Juswannasayello!!!

[amenditman]

A long bike ride to the Everglades to try it out.

Better take the shorter route and just do the grass flats way out east on Hwy. 60 between Lake Wales and Yeehaw Junction.

Way shorter bike ride.

[Capt.Crow]

Update:- Greycoat has three wives now . All black all young in their prime . The three of them came charging out of the hedge on the other side of the road yesterday .Greycoat was napping under the big pine catching a few rays . First an ear went up then one eye opened . next he lazily raised his head . The first of his wives came over to him ,giving me the beady eye . So I retired further up the drive . Then of all things Greycoat took care of business right in the middle of the drive.

Saw him about an hour later and he looked really bushed ,so he got a good sized portion of chicken scraps for supper and the same today for breakfast . He seems much recovered after his exhausting ordeal.

The weather has been dry and fair with a lot of heat in the sun . Bout-time.. So one is getting a lot of time to catch up on the garden and other outdoor work. .

[Capt.Crow]

The bunker lol.... One thing for sure the roof will be biased and angled to take a set of photo voltaic cells . There will also be a small cubicle for a loo and washbasin the outflow pipes are already in . As for the rest of it aside from a lot of glass ie; big windows and big double doors facing s.s.w. For the sun . When it deigns to appear .

One thing is the toast in Capt Crow's bar is "no prisoners"(Allez mench ist frei).. So a jail cell it will not be . Though I'm told that this toast means something not very nice in the East...

Sanctuary is nice , but i lost a good friend to the midnight express and his house was called that

What it really needs is a theme before it goes up any higher and options shrink .

Greycoat sits on a bench nearby when the sun is out and watches every move intently . He is lean and slim and his fur is so silky now .

[Capt.Crow]

The weather has turned really foul here again. Dashing in and out between rain and hail showers trying to get a little progress with the "Pye House" Oh! how one longs for sunny dry days.

Greycoat is still around as I hear him talking away to me .Just can't see him as he is tucked well in somewhere.He also only comes out between showers ,wolfs down his food and dissappears again .

The census forms were delivered today and contain many wierd ,dare I say it ,seemingly racist questions . What has the world become .

I really miss the Ireland of my youth .It may have seemed whacky to outsiders . but one could get drunk ,walk alone all night. leave the key in the door ,Lose your wallet and it would turn up contents intact at the local Garda house . But most of all one felt safe.

[mac]

Capt, this may not make you feel better about what's currently happening, but, it's been happening here in the U.S. as well.

[Capt.Crow]

I remember many moons ago there was an airline called "The peoples Airline" that offered flights one way London to NY for 50 pounds sterling . Mid sixties that was . I was very tempted at the time but put it off as the Rock scene in London was really kicking and all the best bands were coming over this side anyhow.

I'm sorry now as I seem to have missed the Golden age over there and just don't fancy the states just now . I will probably never get there now as everything seems so restricted . So I just wobble round the bars of Europe from time to time . I really like France but feel much more at home and safe in Switzerland . Holland is OK away from the Dam. England is still cool .Wales is a beautiful country for scenery. Scotland is real friendly . But all in all there is no place like home ,even if we do get some awful Atlantic weather betimes.

So either how as the world expands it shrinks pro rata. Stay safe you guys wherever you are .

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Back when I was a kid, Cap'n, we rarely ever locked doors or windows. Nowadays, I don't dare ride by bicycle to my uncle's house two blocks away without first closing/locking all my windows and doors and leaving the TV on to make noise in the house. It sucks. It is what it is, though. It ain't 1955 no more.

[Capt.Crow]

It's very like that in the bigger towns and cities here too . Saying that, most country folk only lock up at night or when they go to town . The biggest downer is they closed over a hundred police stations on the island and now the farmers are getting it in the neck with livestock and machinery stolen in the night .

I believe the Celtic tiger attracted a whole bunch of off island opportunists and the local trash jumped on the bandwagon .

With that said my reply to these times is

 

 

BETTER TIMES ARE COMING ....

[Capt.Crow]

The Debian box that I am using at the moment . Is in competition with Greycoat . Every now and then it meows ,,,believe it or not.

[ebrke]

You're in trouble if it tries to grab your mouse.

