Exploding Concrete Tiles

Rather than have this years bonfire on one of the veg plots I thought I would use the small concrete area in front of the terrace that used to house a brick barbecue.
This would enable us to stand or sit more comfortably around the fire.

This seemed like a great idea...until one of the tiles exploded!

This is the aftermath after I have cleared up.

Fortunately we were not close to the fire at the time. Needless to say I will make the bonfire somewhere else next year.

With a pot over the hole no one will notice.

 There are 20 tiles there and all but the four on the left of the last photo are embedded in at least 4" of concrete which has so far prevented me from taking them up. How/why it was laid on that wonky alignment I will never know.

Courgette and Ginger Jam

Got fed up with kicking a 3kg marrow around the kitchen so found a recipe for some jam.

Tastes very good indeed. The ginger was grated from a fresh root and certainly adds a kick. According to the recipe the flavours intensifies the longer it is stored. Will try and remember to bring some the UK later in the year.

Another Frog

Planted up some hyacinth bulbs for christmas but when I went to water them the spout of the watering can was blocked. Normally I push a stick through to clear the blockage but could not do so this time.
Click on the white triangle and the video should play. If you click on the little open box to the bottom left of the video it will open in full screen but it is a bit out of focus.

By banging the watering can on the ground he eventually slipped back down the spout so I could get him out.


This one was quite a bit larger than the ones we found on the sunflower and on my head. Still not big enough to eat though.

We have not seen them in the garden at all before so surprising that we have seen 3 in such a short space of time.

Tree Frog

Before I came here I had only seen green frogs in books.

This is, I believe, a common tree frog and was found this morning about 6 feet up on the underside of giant sunflower head that had started to wilt and hang down.

Not quite big enough for the pot.

Ash goblet

This ash log was part a tree that came down locally a couple of years ago.

The resulting goblet will be entered in a competition on a website that I have frequented for many years. A kind of on-line woodworking club.

The finished vessel is 7.5" high and 2" diameter.


























Took me most of one afternoon.

Taking some decent photos proved to be more challenging than the wood turning.

Western Saddle

We have bought a saddle for Claire which should help her riding. It is of western style and has extra support at the pommel which evidently should help Claire keep her balance on the horse. This means of course that we need somewhere to store it and carry it around in the car and at the pony club.

I came up with this which uses my existing folding trolley, a folding basket, a shelf bracket and a few bits of wood, one of which has been shaped to follow the contours of the underside of he saddle.

 As the trolley is of the folding variety the wide board that the bracket is attached to prevents the trolley handles folding forward under the weight of the saddle. The width of the board prevents any lateral twist once the saddle is in place.

                           

Claire should be able to wheel it around the pony club club as required.

  

  And it fits in the boot of the car with ease.

Fire wood

This little lot arrived on Friday.

6 steres of mostly beech. This is half as much as we normally have delivered but after 3 years of having 12 steres and only burning amount 8 we have just a little left over.

On the right of wood shed are the remains from 2013. On the left are part last years delivery which we have not yet touched.

The rest of last years delivery is still in the open.

And after an afternoons work and a little help from the family this years wood can now dry outside too.

Willow Bowl

This lump of willow that had been hanging around on the terrace since Dec 2013 was beginning to get in the way.

So I hacked a lump off with the chainsaw saw.

Chucked it on the lathe.

Smoothed the outside.

Then the inside.

And ended up with a very nice bowl with some unusual grain patterns that I was not expecting from willow.

But because a lump of wood that big takes a lot longer than 15 months to dry it has subsequently moved a bit since I brought it indoors.

So long as it does not split I think that any slight movement just adds to the character.

Extended chicken run

A few pictures of the finished, for now, chicken run. When I get the rest of the timber I will make some hinged frames for the roof.

I am on the look out for a railway sleeper so I can loose the breeze blocks at the far end. I may also make a slightly large door that end as well.

This visitor arrived in the workshop today

Found it's own way out and didn't leave any messages.

And a shot of the dahlias. All but one of the separated corms have new shoots so I am very pleased.

Chicken Run framework

First of the new panels made.

Spent most of the past couple of days ripping down the old window frames into 2x1.

And making the corner braces.

All the parts for six frames plus a few extra corner braces for when I do the roof.

I also found a box full of metal corner plates which had to be re-drilled to take a more suitable screw size.

The first of 6 frames which will form each side of the chicken run extension.

Each frame will be covered with 13mm square galvanised wire mesh.

Chicken Run before extension

Enlargement of the Chicken Run

A view of the current configuration showing the large enclosure used during the day when we do not want them roaming around the garden in the summer months.

Rosette and her 4 daughters.

Our two new hens. The one closest is a Maran and should lay brown eggs, behind her is a Bielefelder.

To give the now 6 birds a bit more room when we are not there I intend to extending the smaller covered and more secure run by about 3.5 meters. Replacing the rather low wooden sided extension with the same wire mesh framework and at the same height as the rest of the run. A portion of which will only be accessible to the hens when we are on holiday thereby given them some fresh grass to feed on when we are away.

The existing sleeping/nesting box will me moved back to the just passed the edge of the large run.

In order to make the new framework the old wooden door frames have been ripped down to 2x1.

I was one piece short so have had to laminate a couple of offcuts together.

Chestnut bowl

A bowl in chestnut. Taken from a piece of wood from the logpile. Very pleased with the flat bottom achieved wit the help of the Axminster Button Jaws.

Finished with beeswax.

Here is the piece still on the lathe and shows how most of the dust created when sanding is caught by the extractor.

The end of the extraction hose is held in place by a magnet attached to the tool rest arm.