Early Risers.

[AndrewC]

First look at Boris's space force. 

 

[Barry O]

55 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

I sometimes wonder just what is or isn't going on in the world but I was rather surprised to find on another thread that several posters seem to regard as silly or nonsensical this tweet attributed by one of them to the UK PM -

 

As it was plainly obvious what he was talking about why is it seemingly regarded as an unusual comment?  especially as RN trials of a UK Directed Energy Weapon j have already been talked about as starting in the next year or two.

They have been trying to get a reliable DEW for quite a while... having said that a laser range finder could be used as a DEW against some targets.. like soldiers eyes, sighting systems  etc.  Many years ago I talked to a team working on DEW technology  Big problem was.."where do we store the nuclear reactor needed for supplying electrical power"....

 

Baz

[Barry O]

18 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

First look at Boris's space force. 

 

Can I have a  hat and coat in yellow and black stripes please?

 

Baz

[simontaylor484]

7 hours ago, AndyB said:

Morning all,

I'm toying with the idea of getting a wormery.  Not, you understand, a tablet to rid oneself of a troublesome infestation. But a series of interlocking trays that digest kitchen scraps, producing, in turn, a steady trickle of liquid feed and worm cast. 

Not to mention a reduction in stuff going to the landfill bin.

 

And thinking of gardening it will soon be time to think of which varieties of Sweet Peas to grow this coming year. I have to say those from the Sweet Pea Society in Wem ast year didn't live up to their billing, lacking almost entirely in scent. 

I set up a womery for my mum a couple of years ago you just need to dilute the liquid feed as used neat will scorch plants.

 

Some sweet peas have lost their scent through the plant breeding process. I think it is the Spencer varieties that have kept the heady fragrances. I got some seeds for xmas last year from Matthewmans sweet peas i started them off in the cardboard tube from inside toilet rolls full of seed compost then when risk of frost gone they plant out direct in the cardboard tube with no disturbance to roots.

 

I assume Matthewmans do mail order iirc there was a Solihull address on there somewhere. I have no connection with them only the recipient of a gift from them

 

 

[polybear]

5 hours ago, BSW01 said:

A bright and wet (overnight rain) start to the day, but it isn’t raining at the moment. My plans for the day are to continue removing paint from the cellar walls. Today I’m going to start on the wall next to the outer cellar door and work my way into the corner. There’s no way this will all get done today, this section of wall is about 8ft long, but I’m hoping to get about half of it done today. 

 

 

 

Can Bear ask:  How are you removing the paint please?

 

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

When I say it is low crime here, I mean as in folk don't lock their cars.....or front doors.  A car getting stolen is headline news.

 

 

 

It seems that drugs and violent crime are the growth industries in the IOM lately.  And where junkies are on the up, theft usually follows - after all, the little smack 'eds have an expensive hobby to fund....

[BSW01]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Can Bear ask:  How are you removing the paint please?

 

A small flat scraper, (which I made this about 35 years ago from an old saw machine blade) a steam wallpaper stripper, a small hammer and lots and lots of elbow grease, 

Edited November 23, 2020 by BSW01

[polybear]

6 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

 

A small flat scraper, (which I made this about 35 years ago from an old saw machine blade) a steam wallpaper stripper, a small hammer and lots and lots of elbow grease, 

 

I feel your pain from afar.....

[PeterBB]

NHN As a retired FIBMS your Dr Rachel Glover's excellent presentation covers everything important about (not just Covid) but the general way of working through a new virus or in fact other infections.  I would urge other RM ERs to work through it.

[AndyB]

45 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I set up a womery for my mum a couple of years ago you just need to dilute the liquid feed as used neat will scorch plants.

 

Some sweet peas have lost their scent through the plant breeding process. I think it is the Spencer varieties that have kept the heady fragrances. I got some seeds for xmas last year from Matthewmans sweet peas i started them off in the cardboard tube from inside toilet rolls full of seed compost then when risk of frost gone they plant out direct in the cardboard tube with no disturbance to roots.

 

I assume Matthewmans do mail order iirc there was a Solihull address on there somewhere. I have no connection with them only the recipient of a gift from them

 

 

 

Reading around the subject they recommend a 10:1 dilution (water to juice). 

 

Thanks for the Sweet Pea recommendation - some nice varieties in there. The problem is  - as ever - I'd like to try more varieties than I have space for! 

[Joseph_Pestell]

We had a wormery - briefly. They do need careful maintenance especially with regard to keeping them at the right temperature.

[simontaylor484]

Reading through the previous posts we have been considering getting a Ring doorbell or equivalent to save habing to go down 2 flights of stairs with arthritis in the knees can other ERs reccomend of are they a waste of time

[jonny777]

On the subject of posties, we used to have a middle aged lady deliver our mail for years. She loved me (not in the emotional sense) because I retired a few years before everyone else in this street (cul-de-sac) and therefore was at home a lot of the time and willing to take in parcels for those who were not answering the door. 

 

She was very concerned if anything seemed amiss in the street, and one day knocked a second time after delivering a parcel saying that she had been next door with some letters and noticed a parcel on their doorstep, plus they had not brought in their recycling bins 24 hours after being emptied. 

 

(I must point out that the residents of this particular 'next door' were an unmarried couple who seemed very strange. No one had any idea how they could afford a mortgage on the house, let alone virtually strip out the entire innards of the building within weeks of moving in. From the gossip I heard they imported cars from abroad, which seemed a bit dodgy to me, and there were always BMWs with foreign plates outside the front garden. However, the police only came around once when the chap set fire to our garden fence - but that is a wholly different story.   I became quite used to him wandering around our front garden completely unannounced, and when a polite inquiry was made into his activities, he would say he was looking for his cat. They have moved on now <relief>, and the latest neighbours appear much more normal.)

