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

[realvc]

I reply on here sometimes and on your GJ thread sometimes.
Today I'll reply on both.
Cool truck build

[Indian113]

Wow! What a Truck

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

I reply on here sometimes and on your GJ thread sometimes.
Today I'll reply on both.
Cool truck build

Certainly is an amazing build Vince.

I see you moving around.

Originally Posted by Indian113

Wow! What a Truck

Unassuming like Dennis.

I think it’s sad so few people see it or know about it.


Still trying to come to grips with the new Photobucket layout.

Not impressed

Have to use an app to pull the links.

Website seems to suck.



Prozac made a return to the valley, sans NASCAR stickers

Sally took the pic.



Also on FB was a reminder that a year ago we were watching races in the Blazer.



So, back to the restructure down at the garage.

Started by lifting the paving.



Helped of course.



Also got to prep for the first post by digging a 25 inch deep hole.

And making up the positioning board for the threaded studs









Poured





Made a small box to keep the paving and sand clear from the post mount until the post is shortened and ready.



Once that was done, I decided to build a single level wall to help keep the hedge under control in the long term.



Blocks are 19kg each.



New lodger is a welder, but likes a beer and to do some physical work after work.

Suits me.

So wall done.



I also decided to add little drains between every alternative block, in case the rain ever was a problem.

And a thick wedge of cement from behind to stop anything from unseating the blocks.



Once the concrete had gone off, I waited 24 hrs and then used PaulF’s compactor to do a final setting of the paving stones/








‘So after this I could start on the next job.....

This wall has a few cracks, so needed rebuilding and moving to improve overall usability



‘Red wall” also needed to go and be moved.



So made a start, removing loads of soil from behind the wall.



I moved 11 loads over the street to where trucks had greatest deep trench that the council will never repair, but where people like to par,.

And after all of that, Andy bought me a beer.




Later.

[Palf70Step]

I hear ya about the digging part Rian. Been so long since I had to regularly dig ditches for cable installations. I remember my techniques, but I do think the age interfers with the good digging technique. Must say I don't normally feel bad until I stop, then it all catches up with me, WAY to fast.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

I hear ya about the digging part Rian. Been so long since I had to regularly dig ditches for cable installations. I remember my techniques, but I do think the age interfers with the good digging technique. Must say I don't normally feel bad until I stop, then it all catches up with me, WAY to fast.

Certainly catches up with me Bill.

[aggie91]

I agree with Bill, while doing the work its not so bad. Its at the end of the day and the next morning that you remember why you don't work as hard has you did in your 20's or 30's or even 40's.

I get a kick out of Rian's shoes. Digging with flip flops, but mixing and placing concrete in socks and tennis shoes...

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by aggie91

I agree with Bill, while doing the work its not so bad. Its at the end of the day and the next morning that you remember why you don't work as hard has you did in your 20's or 30's or even 40's.

I get a kick out of Rian's shoes. Digging with flip flops, but mixing and placing concrete in socks and tennis shoes...

Sorry Karl,

It is my lodger who wears the socks and trainers.

I am still in the flip flops

[Indian113]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Sorry Karl,

It is my lodger who wears the socks and trainers.

I am still in the flip flops

But they are Safety Approved!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

But they are Safety Approved!

Of course.

[Grizz1963]

And this is said treasure pile up at the farm.

Someone dumped two full, unused pallets of grey paving stones there a year or so ago.

The farm mixes all the rubble from time to time, but those with slight of hand skills can still score a few stones.....

Get my drift?



Speaking of....

I ultimately took 11 large wheelbarrow loads of paving cutoff and soil over the road to put in a trench a twin axle truck put there in winter, meaning nobody could park there safely, except for 4x4’s






@PaulY also offered to put a door on his Annexe as it was his bright idea to put the compressor outside.

Thanks mate, sure I can make it fit once I build and fit a crooked doorframe.



And the bootfair fig tree I bought three years ago, has 16 figs this year



In other news from the USA, Dennis’s new dog Archer had his first haircut, looks like a dog now.





Back to making more car space.

This was an interesting build, no plans, no levels, no straight lines and nature to contend with (I respected the plants first and built around them)

So a few curves where I avoided damaging the main roots of shrubs and trees.







