Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

Morning Sue.... If I had room I'd buy a machine off you but unfortunately the house is full of 'interesting artefacts'.



This morning I spent my hour in the shed on the box bed. Almost finished!
I've done my early doors shopping and put it away. Now I can relax and have breakfast before going back to bed for second sleep.
Margaret sent a short video this morning of her and Mick having a dip in the Indian Ocean at Yallingup. I must say it would be nice!

[Stanley]

I shall have a couple of hours in the shed working on my castings. Looking at the weather I doubt if I shall be going out for a walk, never mind bookie watch. We are promised heavy cold rain.....

[Sue]

Morning

We had a lovely meal yesterday. 12 of us turned up for our wine appreciation meal, and we commented that it was just 2 years since our last live meeting. The Shepherds Rest did us proud. They set up their side room with a long table , beautifully set up and with a roaring fire. We had all taken our own wine which we wine matched with the food we were going to choose from the menu. Bob had taken a white wine as an aperitif. Although it was raining, hailing and snowing outside, we were comfy, warm and well fed inside.

This morning is Bacup market. Bob has a boiler test to do this afternoon at the model engineers but I think I will clean up my little toy sewing machine. Its in a sad rusty state but I have tried cleaning a few spots and they seem to come up ok. Other than that I may watch Eve swim online at the Warwickshire County Championships . It depends wether she has a negative covid test this morning. So far Julia seems to have avoided it.

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

That sounds like a good day Sue. I think I'll be keeping indoors today if the weather forecast is correct. It hasn't started raining yet but it's looking very threatening.
I've had two hours in the shed, and finished up with a bed and box bed almost ready for fitting.



Two nice hours, no mistakes.... That makes for a very nice morning.

[Sue]

Work in progress, I have found the German mark I was looking for

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[Stanley]

Not as mucky as my castings Sue....

[Stanley]

I shall have two hours in the shed working on my castings. Preparing the beds for the pedestal bearings this morning and then a look at the cylinder.
Not sure about the rest of the day because at the moment it's looking like a rerun of yesterday, cold, wet and windy and if so, I can do without that thank you!

[Sue]

Morning

Not mucky at all now Stanley, all clean and polished and ready for reassembly today. I managed to get almost all traces of rust off , except on the painted tinplate body. There I simply washed and polished. I say today, I may not have time as I have a zoom art with Briony, and we hope to go over to see Erin, Claire and Adam.

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Yesterday Erin did her first trampolining competition, she was very nervous but came 7 th. I amazed at how she looks the part as she only started when they moved to Lostock Hall. Eve did make her swimming which I watched as a live online broadcast, costing £1.99 per session. I had the laptop on whilst I worked on my little machine. She was disappointed with her times, but I was impressed she could compete at all after having covid this week. We think she underestimated how much the illness would have affected her stamina. Back on the covid theme Julia remained negative and only Ed is still positive. Our french neighbours are much the same, all are recovered except Laetitia and the youngest. Thats good news as Yves has a heart problem and was classed as high risk . They had all been vaccinated except the youngest who is only 9 . They weren’t going to be until we said we had been! The french are a bit anti vacc generally .

I have a request. Does anyone have any wooden cotton reels with thread , as I am on the look out for some to ‘dress’ my machines, should I , or when I sell them.

Its light this morning but murky , at least it has stopped raining. The pond is over flowing again . Have a good day

[Stanley]

My bobbins are all modern plastic ones. Ask Bob to make you some.....



I finished the machining on the bed and box bed and started on the cylinder. It has a correctly dimensioned valve face now and tomorrow I shall mill the exhaust port before I take it out of the mill.

[Wendyf]

I'll pop those two in the post for you Sue if you message me with your address.

[Sue]

I'll pop those two in the post for you Sue if you message me with your address.

Will do thanks Wendy

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed for two hours as usual and hopefully will manage to find a dry spell so I can have my noon walk. I have missed for 3 days which is most unusual.

[Sue]

Morning

Beautiful sky this morning, clear, bright and cold. I think it is going to warm up and rain later. This morning I have pilates but I shall not be doing yoga as we have other plans.

Its Bobs birthday today and it would have been my brother Daves. So we are meeting my cousin Trish at Burnley cemetery at noon, where we will place the memorial granite vase on the family headstone, but after that we are going for a celebratory birthday meal at the Ram in Cliviger. Its a good choice, nice food, pleasant atmosphere and as Trish will have her little dog with her, they let dogs in.

Then it will be home to do the ironing as I forgot to do it yesterday . I got involved in assembling my little machine and watching Eve swim online, followed by our trip to Claires. The machine went together well but I lost the tiniest of screws. Bob has ordered a replacement , then I can see if I can get it to work .

This evening I have art at the recently done up community centre. Have a good day all. The dawn is turning a delicate pink very pretty indeed.,

[Stanley]

I've had an upset morning but have done my two hours in the shed.



