Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside RESTO-GO!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by aggie91

We only have Stihl chainsaws at the farm for the same reason, reliability.

Nice work!

Morning Karl,

Thanks.

Yes, reliability seems to be the common opinion out there.



COVID 19 has no real benefit for anyone.

For me, working from home means up to 5 Teams, Zoom etc meetings per day, some up to three hours long, followed by tests, exams, validations, and tasks.

Also a load of online training and tests......

Stuck mostly indoors sucks for someone like me who is used to working away from home.


However, some jobs can be fitted in, between those others that pays the mortgage.


So after cutting down the Leylandi conifer that broke the wall, I tried to pull the two very long Red Robin trees up and away from the drive.

I failed, so cut them back, leaving enough to start new shaped growth.





Part of the reason for changing the back is to rebuild the wall, but also a longer term plan is a 6x6 meter carport in front of the garage that will be done up to look like a 50’s garage forecourt
There needs to be a support post for the main I-beam to run from the garage outward.

Hope this makes sense.

Wall to be pushed back on the left by 400mm reducing to zero when it joins the existing footprint to the right.

Galvanised post to be put in place for future reference.



After that, I decided to use my Galaxy tow bar chainsaw to remove another tree that has irked me for a few years.



The killedtree is being replaced with a pot plant that needs a new home.



Behind the garage my fruit trees were dwarfed by weeds, so clearing up that strip of land was next up.

The Fig tree seems really eager to prove its worth this year.



Apple, pear and plum trees are looking good, pile of scrap steel less so.



Also cleared up behind my 86 year old neighbours place and cut her hedge.





Neighbour Sam has also used this period to sort a gym for his kids and create some garden beds.

Mickey as always on hand to help and supervise.




And still the odd jobs kept presenting themselves......


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[Grizz1963]

More Covid craziness

Since moving here 10 years ago, I have disliked this very thorny shrub at the front door.



Time to make a change then.

Local nursery got £24.00 out of me. So watch this space.



Multiple other odd jobs seemed to join the list every time I turned my head the other way.

So one of the jobs was to clear the new from last year, deck of all the potplants,

This guy was earmarked for the space where I pulled out the conifer with the Galaxy.



So a hole was due to be dug where the tree got pulled out.

Roots are a problem, but a home made sharp axe on a 5 foot length of scaffolding pole meant deep reach and quick work.









Done.



Out back, the Fig tree seems happy.



Not a great pic, taken from the kitchen, but a total of 50p for 4 solar lights has to be a bargain, thanks Sally.



Roll on summer.

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[Grizz1963]

TITS.......

Blue Tits.

They come every year.

Without Harley, they have a better chance.

Saturday.







Was looking for a cheap cement mixer to buy on FB Marketplace and saw a pair of Butler sinks for cheap.

I used to have a pair but gave them to mate @Jabbo iirc.

Pounced, fetched and brought home.

Galaxy to the rescue.



In place, herbs to go in next.



Another weekend job the Galaxy stepped up for was scavenging for brick pavers up at the farm, followed by taking them to Sallys place where some were put to use as potplant stands, and also creating little surrounds for shrubs.

Perfect builders van.







Some cement and pavers laid on it, then cemented down from the sides as well. It is not load bearing.



Done first one.



And still it was not over.

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[Grizz1963]

After doing Sallys garden bits, we went for a walk, taking some tools, including a golf pull along caddy and some ratchet straps.

Proceeded to walk to the Thames river to see if that lovely 15 foot plus board was still there, we knew there had been a super high tide in the mean time, but hope springs eternal.




Real decent social distancing. Looking toward London.



Brought a bit of wood back as a consolation, for my garden.



Of course life goes on for others, and mate Bryan @MrTiki had repainted the wheels on his ever changing Imp.



And he also carved another winner of a Tiki.



Back home for a sandwich before carrying on with more work outside, this guy had made himself comfortable in the lounge.

I am 100% not bothered, his presence means there is work for him.