Also carried on digging out all the rubble that had been deposited behind the wall by the paving contractor.





Also cleaned up every block I took down with bolster and lump hammer.

Crazy, but saving about £60.00 in recycling between Zoom nd Teams meetings and doing admin indoors was quite therapeutic too.





Andy, my new lodger loves working up a sweat too, and loved putting the 20 pound hammer to the wall, bringing it down bit by bit.

Really useful finding a good lodger.







So once the clearing was done, I could start to lay the blocks on the new line I had planned.

Pushing back the grey wall to where the red wall was before and joining PauY’s Annexe wall.





One of the biggest problems is actually getting the curve to look half decent.

So some recycled blocks were already halved, but the new, tighter curve meant some needed further cutting.

Always glad that I buy certain rare use tools, so much easier going into the back of the garage and digging them out.

Grinder, diamond blade, action.

Build



Walls headed in the right direction

Also made some vents for the compressor room from the same fire wood and added them in.

They will get cat proof mesh from an old freezer later.








Gained 500mm to make the space between garage door and wall 6.3 meters.

This is only for a small section as there will be a solid galvanised post about 40mm to the right of PaulY’s Annexe wall corner that will be on the drive.

Still, very pleased that so much work has resulted in so little gain



A while ago Sally and I went over to Kevin and Teresa’s in Maidstone for a fully distanced garden patio lunch, and I saw that he had thrown out for recycling, a pair of bulkhead lights.

Guess where they are now.



Used some white oak skirting boards from the fire wood pile to make recess boxes to add into the wall later.



Bitumen all sides to protect the wood.



Poor Sally was not having much company here with me using all the bits of time I could find inbetween work an various other things, so she went for long walks with her new graduate lodger, to show him the area.

Sharing a bit with me.

She wins



Long days and lonely nights.....

[Palf70Step]

Nice work Rian.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice work Rian.

Thanks Bill.

Just got to keep chipping away when I get time


The following post is bad use there are quite a lot of UK guys on here as well, so just copied and pasting.


Random FB Marketplace score.

A lady who works at a postal sorting depot about 15 miles from me, posted up plastic storage boxes going free of charge.

I replied that I was interested, as I am going to need some boxes or trays for the new carport in which to store stuff.

So this morning early (She starts work at 05.30) I drove over to collect some.



There are loads available, some are knackered, and not right for me, but you can pick through them.

They will certainly not be everyone’s cuppa tea, being corrugated plastic, but for me they will work.

Sizes are 300x600 and 300x450 as original sizes, and they are slightly funnel shaped.

I did not take any of the small ones, but they may work for some.



Let me know by PM if you are near Maidstone or Rochester and want some, and I will see what I can arrange for you regarding access and collection.

[realvc]

You have a guy building what looks like a postal truck and you are picking up postal crates. There seems to be a postal theme going on here

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

You have a guy building what looks like a postal truck and you are picking up postal crates. There seems to be a postal theme going on here

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Thanks Bill

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

You have a guy building what looks like a postal truck and you are picking up postal crates. There seems to be a postal theme going on here

I offered him some, he agreed they may look cool somewhere in there.

I doubt he would,though.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Still, if he wants some, he is welcome.



Well, sometimes it pays to be kind.

I don’t do it for any other reason, than it not affecting me, if one or two or three people eat dinner.

So my new welder lodger has settled in well, he and Sally get on well, take the pee with me etc.

I cook most nights as I work from home with Covid-19 and Sally who gets up at 4.15 for work, eats here, so when Andy moved in three weeks ago, it was no skin off my nose to offer him dinner when we eat, he likes spicy food, we doo, so no wasted food as shops often pack and sell in odd numbers as they know it forces double up buying so you can get an even number of portions, vegetables are cheap too.....
Tossing laundry in the machine works the same way even though these things are not included in the lodging cost, makes no difference to me.

Anyway, this weekend he went home to see his wife and son and also his parents.

Monday night he came in from work bearing gifts, these were stashed in his dads garage from various previous contracts over the years where he gets issued with new tools per contract, that then never get used as the ones he has in use are perfectly fine. So he just stashes the spares or used ones and at the end of contract stuff gets skipped.

In fact, when he moved in here as contract manager and backup welder to the current contract a week before it started, he borrowed two 1/2 inch drives and a few sockets from me as there was stuff to be done but no tools on site, again, not really a problem when stuff comes back.