This was knocking off time. The cylinder is ready for boring.

[plaques]

The machine went together well but I lost the tiniest of screws. Bob has ordered a replacement , then I can see if I can get it to work .

Welcome to the club. A couple of tips which I'm sure you already know.
Have plenty of sealable containers for the bits. Try to keep units in separate containers.
Photograph each stage of disassembly taking particular note of which is up / down and faces in / out.
If there's going to be a long term delay place all the parts in layers each layer separated by a paper in a sealable container.
I like containers that are transparent so that you can see what's in them without opening.

PS I now someone who has an empty barn and stalls now.

[Sue]

The machine went together well but I lost the tiniest of screws. Bob has ordered a replacement , then I can see if I can get it to work .

Welcome to the club. A couple of tips which I'm sure you already know.
Have plenty of sealable containers for the bits. Try to keep units in separate containers.
Photograph each stage of disassembly taking particular note of which is up / down and faces in / out.

Yes, I did all of that but useful tips if I hadn’t, thank you . I used little plastic bowls, all sections photographed before dismantling, all laid out in order and cleaned in order and placed back in the right bowl . One of the problems I have had with all of these old machines is bits dropping out from unexpected places, although I was meticulous in collecting them together somehow this screw must have got missed. I even emptied the kitchen bin to search through my rubbish but there was no sign. It may be on the floor and may yet come to light, but I am not holding out any hope.

[Wendyf]

The wooden cotton reels are on their way to you Sue.

[Big Kev]

I even emptied the kitchen bin to search through my rubbish but there was no sign. It may be on the floor and may yet come to light, but I am not holding out any hope.

I had that with a screw from a pair of glasses. Eventually found it, a few days later, in my slipper

[Sue]

I even emptied the kitchen bin to search through my rubbish but there was no sign. It may be on the floor and may yet come to light, but I am not holding out any hope.

I had that with a screw from a pair of glasses. Eventually found it, a few days later, in my slipper

Actually I did wonder if it had fallen onto my clothes...but they have been washed now.

Thank you Wendy . I have a couple of others now as Claire had my great aunts sewing box and there were a couple in there too

[Stanley]

I shall be boring this morning . Not sure about bookie watch because we are promised rain all day......

[Sue]

Morning

After a lovely start to the morning yesterday , we drove into constant drizzly rain on our way to Burnley, in fact visibility was very poor in deed on the tops. It was an eventful trip. Trip being an appropriate word. Trish tripped and fell on her face as we walked down the hill in the cemetery. A very kind gentleman stopped his car and helped her get back up. Luckily she was not hurt but may have a bruised face this morning . I had visions of broken hips or collar bones. That was tge first blip of the day, well actually the second. The first was we were unable to buy any flowers. The florist was shut, the garage didn’t have any and the man with the van that is normally parked outside the cemetery was not there, so we set up the memorial vase and retreated to the pub for lunch.

After a hearty and long birthday lunch Bob and I went off to buy flowers at Aldi. The roses were beautiful but I did not think they would last long in the awful weather so I bought something else. There I discovered advantages of being a grey/white haired old lady as a young couple invited me to go before them in the queue . We returned to the cemetery but as I trimmed the flowers with the secateurs they nipped my hand and I developed a blood blister now a bruise. By the time we got back home I could not be bothered to do the ironing so the task has been transferred to today.

It was an appalling cold damp evening and I did not feel like going to art but forced myself. When I got there we had been put in an upstairs room, there were no tables put out and in fact not enough tables provided, the rest were downstairs. The room was cold as the heating was off and we had been provided with a tiny fan heater. I refused to carry large tables upstairs and went back home. Instead Bob and I had a birthday glass of wine or two and later shared a pizza.

Today we may be having our front windows changed, it depends on the weather. We await a phone call after breakfast. Bob is going to Whitworth u3a photography club with our neighbour Janet. He is trying it out to see if it is better than Todmorden, it is certainly nearer. I am undecided what I shall do after the ironing.

Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

That's not your usual standard Sue. None of it your fault but I can imagine you getting a bit annoyed particlarly when you found no preparations had been made for your art class. Never mind, today must be better!



I got the cylinder bored this morning. I think I have it right, always a tricky little job as none of the castings are accurate. Adjustments can be made later when fitting. (The blowhole in the casting isn't serious and won't affect the running.

[Sue]

Trish reports she has a bruise on her chin today but no other issues related to her fall. Our windows are not being done today. We were the fall back job should it be torrential rain . Hopefully they will be done on Thursday.

[Sue]

Oh and I forgot the incident with the liqueur chocolate, birthday pressie from Julia. I was pleasantly enjoying one when for some reason, not chocolate related I started to cough and choke and could not breathe for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a minute. It was a very frightening experience . Not a good day for BLIPS

[Wendyf]

I choked on a liqueur chocolate over 50 years ago, it was an experience I have never forgotten! It sounds as if you were lucky to get through the day relatively unscathed Sue.