Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

I've just shoved mine into a carrier bag and stowed them in a dark corner David. They'll survive until I need them.
Needless to say, no cooking or shopping needed today so apart from my shed hour this morning, nothing presses in on me. I shall have an easy day and bugger the exercise if it's raining!

[Stanley]

The aim this morning was to remove the overpainting, refine the components and build the engine up on the temporary plinth ready for the work that remains and the fitting. The flywheel was re-finished in the lathe and at the conclusion I was starting to make a spacing collar to go onto the crankshaft to give the flywheel more clearance from the base casting. An enjoyable hour and we are making progress.

[Sue]

Morning

Its an odd day today as its a 5.15 appointment. In view of rush hour we will allow much more time than usual, probably leaving about 3.30 . That gives us time to do things. Nothing exciting, a bit of cleaning and washing normally done on a Saturday and Sunday. Between us we will get through quite quickly then we are off to our local pub for a light lunch, nothing heavy pre treatment. Wendy and Keith may join us.

My greenhouse has been awash with water a couple of centimetres plus deep, and has not drained away through the drain holes in the wall. We are not sure where it is coming in. This winter I have left the window slightly open permanently so that the plants over wintering in there do not go mouldy so some rain water may have come in there so its now shut. Last summer Bob sealed the gaps between the brick supporting wall and the ground with concrete but it does not seem to have worked. In despair yesterday I soaked the water up with two large bath towels and then washed them . That amount of water would never have dried. So now we will watch again to see if we can determine where its coming in. The whole thing is only about 5 years old, the last one lasted 45 years without this problem. We even put this present one on a new raised concrete base, above the water table of the garden

Ah well, we tried, as they say. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

That sounds like a very annoying problem Sue and I commiserate with you.
I hope the day goes well for you otherwise!
My response to the morning is to go back to bed!

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed as usual at 06:00 I got some mince yesterday and want to make a meat loaf this morning just for a change.....

[Stanley]

Only one image needed this morning. I spent 45 minutes doing just one thing, mounting the flywheel on the crankshaft after making and fitting the collar that ensures it has a sensible clearance from the base casting. One confession, I had bored the flywheel over size so I knurled the crankshaft to take up the slack...... Now for breakfast!

[Sue]

Morning

Well on my morning trip down the garden to feed the birds yesterday I checked out the greenhouse and despite closing the window and mopping up all the water the previous night, there it was back again. There is little we can do at the moment but a thorough investigation is needed.

Between us we managed to give the house and spare bedroom a thorough clean, and were all finished by lunchtime. We left for Christies early and despite the heavy traffic arrived early. We had a cup of coffee and then reported to reception a good hour before the appointment time. We both settled down to read our books when Bob was called through. We were back in the car 15 minutes before his appointment time and back home by 6.00 pm to be greeted with a lovely smell of beef casserole cooking in the slow cooker. I had prepared all the veg and dumplings in the morning all ready for cooking so it was a relaxed evening. There we have it, week 3 finished

This morning is Bacup market , then I am off to the hairdressers. There are no other plans for the day though we have zoom u3a wine tasting this evening. A walk this afternoon would be good if it isn’t raining. Everywhere is so wet here, and noticeably very different from S Manchester.

Have a good day all

[Gloria]

Is that your halfway point Sue, it’s surprising how quickly it goes. We did 3 months and once we got into it, it flew by. Luckily we didn’t have to traverse Manchester as you do.

[Sue]

It was half way last Thursday Gloria. Yes we are into the swing of it in fact we often seem to have time on our hands. Our daughter from Coventry is staying next week and doing a lot of the runs to give me a break but to be honest I don t feel I have done anything except chat in the car as Bob likes to drive.

[Stanley]

Today started with careful work, using the paper gaskets to mark the locations of the holes that need to be drilled in the castings. I made a mistake at this point in the last engine in the orientation of the two countersunk holes in the front lid and made quite sure I didn't repeat that this morning. I finished up with the back lid in the vise under the drill ready for drilling but that's the first job for tomorrow. There was a sidetrack when I dropped the chuck key and had to search for it and while I was at it I emptied the shop vacuum, it had a good load of cast iron dust in it. I'm satisfied with the morni9ng, now for breakfast!

[Sue]

Morning

We took advantage of the dry , if cool, weather yesterday and did a 5 mile circular walk up into the local hills to Lobden golf club in Whitworth. It was pretty muddy underfoot but we thoroughly enjoyed the walk. We did it the reverse way round from our usual route meaning we did a short very steep route up to the 1000 feet and a gentler walk back along the old Limers Way. Whilst we were just leaving the housing estate 3 deer ran out in front of us heading for Whitworth road, they didn’t get there so must have hidden in the small coppice before it. Not sure where the deer came from but we are right on the edge of Healey Dell so probably from there

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We will possibly do another shorter one today. I also have bedding to change and wash, some ironing to do, and the kitchen and bathroom floors to clean. Julia is arriving about 5 in time for our Sunday roast dinner and is planning on staying all week. Claire is joining us for lunch on Wednesday. It will be the first time that just the 4 of us have been together without children and partners, for about 25 years.

Its sunny and 0 degrees at the moment but promises to be cloudy all day. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! Back in the world and about to have a hot drink. Then it's fry my sweet corn chips and have a walk and a sit. All is well! The fog has lifted here and we have sunshine again like yesterday.

[Stanley]

I have just finished my morning's housework. cooked my sweet potato chips, Cleaned the inside of the kitchen window, polished and lubricated my curtain rail and taken the dry washing off the airer and stowed it upstairs. I shall have my dinner now!