Great weather again




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[aggie91]

Nice work on the landscaping both at your place and Sally's. I have been at work the whole time during our shelter in place here in Texas, as my team and I have been designated as "essential" employees for our site. I sure need some time off during nice weather to get some yard work around my house done. Weekends are just not enough time to get it done.

[Micmac]

Well, a rare day in the Blue Ridge-no wind. Time to go burn some brush piles!

[Grizz1963]

So back to random midweek jobs.

Remember the front door porch, had a bush.

Not anymore. Thanks Galaxy.



Dig out the roots, planted another two shrubs next to it toward the right.

Mixed some cement.



Random mixed pavers recycled and glued in place, used the roil liberated from the stones previously to level up lawn.



And mixed stone into more cement and plugged the hole next to the drive where one invariably steps when parked up. No more muddy shoes indoors.



How bored must you be to sieve out stones, grass and soil on your driveway..... call it recycling


And another little job done.



In the mean time, back in South Africa, where lockdown means no alcohol or tobacco sales, the black markets are flourishing, as expected.

My brother had started out doing home brew in 2 litre bottles....... he has now scaled up to 25 litre containers.





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[Micmac]

Grizz,
I believe I can speak for most of the married men on the forum when I say we are glad I wives don't see the amount of work you do around the house, my Kiwi bride thinks since I retired she can hand me a punch list daily (and she does, which I faithfully complete!)If she saw your work, it (the list) would increase exponentially right after she found out how to advise you, my friend- of who reigns superior in the world of Rugby! I have never seen her fail to do so whenever she encounters a Springbok fan. Seriously you are a man of many talents and your effort is evident.
Pete

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Micmac

Grizz,
I believe I can speak for most of the married men on the forum when I say we are glad I wives don't see the amount of work you do around the house, my Kiwi bride thinks since I retired she can hand me a punch list daily (and she does, which I faithfully complete!)If she saw your work, it (the list) would increase exponentially right after she found out how to advise you, my friend- of who reigns superior in the world of Rugby! I have never seen her fail to do so whenever she encounters a Springbok fan. Seriously you are a man of many talents and your effort is evident.
Pete

Morning Pete,

Thank you.

Rugby for me.... Zzzzzzzzzzz........

Regarding talents, we all have the same potential but many people choose not to necessarily exercise our options.
My brother, regimental sergeant major in the Engineering corps, has a garden service cut his grass and tend the beds.
He chooses to do that.
Me, fiercely protective of the therapy my garden offers.
Choices.



Speaking of choices.



And so the Corona virus and its fall out continues to screw up some people’s lives.

Changing the way we work and relax.

But nature seems to be happy, regardless of our issues.



Double headed rose in Mickeys garden, he loves his rose bushes.






It seems now certainly is the time to bring all those garden and housekeeping jobs, back up to date.

Mickey come knocking on Friday morning to ask me if I had an edging spade..... I had no I'd what it was till he showed me his mangled one.

Small, lightweight half moon, probably made for little old ladies to trim garden beds, not over eager guys changing their garden beds and laying brick edges to the lawn with cement.

So I did not have one to give him to use for removing the grass where he was reshaping the garden beds.

Instead, I stepped away from work for a bit and made a brace and welded it in place, then sharpened the spade and just for fun, repainted it red with some Poundland Red paint.

Mickey was very happy of course.

Straightened and Prepared



Grinding welds back.




Previously I mentioned that I was looking for a cheap used cement mixer to buy (Free is of course even better)

And less than 5 minutes after posting, @Johnnybravo replied and sent a couple of pictures.

“Needs a bit of attention, collect after 08.00 on Saturday if interested”


Of course I was interested, but I did not want to borrow a mixer, I prefer owning stuff, always cheaper to replace or repair for yourself, than a mates tools, as my own rule is [font color="e61972"]You bend it, You mend it[/font] so I asked how much he wanted for it, and the reply was along the lines of Take it, use it, if it self destructs, bin it.

Aaahhh, right, that works for me.

So the pics he sent:





Yup, I could work with that.