So now I have a brand new 1.0 meter breaker bar (was needed when I tore down the C10 and Blazer) and a 38mm socket plus some files and a small square (mine was stolen a long time ago)

Chuffed.





Karma?





And another random happening from this week.

I do love it when people pop in unannounced when I am at home, this working from home thing sucks and is a bit lonely at times.

So the doorbell rings and it is Charlie, the local farmer who historically used to call me to see if I or Nicola my ex wanted to go drive the combine harvester in the back field when harvesting (thing drives itself really)

“Got time to boil the kettle?”

So a quick coffee and a risk and he is off to fill up his tractor and get back to work.

When your company car does not fit on the drive.....





More later.

[Grizz1963]

Sunset last night.....

I was still contemplating giving the bootfairs a miss after the last few weeks.



Woke at 04.00 and dozed till 05.40 then got up, made Sally a coffee as she stayed over after dinner and a glass of wine......

Then headed out by 06.10

First blood went to Craig who is away camping with the family at the coast.

£3.00 and the seller would not budge.

Seems it is a bit rare, I certainly never saw one before.







Next up was this, like new, balance bike for Sally’s grandson.

At £2.00 it has to be a bit of a bargain.



My last purchase, a vintage Red bulkhead light was a bit of a bargain at 50p

Really like it.



Then some rubber and fabric gloves at 50p/pair.

Got 12 pairs for £5.00

And my winner for the day.

A guy selling everything in lots of £1.00 per item......

A plastic box with 12 nylon trolley castor wheels..... half of them braked, half fee running, and also in the box an air driven drill chuck with chuck key, perfect for tungsten carbide tipped bits to use when filing down welds or reaming holes.




So after wanting to walk away from bootfairs, they redeemed themselves again today.

Now back to block paving.

[Grizz1963]

Thought I would check the price of the little balance bike.

Ouch !!

[Grizz1963]

Mirror on Freecycle today.......


Guess her cleaner is coming after Covid restrictionists release us.


Look at the background.

[Grizz1963]

Quicky before work starts in earnest.

Saturday.

No going back.



Prep

Added two wheelbarrow loads of sand to exposed areas to get levels back to where I wanted them.





Starting with the easy part.....

Border.



That was it.

I needed to spend time with Sally who never complains.

Sunday update later.

.

[Grizz1963]

So Sunday Bootfair delivered very well, depending on what you needed.

Facebook Marketplace also came up with these two chunks of steel.



£20.00 for the two.

Having an industrial welder for a lodger...... priceless.

Galaxy doing it’s thing.



So back to the job in hand.

When paving with different thickness stones, it adds to the magic.



Started on one end.

I never wear hats or caps, but the sun was hot.





Takes time



The sun, and not sleeping well and many other excuses, eventually caught up with me and I sat down to rest, just when Sally came back from her home.

So I started again, but she could see I was losing the will to live, and starting to hurt.

So she said that if I levelled the sand and told her what to do, she would pack the now thicker blocks for me.....

She can also fold in half while standing straight up, unlike me, who has to go on my knees as my back is so knackered



We called it a day by 5.15 and closed shop and cleaned up.

Went indoors where I had a few beers to rehidrate and she left to go cook her uncles meals for the week, and prepare for Monday getting back to work.

After she left, I went down to the garage again and started to fit in the small cut triangular sections down the side by the hedge.

Not easy sitting still by 7.00pm, way too early.




Much better


.


Also got offered an 8 year old cat looking for a home.

Called Kitty....... I thought many other names would be more descriptive



Tempting.

I asked a few questions.

Got some answers.



Also realised, the cat was there long before the dog.

WHY do people dump animals when they get bored or a newer one comes in.

Tempted, but the road outside is a fast, dangerous road.

We got lucky with all our three rescue cats surviving to full ages ranging between 17.5 and 16 years.

Sweet dumb Dukey, got caught twice when we tried to capture a terrorising feral cat that came indoors to create havoc.



No introduction needed.

Missed many days, she would have loved all this building work.



And Granny Tabitha who made 17.5 years.



So the question is, would Lucifer survive here, would she/he be happy here (I think so)

Would it screw up my life more than I want it to be.