Word in from Margaret that she has been peed on by a possum..... The wonders of modern communications!

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed at 06:00 as usual for an hour of honest endeavour. The only thing I can see after that is a midday walk and perhaps a sit on traffic duty, we have a good forecast.....

[Sue]

Morning

Well despite the forecast we had a relatively sunny day yesterday. Having completed all my jobs by about 12 we did go for a walk in the afternoon, not a long one, just a 3+ miles circuit on to Syke Moor and back up the old railway track. It was very soggy indeed in places so we tried to keep to proper roads and tracks. Thats a total of over 8 mikes this weekend which is good.

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We hadn’t been back long when Julia arrived from Coventry . I cooked a roast pork dinner and we spent a pleasant evening chatting. Her plans are to work online in the mornings and go with Bob to Christies in the afternoons. I on the other hand can stay at home and potter if I wish.

With that in mind I will do my two zoom pilates/ yoga classes today, and may spend a little time sweeping and tidying the now almost dry greenhouse floor . The puddle that appeared the other day disappeared by itself, there remains a damp patch on the side near the doorway so a hint to where the problem may be.

A dry, sunny ish, cold day is forecast. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue, you sound well organised as usual and it's good that you get some time off from Christies. I see that the Met Office are already branding this month as the wettest February on record and the Leap Day isn't going to help!



Only one image, I was too busy marking and drilling holes. I ended the morning By drilling and tapping for the two 5BA CS screws that are needed in the front end of the cylinder. Now I have to make sure I have got the cylinder oriented correctly but that's for tomorrow. I shall have me breakfast. No mistakes so far!

[Stanley]

The day's going well! I got a text massage from Well and picked up my meds. Then a top up for the toilet roll stock, I had dropped to less than 30 rolls! Some talcum powder to ease this latest batch of shed gloves and some apples. A morning well spent!

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed as usual at 06:00 working on my engine. That hour every morning is the best medicine I know!
We are promised a rainy day so it looks as though exercise in the form of a walk will be missing today.
I'll have a dad nap instead.... it'll do me at least as much good!

[Stanley]

Still fitting the front lid.... I drilled and tapped for the 4BA studs and fitted them so that the front lid fitted and the lid registered correctly on the bore of the cylinder. Then I adjusted the holes in the target end of the bed until the cylinder fitted and was correctly oriented with the valve face perpendicular to the bed. It was very close and I soon got a good fit I was very pleased. Tomorrow I shall fit the back lid..... But now, it's breakfast!

[Sue]

Morning

A day very much to myself yesterday. I did my normal pilates and yoga zoom sessions, managing both of them this week, but i also did a thorough job of sweeping out the greenhouse and looking for excessive damp patches. The rain may be getting in at the top corner of the frame where there is quite a large gap. Whilst tidying up I see my pots of potatoes are up but I want the vegetation to be more dense before I put them outside otherwise the squirrels (4 of them now) will think they have a new play ground. I also noticed that my overwintering pots of lilies have started to grow so I uncovered them. Everything else looks dormant or dead but I did give them all a little watering. The geraniums in the conservatory have started to grow furiously so I cut some back and made prepared cuttings from the prunings. I watered them all with feed, too.

So that was my day. Today Julia and Bob leave about 11.30 but being clinic day it could be 5.30 when they are back. I have a couple of sewing repairs to do but shall put the lamb shank in the oven for tea and make soup for tomorrow lunch when Claire is joining us. I shall leave tea all ready to finish off and tootle off to my pilates and yoga at the studio.

Have a good day, cold and damp I think, its a bit foggy at the moment

[Stanley]

The overall image you give is of growth restarting and that's music to my ears Sue. Glad your day to yourself worked out well, if it's 17:30 when Julia and Bob get back you'll have a lot of time again today. I hope it works as well as yesterday.
It's dull here as well and I am going off to bed to hide from it for a couple of hours....

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed at 06:00 as usual. The only other call on me is the fact that I need to get milk today, apart from that no other shopping is needed. I would say that getting the milk will be combined with a spell on traffic duty but the forecast suggests that by the time I rise from second sleep it will be raining...... Now there's a surprise!
(Is it my imagination or do we have more green algae spreading across stone and concrete flags? )

[Stanley]

More holes drilled and tapped into the cylinder casting. I drilled and tapped for the studs for the back lid and as you can see they were a good fit. Then I got set up for drilling and tapping for the long studs that will hold the steam chest and lid onto the cylinder. That's ready now for tomorrow morning's start. Now for breakfast!

[Sue]

Morning

Julia and Bob were back at 3.00 yesterday, amazing. All went well, no concerns by the Dr at the weekly clinic. I was looking forward to my double session at the pilates studio, the one Tuesday in 3 weeks when I had plenty of time, when lo and behold the whole of Rochdale was gridlocked for some reason. It took me 45 minutes to drive the mile and a half and I missed half of the first session. So much for planning. The traffic was still bad when I left 90 minutes later.

Today Claire is coming for lunch, then Julia and Bob will leave about 2.00 for a mid afternoon appointment. I have no other specific plants apart from making lunch and tidying up after they have left. Claire will want to get back to Preston about the same time to pick up Erin from school . I have my last pilates session of the week, on zoom at 5.30. Its been nice to be able to do all sessions this week.

Have a good day all , not sure what the weather promises

[Stanley]

Morning Sue. If Rochdale is anything like Barlick expect rain to start late morning and build into the evening.
Is the traffic chaos anything to do with Thursday's election?
Despite all that you sound to have had a decent day yesterday. Please give my regards to Bob. my only task today is to get some milk later. I may be able to do that whatever the weather....
Have a nice day....