, for some dinky shackles to make a connection 'tween ours and these pissy little lift points and it's up and away ... into position.


45 minutes later ... they've got all the mastic seal around the top edge of the first half of the cooler unit .... I'd gotten the 'lump' (which was half the weight of what we'd been told it was) off the truck, so's the driver could get away ..



lift points on this were utter crap





and we're ready to drop it on top of t'other half ...
Little 'pep' talk with the guys, ... who'd made dropping the first half in place, bloody hard work, by pushing and shoving, trying to get it right ... instead of just leaving me an' Russ put it dead on ....


" Just let us put it exactly where you want it with the machine ... then you can guide the last few inches onto the seals "


POP with some co-operation .... never ceases to amaze me WTF folks insist on trying to drag a load into the spot they want it, when the M/c'll do it first time, in the right hands ... Russ is one smoooooooooooooooth operator - a pleasure to work with ... few signals and it's job done


De-rigged the lift, Russ dropped his ballast, we dropped the spreaders, etc. on his deck and wrapped her up .... at which point yer's gotta knock it off and change back to 'downstairs' control ...... and you guessed it ... Must have a cell gone down ... any deader and they'd have had rigormortis


Pulled the P38 round ... quicker and easier than faffing with the FLT again .. leads on and she's up first flick ... everything stowed and I'm in Aldi, in Aber by 11.30 picking up some spuds an' milk .... as per text about ten o'clock, from Pam


Nice work if you can get it


Russ says he could keep me busy 3-4 days a week, if I want it


was I glad to see it'd stopped persisting down this morning ... went kitted for a wetting though .. just in case

[v8druid]

forgot to say why Russ was in the loaner this morning .... out on a job wed.s and his Scania based Lieb has been 'sort of playing up' for a few days ... Scania'd been out to him and changed a few sensors on the motor earlier in the week ... at significant cost ... then wed.s it went into limp .. half way up Dinmore Hill ... a seeeerious hill ... the truck he'd loaded with 25t of injection moulder, behind him nearly ran up his arse when he just stopped


fitter came out and plugged his lap top in, got it up enough to limp it into a lay by and carried on faffing ...
got all the parameters recalibrated ... leaned across to unplug it, touched the ECU and it all crashed again ...


so did it all again and drove the crane to the destination on the lap top ... finished the unload job, then got it to Scania's workshops in Ross (I think) and it's sat awaiting £2.5k's worth of ECU and another 500 quidsworth of keys .. coded to the ECU and can't re-code the existing ones without some series of numbers that Russ is trying to track down from Liebherr
the joys of modern diesels

[ianoz]

Just as well you got that shed built to keep all that good stuff out of the weather then ay ,oh thats right now I remember hmmm.........

Shed ??????? What shed .
117297033-blind-man-and-guide-dog-isolated-on-white-background-guy-with-blindness-visual-impairm.jpg

[v8druid]

Well Cyril the squirrel was lucky his 'cob' didn't go in the burning drum the other day ...... he obviously came back and finished his brekky at some point ...





pretty comprehensive clean up I'd say LOL ..... went in the bin this afters though


Just noticed that half a nail there too will have a look for that tomorrow ... I'm a bit paranoid about that sort of crap lying about

[v8druid]

Well he was told not to buy a ****ing transit ... suddenly been told that said van ISN'T here for the winter, parked up and he might be coming up next weekend to collect it !!!!!


Don't think we've had two days on the trot, dry, since it's been here .... HTF am i supposed to do anything to it in the p**sing rain


Dry afternoon Sunday so uncovered the N/S inner step trim to look for the 2p piece sized hole that needed a patch ...... OMG !!!





bit bigger than tuppence .... to say **** all about the rest of the sh1t awaiting the unwary druid



It may drive superbly, be very low mileage, etc., but I wish to **** he'd stuck his head under it first


templated it up



and set about it ......



cardboard is one thing ... recreating 'em in steel is another ..







actually attaching it all, has been seriously uphill .... like welding thick card to paper


'Tain't pretty but it's in there and a lot more solid than it was ..... no close ups on this guys ... end of my tether jobby .... will look better with a some shiny shit over it after a touch up with a 70mm disc here and there ........I'd forgotten just HOW MUCH I ****ing hate welding cars .





me little MIG that I've had donkey's got dragged out, for this ... it gets saved for just this sort of crap ....









it's so small in the hand and has a great neck on it ....
bought this off an old customer ... who used to use it to weld his canal boat fleet when they sprung a leak ...
it's earned its corn in its time ... he put the hideous trolley under it, for use on his rough yard


sold him a single phase 250 Thermal Arc ... and had a deal against this 'un ...
owed me sod all 20 years ago .... and owes me even less now


well made little thing - in Exeter !!





never seen another one


as for the bloody rot box .... coat of tish on the top and a damned good layer of tar underneath tomorrow ....
Pam really made my day when I came in when the light let me down, saying "what's the other side like??" ....
I daren't look ..... but looks like I may have to !!