.

[Grizz1963]

So Monday I actually took an hours “lunch break” and went to carryon for a bit moreof the cutting in.

Amazing how little you get done in an hour.





Then after work by 5.00pm I was out there again.

Loads of small complex cuts, trimming etc to do saw me progressing.

Hated the job by this point.



Had already unloaded the compacter from its wheelbarrow earlier so started it up. First pull it fired up. What a pleasure.



Some serious compacting to get it all blended and the stones set before sanding the joints.





One spot I knew would be a bit different was the recycled pavers.

Different textures and colour but they will blend in.



After pressure cleaning them all it looks as good as it will get.

Happy with that.



Its a lot of work to have gotten two post foundations in and to move a wall 500mm but the rewards should be worth it once the posts and roof go up.

I noticed the little orphan side garden is really coming into its own too.



Later.

.

[Grizz1963]

Bootfair sucked to a large extent.

Got a pack of 10 pairs of red, rubberised grip, fabric backed gloves for £2.00 that I gave to Mickey as he will always share if he gets stuff, and I know he is mostly out of gloves recently.

Also a bobbing head dog for £1.00

Home by 7.30

[Grizz1963]

So this week I have been kinda held back a bit.....

By what I assume is a bacterial skin infection on my nose and one eye.

Possibly from the sand and cement work, wiping my nose when there were Thunderbugs about, and with a grain of sand cutting my skin microscopically.

Started off on the tip of my nose, feeling like a pimple developing, red, sensitive.

Eye scratchy, maybe a sty ?

Ignored it but by Tuesday things were turning nasty and the tip of my nose looking like Pinocchio was a relative, and seemed like cellulitis, eye sore enough to go get eye drops.

Thursdays I actually felt quite rubbish, and by 10.00am on Friday I called in sick, also called my GP surgery that was closed down by the CQC (Care Quality Commission) on the 24th June for posing a threat to patients.

So I got a telephonic consultation at 4.45 booked with a covering Locum.

It took all of 6 minutes to have antibiotics prescribed and some eye ointment that I am clearly allergic to, based on one photo I had sent to the practice.



It looked and felt worse by Saturday but I am hoping the antibiotics work.

So my building type work has been scaled down a bit for a few days, and I am wearing shaded safety glasses outside, as it helps with the glare of the sun.



As is known by now, randomness here is often just to share some of the treasures on your dooorsteps, or to even broaden your horizons.


Saturday morning 08.00 Sally and I ran down to Chatham High street in the Galaxy to buy some stuff at our two favourite Turkish food shops.

Prices are better, and the selection is great.

I also love being able to select and order my cut of meat in a real butcher.

So a BBQ for us and Andy the welder/lodger was on the cards.

T-Bones ordered, slightly thinner than we usually order because we had other stuff to add.





Sally got some treats for the girls at work, including amazing Baclava, then off to shop no 2



Andy had asked for some bottled Jalapeño peppers. Cheap there.



Some interesting spices, its also where I get my Cajun and mixed Spices.











Now for our European pallets some of this stuff may seem weird or just wrong, but you may find if you tried it, it was good.

Anyway....... As kids, we certainly ate chicken feet, heads, gizzards etc, because growing up poor, meant making the best of a bad situation.

Bulk butcher.





Seafood, really cheap too.






What rice did you want?



Also an amazing selection of cheap, fresh fruit and vegetables.







£1.00 pack, Bargain city.




Then back home to do some smaller tasks, and take paving stones in the Galaxy over to Sallys place with Andy who got in early from work and was helping.


The day was going to get better.

[Grizz1963]

Saturday I also measured the beam.



Long old thing.

And heavy



So by 4.00pm we closed shop.

Andy chopped the wood while I prepped the meat.

Started the fire.



Freshly cut earlier, I cleaned the steaks before getting onto the business at hand.



Three degrees.

Well done,
Medium rare
Blue/Bleu

All to be served at the same time.



Sally was as always incredibly tolerant as Andy and I finished what was left of a litre of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey and then attacked a second bottle.



As you can see, at this point it was Beer, Jack and a kilo of Sainsbury’s chocolate toffees.



An amazing afternoon and evening

And fortunately I managed not to go look at cars for sale on eBay


Thanks for checking in.

.