and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

I suspect they'd be cleaner from the Mary Rose, these are saturated with pig effluent. I've just been looking at them with Miloš. Mrs. Even she's convinced they have no use. I thought maybe the dust under them would be good for the garden, so I stuck some in a pot with some tomato seeds. One has finally germinated but it looks ill.

Flooring can be seen in the pic above looking out through the door and the (pathetic little) window.

I should probably confess that I've seen bones up there before. Recently I found a shoulder blade that confirmed it was a small cat so, rather than just chuck him out with the garbage, I've been collecting them for a better burial. Sadly up until now I've only found a few. The problem is picking up the odd bone here and there is one thing, having what looks like part of a spine and half a set of ribs land on my head is a bit different.

Btw I've measured the room there, it's 4.5m deep, 3.6m wide. It's been full of clutter for many years but, now it's empty, it actually looks quite useful.

[steve_earwig]

Time for an update? No? I don't care

I've stripped the ceiling/floor boards out


Another dirty, disgusting job. The boards here seem to be unused spares for the pigsty, they're so heavy all I can do is slide them about and roll them. Sadly they're propeller-shaped.

The other boards seem to be slices through a log, they're not rotten but all weird shapes.

Where the ant's nest was - spongy!


Over the pigsty


I have seen the light!


Note where the main beam's been sawn off and removed, why would anyone do that?

The end wall bears no marks, so I suspect this was removed before the pigsty was rebuilt in brick (in 1961, presumably)

A nice pile of woodworm habitat.

The boards to the right are all the boards that survived being dropped on the floor. I wouldn't walk on them but they might be useful. Also a lot of it doesn't look it's seen a sawmill, it seems to be scolloped like it was made with an adze. Which might explain why none of it is straight and no two boards are the same size.

This is a bit weird

The boards seem to be fairly good (I think the shed was extended here perhaps) but the beam nearest the camera is rotten, so they'll have to come off. I got as far as that board but couldn't move it, the reason being the pier holding the upper wall is built on top of it Also, further up there's a mummified cat wrapped around a beam, I suspect it's the one I've been finding the bones of. I've tried to remove it but I can't get too close because of the rotten beam, I was trying to dislodge it with a stick but it all got a bit grim and put me off my lunch. I guess I'll have to deal with it when that part of the wall comes down.

[Welly]

That's certainly an 'interesting' structure. Over here, and in a commercial capacity the inside of the building would be 'framed out' with steel beams to catch all of the wooden structures so that the supporting work is then the steelworks job. Prolly a bit OTT for what you need but over here the cost of wood is mega dollar and then steel starts to look cheap in comparison

[steve_earwig]

I suspect the price of timber here is "probably" cheaper than steel (a common saying here is if the Croats moved to the Sahara Desert the price of sand would go up) but I'll have to investigate as and when. Interesting though, must Gurgle some images....

So, now I have to admit to being a bit of a tit: You know I've been collecting cat bits and came across something that looked a bit gtim? Well, I decided to cross that bridge when I got to it but it's been going round and around in my mind, putting me off me grub and giving me nightmares I could even see something at the other end of the frame - is that another cat??

Well, today was the day. that end of the barn is boarded as I think I mentioned, over a joist that looked a bit rotten, and the gruesome remains were on the end frame against the wall, hard to get to. So I propped the middle of the beam up with a ladder and, armed with a freshly cleaned set of goggles, a fresh 3M mask, headlamp with fresh batteries and my best grot-proof gloves, plus a box for remains, I mounted the ladder. To find:

That joist really isn't all that bad. The "huge turkey leg" that dropped out while I was instigating is... a perfectly ordinary chicken leg. The "cat carcase with a tail at least a foot long" is now a modest-sized rat skeleton, plus some other remains that I can't identify. And the "oh my god, it's another cat!" the other end is something resembling a bag of knuckles. This was a pig sty right?

So it was all in my mind, I expected to find something gruesome and, in the dark up the top of a wobbly ladder, my imagination gave it to me. This way to feel a right tit! I'm not even sure it was even a cat I was finding, I found no skull that would have given me a definite answer, everything else could have been anything, a cat, a kuna (pine marten), a... oh stop it. Whole lot -> bin. Fin.

