More chilling out

Whilst at John's for Sunday dinner this last week, took this video of his garden railway shunter going the rounds of the garden

Nice little mover isn't it, didn't put any music to it as I thought the train noise was al-right, and the plane going overhead added a bit of noise as well!

Yesterday it was off to Etherow again, though this  time it was via Marple to call at Offerton Sand and Gravel Co to buy some chippings for the garden at home which I'm going to slightly re-model when I get round to it , but as in all modelling you have to have the stuff in hand for when you start the job.

At the lake it was all the guys with their "J" class yachts, they had 12 races in total and I was there to natter to them and distract them, well you have to have a handicap if you are as good as some of them don't you!

Missed Bob again, perhaps he doesn't want his ear bending either hey.

Then it was home to unmask the Narra Boat after all the painting and masking and painting a different colour again, and here is the finished thing.

Next job is to paint the window frames aluminium and the white frame between the green and Red will be Yellow.

Thought the picture on the wheelie bins here would give you a better idea of the size of the boat

As you can see in the last picture all the holes were drilled prior to painting, so now just have to ream the paint out to attach the top deck clutter, ie rails, flower tubs, air vents and lights.

John thought my picture of the Mandarin male duck in the previous blog was quite good so I've brought it a bit closer to-day!

Nice isn't he, Both him and John I mean!

Well that's all for now 

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Two blondes walking down the street and the first blonde said

 "Look at that dog with one eye"

The other blonde covers one eye and says 

"Where?"

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No work, just relaxing

First a picture of Pepe in the garden at John's for Sunday dinner.

As you can see the current book we are reading is Clive Cussler's " The Jungle" plenty of action in it.

Yesterday, Monday saw us at Etherow, where we had a good walk up to the weir.

Mr & Mrs

Nice day Dear

The boss

I know I've posted pictures of the mandarins before, but I've never seen them out of the water before, must have been the quiet after the weekends crowds!

The weir and run off

We carried on to the top pump house 

As you can see no problem carrying Pepe's water bowl, its a lid of a coffee jar.

Then it was off again behind the Wardens house, to the path back to the cafe

Top path to visitors centre.

I'd heard that there were some other wood carving up there (besides the big owl at the front of the park) so we went to see, Velda had not been able to walk up there for the last couple of years.

Big acorns

And just so you can get the scale, Pepe likes peanuts but this is too big even for him!

Off the lead as there are not many people about, so it was back to the cafe for a bit of lunch and a drink!

This gives you an idea how high the top path is, looking down on the lakes.

Not bad for a 47 year old hey, OK so I'm dialectic as well! 

This beautiful tree was just a young sapling the first time we passed on our way to the lake and joined the Model Boat Club, many happy memories since then.

Then it was home and another coat of Red on the Narra Boat, well that isn't work is it, and put back the ornament on the fencing.

DVD's on plywood

Shines different colours when you move, even at night.

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If all the nations in the world are in debt, where did all the money go?

What do you call a dog with no legs?, 

It doesn't matter what you call him, he still won't come!

Teacher: give me a sentence with the words Defence, Defeat and Detail in it.

Pupil; When the horse jumps over defence, defeat go before detail.

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That's all folks 

Finishing off

Friday found Pepe and I at Daisy Nook Country Park having a bit of lunch and a stroll round to stretch his belly ready for his dinner. 

Cafe and information Area

Play Boat shape of a Narra Boat

One of the lakes, bit smaller than Etherow!

Steps down to the river

New Play area since I was last there.

There was such a lot of hassle to get anything out of the Gated area at the garden centre round the corner that I didn't buy anything there, See what you wanted, go and pay for it at the main till and then find someone to open the gates!! what a way to do business!.

Back home found another bit of rot on the top of the last panel, usually the way isn't it so it was another cannibalise from a couple of the down strips I'd bought (in case) so those haven't been wasted.

Last repair

Another feature of the garden is the back gate, which as you can see has a mirror frame set in it so it looks like the garden is a lot longer than it is.

I found the fence paint I was looking for at Daisy Nook the next day on the internet at Homebase!

There it was down as £15.99 and buy one get one half price, so on the way to Etherow yesterday called in and was pleasantly surprised, the shelf price didn't mention any offers but when I asked the guy at the counter to scan it he came up with £12.97  and one at £6.40!! so that was nice in this day of rising prices, just shows you, you have to shop round and the service was good as well. I will be shopping there again, though not at Daisy Nook!

We had a nice couple of hours at the lake, no sailing, but a chat with Commodore Chris, Glyn Wyche and later on  when they had gone another sailor Ron Hadfield came, he left a hull and deck of a boat in the top box and its free to a good home!

So the fencing finished at last. Then it was another coat of Red on the boat which is looking good now,

 perhaps give it another swish over to-day and that should be it, unmask it and hopefully no over or should I say under spray on to the green.

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Why do we put cars worth thousands on the street and fill our garages will useless junk?

Why do people order double cheeseburgers,large fries and a diet Coke?

