Today I shall be Mainly...

[Wendyf]

Colne isn't on the list of venues at the moment Stanley, I'll wait to see if it pops back up.

[Stanley]

It makes you wonder how many others are going unnecessarily further to get the jab.
I shall pop my chicken in the oven before I go in the shed for an hour. I finished all my veggie cooking yesterday. Just out of interest (?) here is the list:- White cabbage, sweetheart cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, celery, carrots, a few small potatoes (I know but I need some carbs to fill me!) and three large peppers which will be roasted with the chicken. I also have two sweet potatoes standing by the be fried as chips later in the week when there is room in the pans for them.
The forecast is good so I will have my walk and sit today, I missed yesterday as I was cooking.... The forecast says that allowing for wind chill we'll be lucky to have 12C today so I shall be in a warm coat! (The heating hasn't kicked in as yet.....)

[Sue]

Morning

I wondered if Rochdale Infirmary was being kept for those who live in Rochdale who are disabled in some way as it is accessible. I said we needed parking space but obviously did not tick disability access which Wendy would have ticked...just a thought.

Lovely day yesterday, good art class, nice lunch out and a pleasant couple of hours sat in the conservatory reading. This morning is 4 degrees, sunny and clear. We have Bacup market first thing but do not need much, then I think I will get back to some more gardening, the brown bin is not full yet! We have no other plans but may do a walk this afternoon.

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue..... You could well be right but I never asked for disabled access and the Colne Health centre certainly has that. Computers and their funny little ways.



Almost an hour and a half and you have to look carefully to see what I have done. First I made sure that, though snug, the crankshaft urns over freely. Then all the studs were cut back to the nuts and tidied with a small warding file. On the reverse side, the exhaust apertures from the cylinders were drilled and tapped and two short 1/4" stub pipes made and fitted. I finished by temporarily putting the flywheels on. Next I have to address the Scotch Yoke drives from the flywheel eccentrics to the steam valves and the feed pump. I said it was going to be complicated!

[Stanley]

This morning in the shed will be a search for clues as to what is needed for the next two Scotch Yokes.... the ones that drive the valves and the feed pump. Mr Westbury's drawings are not crystal clear! There is nothing in the weather forecast that says I can't have my midday walk and sit as long as I am well wrapped up! Apart from that I shall take what comes....

[Stanley]

As I forecast, I had to search the drawings and then went looking for the stock I needed. Not a bad result, I am ready to crash on making the yokes tomorrow.

[Sue]

Morning

What a beautiful day yesterday. After our trip to the market I spent the day gardening. It really is all looking good now. I dug out some perennials that are just too big for the space, moved a few things and did some more cutting back. I dug up the potatoes in the rhubarb and strawberry patch ( a good crop for quickly planted sprouting potatoes before we went to Portugal in April) took out some more plants there and filled the space with strawberry runners. Finally I picked the cooking apples from the tree. Its not a huge crop but sufficient for us and I gave some to our neighbour, Sue. Bob and I took some of the perennials to the park and planted them in the little gardens round the train track. Fingers crossed that the rabbits don’t eat these. So far they have eaten just about everything I have planted so I dug root cuttings deep into the ground so next Spring they should be well established before new shoots appear.

Today is not due to be so good, cool, cloudy with some showers this afternoon. I have the ironing to do and want to change our bedding. I also need to phone my friend, another Wendy. Her husband Barry is in hospital having had a heart attack. Wendy herself is not very able bodied and is at home by herself. On Tuesday she is due to have a big operation on her shoulder and her daughter, Nicky( a pilates friend) has come back from holiday with covid. Nicky is not ill at all but is still testing positive so cannot visit her Mum or take her to hospital for her op. We have offered to do that if Nicky is still positive. However I don’t want to visit today in case we have covid or something else. I am sure we haven’t but Wendy has waited a ling time for this operation. We are more than happy to help out but wonder where the second daughter is in all of this ! She only lives up the M62 at Pontefract .