Edited April 15, 2016 by ebrke

[Capt.Crow]

That would be scary

[Capt.Crow]

That would be scary

[Capt.Crow]

Now this is really scary . Today I went to cut the lawn ,yes it has finally started to grow . So I went to the shed to get out my old banger of a lawnmower .

Pulled it out and looked in the fuel tank . No gas ,so I went and got the can and filled it. Then I looked at the oil level dipstick ,odd, very low on oil ,so I went and got the oil and topped that up . I next tried to turn on the gas cut-off lever . No lever . ???... Stood back and looked at the machine ... WOW! it,s not mine.??? My old banger was a PowerDevil ,this one is a Briggs and Stratton . C90 or something like that . It's a bit older than mine and the blade is not as wide .. So as I had set out to cut the grass I gave the cord a pull and it started on the third pull . My old one never did start until the 7th or 8th pull .

So off I go down the garden and the thing cuts really well. Not only that but the wheels are straight and the self drive actually worked . The wheels on mine were squif and the drive didn';t work .

Conclusion :- some wicked git put his one in my shed and took mine . Mine had a fresh looking body and his is a bit rusty under the paint .... Ha Ha I actually got the better mower in the end . My old one must have him really freaked out and I would guess that the front wheels will fall off the second time he uses it ...

What bothers me is some pootcher must have been watching where I kept it and he has sneeked into my yard and commited a robbery .

 

Either way I really do get the last laugh. :hysterical:

[ebrke]

Just watch out that he doesn't return yours when he realizes that he doesn't have what he hoped for.

[Capt.Crow]

I will put a padlock on the shed bolt . And a camera on the yard . I have a suspect in mind . But I would dearly like to prove it . (anyone notice the post upload is really slow)

[ebrke]

I will put a padlock on the shed bolt . And a camera on the yard . I have a suspect in mind . But I would dearly like to prove it . (anyone notice the post upload is really slow)

Yes, quite slow. It's been happening on and off for the past several days. I have to refresh the page to see my post, but so far everything is actually posting.

[Capt.Crow]

I just did the refresh thing after the black post button dissapeared and it worked for me too

[Capt.Crow]

Update:- So the " bunker" has progressed a lot . The finished floor is laid and the underfloor pipework is in for the facilities. The walls are up to almost ceiling height. Photos to come . It's been a wearysome job dashing in and out between showers ,so progress is not a good as it should be. The windows are all salvage as are the doors .There is one facing West and one North' There are a big pair of mahogany framed glass doors and two windows facing South . Already the temp differance inside is amazing even without the roof ,which will be an'A' type so there can be bunk space up there. There is also a window and a door facing East towards the main house for easy access .We are really looking forward to the autumn when we can sit out there and enjoy the "sunsets" in a cosy place. No doubt many a bottle of wine will be shared in there in the years to come.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

You're keeping busy, Cap'n. That's a good thing.

[Capt.Crow]

 

This is what the front looked like three days ago.

It will never cease to amaze me what a good pair of hands my creator gave me .

They always find a solution long before my brain even notices a problem .

This is a tricky little build even if it's not that large.

[Capt.Crow]

 

This is the window looking West.

The rose tree in the foreground was rescued from my mothers garden when she sold the town house in Dublin 30yrs ago.

The big tree in the middle ground has a story all of it's own .

A friend in Switzerland sent me a xmas gift of some swiss choclates . As the box was too big he packed it round with walnuts from his mother's garden in the canton Valais. Needless to say we really enjoyed this exotic treat and almost scoffed the lot . At the last minute I saved two walnuts which I put in plant pots.

Well winter turned into spring and lo an behold two tiny saplings appeared. I fussed and worried over them for two years and then planted them out.

The nuts must have come from different trees for the one in the photo is a mighty specimen while the other is a dwarf .

They are both 32yrs old and give a hefty weight of walnuts every year now.

I think it's a very nice way to remember a very good friend who was really kind to me in my early penurious years in London .

[ebrke]

Wow, walnut trees. Great! I have no story to compare with that, but as I watch the squirrels busily burying peanuts I put out for them, the chipmunks and the birds (jays, woodpeckers, and even titmice and cardinals will snatch them up), I'm really glad that trees don't grow from peanuts--I'd be living in a forest. I have found that some of the peanuts are dug up and eaten, but I suspect most just rot underground.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

You Brits build funny over there. Over on this side of the pond, we lay all the block with rough openings for doors and windows, then frame in and complete the roof, then install the doors and windows with bucking lumber in the rough openings. Later on, when inside walls are completed, we trim out the windows and doors with their final casement trim wood and thresholds. But hey... whatever works.