Why is it you can get a pizza to your door quicker than an ambulance?

Why do they leave doors open in banks and then chain pens to the counter?

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That's all folk's did you remember to put your clocks forward ? 

Don't fence me in.

Yesterday the plan of going to the lake was shelved and Pepe and I went to Ashton instead to the timber yard John had used a few weeks ago for a big job in Altrincham.

I was after those top wood strips angled on the top of fencing which seems to shed water off better than the flat ones that came with my fencing originally, The firm in Ashton make their fencing on site so I went to see if I could purchase these spares for my fence which was alright except for the tops that were getting a bit worn, they get all the weather don't they

I was abell to get 12 strips and a 3 internal down strips (In case they were needed) all for £20, so we loaded up and made our way to Ashton town centre were it was bacon sarnie time!

First time in Ashton

Don't leave him with me!

Spare a biscuit mate?

Some more of the bronze figures made another photo opportunity for me just outside the indoor market, I think people thought I was going to leave him there when I walked back to get him in focus, but soon started laughing when they realised what I was doing.

Then it was back home and whilst Pepe rested his weary legs I set too and fitted the new strips on the fence

 Just have to paint the tops as I've done the panels on this side before.

All done!, but as the better sighted can see there was a bit of rot on one of the panels at the top.

This is the one, but it was soon replaced with a piece of a spare panel the next door neighbour had in store, so just have to paint the panels I've not done yet, the repaired one is one of them! and then that's another job done. Getting all these jobs done now so in the better weather can get out more.

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A bloke went to the doctor's for a check up. "You need to relax more" said the doctor.

"You need to get away from it all for a while, could you go abroad"

"Sure could" replied the patient "What's she like"

Boom Boom 

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That's all folk's

Spring!

On Monday after finishing the gate finally, Pepe and I went to Etherow via Stockport where we tried to track down the guy from Hyde models but with no luck, the mill at Etherow was blocked with a Fire engine so that was a non starter!.

We finally got to the Cafe at ECP in time for their famous chip butties,

All for me?

A veggie chip buttie ?, well I suppose its cooked in veggie oil!

Whilst waiting for it to arrive met up with this delightful little fellow 

13 weeks old and looking forward to his obedience training next week?

We then walked off our dinner round the lake, of course I had to take a couple of pix's of the ducks again!

Nice colourful fellow

Playing hard to get

A nice twig for a nest love, or should I say love nest?

Doesn't seem that long since I was sat here doing this before.

Then after a stroll round the lakes it was home, and another coat of varnish on the "Our Lass" stand.

I then re-masked the Narra Boat superstructure in reverse so that the Green was covered and the side panels were ready for the Red, plenty of masking tape, better than the paint seeping through on to the Green hey.

Green and windows masked up.

Yesterday spent the day with John travelling round Liverpool, Crosby, St Helens and  finally Warrington chapels, all bitty job's and checking out for future work to be done at a later date with the materials.

Hopefully to-day will get a bit of Red on the boat and perhaps have another trip to the lake if the weather brightens up, Sister in Oz say's they are in the rainy season in Queensland area and here we are in the rainy city Manchester as it used to be called with the water board threatening us with drought warnings.

As Victor Meldrew would say "I don't believe it"

Perhaps we should have a different name than the Rainy City, any suggestions?

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The football star who had just been transferred for an enormous fee was being interviewed on telly.

"You appear to be earning more than the Prime Minister" said the reporter. "Only fair" said the football star, "I play a lot better than he does"

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That's all folk's

Is spring here?

You can see that I've almost finished the gate only need to fill the countersunk holes in the posts and repaint the old hinges and fittings with black Hammerite!.

  Had a good day yesterday rubbed down the superstructure of the boat and resprayed it and then varnished the stand for the next project, then it was starting to paint the fencing (3 panels then fed-up) 

Then it was John's for dinner which the girls cooked as it was Mother's day and very nice too!

We went for a ride to Uppermill after dinner and had a stroll along the canal, never more than 100 yds from the main street, very muddy but got a few pictures whilst John carried Pepe, he would have disappeared in the mud otherwise.

Hope mine looks a bit better than this one, perhaps its waiting for it's spring clean, must be nice to have your own mooring though, front art work on the bow looks similar to mine. 

 We then stopped off at Phillip and Jean's (JO's dad's) and they all had another dessert whilst I held Pepe up out of the way of their 3 dogs!

Still eating alright as you can see from my dinner and dessert on Saturday, a few veggies in there somewhere!. 

Tesco's Deli Cornish pasty

Tesco's Rhubarb pie

Should be getting commission for this advertising hey. 

As you can see from the outdoor pictures everywhere is still damp and covered in moss, but spring is getting there, beautiful day to-day will be taking Pepe to Etherow for dinner, might get a veggie chip buttie, hopefully will see a few old friends as I've not been to the lake for weeks, its still hard to be there without Velda, brings back lots of memories.

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Why don't blind people skydive?.

It scares the heck out of the dog!

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 Peter-N-Pepe