[v8druid]

so ...... today's efforts ...


three coats of HBZP primer does a reasonable job ......



as does Holts underbody sealer ..... 'specially when it's like tar ....





should keep the weather at bay for a while. At least it's solid now and will stand the MOT man's hammer .... 'til everything around it gives up
this has already had some pretty extensive patching ... all on the nearside .. thanks mostly to running in the gutters, I'd guess, accumulating all manner of crud


Has completely burgered me up this afters, working overhead, arms above me head .... body just does not like it AT ALL ...
off me face on a Tramadol cocktail this evening ....... not quite Rioja .. but a similar effect .....
and zero pain which beat me about four o'clock .... that and the cold !!


Frost was down here last night before six .. car was white ... whiter still by ten ...




well frosted by 11 ......





and sugar coated by half midnight ......



coldest night we've had in a while ... -4.4 C, according to me thermometer .. but it's better than the rain

Was still frost on the ground first thing when Clara arrived ... but foggy as hell ...
lifted here by the time she went off to nursery at 8.45 ...
here at least ... was pretty dense down below us though ...













been a seriously cold little breeze most of the day and really chilled the old bones ..... has warmed up this evening ... can't see yer breff tonight

[v8druid]

we've waited well over ten weeks for this ...... looooooong weeks .... but finally worth the wait ....... arrived Wednesday afternoon





the wound from the surgery has damned near completely healed and disappeared ... terrific job on the consultant surgeons part

[v8druid]

well the builders ain't getting very far next door, ATM ..... has pissed down here for days ... didn't turn up at all yesterday morning .... they should have heeded the forecast ... wasn't a bad day from 11-ish ..... managed to get a little bit done for me, after I delivered Clara to nursery .. for the day


thought i'd have a crack at getting the pins out o' the SEC .....








hard fought, this bugger was, even after a bit of a clean off ..... but got the lil' sod eventually ....







T'other one was a POP .... aside from being 'kin heavy ... would not want one of these on yer foot toe caps or not ... had to start with the right lil' b'stard ... but at least the easy one was a pleasant surprise


.... as suspected ... not through bosses .. face fixed and plates bored at pin sizes .....





got them all cleaned out and polished up a bit, before giving 'em a good coat o' grease, ... as the bloody rain kicked off again .... and the day light disappeared


regrettably these are at 18" ctrs ..... 'Drema's Miller is 400s, so can't just either, bush it down, or get the pins reduced in the middle 280mm ... but as said before, I have a few ideas ... just deciding on the easiest / most convenient / least effort way to get there .... the one quandry I really have is whether to adapt, so's it'll revert to original or simply alter it permanently ??? 'sahelluva weapon though .... build quality is real nice


Pins cleaned up well on the bench .. even the grease ports took lube and ejected what was in there ... went round this with the gun while it was in me mitts and all took very little TBF ... I'd be surprised if this has ever done any work .... now all I need is some dryness ...... absoluuuutely lashing it down here again last night ... bouncing off the Veluxes upstairs ... could hear it down here -- above Pam's TV volume

OK . decision made .... this came up last night in me ebay saved searches ......





much quicker than machining out a 70mm with a boring head ..... might have to give this a touch ..see once I've made a hole with it ... might be here in the morning ..hopefully .. 1st class tracked ..... but I'll be surprised if it is


been 'shopping' this afternoon to me mate's with the lil' fab shop, down the road .... .. he didn't quite have enough of what i wanted, in stock .... but I do have some, that will make up the shortfall, already


WP_20191128_16_10_33_Pro.jpg




let's hope it's dry tomorrow ... no Clara (had to cut my chat short with me mate, to rush back to collect her from nursery) ... and Pam is out at her dance class in the morning, so might just get something done ... especially if that 80mm broach turns up ..... but got a bit to do otherwise