 

Anyhow, the postwoman was worried that the evidence pointed to them being away and might attract burglars. She suggested I take the parcel, and put a note through the door to the effect that I have it for safe keeping- which I did. The next morning there was a loud knock on the door and the weird (male) neighbour was asking for the parcel. He seemed rather angry, but I thought that was a little unfriendly until he told me that the parcel had been left outside for the courier company to take away, so that when the courier arrived there was nothing there. 

 

I tried explaining about the postwoman being concerned, but this seemed to agitate him even more; and after calling her a number of unrepeatable names he grabbed his parcel and left. I don't think we spoke much after that. 

[tigerburnie]

I take it the site has broken or is there an echo in here..................in here...........................in here lol

[polybear]

No echo here, but I'm definitely seeing double....

[Ian Abel]

Moanday...ah, where to start

 

Self-isolating provides much free time to do "tasks". MY latest was to fix/correct/re-wire the three-way switches that control the lights on our enclosed porch, they've never really worked correctly from both of the 3-way switches so it was time to figure that out.

This also entailed replacing one of the switch boxes, easy access from behind as it's in the attached garage wall, which is unfinished.

Easy, right! 
First, the screws holding the box to the wall had been stripped by the installer arsewipe who wired the carp originally! Took quite a while to deal with that mess, ended having to grind away the screw heads to get the damned thing off.
All wires entering the box were dutifully labelled before dis-assembling and removing/replacing with a new larger box to accomodate the mess of wire that had been jammed into too small an original one.

On the FIRST attempt Saturday to re-wire once I'd put the new box in place, buqqer all worked, one step WORSE than before I started

Subsequent wire-tracing travails Sunday with the volt/ohm meter over a 2+ hour period showed that the feed from an adjacent box was an accident waiting to happen as the live side of the circuit had finally separated in THAT box somehow throwing off what was already obviously a poorly fitted wire nut holding the mess together.

The fact the garage hadn't burned down due to an electrical fire was simply dumb luck it seems! We'd occasionally wondered why a couple of the lights sometimes flickered!

All the wire tracing ALSO revealed the reason the lights didn't work quite correctly, the installer had made a complete fist of wiring a 3-way switched circuit.

Now everything works as expected and is SAFE, result <phew>

 

Today, the rental property is getting new windows - a total of 21 replacing the aging/leaking originals. Expected to take a couple of days for the complete install. Mrs monitoring.

Also, today tree trimmers expected here to sort out the large maple and trim back from the house where it's currently overhaning.

Busy day

Work, not so much, I think I may take a couple of additional days off as they seem to have gone into hiberntaion.

 

This week is Thanksgiving in the US, we're NOT having anyone over, so decided something suggested on one of our local radio programs - rather than a huge meal (no-one to consume it anyway) on Thursday, make it a Thanksgiving WEEK, and make something special for the two of us each day for several days.

Delivery of various tasty ingredients ordered for tomorrow, to allow us to make several of our favourite dishes. Looks like a nice beef stew will be the Thursday/Thanksgiving meal.

 

-6 here first thing and sunny, looking for a heady +2 for the high. Light breeze so a wind-chill/Real feel isn't much different.

 

Carry on

 

 

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

Lancers!!! donkey wallopers... (or so the RTR said back in the day)..

My mate was in 5 RTR which got absorbed into IIRCthe 17th/21st Lancers. He didn't think much of the so called cavalry officers and thought that all their wives camevkut of the same mould in a factory.  He enjoyed putting the Ruperts through theirvpaces on the ranges at Lulworth.

 

Jamie

[Chris116]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

No echo here, but I'm definitely seeing double....

You poor deprived bear only seeing double! I got three repeats!

 

EDIT - Now corrected by magic or mod!

Edited November 23, 2020 by Chris116
More information.

[polybear]

6 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

You poor deprived bear only seeing double! I got three repeats!

 

I must have a serious vitamin c deficiency.  More lemon drizzle cake needed urgently....

[Barry O]

30 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

My mate was in 5 RTR which got absorbed into IIRCthe 17th/21st Lancers. He didn't think much of the so called cavalry officers and thought that all their wives camevkut of the same mould in a factory.  He enjoyed putting the Ruperts through theirvpaces on the ranges at Lulworth.

 

Jamie

If you wanted to cut a dash in a tank.. Queens Royal Irish Hussars was the Regiment to join..and they provided a lot of the Gunnery knowledge at the  Gunnery school.  But they wore a Thunderbirds hat tent hat in other parlance)

Great guys to be on your side in a fracas...

 

Baz

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I must have a serious vitamin c deficiency.  More lemon drizzle cake needed urgently....

Don't worry Mr Bear have arranged emergency supplies to be delivered by DHL or was it Yodel.

[Coombe Barton]

All this talk of decorating 
 

 

[polybear]

5 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Don't worry Mr Bear have arranged emergency supplies to be delivered by DHL or was it Yodel.

 

That's me done for then.....

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Nipped down to Tess Coes this afternoon and found a packet of the venison steaks in the reduced to clear. So I'm going to experiment, there's two steaks per pack so the first will be pan fried as recommended but the second will be diced and prepared for the slow cooker together with a few mushrooms and root vegetables. Thats it for now, be back later.

[newbryford]

9 hours ago, TheQ said:

 

Going to the Forest in a MTB must be interesting, I guess they've fitted aircraft Propellors to the Merlins instead of marine to make it fly..

 

 

 

 

 

This is my MTB

 

 

1hp.

 

1 human power.

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

Reading through the previous posts we have been considering getting a Ring doorbell or equivalent to save habing to go down 2 flights of stairs with arthritis in the knees can other ERs reccomend of are they a waste of time

Havea look at the Screwfix website - they have various of such devices in their Black Friday sale.