Soon it would be weekend and my first real trip in 8 weeks....... 25 miles each way to exercise.

Friday my lunch hour, after spending tea time fixing Mickeys spade, was spent 2.3 miles from home removing a rather large conifer at Sally’s front door with the Galaxy and its tow bar, that keeps coming in handy. Then removing it and bringing it home to my sidewalk where I knew the recycling guys would lift it straight into their truck.

It filled the rear load area.

Leaving the Galaxy needing a decent clean inside and a wash while I was at it.

and


Back to work again for more online training, testing, and strategising.

My colleague who is running a team development thing as part of his own development had this opening slide......

I had to take a pic.



Still, one should not complain, I am fortunate enough to continue being employed.


And to wrap this up.

From FB




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[Grizz1963]

Preparation is paramount

Or something like that.

Measured up the wall that needs replacing, 7.5 meters long and then up to 2 meters tall should work.

So on Friday afternoon late, Mickey, Sam from no 7 and I moved the old Shed Caravan that is full of truck parts away from Mickeys side hedge as the woodwork shed needs a new front veranda and new roofing felt.

Of course, typically it has exposed more work to be done.



2.8 meter Galvanised posts came from Germany over 10 years ago when @Oldbus delivered the Taunus Transit to me.

They will now be used for the carport as planned.



Not easily seen is the way the paving has collapsed over time, Mickeys yard is about 500mm lower than mine, and the soil was obviously not compacted well 9 years ago when it was done.



So this will mean lifting about 1 meter of paving along the boundary, digging out, compacting and possibly putting some concrete down, adding blocks to create either a low wall, or stable base for the paving to go back down.

Seems the list keeps growing.

Saturday morning early, before heading over to @Johnnybravo to collect the cement mixer, I decided to hack back the hedge hard while I had some,time.









How to maximise a wheely bins capacity.




More later.

Time for some woodwork and shed repairs now.

Later.



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[Grizz1963]

So Saturday morning, I started early.

Insomnia and body aches have their merits.

Cut back the hedge as reported before.

Alarm set for 09.20 to remind me to lock up and head out to @Johnnybravo to check out his new machine shop and collect the mixer he had offered me.

35 minute unencumbered drive was the longest drive I have done in 8 weeks, and showed just what a pleasant and comfortable drive this Galaxy offers.

Johnnybravo getting on with the whole social distance thing after the House Elf helped him move the mixer from his Berlingo van to the Galaxy, leaving me to capture the load on film.



Along with the machine came a new replacement fan and cover for the electric motor, part of the “Needs some attention” message, needed some modifying to get to fit.



Had a restricted visit and shop tour with JB and the House Elf, who is both better looking and nicer (not yet jaded by life sucking) than his dad would admit ;-)

Amazing how much efficiency they have managed to bring to the shop through sensible planning and layout, with the Mezzanine level adding another 60% of useable space for machines and of course automotive storage.

Being that they are working alone, against the proverbial clock, we kept it shorter than usual, and I missed out on a coffee and cookies, so after leaving a case of Bud Lights, I headed home where work was not doing itself.

Back home, I carried on with cleaning and clearing up the hedge that I had cut back earlier.

Sally popped over by about 11.30 to help me unload the mixer and plant some sunflowers and green beans she had grown.


So first view of the mixer was not exactly encouraging.



After coffee and cookies with Sally, I started to look at the mixer barrel, and decided that a bucket of gravel and some water would be the way to go.



Messy cement and dismissive use in its previous life as a hire company (that had gone bankrupt) evident around.

Note exposed motor axle on left, that would be needing some attention.



The stand again, showed dismissive use in the past, with cleaning not a priority, ever.



Two hours of running it in various ways with changing content left me with the drum inside looking a lot better.

Lump hammer had to be pulled into service to break out a load of real thick concrete in the bottom nd around the paddles.


At one point when it became obvious that the stones were not progressing, I added some sharp metal edges and chain, which seemed to help, along with the the lump hammer.



And a sobering last thought at this point.