[Capt.Crow]

The only title I have to Brit is the fact that I was born one tear(year) before this island became a republic .

 

Yes Eric that's the way most of the rough build commercial houses are built . Thing is I learned the right way when I was working on high-end housing in London in the 60's. The technique produces a much better fit and more efficient draught proofing . With less ingress for damp which causes the wooden frames to rot much more quickly

[V.T. Eric Layton]

D A Y U M !!!

 

I must apologize profusely, Cap'n. I know darn good and well that you are not a "Brit" in the ancestral or geo-political sense of the word. I must have been a bit low on my coffee when I posted that.

 

And I can see the advantages to building as you're doing in cold climates. Here in sunny Florida, we don't worry too much about cold drafts and such. Actually, I'm sitting about 8' from my AC which is humming along this evening. If I didn't feel a cold draft, I would be worried.

[Capt.Crow]

Whoa there Eric ... Please do not apologise ,In fact I am very proud of my dual nationality . Actually there is Norman and Welsh blood in my veins also .

There are American and Canadian ancestors too. Nationalised . So if anything I'm a bit of a mongrel hybrid .

 

If the accomodation was built the same way in Florida the AC would not need to run constantly . The warm draughts would be kept out. Triple glazing would cut down on the heat transferred through the windows . Maybe I should come over there and build some "passive" houses.

 

I've always found that it's easier to keep warm than to keep cool .

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Ah... you're a Heinz 57 mix, as they say in the dog breeding world. Yes, I am also... Spaniard/Viking from father's side, Scottish/Irish/Viking from mother's. I'm sure there is a bit of this and that mixed in also. I would love to have the $149.00 USD to get typed by the National Geographic Genographic Project. I think it would be really cool to know for sure what/where/when/who/how I am who I am.

 

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/

 

Yes, insulation is a very important thing in hot climes, also. This house was built by my father (with his own two hands) back in 1953. They (mom, dad, brother) actually moved in in '53. Dad had been working on the house for a year or so before that. It's very, very well built. They most definitely do not build houses like this one anymore these days. Once I get the house either cool (in summer) or warm (in winter), it will stay that way for quite some time. My electric bill is only $85/month year round. I love my little old house. Wish I had a $ or two to invest some improvements. As soon as I hit that lottery.

[Capt.Crow]

Your Dad worked a lot faster than I . This place has taken me 30 some odd years to get to this stage. Tried to make the place as carbon neutral as possible .Guessing that 85% is recycled and salvage excess from other buildings . Waiting for stuff to find it's own way here and then storing it until there was enough to move on with slowed things down a bit. Working alone is not the quickest method either. The concrete mixer I had in the early days was found in a ditch way in off the road . It's a 1920's model benford . Had to get an old petters t.v.o. engine to run it .That old girl served me well for twenty of those years . The main brickwork was originally a blast wall from a chemical factory . Spent years cleaning thousands and chipping the old mortar off them . But they are much better quality than any house brick used today . The main upper floor suspension beams are pitch pine power poles. 30ft long . It was an epic getting them up into position. They do the job really well and should be impervious to all degradation .

I hope that my son will continue to live here and maybe bring up his family here. Otherwise it's a project that has given me endless pleasure and occupied me well in the years gone by.

I sometimes wonder if it will be finished before I go . But there one takes pot-luck . Never venture ,be a TV. cabbage

:hysterical:

[V.T. Eric Layton]

That sounds absolutely amazing. You're not building a house, Cap'n. You sound like you're building a dream. What for most would have been drudgery and sweat sounds like it was purely a labor of love for you. That's very cool! If you ever get that place finished, I might pop in for a visit one day. 'Course, that's going to depend on that lottery, too, I believe. Not like I have all my eggs in one basket, you know. I might inherit, but I don't think I have any rich relatives. You never know, though.

[Capt.Crow]

It would be fabulous if you could make it across the pond . We could sit in the bar all night with some real vinyl music on the system.

Go for a sail and make BBQ on the beach if the wx was good . Truck around the countryside in the old Land Rover .

 

 

Just one of us has to win the Lottery.