GRIZZ’s ‘79 - 2WD BLAZER Challenge over in London, England. “~It’s not a Project~”

[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.....

[Grizz1963]

Another quick early morning job before showering and starting the days Zoom meetings etc.

Mixed fine kiln dried sand and cement in a crazy strong ratio and painted the wall to seal the pores for paint later, just to make the room lighter.



Also found while breaking down more of the wall, just how deep I had planted the tree that caused a lot of this, so unearthed more of it and fetched the chainsaw out, again early morning at -8.05 so neighbours could just shut up.



Cut.

Drilled a bunch of holes in It and filled them with pure Roundup, that should sort it.



Took two days leave along with Sally when it was so very hot, spent them not with her..... oooopps.

But Mickey had a lead on some storage units being emptied of the scrap left in there.

Galaxy, gloves, trailer, CHECK !



Got some industrial shelving to go in the carport.

These are not cheap.





About 45 litres of white paint, 5 litres of PVA glue, 2.5 litres of indoor satin varnish, some tools, including a new pick axe and various other bits.

Next day we went back to fetch a load of plastic decking flooring, and a new sheet of ply, a load of plastic storage boxes and various other free treasures.

Mickey had been in there days before me and found three Dewalt power skill saws, random hand tools, drills, and some chargers plus a load of scrap copper that he weighed in along with aluminium for about £70.00





Happy guy.



While out a few weeks ago in the Galaxy, I clocked a jumbo bag on a sidewalk where paving had been redone.

On one of our return trips from the storage units with Mickey, we detoured along the country lane it was on, and I stopped to see what was in it......

JACKPOT....!

I went to knock on the front door, but nobody answered, so we drove off.

Next day I was dressed a bit neater and went back to knock again and asked if I could remove some contents.

Yes, no problem, the bag is getting collected later today.

Lucky me.

So, I hear you ask, what was in this skip bag?

Remember that with moving the wall on that curve, I now needed more paving stones to cover the area, and add to that the fact that the curve has a load of cut bricks, and you have a significant deficit.

I had been looking for matching block paving, as I had originally selected a mixed colour, rather than red and grey as many people do.

The stones in this bag are also thicker than what I have on my drive, possibly a commercial grade.

So when I lift a large section of the paving to repair the sinking in caused by American cars and trucks reversing up and down the drive in from]not of the garage, the new heavy duty -avers will go in there, and the under ones go into the new, low traffic sections.

Adding up the value of the pavement find, again I came up to a conservative value of £50.00 found for free.

Would you pick up £50.00 off the pavement?/

Sure you would.



Amazingly, 100 exactly, dug from the bag and a load of 3/4 cut ones too, just in case I need them.



Pressure cleaned one of them to see how they clean up.

Happy.




Free cash means money in the kitty for other frivolous pursuits like a Toyota Deliboy.


https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread...toyota-deliboy

I like it a lot, despite 270 miles to go look.

.

[Grizz1963]

Seems bootfairs are a bust so far this year.

Loads of Pink Sh!t as @JohnnyBravo would say.

Not much technical or bargainous

Today was no change.

New Coca Cola rugby ball for CraigRK and his collection £1.00
12 skull bottles £1.00
Used Real bristle brush 50P
Spanner to use as door hand;e on compressor room £1.00
Name plate 50p



Contemplating not going to bootfairs anymore, but suspect it’s an addiction.......

[LT7A]

What does pink er, stuff, refer to? 1-1/18 wrench for what, a buck 30, a buck 40? That's a pretty good deal. You seem to find cool stuff, and as mentioned before, you give a lot away. However, what you keep may begin to accumulate?

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by LT7A

What does pink er, stuff, refer to? 1-1/18 wrench for what, a buck 30, a buck 40? That's a pretty good deal. You seem to find cool stuff, and as mentioned before, you give a lot away. However, what you keep may begin to accumulate?

Morning mate

Pink stuff is baby clothes, plastic toys......

Mostly useless stuff.

Accumulating is the name of the game

I have bought incredible bargains over the years.

[Grizz1963]

So the COVID Crisis continues.

Meaning I get to work from home for the foreseeable future, which is less fun than you may think, but at least I am employed.

Inbetween meetings etc, I did manage to bake batch no 2 of South African style rusks, the first ones were muesli and really good.

This time I did fruit and aniseed with a bit of muesli tossed in for luck.



Once baked, you let them cool down as a loaf, then cut into strips or blocks and dry at 70-90’C for 4-5 hrs and pack away in tins or plastic storage.

Great alternative to breakfast, snacking or with coffee.

Oh, and not everybody’s thing.



Also got a great parcel from Dikkehemaworst in Amsterdam.

Awesome contents.





And the building went on, sometimes a few blocks at 07.00am or after dinner.

Amazing how a lump hammer can level things out.



Bulkhead light boxes went in.

Power will be from the woodwork shed that has its own independent supply





Previously wall was 4 courses high



Decided to go 5 high as the plants do tend to take over.