The cost of a new mixer online means the three or more hours it may take to get the machine back to where it will be an asset here when I start mixing and building is time well spent.




.

[Grizz1963]

Sally is a bit of a menace with her camera, but sometimes it does make me chuckle

Sunday early.



Back to random little jobs that steal time.

Fitting the new cooling fan to the motor.

I started by carefully filing out the inside to get it to slide onto the axle, fail.

So measuring the axle showed 16mm and fan15mm so one of the old large drills I saved years ago was ground down to 13mm to fit the chuck on the pillar drill.

Hey Presto !

Hammer persuasion.



Cover on, tested, all good.



Sally had been bugging me for weeks to strip back and paint the BBQ table made from the garden gate last year.

Unfortunately all the layers of paint and varnish had started peeling badly, having stood outside in all weathers.

So I told her she could sort it out.

Carried the table onto the lawn, gave her a steel brush and some fence paint......



Result.



Another Sally generated job, the BBQ I built 9 years ago has started to show its age.

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...ies-build-kent

So the plan was to strip back just the tiles on the work surface.....

Ooooppps.... mistake.



Suddenly the wood frames looked rubbish, so I tore apart what was built not to be replaced.



Managed to get repair sections in.

Ideally would have loved some resilient marble or synthetic all weather replacement material in place of the tiles, but will get that figured later.



Now the doors were clearly looking rubbish.

Guess they need replacing too. Took them off.



Repurposed and cut down to become floors to holes, will keep kindling etc dry.



Busy week ahead, though it’s Wednesday morning already So not much will happen with dy job stuff getting in the way.

Doors to make up next, once I find some wood to use.

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[Grizz1963]

Another Sunday afternoon job was to address more of the wear and tear from abuse to the mixer.

A bit of grinder and welding action resulted in what will hopefully be an extended life.

Both the paddles in the barrel showed holes where the welds had torn away over time, and obviously leaked out when mixing cement.

Started by cleaning them up and cutting patches to weld over



The rolled rim was broken and barrel torn and one could see the metal was worn thinner around the edge.

So I took a 6” nail and bent it, cut a 50mm length off the top, including the head to slide into the rolled rim.

The nails head would partly fill the gap and allow me to bridge the tear.



Aligned and kept in place with my extra fingers.



Gluing metal.



Camera menace



Barrel patches.





Rim.



And finally late afternoon, just because I am like that, I took a belt sander and ran the mixer and sander in different directions to clean up the barrel a bit more.

Then added some random Dulux paint I bought unidentified years ago for £1.00 for a litre tin .





Ready for work once all the prep is done and materials ordered in.


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[aggie91]

Very nice work. I would love to build a BBQ similar at my farm someday...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Very nice work. I would love to build a BBQ similar at my farm someday...

Thank you.

I am sure you will get to building one.

Just needs materials, and some time.

[Grizz1963]

For the garden and nature lovers out there.

Cacti seem to be happy right now.



And next door in Mickeys garden.







76 years old and still cannot settle down.



So Mickey had to rebuild his one pond, again.

Half the materials are recycled, scavenged or found up on their farmyard rubble pile.





From Siberia, Stas is not particularly enjoying this whole lockdown thing.



But sacrificed animal always puts a smile on his and the family in laws faces.

[Grizz1963]

So back to corona maintenance fitted inbetween meetings about meetings and tests about tests.

After starting on the BBQ refurbishment, it was all downhill.

New door frames and doors because the old ones just looked, well, old.





Next up was using the stored wood from the deck rebuild last year to make up some new doors.



While doing all these little bits of work between doing my day job, other bits happened.

@PaulY dropped off a Chevy C10 cab lifter for Martin on his way to a business meeting local to where I live.

While he was at it, he dropped off a few chainsaw chains for me as the chainsaw they used to fit had been stolen in a burglary.

It was so surreal having my mate stop on the driveway, drop off the stuff like a dead body and drive off because of this whole Corona virus thing.

I felt wounded.