I moved the rose:




It wasn't happy and spiked me a few times while it was moving. The idea is to get to these boards




Which Miloš said I could get rid of. I don't think they'll be as heavy as they look but they're behind the soffits, which would need to come off first and the battens are nailed to them, so I think it might be a bit of a fight.

While I was up there investermagating I pulled off a few loose times


They're hooked over the battens using the knobs sticking out the end and the bottom two here are knackered.

I've also splashed out and changed the oil in my tidgy compressor as I was feeling sorry for it.


The oil is actually for an outboard motor but it was the only thing 10W30 without detergent Roni had listed.

Garnier: because you're worthless

[Welly]

Dare's you to put that bottle back with your missus' toiletries

I see your 'cat skeleton' and raise you a freshly killed adult pigeon; on its back with its chest fully open, dark red breast meat eaten away with breast bone exposed and fully exposed stomach contents (bird seed) on the side. That's what I had to clear up when I got home from work the other night after our two cats had murdered the thing.

Turns out a pez lawn mower does a surprising hoover impression and is GR9 at collecting bird fevvers.

[steve_earwig]

I don't think our cats would take on a pigeon, they'd need to work together and they have as much "pack instinct" as a flock of vampires. I've had to clear up many a dead mouse or sparrow in that condition - wrap in 4-ply of kitchen roll and bin, at that size the details are too small to worry about

I've had to deal with a few dead cats in my time, a couple that popped their clogs in the garden (natural causes?) and a couple of roadkills, non of them too messy. I've seen a few in the road I wouldn't like to have had to deal with.

Oddly enough I presented the make-up bottle to t'wife - "I filled this up for you dear" It's still on the counter in the kitchen, I don't think she's keen to try it

[Welly]

'Eau de compreseur' is this years must-have tell her

Our 'big cat' hasn't brought us a Rabbit yet this year, one time we were getting one or two per week I think my worst find was a Hare which they'd hidden behind something, that was a horrible specimen and worryingly large

I watched the 'small cat' down a Mouse once - whole

[steve_earwig]

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, gone. Now is time for a worming pill... Ours don't eat them many, usually they just brong them in the house and release them There's the occasional sparrow corpse too, but I don't really mind (flying mice) but I get upset when they get a redstart and they've had a couple of thushes too, which as far as I remember are an endangered species. My bro's cats bring in frogs from the pond.

There aren't any rabbits here (kunas have eaten them all) but we had a cat that used to catch 'em when I was a kid, he'd just leave the thighbones and those organs you aint meant to eat. He found the perfect place to leave them too, under the square bottom step of our staircase. That was a nice job for me pa when he found them

[steve_earwig]

... registering the Yamaha I think I mentioned that when I insured the yoyo last year they gave me the free gift of a bottle opener, and I was subsequently expecting something like a fag lighter and maybe a jerry can with the house insurance (I got nothing, tight bastards). Well, with the insurance on the bike today I got... a pair of air fresheners I guess I can hang one from each mirror. Dummies.

The bike passed its inspection ok, but it's running like a bag o' shite, so Friday it's going to someone who knows what they're doing because, after 3 years of fiddling, I've come to the realisation that I don't. Lawnmower it aint. I already have a stack of spares (the main problem is the needle valves are kergiggered, plus the timing chain tensioner is borked) which were sent from England, did a tour of Croatia courtesy the Croatian postal service (monkeys), then sent back as undeliverable (morons) and finally sent via DPD who, amazingly got it here in 3 days. No greedy thieving "spedition" company to deal with either, DPD all the way. Highly recommended.

Now all I have to do is get back from the mechanic's, 'cos it turns out I don't know anyone available who can drive. I hate buses...

Not done much shed-wise as it's waiting for Miloš, it's as clean as I can get it without going mad, certainly much more pleasant than it was anyway.

[Welly]

lol about the air fresheners, I'm sure whoever's following you will be pleased with the 'Pine Fresh' scent

Maybe you've got an air leak on the Carbs, or a dodgy float, needles...etc etc needs some fettling by someone with a nose for it I guess.