I have no other plans for the day, apart from cooking a roast chicken meal for teatime. Have a good day all

[Wendyf]

Stacking a ton of coal that arrived on a pallet the other day, there are 50 x 20kg bags to move. Its coffee break time and we must be past the halfway mark, but it gets more difficult as the pile gets higher!

[Stanley]

You've reminded me Wendy that the farms on the left of the Deerplay Road over to Bacup on the Burnley side almost all had access to outcrops of good coal in the hillside and never had to trouble a coal merchant. I wonder if any of them are still taking advantage? If they are they'll be keeping quiet about it.......

[Wendyf]

I don't fancy having to dig my own coal! Lunch time and the coal is all stacked but 2 bags of logs arrived this morning! I'll get those sorted this afternoon.
A woman's work...

PXL_20220918_104519255.jpg

[Sue]

You've reminded me Wendy that the farms on the left of the Deerplay Road over to Bacup on the Burnley side almost all had access to outcrops of good coal in the hillside and never had to trouble a coal merchant. I wonder if any of them are still taking advantage? If they are they'll be keeping quiet about it.......

It is certainly a coal area there Stanley but I am not aware of any ‘diggings’ going on. I shall have to ask my friend Barbara as she lives at Weir

[Stanley]

It was a couple of the farms nearest Burnley Sue. My friend Dorothy Moore at Broadclough Hall on the Bacup side of the hill has a drift mine in her back garden but has never mined it....
I shall start making the parts for the two final Scotch Yokes in the shed. It will be a fiddly little job adding yet another complication to the fire pump. Nothing in the forecast to preclude a walk and I have to pick up my meds from the pharmacy. So, it's a relatively busy day for me!

[Wendyf]

I think the Well Pharmacy is closed today Stanley.

[Stanley]

Thanks for reminding me Wendy! Of course, all part of the grief-fest. Never mind I shall try tomorrow.... that's if they are not closed for half day closing! I shall check tomorrow....



Only one pic this morning for over an hour in the shed. Reducing these four pieces of flat bar to the size needed for the Scotch yokes. If you think that's a long time, try doing it! They will get refined further tomorrow.

[Sue]

Morning

Gosh I was tired last night, my restless leg syndrome kicked in about 8.00pm and unable to bear it any longer I was in bed by 10.00 and definitely asleep by 10.30 p,m. Unfortunately, as is often the case when I go to bed earlier than usual, I woke about 4 and stayed awake a couple of hours before falling back to sleep until 7.30 am. It was a busy morning washing and ironing but when Bob went to the park I did not do much except a little sewing late in the afternoon.

This morning I shall watch the funeral procession, not sure about the funeral itself, then this afternoon I shall finish sewing my skirt, for the autumn. I probably won’t wear it much as I much prefer trousers as they are more practical with my lifestyle and warmer but I was given the fabric , a rather nice dark mustard corduroy. Not normally my colour so another negative. I am more of a purple , cerise, and kingfisher sort of girl

Well the rain certainly came down last night, it will have helped the plants I transplanted. I notice birds in the garden this morning. They have been sadly lacking since our return but today they are back to normal with two wrens, some dunnocks, a pair of female blackbirds( no doubt the males will be around) a robin and a sparrow. There was the usual pigeon and the squirrel that thinks its a bird! We think the visiting heron has had our fish. We definitely had 7 this time last week but nothing has been seen for days.

I shall be whats apping the grandchildren later today as we missed yesterday. Have a good day all.

[Stanley]

Herons are bad news for fish in garden ponds. Or becks as well for that matter. I remember a mate of mine had a post office in one of the smaller Dales. He liked a bit of fishing in the beck which was well stocked with trout. That is until a couple of herons arrived and cleaned them out. That was the end of his fishing!
Today I shall be quietly going ahead with my last two Scotch Yokes and the valve and feed rods. No rush. I may be slow but one characteristic of my work in the shed recently has been the fact I haven't made any mistakes.... (That could well be a mistake, saying that!)
I shall attempt the pharmacy today for my meds..... According to the web they are open 9AM to 6PM despite it being early closing day.

