difflock

The daughter has eyed up the perfect place for it, in a wee "bolt on" front porch, so I figured the UV resistant Osmo(that I used for the window frames) should be best suited, plus it is so easy to touch in any scratches or damage.

I have genuinely forgotten where I acquired this hatstand, most probably being discarded in an office or store red-out by the Council. Anyway it was falling apart. See pics. A whole lot of scraping(and aren't old hoarded disposable Bacho handsaws so useful!) 80 new dowels. Some short tempered swearing/squaring before the glue went off(it was warped and twisted, one leg in particular, but I got it sorted) I had to make the base up from scratch, which was tricky to fit since the oak side rails were bent, and canted inward towards the top! Hmmm? I might try and source a sheet of copper, from an old hot cylinder I did NOT take to the scrappie when scrap copper was stupid high, and fold a tray to sit in the base to catch the umbrella drips. And finished with Osmo. I enjoyed this project for the daughter, but if I charged by the hour? Cheers, Marcus, the hat.

Naw, a wile pity it didnay ignite!

Sniff. MB OM606, pure mechinical and apparently good for as much as a reliable 500HP, though prob not if towing.

Kinda like!😁 EDIT To go back to the OP. The wife kinda likes me working slow!

Cough cough! Shoosh you. OSM. Can you draw off the liquid LPG though? Which you need to do to fill another tank. Cos a God fearing Free P neighbour tried running a dual fuel Vauxhall off the bulk tank for the grain dryer, and ran into this problem, the tank was top tapped, so he only ever got a sniff of gas in the tank.

Now could well be the time to buy a thirsty brute of a V8 petrol "Jeep", with fingers well crossed, and I also suspect LPG must be attracting fresh interest, IF it is still available at fuel stations? Marcus

A LPG/gas conversion then?

When we could afford to . . . I ponder such things(and in for me an "enlightening" way as did our Son during his adolescent years, to a troubling extent, and due to his 3rd generation inherited genetics😌) Anyway someone coined a phrase something along the lines of, "hard times produce strong men, who produce great societies, which creates weak men who create hard times, which produce strong men . . ." Or, be they medevial robber Barons or modern organised crime Bosses, once they have gained power, by violent means, they must then desire order and stability, and education for their family dynasties to prosper within and enjoy untroubled , such is human nature. Like by buying into legimate businesses to turn their dirty money clean. A conunderum indeed! signed, Gibber, Mutter an Twitch.(be a good catchy name for a firm of psycoanalysists that would)

A whole lot of truth in that statement Mull, Or "spare the rod and spoil the child" as I imagine the Victorians expressed it. They were perhaps more corrector than they knew!

You worked with Prince Andrew?, I am impressed!

Saved the anguish of reading it that did, thanks Matty.

Thank you Doug, But NO, I am not well occupied, though with an unfinished house, oodles of woodwork to do, an unused sawmill(or 2) tractors needing attention, 4 "G" Wagens needing work, trees to fell, fences to fix, a garden to sort, etc etc etc. Plenty I could/should be doing. But I appreciate your supportive words. P.S I find I used to need to start something mindless, pressure washing, clearing round volunteer Oak and Beech up the Moss, for instance. But recently I cannot even summon the interest for that. Felling a lot better this evening, perhaps as a result of making my post this morning? Cheers all. Marcus

Thank you Doug, But NO, I am not well occupied, though with an unfinished house, oodles of woodwork to do, an unused sawmill(or 2) tractors needing attention, 4 "G" Wagens needing work, trees to fell, fences to fix, a garden to sort, etc etc etc. Plenty I could/should be doing. But I appreciate your supportive words. P.S I find I used to need to start something mindless, pressure washing, clearing round volunteer Oak and Beech up the Moss, for instance. But recently I cannot even summon the interest for that. Felling a lot better this evening, perhaps as a result of making my post this morning? Cheers all. Marcus EDIT This evening I pumped the tyres on a bike of the sons that has been parked up, quite unused this 15 years, and for the first time in 20 years went for a cycle, 13.5 miles later my arse is numb and my wrists are proper aching. Lord God but some of the rural roads are shocking roughly surfaced. So I can now cycle instead of driving to the distillery the couple of days a week I work. But not tomorrow morning! Ouch!

I am just turned 63 and it is about time I revisited this topic. "Normally" I came out of my extended period of hibernation some random Spring morning, literally "BAM" I wake up ready to take on the World and its many challenges afresh. Which state of mind could last for as much as 3 months, until the mental mainspring unwound for another season. The positivity would have lasted longer when younger, but as I got older . . . not so much. I had learned to accept this. But, this past 3 or 4 years I no longer get that "BAM" in the Spring. I see that my depressive and dysfunctional state is being really hard on my long-suffering first-and-only wife. I have spoken to the MH Nurse and am seeing her again next week, but not sure that she can really fix anything. I admit to being really tempted by the magic mushrooms/psycobabin research? Any suggestions? Marcus P.S. Regarding the illogically of depression, we are financially secure, no debts, both retired so no employment worries, and in a very sound 40+ year old relationship, so WTF have I got to be depressed about? Answers on a postcard please.

We were at a garden party today, and some bloke was recalling being pissed off at paying 11p/l for kero, when a neighbour had filled a shed full of IBU's at 9p/l! Bastards!

To revisit this post. The cousin is looking to build a garden room, and since he does steel fabrication, we were in the notion of a galvanised steel frame, with insulation and ply sheeted internally, and I offered to cut weatherboarding for the outside. I have a notion that I read somewhere that it did not really matter, or rather did not matter as much when conifer were felled? Is this correct?

Horrific as the Texas School shootings were, I can hardly believe that the police waited for 40 minutes for SWAT to arrive, FFS! Especially as this was actually contrary to their own Departments official policy, put into place after a previous school shooting. FFS!

Embrace the spillage! No fire or stove can ever be ash/embers/dust/spillage free. The box the sawdust was/is in catches most of it, and the dustpan gets most of the rest. mth

I am hoping to see some young ones, if not this year perhaps next year. The Moorhen appear to be well settled in and virtually ignore our presnce. Perhaps I will start feeding them.

I will heed Squaredy's advice and leave it be. Character it is Dan! Cheers. Msrcus

This hatstand was near "in bits" so I deconstructed it to refurbish it for the daughter. Except one of the 1.8m long by 30mm square corner pieces is very clearly bowed. Is there any reason to be leery of steaming very old oak? Does it need longer! I have seen suggestions to use a wall paper steamer to provide the steam, but what other "handy" ways are there, since I don't got a wallpaper steamer. Cheers, Marcus

We appear to have a couple of new residents in the pond. They also appear to like the present "weather for ducks!" we are experiencing. Image taken from inside the garden Room.

No fuss, no mystery, as long as the stove is hot and there are still some reasonable chunks of embers left. Zero draft, and will burn out entirely if left. Also good if I really wanted to keep the fire in overnight, acts just like wetted slack on an open coal fire. I only burn the sawdust in the autumn and spring when the heat requirements are minimal. 2 nd image only a minute, perhaps two? after adding the sawdust and closing the door.

Thanks guys. I can only relate what I was told, and even Allan admitted that it was head scratching perplexing. I must however think to ask is there a difference in the dispensing nozzle. Like, could be the clear nozzle is longer, or cuts out sooner. So there is simply less diesel in the tank? Marcus