Mickey came around to paint the boxes wit some weird pool and pond paint while his brush was wet as he was rebuilding the floor of his fishpond



Once the wall was at full height, I cut a load of wood, white oak, that I had originally planned to use for theChevy C10’s rear bed floor up and screwed it all down on a frame, to be felted once completed.

One strip left to add.




Mickey straight up on top as he weighs about as much as a packet of Doritos.

Adding a small facia on the garden side to close it all in a bit more to keep birds from nesting in there.







Once Mickey went home for dinner, I carried on and felted the roof, plus added an end strip to it all.




Have to say, it has become a bigger job than planned, but I am pretty pleased with all the added bits.

It should work well in the long term.

.

[Grizz1963]

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]

So once the wall and roof to @PaulY ‘s annexe was complete, the next step was to paint the inside



Followed by shelves cut from some recycled skirting boards and old freezer baskets.





Then cement paint all the blocks to get the pores filled and it all looking uniform







Colour match the shelf supports, brown to the left, white on the right.



Once the cement had dried, follow up with white paint, thanks to the clearing out Mickey took me along for.



Resulting in a very bright white wall.



More jobs to do of course, but they all need to fit inbetween the day job tasks.

Or mostly, after work.

[LT7A]

Lots of work done in the last week or two. It is shaping up nicely and somehow you make it look like it all grew there. Funny to see that Washington plate that made its way to you via Amsterdam. How cool is that? I started collecting plates when I bought a parts car and bumper to fix my high school ride. Those were the plates issued after Washington stopped stamping the Washington into the plate. The green and white motif is gone now. I get a kick out of Mickey popping over and jumping into the middle of things. That is a friendship that has progressed well beyond neighborliness.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Lots of work done in the last week or two. It is shaping up nicely and somehow you make it look like it all grew there. Funny to see that Washington plate that made its way to you via Amsterdam. How cool is that? I started collecting plates when I bought a parts car and bumper to fix my high school ride. Those were the plates issued after Washington stopped stamping the Washington into the plate. The green and white motif is gone now. I get a kick out of Mickey popping over and jumping into the middle of things. That is a friendship that has progressed well beyond neighborliness.

Good morning and thank you for the reply and compliments.

I am reasonably good at finding small bits of time (last night 30 minutes netted me bird proofing in the vent holes, to be reported later) to do tasks. Or working at silly hours, late or early, in order to get stuff moving.

Making it look like it grew there, I guess comes from slow dismantling with logic applied as I hate a messy work area, and because I get a real kick out of recycling stuff, as it means money can be spent elsewhere, like a car, truck, bike, machine.... means it seems like it has been there a while.

I have collected plates for a very long time, and the more story attached to them the better, used plates certainly do it for me, and speciality like Army, disabled, etc are where I try to be.
My most emotionally satisfying plate is one that friend Steve in Jonesboro Arkansas gave me..... it is one of TWO Purple Heart plates he got in Vietnam, having served in a war zone myself a long time ago, it is an honour to own.

Regarding Mickey.......

When we bought this house 10 years ago, we “owned” it for a year before moving in, and I used to come here as I had access to the garage, and also used to keep the garden tidy.

The first time I came here, my brother happened to be with me on a visit from South Africa. Mickey popped around at Lunch time with two massive bacon and egg sandwiches and mugs of tea for us.

This has never changed. We look out for each other, and just walk in on jobs to help each other.



However........



This is a copy and paste of some replies,on Retro Rides which is my “home forum”


Hope it makes sense.


Over here, the Brits sadly are very big on the NIMBY Principle. Means Not In My Back Yard


It was responses to my reply to Pete who asked about the posts and whether it was a permanent structure.


Sorry Glen.

She just left 2 minutes ago, smiling after stopping to check in, grab a coffee and some rusks, sleep over tomorrow night

I wanted to like this post but, for obvious reasons, couldn't.

But yes, an elegant sufficiency. [/quote]My world is sadly not as perfect as I make believe George.

Oh dear ... I do hope that's humour on you part Grizz ... :-S[/quote]Hi Tony, sadly, even I have a sense of humour failure at times.

And this time it were no humour.

But the cloud has blown over so status normal.

No I don't Rian
[/div]
[div]I was just asking as I would hate to think if you ever ended up with a neighbor similar to the one @grumpynorthener has would cause you trouble after all the hard work you are putting in to it.[/div]
[div]Glad to see you are thinking ahead for all possibilities.
[/div][/quote]Thanks Pete, I guess we all look out for each other on here.

Just to put it into perspective.

Mickeys an awesome guy. Like a father to me.

His wife conversely drives a broom that identifies as a Fiat 500.

She drove him to object to their neighbours on the other side’s council application to extend their house because it was going to rob them of their patio light (They have a garage down that boundary anyway)

When I put the single course of blocks down the side of the paving, after cutting back my hedge and added some plastic conduit for potential drainage, Mickey stopped talking with me for two days, till I confronted him directly on his pavement.
Turns out, he was unhappy about the conduit drainage because it could flood his back yard...... WTF !@!!! So typically British there NIMBY and all that.
Anyway, he and the wife were sitting outside whispering and I overheard them mention carport the day before.
So fortunately I was already doing all of this “inside of the rules and by the book” and will continue to do so.
I would hate to build it all , only for them to report me once it is complete, and council to tell me to tear it down.

