Home Page
   Articles
       links
About Us    
Traders        
Recipes            
Latest Articles
... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
Page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 415, 416, 417 ... 423, 424, 425  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own
Author 
 Message
gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 20 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hi again!
I am told they are good stones and have promised the woman a cut, when they are sold. There will be some more soon if she gets carried away, I am hoping. As for a Girl friend I don't think she is interested so I will only hang around when/if she wants to get rid of the stone and speak politely when we are swimming. Annoyingly she is much faster than me, but I am guessing and is much younger. Pensioner swimming starts at 60 and she is not much more than that. I like her more for the Alsation dog who is super sociable.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 20 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hi again!
I am told they are good stones and have promised the woman a cut, when they are sold. There will be some more soon if she gets carried away, I am hoping. As for a Girl friend I don't think she is interested so I will only hang around when/if she wants to get rid of the stone and speak politely when we are swimming. Annoyingly she is much faster than me, but I am guessing and is much younger. Pensioner swimming starts at 60 and she is not much more than that. I like her more for the Alsation dog who is super sociable.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 20 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hi again!
I am told they are good stones and have promised the woman a cut, when they are sold. There will be some more soon if she gets carried away, I am hoping. As for a Girl friend I don't think she is interested so I will only hang around when/if she wants to get rid of the stone and speak politely when we are swimming. Annoyingly she is much faster than me, but I am guessing and is much younger. Pensioner swimming starts at 60 and she is not much more than that. I like her more for the Alsation dog who is super sociable.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 20 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Not sure how that lot happened!

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 20 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

sticky keyboard can do such things

good news that the stone is good quality, if you can get a fair price for it both you and she might be surprised

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 20 7:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hope you get a good price for it.

As for swimming, at least you can swim. It is something I have never really mastered, although I could probably stay afloat if I really had to. Somehow I seem to sag in the middle. Think staying upright on dry land is more my thing, so walk instead of swim as gentle exercise.

Not sure yet whether that will be todays gentle exercise or if it will be humping log sacks around.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 20 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the chemicals in many pools get to me which limits my scope for swimming to wild water or low usage /well managed outdoor pools

20 yrs ago i was playing in rip tides with seals(they were better at the washing machine than me or the dog were but it was fun)

a few times since i have been in sea, river (in waders with a rod and basket) or outdoor pool

iirc i passed quite a few swimming certificate things, personal survival and life saving to get a job level and loads of distance stuff in my teens

if i fell in i could probably scrabble out (again)

even in a wet suit or boots and shorts to hunt fishy stuff the north sea is only fit for paddling

no amount of cold water immersion practice will make most of the north east a nice dip and play

swimming is ace in the right places and possible in the wrong ones

ps staying afloat after a surprise needs practice

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 20 9:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I learned by accident to swim when at college. A lad there showed me how in the summer holidays when I worked on the college farm, I was 18 and frightened, but the mate was patient and I managed. I can only manage back stroke and front crawl, but those are enough to get me out of trouble-hopefully!

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 20 1:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I have looked at the stone I had, and think I have enough to make a well surround after the good stuff has been sold. I have 3 wells all together on the holding, one of which has not yet come to light, but my neighbour knows where-he says, so I'm hoping. He retires soon so we will get the divining rods out and have a go in the area. One of those things I have done in the past, and not sure how, but I have managed to find water. Funnily enough I struck water a few weeks back when putting in the gatepost; I took the advice of a mate to move the hole I was digging to 5 feet when at around 4 ft he said to move it I did to a new place and and there was the pipe which I took a chip out of it so I wrapped it in pop bottle plastic and filled it in! I have completed the original hole now, and when the weather changes to good weather I will "plant" the post. It needs to be right as the gate is 12 feet wide and heavy. The post is about 10 feet long and 10 inches square. I was lucky in my place of choice as there were stones, but all came out of the hole ok without bulges in the sides. I am not sure how to fill the hole in. I have had 2 advisors-plan1 is to backfill with stones and soil rammed in. Plan 2 is to concrete the post in, I like the concrete idea with a few stones in to eke the concrete out a bit. Any opinions? I read on a bit and as you say a working well and a no fertiliser policy should attract the organic crowd. There have been no chemicals on my holding in my time here-at least 10 years.