[steve_earwig]

The mechanic'a been through the carbs and says needle valves so I have a new pair for him to shove in it. I'm pretty much sick and tired of taking it to bits and putting it back together, only to find it's still sick. The alcohol in the fuel here rotted all the rubber parts in the fuel system - fuel hoses and everything in the carbs, so I've replaced everything with viton. Except the needle valves, which looked ok to me, besides they're 40 quid a pop (x2). After I put it all back together it was even worse, so I caved in and asked about for a recommendation for a mechanic. And the first thing he did when he saw the bike was rush in for his stethoscope and declare the timing chain tensioner so far gone the valves are almost hitting the pistons I knew it was noisy but it's always been noisy, I assumed it was because it's due a valve job (bucket & shim x10, groan). To change the tensioner the cam cover needs to come off, so he's going to check them while he's there. Annoyingly the tensioner is specific to the early TDM's (3VD), the later 850's (4TX) use the same one as the earlier Super Tenier 750 and, of course, the 3VD ones are NLS But I've managed to get a (apparently) good used one. He'll also have to pull the water hoses off and guess what? They're NLS too. I just hope they survive

Btw on the way back from registration it was running so well I was tempted to take it for a spin, sadly I had to go cook food for the dogs so I didn't have time.

[trufflehunt]

Way back when, '80's, I owned a Honda CX500. They were notorious for timing chain problems.
A new one completely transformed it from a horrible, noisy, lumpy old nail into a really nice
touring bike.

[steve_earwig]

Honda were famous for their liquorish timing chains in the 70's and 80's. And their duff chrome.

In 1992 I wrapped a CX500 around a lamp post (car pulls out, swerve, pot hole, lamp post interface), resulting in me being off work for 2 weeks short of 2 years.

Comfy bike was the plastic maggot, I often meet up with a chap from Germany who still rides one.

[Bailes1992]

My Father asked me to look at his Ryobi strimmer on Wednesday as he couldn't get it to start.
He bought it in 2008 and it was always reasonably straight forward to start. Prime the bulb 8 times, set the choke to full, open the throttle full and pull the cord. You'd hear a couple of fires and it would stall, then move the choke to half way, leave the throttle closed and it will start on first pull. Always been the same!

Few years ago I started running all my two stroke items on super unleaded and Amsoil Saber which can be run at 100:1. It's expensive but a litre bottle will last you forever. As you can also assume I've dialed the carb on for this, as less oil means more petrol in the mix so a retune was required.

So out I go, do my usual start sequence and nothing, not even an attempt to fire. In the space of an hour I cleaned, gapped and tested the spark plug, cleaned the air filter and cleaned the fuel strainer. She would just catch, but only at 3/4 choke with about 50% throttle.

So, I strip down the carb, clean it with isopropyl alcohol and rebuild it with new gaskets (had some gasket paper handy) and new O rings where required. Nothing.

I'm scratching my head at this point as I can feel I have compression, I know I have a spark and I know I have fuel. At which point my Father comes out to the shed "Yeah, I couldn't work it out either. I even mixed up some fresh fuel before I started" to which I asked at what ratio "I done a 25:1 mix just to make sure".

[steve_earwig]

Ah well, it was due a service

I quite enjoy watching Mustie1 on Yootoob resurrecting stuff that's been mis-used and left out in the weather for 5 years. Plus the aircooled VW stuff...

Starting procedure I find works on most 2-stronkes is.. Set choke to max, if it's got one hit the primer until you can hear fuel squirting somewhere (some squirt into the choke, some just pull fuel through the carb, so you're listening for air bubbles), MAKE SURE IT'S TURNED ON , then give it some pullcord action until it coughs, turn the choke right off, pull a couple of times until it's going. The bloody weird 4-mix engine on the blower needs to sit on half choke for a while but everything else seems happy with this.

I can't get any fancy 2-stroke oil here, most of my stuff is either 50-1, 25-1 (or 40-1 if you're not using our super duper 2-stroke oil ) but It all gets 25, unless it gets really stroppy.

Anyway, the bike is at the fixers. A few coughs on the way down but hopefully that'll be a thing of the past soon. Again I was expecting to get a bus home (did I mention I hate buses?) but again he gave me a lift back. This time in style - on a ZX12R No grab rail, no strap. Err, where do I hold on? Put your hands on the tank. Ok, he's going to take it easy. Did he feck! I know this guy does movie stunts so he's not going to crash so my only concern was not falling off the back of it. Feet up by my armpits so no help there, Lean into the acceleration but try not to head butt him. I could feel every letter of the Kawasaki stickers on the tank through my gloves and probabyl would've had them off if I'd not been wearing any.

"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit oh, can we do that again?"