I will continue to tread carefully as there is always someone ready to stir $h!t with a smile on their faces.


[/quote]

[Grizz1963]

Some lunch time digging, next post foundation.

1000x1000x1000mm Concrete








Then mixing and casting concrete.

Amazing how much concrete goes into a cubic meter.





Of course Andy the lodger enjoys this whole process too.



And cast and done.



Rain followed play too.

[Grizz1963]

Well, it is Saturday morning.

Slow start.

Honeysuckle is gathering speed, growing up the big pine tree.





In Siberia life goes on, some random pics from Stas.





Greetings from the man.



Katya had her 35th birthday recently.

Still the best looking honorary member on here.



In the mean time, Covid-19 is screwing up their lives too.

This week I also cut two freezer baskets down and created some bird proofing fo ether vent holes.

Plus adding some of the discarded USPS boxes on the shelves.




Plus removing the spacer board for the post mounting points.



Cleaned up.



And ready to be paved around until the posts are cut down to the right height and welded back together by pro welder Andy with his special machine.



Had some rain this week, and even half an hour after it stopped, two long puddles show that the paving needs lifting up, and re-laying to get it all level.





All of the highlighted paving must be lifted, relaid and also new added where there was none before.

One of today’s jobs.



Mate Fil from Cambridge came down yesterday to collect and drop off stuff.

He also collected a load of the postal boxes to be redistributed nationally to those needing some storage solutions.

More in there than it seems.
‘


Score of the day on FB Marketplace to be collected after 3.00pm.

£10.00 each, lodger Andy can do a full industrial weld on them to create a useable length.



Total length will work on structure.



And lastly, same sunset, 40 minutes apart.





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]

I know most of you dont like food, so thought opening with a bit of food made sense.

On Wednesday after work I cooked some ribs and oven chips for myself and Andy the lodger, Sally had stuff to deal with at home, so skipped dinner.

2kg of ribs became this after 70 minutes at 180’C
30 minutes on the bone side, and 40 minutes on the meaty side.

Serve and enjoy.





Back to the carport job.

Went up to the farm to drop off some more unused hardcore on their pile.

Walked around the pile and saw this marble lintel that’s been there for years.

I had asked Charlie the farmer about it before and he had said yes I could have it, only problem is a 5 foot long lump of granite weighs a fair amount.

Now with the current progress and changes here, I thought it is time to try get it here again.



Also found a birdbath stand or who knows what you want to put on it......



As always there is still stuff to do,

I need to band the paving at the edge, and also recast a bit of the driveway that I broke out.



While I started mixing the banding cement, Andy carried on with the rather large RSJ cleanup and weld.





What a pleasure watching a pro weld......

Once he strikes an arc, it just goes on till the rod runs out, or he gets to the end of the run.







Joined up, welded all sides.



Then added some more bracing.

Totally over engineered without doubt.





And finally some galvanising spray over all the grinds and welds.



And cement and concrete work done and cleaned up.



Chicago Town Stuffed Crust Cola Pizza and nice seasoned fries as a quick n easy dinner.

Along with maybe more beers and most of a litre of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey.

No regrets.





Weekend soon.....

[Grizz1963]

Bestest £2.00 ever spent on a little guy.

Loves it.

To him it is a challenge and a toy, not £2.00 vs £119.99



Seems he was on it all afternoon.



Andy the lodger bought Chinese take away last night, pub over the road looking very smart.



Clearing up time at garage to make space for working later.

BBQ Tonight.

T-Bone steaks and some Kofte Kebabs

[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.

.

[Grizz1963]

And another score

Headed for the clearance skip......

7 weeks of use from new.

Too expensive to repatriate back to the depot so written off.

Guess I have an almost new fridge for my lodgers extra stuff.

The other one I have is now free to someone for collecting. PM if you want the other one that I previously got.



Free stuff. Free money.

Love it.

[Grizz1963]

More progress.....

The rules.



Getting the posts cut down to the right height

Measure, use a level said Mickey, I rarely do.



I have had these posts since Boxing Day 2007 when Oldbus delivered them, along with my 1963 Ford Taunus Transit.



A significant OOOOPPPS moment.



Made up some new 10mm thick top plates, drilled and prepped and cut to size.]



Handy having a welder on site.







Decent grip......

Gluing steel



Posts welded, and put on foundations.

Only one problem, the tall one is facing the wrong way by 90’ as it would not seat on the foundation.

Problem to be addressed.





Posts are heavy enough to make them a two man lift.

Managed to damage the thread on only one.

Another thing to correct later.





One other job Andy did for me, was to weld together my stainless steel BBQ grille which had deteriorated over the last 10 years.



I did help........ honestly.




End of the day.....

Weekend over.