Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

A good power point is not boring, animation, colour etc.

[Stanley]

Feeling smug because everything is going so well. Pride comes before a fall!

[Stanley]

Butcher's in the rain and the Skunk Project in the shed.....

[Stanley]

Skunk Project.....

[Wendyf]

Heading out into the garden....so much to do!

[PanBiker]

Doing Billy Bobs Ice Cream Parlour and Diner with the grandchildren, that's this afternoon after they have picked up a weeks worth of "playing" on our carpet and I have had a go with the vacuum

[LizG]

Turning the last grandchild over to his rightful owners. We've had all 3 kids since Monday. Like Ian we will be giving everywhere a good vacuum tomorrow once we've picked up all the left over bits of Lego. I need a rest.

[PanBiker]

Just got to get to Wednesday for us Liz. We will have had our Isla for 10 days because mum and dad are on honeymoon in Brazil. Ruby as well for Half Term. For our wind down we have a few days booked up in the high Yorkshire Dales in a rustic B&B with a 4 poster. We shall do a bit of walking around some old haunts from our motorbiking days (first time round).

[Sue]

Our grand daughters plus their mum arrive tomorrow. They are having a new bathroom at home so have relocated to us!

[Stanley]

There are advantages in having all the grandchildren bar one in Oz.... (And she is just signing up for her first house....) Aren't they sticky!
Hoed the front garden last night. Bit of top dressing now I think.... I usually scatter a packet of blood, fish and bone on each year.
I wonder if David knows a local source of well rotted FYM? It could stand 4 bags......

[Stanley]

Trying to get organised for sharpening my Slitting saws! It's amazing how things get in the way, all essential but not getting me forward!

[Stanley]

Making tiny steam valves......

[Marilyn]

I have been harvesting herbs this morning.
They are drying on narrow trays on the lounge room window sills.... must remember they are there when I pull down the blinds this evening or there will be a horrible mess!
Lots of lovely Pizza herbs, Parsley, and Thai Chillies.
We had our bathroom re-done, and the large cast iron claw foot bath that was removed is now in the garden (gold feet and all), and has become my herb garden. I laughingly refer to it as "my allotment", and I seem to spend a lot of time out there admiring it. I was out there 5 mins ago and can still taste the Sweet Basil that I sampled.
I also put an Arthritis plant in, and instructions say 2 leaves per day. I had been eating two leaves a day until I looked the plant up on google to see how it works. turns out it also contains a carcinogen (hence the limit of two leaves a day) and I have strangely lost enthusiasm for it since. Not sure if I should proceed with that one...

Task for today is to source a new lightglobe for my oven. Mine seems to have died. I have removed the old one and shall take it with me on my search. Such a nuisance when they go and you find yourself staring into a dark abyss to check on cooking progress...
Also have to source some new tiles for our back doorstep. We had a cracked one that was becoming a bit of a hazard. I thought Febby would glue it back down, but for some reason, he removed the lot! Then he put a coating of something on the step and casually told me not to step on it for a week. I have been very good in remembering to take a large leap out the back door ever since, but it is time to finish the job. If I don't remind him, I shall still be leaping out the back door this time next year. I am pleased to report no blood was shed removing the tiles.

[Stanley]

You've been busy Maz.... Good use for the old CI bath... Those bulbs are usually quite easy to find.... Mine went a while since and I was surprised to find that the lighting shop in Barlick stocks them....
Today is Butcher's Day! Then of course, the East Hill Valve Works......

[Marilyn]

Got the globe thanks Stanley.
Got the tiles too, though they look a bit thicker than the old one I was carrying about in my handbag, and I am praying that doesn't cause a problem as there is a screen door that has to open/close above them. Short of chiselling concrete out beneath ( or shortening the custom made security screen door above), I am not sure what we will do. Fingers crossed...

[Wendyf]

What is an Arthritis plant Maz?
Archive room this morning then......great excitement....doing a bit of metal detecting with John Clayton in a field in Earby where he suspects an early village to have been sited. He spotted signs on the Lidar image, unaware that the field is called Old Earby.

[Marilyn]

I suspect it is from the Pennywort family, Wendy.
Can't run outside and read the label that I have pushed into the soil beside it just now, because it is dark, but I can get the botanical name for it tomorrow for you. ( I did memorise the name to look it up, but can't recall it now).

[Marilyn]

Metal detecting. Now that is something I have always considered might be great fun indeed. Febby expressed an interest at one point, so I bought him a metal detector one birthday. We took it out to some ruins in the countryside ( long drive in absurdly hot weather is what I mostly recall). He pointed it this way and that...all very quickly ( under 5 mins)... then declared he was done and there was nothing to be found. I was trying to negotiate looking a bit further afield but turned to find he had headed back to the car mid-conversation, leaving me standing in the blazing sun, talking to myself. I don't think I have seen the metal detector since!
( he isn't the most patient soul)
Just the other day he mentioned it might be fun to go metal detecting, but I pretended I didn't hear him.

[Stanley]

You intrigue me Wendy.....
Today I shall be aiming for the shed but first I have to absorb the impact of a heavy energy bill and the fact that my TV gave up the ghost last night..... Ah well, onwards and upwards!

[Sue]

Grandchildren gone, let cleaning commence !

[Wendyf]

Trying to find out more about the iron ball we unearthed yesterday with a metal detector. Just looked like a lump of rusty metal to my fellow novice and I, but John gave it a few taps and out came a fine round ball just over 1" in diameter. Could it be a small cannon ball from a Robinet or Base cannon, dropped by civil war troops as they waited to attack Thornton Manor.... or is it a ball bearing from a piece of farm machinery?

[Stanley]

If it came out clean Wendy it is probably cast iron and almost certainly a projectile. Look for a seam on the surface from the mould.....
I shall be in the shed pursuing my tiny valves.....

[Wendyf]

It's definitely cast iron Stanley the mould marks are there. If it is a cannon ball it hasn't been fired. It would have been for a Base cannon - the smallest and lightest made, and used for infantry support. Experts in metal finds on the internet say that 1" cast iron balls were used in ball mills for various industrial grinding processes so that is also a possibility. I like to think there would have been Civil War skirmishes in the area, we know Thornton Manor was fortified by the Parliamentarian side and Skipton Castle was a Royalist stronghold so all areas in between would have been a war zone. From a position at the top of Stoneybank you would get a good view, not only of Thornton Manor, but approaches from Colne and Skipton or Keighley via Lothersdale.

[Wendyf]

Here it is.

[Sue]

Wow, great find.