Sally texted a pic too, she was at her home and painted the chairs SawdustSteve had brought last year.

Ready for summer.



Typical sally, who seems to find me all sorts of jobs around here.......

Comment on the pic of the new door frames was “You need to clean the brickwork”



So pressure cleaner came up from the garage.



After



Then pressure cleaned the recycled decking doors. Makes a big difference.



And my painter..... working remotely.



Turned into a lot more work than anticipated.

.

[Grizz1963]

Doors completed and on.

Something missing it seems.



Selection.



Paint.



Nuts, bolts, weld.





Fitted.....

Swivel locks, handles.



And poo.....

Swivels fitted too close to the edge, no entry.

Reset, fixed.



At last.



And then the weather turned, perfect timing.




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[Palf70Step]

Nice work on everything there Rian. I think I'll rest. Watching all that made me tired.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice work on everything there Rian. I think I'll rest. Watching all that made me tired.

Thanks Bill,

Here’s some more tiredness.


So day three of my weekend started with sally at my door by 08.00

Ready to get walking to the Thames river as low tide was 07.10

We did the walk, collected a few bits of driftwood, glass, and other stuff..

Loads of WW2 bunkers around this area



Too big a log



And even bigger



Sally also found a somewhat smashed iPhone 6S on the beach.
We brought it home, I put it on charge (She is an Android girl) and then turned it on, locked of course.
Around 8pm it rang, calling from London, the owners dad, was prepared to pay me for it, of course I said not a chance and told him I could post it or they could collect.
So I wrapped it in a shopping bag and left it behind a potplant, when we got home late Monday afternoon, the phone was gone, replaced by some Lithuanian chocolates and a hand written note.

Dipstick



The rest of her treasures.



Back to her place where I refelted her shed roof.

Unfortunately its spine is damaged and warped. So the job looks untidy, but it will keep the weather out.



Really awkward job, wrong ladder, too much reach etc.

But done.




In the mean time, later on, Dennis had pressure cleaned his gas station as well, and invited me for a drink.



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[Palf70Step]

Nice walking finds Rian. You and Sally sure do have a LOT of stuff in a small space.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice walking finds Rian. You and Sally sure do have a LOT of stuff in a small space.

We have no space.

If it were the USA we would look poor

COVID 19

I have decided to take in a second lodger of I can find one.

Loads of contracts at the local powerstation currently.

Needed a bit more fridge space

Someone 1/2 mile down the road put one out on Monday.

Today I knocked on the door and asked if I could have it.

Galaxy to the rescue



Needs a clean.



Stripped all the interior parts and into the dishwasher as it is good as sterilising stuff.



Free is good.

No idea what it would cost me new.

[Grizz1963]

Its clean and plugged in.

Seems to run just fine as previous ownet said.



I see £150.00 going into my vacation fund.

Others see scrap.

[aggie91]

Free and it works? That's win for sure!

I am tired of this COVID-19 stuff, our Local city Mayor just announced that the annual 4th of July celebration is canceled for this year because of the virus...From my research I think some of this has gone too far...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Free and it works? That's win for sure!

I am tired of this COVID-19 stuff, our Local city Mayor just announced that the annual 4th of July celebration is canceled for this year because of the virus...From my research I think some of this has gone too far...

WIN.... Cash in pocket.


Yes, the whole COVID thing is a PITA



Back to the Thames river, rebuilding a BBQ and other tasks.

The mobile phone Sally picked up.



Charging back home, clearly robust.



Having lost the beautiful 15 foot board before, I had my eye on another pice, to be used as the lintel of the BBQ



Headed up to the galaxy.

Readjusting straps.



Yes. It was heavy.



Loaded, right up to the dash.




Back home, unloaded.



While unloading, there was a noise, a beautiful noise out in the road.

Sally went to check.....


We had a socially distanced lunch and afternoon with friends Kevin and Teresa in Maidstone.

Came home with a pack of quarry tiles, almost enough to re-tile the BBQ



That meant that the weekend was over.

More late.