Aladdin's cave!

I went to collect some of that wood I spoke about from a generous freegler.

When I got there I thought I had died and gone to heaven! There was so much! and it had been removed quite carefully so it was mostly reusable. The gentleman asked me if I had a wood burning stove. That sounded like real herecy! That anyone would burn material as good as that appalled me. I immediately saw projects I can now complete with it and on getting home Wifey carried on adding to the list.

I had been told the previous night in an email that I was to share it with another freegler, on a first come first served basis. Wifey and I agreed that I should do some drastic reorganising of the day and try to be the first! Greedy? Possibly, but I think that is fair. As I packed the car I kept looking back at what was left and asking myself "Would I be happy to pick up what's left?". I tried to be honest and leave when I could still say "Yes". I don't know if I was being honest with myself though.

First project on getting home though was? Finding enough space to store it all! A nice problem to have. Thanks again to the generous freegler.

(The Mole)

Tired? Who's tired?

Yesterday got just 3 and 1/2 hours sleep. Not dancing the night away and not had a drink in 3 or 4 weeks. Wifey was watching TV and I was doing work on web sites. Both these sites I am trying something new for me on so it is a labour of love more than anything. Anyway finally got to bed about 3 and woke up - as is my wont - at 6:30. Went to bed about 12:30 last night and up late this morning - 6:40. I cut grass both back and front and then set about working on SOC's little purple house. Build her a bench with removable seat to make a storage box as well and a table that is hinged to the wall. The table was frustrating and not quite finished as I wait for the glue to dry now. Getting the locking catch into JUST the right place proved to be a lot of trial and error and that leads to frustration and frustration leads to tiredness - and I am TIRED! The entire thing has been done from wood that has lived at least one life already - which is how I like it as it adds to the challenge. A kind freegler has offered me a load of pine of which I can take my pick and I plan on going there tomorrow.

I now intend relaxing and getting back into web work, but I may just facebook first!

Whining..

Don't you just hate it?

It's that time of year when insurance come due. Car, house and car breakdown cover. I hate it because it is always hard work! Yes you can just tick the box and say "I'll pay your ridiculous demand" but I won't do that. So it's off to the PC and go through the price comparison sites and find what price you can get. Then email the incumbent telling them you want to cancel and giving them your phone number so they can make a counter proposal. On house insurance this year I got a 40% discount to retain the business. On Breakdown cover I saved £80 - partly because new customers can get big first years savings that regular customers, unfairly, cannot get. On car insurance to my amazement I could only save £8 but hey, that's more than a bar of chocolate! Why can't they come clean with their best offer FIRST!

Am I getting old that these things annoy me now? Anyone saying yes gets to make their own tea and NO breakfast in bed.

Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane

I enjoyed this book, just not sure why. Not really sure what it was about. War? Self discovery? Just a story? I wouldn't reread this though, which is unusual for me when I enjoyed it.

What a weekend!

Well, it has been busy. A freegler gave me a bracket to mount a monitor on the wall and I fitted it to free up some desk space.

We also had some curtain poles from another freegler and I have been fitting some of them.

I had to cut the grass both back and front of the house.

A neighbour had trouble with her set top box and asked if I could help. I did and got from ebay a replacement control so that is now fixed.

The fridge door wouldn't close and I happened to find the bit to fix it (at 1 o'clock in the morning) (a) in the stuff from the freegler with the bracket and (b) from the bottom of a toolbox in bits from scrap yards from when I was a pup. PLUS I went training (see http://www.derbysmee.co.uk). Can't not go training.

Also planted out some broccoli and moved the compost bins around a bit. The compost bins are mostly full of horse manure in readiness for putting on he garden when it is aged enough, but they are also going through the garden refuse quite quickly. The weather has been kind to the slugs, which has renewed the challenge to beat them again. You then have to sweep their remains off the paths!

The holidays are here

SOC has finished school for the summer and for a while we must adjust. She is spending a lot of time doing stuff with friends - dance lessons, cinema, visiting their houses, having them over etc. Last night was a pony club night and she jumped on a new pony for the first time! I think she grew 3 inches in the hour and a half! Max still seems to be favourite but he has competition.

We holiday in the UK. It's what God wants! Let me explain... when FOC was 10 months old we went to France, by ferry, and a force 10 wind was blowing. It was one of the longer crossings and the entire crew were doing the tummy chuck let alone the passengers. The noise of the air trapped against the ship's plates was horrendous and the trip was less than pleasant. We spent 2 glorious weeks in Brittany and coming back..... a force 9 was blowing. Tell me that wasn't a sign. Later I had to fly to Edinburgh on business (why we couldn't drive I don't know) and a frequent flyer I was flying with said it was the worst weather he had experienced in a plane. Tell me I'm wrong now! Well FOC is holidaying in the US. First in Vegas and then LA and going to the grand canyon. She was to fly at midday yesterday and didn't because the engine wasn't right. I got a text saying 'we are delayed with an engine problem and a mechanic is smacking the engine now - about an hour late'. That became an hour and a half and they would miss the connecting flight. It then became that they would get a new plane (I breathed a sigh of relief) and be about 5 hours late. This morning I got an email:-

It took some doing! Our flight finally left at 8.30 uk time landed at lax 10.40pm local time. Then immigration and luggage (which fortunately had transferred planes with us) Trekked across the airport to the terminal for domestics to find that there were no flights until 6am, and we couldn't buy a ticket until the desk opened for checkin for that flight.

So first phoned vegas hotel to explain we would be late and please don't give our room away, finding the number took some doing (website is flash and the Iphone doesn't support flash) then called dollar car rental to sort a car, got shuttle from lax to their depot, got car about 1am driven straight through. Now really really on wrong time zone.

Slept on plane in uk night, driven through US night.

Anyway we are here, going to get some sleep and then get up for breakfast.

FOC

x

That is mostly unedited and she does avoid this 'text speak' when texting and emailing me or wifey which we appreciate. However at times like this I get to more understand why we don't holiday outside the UK. I do love the UK and all it has to offer!

Things to do...

Been down to see one of the projects I have been helping on.

Doesn't it look beautiful? She has a long way to go to being finished, but she is a drop sided 1959 Morris. We are short of boarding to finish the sides and tail but a friendly freegler believes he may have some to help so we are keeing our fingers crossed!

The workshop, at the moment, is just stuff in the middle of the floor and it really needs a way to get things in order, so we are trying a few friendly freeglers to get old kitchen units, that normally go in landfill or on bonfires, to get work surfaces and proper storage places to get it workable.


Another project is SOC's playhouse. She got it when she was about 5 for her birthday and we kitted it out for her. That was about 7 years ago and her tastes have moved on a bit! It was painted green (for the grasss and ground) and Blue (for the sky) and she had added birds, sheep and stuff. Well now she wants it purple. Roof, walls and floor! Ok but when you are in there you forget which way up you are! The old table and chair went to a freegler who posted a wanted for their one and a half year old the day after we decided to finish with them - that is coincidence.