The 3D Jigsaw

Having had to chop up two trees in the past couple of month, I am more than ready to do something different.

My plan for today was to get the logs stacked and finally see the job finished. The weather wasn't particularly pleasant this morning. It was dry, but there was a cold wind. 

As I've already said, my enthusiasm for chopping up and stacking firewood has significantly diminished, and I wasn't overly keen on doing the job in unpleasant weather.

Fortunately the completer/finisher side of my nature kicked in and I headed out to brave the cold. Luckily the log shed is fairly well sheltered and I settled to my task. 

Stacking the logs wasn't particularly straightforward as they have been hand hewn from knotty conifer wood. They are all shapes and sizes. My morning was therefore spent assembling a three dimensional jigsaw ... with no box and no picture on the lid.

The job took most of the morning and I was reasonably pleased with the result. It looks nowhere near as neat as my previous log pile, but it'll do. They just need to dry for about eighteen months and I'll be moving them again ... to the hearth in the lounge.

It seems that I was fortunate with the timing of this task, as the weather turned foul after lunch. A cold rain accompanied the wind and indoors was the only place to be.

I lit a fire and spent the afternoon finishing off Bob Mortimer's Hotel Avocado.  I enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite up to the originality of The Satsuma Complex. I'd give it a three out of five ... worth a look, but borrow it from a mate if you can.*

The only other thing worthy of mentioning is the call from the BMW dealership. Apparently they do not have the replacement part needed for the EGR cooler recall and will only be able to perform the service and MOT tomorrow. That is really bloody annoying as it was the main purpose for the visit and it now means that I will need to take the car back in again.  At this point in time they cannot advise when the part will be available ... it's not great customer service is it?**

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* Don't ask me for it. I refuse to lend books, even to my best friends. I've had too many disappear that way. Racheal Harper Clemens, I am still waiting for you to return my copy of Dark Fire by CJ Sansom!

** BMW always send out a customer service survey after a visit to their dealerships. On previous occasions it has been made VERY clear to me that any score less than a perfect 10 is not well received. Apparently things can get very uncomfortable for the Dealership, and they would prefer that you don't bother to leave unfavourable reviews.  At the moment I am erring towards a three, possibly a four.

I'm getting fed up of moving logs

 I woke this morning and felt somewhat jaded. 30% reminded me that Bubbles had been very generous with the Jammy Red yesterday evening.* It seems that I have a hangover.

Fortunately it wasn't too horrific a reminder of yesterday's get-together and a couple of ibuprofen soon took care of the headache.

The main event of the day was the arrival of the drainage contractors. They had finally arrived to finish the work started in December. The work had been aborted as the ground had been far too wet to cope with anything but foot traffic, but they now deemed it possible to complete the job.

Three tons of top soil arrived, mats were laid on the lawn to minimise damage, and they spent most of the morning repairing the berm.  The soil has been raked out and grass seed has been scattered. Let's see what it looks like when everything has settled. 

As for me, I finally got my act together late in the morning and headed out to the orchard with a wheelbarrow. My plan was to move the pile of logs from the site of the felled tree across the orchard to the log shed. I thought I'd get a couple of barrows-full moved before lunch, but I found my mojo and had most of the job finished before I ate.

It was only twenty minutes work, after lunch, to finally finish the job and now I just need to stack them. Mind you, the cynic in me did note that I had spent more than an hour moving logs and the heap had simply moved thirty yards ... not a lot of change really.

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* This was surprising, not because Bubbs is tight, rather because he is not a drinker. It is very, very rare that we see him with alcohol in a glass.

Odds 'n Sods

Sunday was a day of odds and ends.

After a leisurely start to the day, I refuelled the chainsaw, wandered up to the orchard and finished off the last section of the felled tree. I now have a nice pile of split logs that need to be stacked in the log shed. That can wait for another day.

Next on the list was to attend to the 5 Series. It has sat under cover since the end of May last year, but its sojourn will end in a couple of months.* It needs to be MOT tested, have an oil service and have its EGR cooler replaced.** It is booked in for these jobs on Wednesday and I needed to ensure it would start.

It was little effort to remove the car cover and I was delighted that I had taken the effort to clean her before I put her away. She looks great both inside and out and there are no nasty damp smells. I unplugged the battery conditioner and attempted to start her. After a couple of attempts she fired up and was soon running nicely.

It was no surprise to see an array of warning messages, mostly related to an overdue oil service and the recall. The other messages disappeared as soon as I had pumped her tyres up a little.

So the car is ready for the workshop on Wednesday and I am really looking forward to having her on the road again.

This evening we headed over to see Bubbles and Bobbyn with a takeaway from China Twon.  We had a lovely evening catching up on each others' news and probably ate far too much. Bubbles pulled out a bottle of Jammy Red and I know I drank far more of that than I should have!

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* The vehicle excise duty on the 5 Series drops significantly at the end of April 2025. The car will then be put back on the road. We have used the Defender while the BMW has been SORN'd as we really needed a workhorse that could tow the trailer and also handle rutted tracks to various fishing destinations.

** As part of a manufacturer's vehicle recall

Post Script

I forgot to mention that, while pottering in the orchard, I noticed that the bees were flying this morning. Today's fine weather had encouraged them out. It was lovely to see them around the hive entrance, especially after the disappointment of loosing one of the colonies back in January. Let's hope this is a good omen and the colony will flourish over the coming months.

I ran out of fuel

I was up and out of the house by eight o'clock this morning, as Bubbles had got us booked in for a round of sporting clays at nine o'clock sharp.

We had a pleasant morning and my score was just over 50% for the first time in many months. I won't say that I was pleased with my score, but at least it was the right side of 50%. Let's hope that things continue in this vein,

After lunch I returned to the felled Spruce in the orchard. With chainsaw and splitting maul in hand I made a significant impact on the remaining trunk sections. I would have finished the job if the chainsaw hadn't run out of fuel ... I checked my blood sugar on returning to the house and noticed that I had run out of fuel too. That put paid to chainsaw based fun and I took it easy for the remainder of the afternoon.

I should get the last of the tree split in to logs tomorrow morning. Then I just need to barrow them over to Rose Cottage and get them stacked.