gz



Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8577
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 20 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I had to do some 8" posts in the past, in very stony ground.
As you said, post in hole, wedge with stones to keep it vertical then postcrete.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 20 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

gz wrote:
I had to do some 8" posts in the past, in very stony ground.
As you said, post in hole, wedge with stones to keep it vertical then postcrete.


this
+ lots of postcrete as a counterweight to the leverage of the gate

minimal wedging , maximum postcrete , an extra £20 quid to use plenty is best for a do it once job

if you can "bulb" the bottom of the hole a bit it helps to get the mass where it is most useful, but just making the post fit the hole with postcrete can work fine

your 10 inch sq post is my sort of engineering

something that has puzzled me is why hinge side gateposts are not usually braced back to a ground anchor, tis normal for wire fence corner posts etc
triangles are ace

Ty Gwyn



Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4562
Location: Lampeter
PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 20 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Ram it with soil,concrete will encourage it to rot quicker.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 20 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Agree with Ty Gwyn. If the post is oak or chestnut the concrete attacks the wood and visa versa so it rots faster. Well rammed earth and stones is best. You could also try a tie bar back to a bracing post set backwards from the gate to help take the weight.

Dowsing for the well seems a good option. Just make sure you find it by dowsing and don't fall down it. We have had good results looking for a waterpipe that goes across the woods, and also where services ran when erecting a fence by dowsing.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 20 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The post is tanilized softwood and a layer of 2 coats of creosote, so should see me out. My old mate, now too far gone to do the job said, "back fill with big stones and soil rammed", but I do like the idea of concrete as well as a few big stones. It is in an area where water flows about a half metre away-could be interesting! The post will get attached to a barn at some point when the fence is done at about 2 posts distant and I will put wire to the steel of the barn RSJ from the gatepost. The next job is to put the holes through the post with the aim being to do this with a tall drill I have so that the holes for the hinges at in horizontally and not by my eye a task on its own!
I agree with you dpack, triangles are the strongest form of keeping things in their correct place. I will bulb the base as you sugest the worst thing is that this gate is going on a down slope and a left to right slope. I have decided to correct this by having a flexible bar across from the gate, which will start at the high side and as the gate closes the bar will rise up-theory! The closing post is only 8 inches square saving about £10! All good fun just need the weather to change for a while. I was not thinking of postcrete, but that could be the fastest way to do this job and as said, add a few big stones in as well. Time and weather are the factors and the mate turning up to "help"-not that he is much use, he needs a walking stick to keep upright! We have been mates for 30 odd years since I came to Wales and for a Welsh Nat he is a good man. He has been there for me when I needed a friend and I for him, but we don't live in each other's pockets, just catch up every 2 weeks or so. He had a dirty trick played across him. He was kept at home by his grand mother on the farm he was supposed to inherit but it went through an uncle first who when he died had had his will changed by the family so that they all got a cut, when he was the only one not farming due to this "b" uncle who was basically idle, but all the rest of his family had inherited their farms. Such is life.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 20 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thinking on, as I do occasionally-if I bought a bag of cement, 3 bags of sand and 4 bags of gravel, would that be the best option-mix it myself, over the "ready just add water" method? I will wait till I hear your replies that will fix it for a day or so!

Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own All times are GMT
Page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 415, 416, 417 ... 423, 424, 425  Next
Page 416 of 425
View Latest Posts View Latest Posts

 

Archive
Powered by php-BB © 2001, 2005 php-BB Group
Style by marsjupiter.com, released under GNU (GNU/GPL) license.
Copyright © 2004 marsjupiter.com