well I’ve been slacking a bit since the last scribble on here, all to do with that cloud factory. my last scrawling was much o do about the change of job i was on for my overtime shift. well my normal two 12’s after that one bounced along as they always do with nothing to tell, in fact the job was to busy to think about anything other than Mr E and his amazing cloud making machine
the fun started on Friday morning, my shift finished at 7am but the motor factors did not open until 8:30am, an hour and a half of inactivity. One large cup of strong coffee and i was still tired (it only made me want a pish). i struggled to keep awake so, my mind wandered as did my feet. first off
my wandering feet took me of out for fresh air and to look at the huge stock of round wood we have onsite, this lot would keep a town in fire wood for months if not years
in fact the boundary fence is constructed from this, it’s also used as bunds for sawdust and woodchips.
come 8:30 TMS opened and the rear calliper for my SAAB 9-3 awaited my collection. i must say the folks here have not failed me. they have always found the parts i need and if they don’t have it on the shelf, it will be there by 1pm the same day. http://www.tmsmotorspares.co.uk/ by the time i was home it was to late to go to bed.
armed with the new rear calliper it took me around an hour to fit, sorry no photos, the old grey matter was a bit fuzzy after being awake for so long. the afternoon was taken up by the construction of another natural bird feeder. this one is for the north side of the house and sits outside the kitchen window.
this is one of the finishing touches for our new look rear of the house.
before this little rock formation we had dog rose and very poor grass, it looks better like this.
come later in the day and a phone call, could i help, an acquaintance of mine has had his lpw4 Lister seize on him, did i have a back up generator as his back up has died. just so happened i knew where to get my hands on a Lister ST2 startomatic, after a flurry of calls, the deal was done.
Saturday.
the morning job was to try and put window tint on the land rover’s side windows. the destructions picture implied that you had to peel the protective backing from the tint film, a task that proved impossible, the stuff was so well stuck together, the clear backing would not reveal a hint of a corner to peel. in my haste to do the job before dinner, the decision was made just to apply the stuff as there must be no backing. it looked ok so my thought was job done. looks good but it will have to be done properly as i found there is a backing that needs to come off to apply the stuff, oh crap.
after a splendid lunch of free range omelette my next job was the extraction of the ST2 from a neighbour’s shed. the unit had been disconnected so all that was left for me to do was use my block and tackle from the tractor front loader
to extract the thing from within the shed, (sorry no pic’s, of that, my phone was flat) as it panned out the lad who wanted the Lister arrived , so it was lifted straight onto his pick up and the deal was done. sold as seen and un tested for £450.
As the evening drew in we decided that a trip to see http://www.facebook.com/HadriansWallCountry
or http://www.illuminatinghadrianswall.com/site/ this time the lighting was by glowing globes lit by led’s. all i can say was, what a waste of my time and fuel, it was knocked on the head as the wind was to strong, it’s a shame the organisers forgot to tell the volunteers manning the car parks coz as far as they knew,
nothing had been cancelled and all was fine and dandy. aye for the places it was still going ahead it was. the most impressive spot where all manner of folk turned up to see, was a no show. what an utter shambles.
Sunday.
the day started with an early morning das to Whitchester farm to rig the Lister up in some fashion. with the tool boxes loaded
it was off over our ford and away north, deeper into the deep dark woods where the Gruffalo lives,
Andrew is his real name but that just sounded better
that’s the place at the top of yon hill and here’s the picture of his newly acquired ST2
the startomatic box was done away with as eventually i will convert this to start direct from his Trace sw5458. but for the moment and to get him out of a hole, the decision was made to make it a push button start.
the engine started just fine but to my dismay the fecker would not produce electric. in fact all it would put out was 15VAC not the required 240VAC. after much scratching of head and bemused looks i noticed the slip rings looked a little dirty, once cleaned she produced a steady 220v and charged the battery bank at a steady 10amps leaving a 15amp spare capacity for the trace to draw upon for washing machines and things.
once home, my little red friends came to visit
including one cheeky box marauder
well it’s now gone midnight and i have to go and see Mr E and his amazing cloud machine in the morning so TTFN and
Categories: Northumberland (the peoples republic of)
The Peoples Republic of Northumbria 
Hi Lovely images as usual, had a question and well thought you’d be the best person to ask (especially after seeing all that wood), hope you dont mind me picking your brains, but…
What would you say is the best plan for getting cheap / free fire word in the north east (I’m in Newcastle). I wasn’t going to go out to the beautiful Keilder and help my self, but is their any area that you can, or do places like the cloud factor have free off cut/waste (just thinking of team valley)
Winters coming and need to get me log pile,
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Well, depends what you need and how much you can store. Tree surgeons are a good place to start, they often have all the timber kept from a job and will usualy sell pick up loads or dumpy bags, ton bags. Next best is, try a sawmill, one of the small operations, they often keep offcuts to sell on. Try to avoid folk who cut logs as a business, remember they are doing that for profit. A farmer will sometimes allow you to clear some fallen branches for him. They, as is the case of one i know, have a teenage son who cuts logs for pocket money. As they say about life “it’s not what you know it”s who you know”
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good advice sir, I’ll keep my eyes open this next month or so (bit more of a winter feel in the north east of late). Good luck with the moles , reminds me of caddyshack.
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