[Stanley]

More work on the parts of the yokes. All drilled, bolted together and the ends squared in the mill. Then I started shaping the ends. I got one end done but time and my shoulder caught up with me. Never mind, there's always tomorrow!

[Sue]

Morning

The heron visited again yesterday, Stanley but there is nothing left for it to steal. We won’t restock now until the Spring. If you remember when we relined our pond a couple of years ago, I said at the time we didn’t keep fish as the heron always ate them all, well it looks like we are going the same way again but having splashed out on an expensive filtering system we ought to try. I can’t understand how the heron even saw them, the surface of the pond is covered in water lilies .

Yesterday I finished my sewing but am now in limbo. I have no ideas as to what I should make next and am not that enthusiastic about the fabric I have, so I think sewing may be on hold for a while. Today is going to be a cloudy dry day. I may try and dig out some more flowering stocks from the garden and continue my shuffle around of plants. My morning pilates has been moved to another time. I shall muss pilates this evening as I have to go to Bury for my covid vaccination. I may manage the later yoga class. Otherwise I have no plans.

Have a good day all.

[PanBiker]

On the hunt for fennel, done the Aldi shop and they have everything but, put £20 of E10 in the car to make the nasty orange low fuel warning light go away. On returning home I find Sally has tried the Coop and Chaudrays without luck as well. I need it for the risotto to go with the belly pork tomorrow, might have to substitute another flavour.

Open Reach engineer tomorrow so I also have to clear the corner of the kitchen where the first internal joint box is. If they do the fibre upgrade as they should I reckon that may need changing although I know that they fit an external box which may well be the final termination for the fibre. Anyway I will make way to cover all eventualities.

[Stanley]

Herons are smarty cookies Sue!
I have got my meds from the pharmacy. Then I had a sit and eventually got round to bookie watch. Hard to weigh up their respect policy. No posters in the window during the official public mourning and open all the time. Now, a day after mourning finished they have black posters in the windows and are closed....

[Stanley]

Shed this morning as usual then Colne at midday for Covid booster jab and then Susan Mick and I will have lunch together which will be nice.... We do lead exciting lives!

[Stanley]

I was in the shed in good time and have had just over an hour working on the yokes.



I finished shaping the ends of the elements of the Scotch Yokes and then drilled and tapped three of them. Then I made the rods for the steam valves and the feed pump and threaded them 5BA. Once fitted the interior surface of the bar had to be smoothed and polished. We are at the stage now where I need to make the bobbins that separate the bars. That's for tomorrow. This was a good hour. It's amazing how the elements grow if you just keep plugging away steadily at the tasks.

[Sue]

Morning

I have a stiff arm today following my booster. We may have had to go to Bury but the pharmacist there was very efficient indeed. He even did Bobs booster which was not booked until the next day. I was back in plenty of time to do online yoga at 6.15 pm.I was offered a free BP check. I wish I hadn’t . I have never had high blood pressure, and is also monitored annually at the asthma clinic, but this value was sky high. He wanted to put me on a 24 hour monitor but I am not travelling all the way to Bury for that, so I declined. I decided to contact the GP surgery so I was awake at 6.30 for online appointments and none came up , so it looks like I will have to endure the phone line at 8.00 am

I did a fair bit of gardening in the morning, removing many more overgrown perennials, that Bob and I then took down to the railway at the park and planted deep in their little garden, hoping they get established before the rabbits try to eat them . In the afternoon I started a jigsaw that we have borrowed from our friend the pâtissier at Burnley market. I thought it was time we did it.

Today depends on wether I get an appointment at the Drs, watch this space as they say. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Probably just white coat syndrome Sue..... That's the beauty of having your own monitor. I'll bet if you checked it it will be normal.
Whatever, I hope you get a resolution Sue, whichever way youget there....

[Big Kev]

I was offered a free BP check. I wish I hadn’t.

My BP is always higher if anyone else takes it. I bought a meter from Lloyds Pharmacy several years ago, they were on offer for £10 (they're £20 now).
Had a check yesterday, as part of investigations, at Pendle Community Hospital and it was showing as high. I asked for a 'recount' 10 minutes later and it was fine. The walk from where I parked was probably why.