Ahhhhh Dinner

Today like most days I have to decide what to have for dinner. Like most days I have to go to my freezer and get something for dinner but today. Today I decided to have a tidy up in my freezer and it did need a good tidy.

I am the first to laugh at the amount of people who spend vast amounts of money on English food that can be found in local shops or the nearest big market. Well today the laughter was on me because every trip I make to the UK I bring back Cheese. Or if I am having a parcel made up as I am doing now. I am having a Dust extraction unit sent over for my workshop. In my parcel will be a few treats including more Cheese as usual.

This is my stock of Mature and Extra mature Cheddar Cheese.














Tea bags are another thing I get bags of Typhoo tea bags but the biggest that has 1,100 tea bags in. I have about a quarter bag left plus a full bag of 1,100 tea bags so plenty to keep me going for a while. That along with my Cheese will keep me going for a while, I have 11 blocks of Cheese each 750g that's a lot but better to have it than need it.

The downside from freezing Cheese is that the Cheese crumbles more than normal but better that than not having any at all. One little tip if you make your own burgers that try crating a good helping of Cheese into the minced meat plus a good pinch of salt then grill or fry.

Spare a thought

Below is the text i have just put on a couple of Forums i am a member of. I was appalled to be told a sad story of someone because he was speaking to a woman he thought he could get away with verbally assaulting someone at the end of a phone. Well sorry but as the person involved called Fiona i couldn't just say nothing after speaking to her so often she has become a friend.

Hi All

As many of you know I have mentioned a service for my business I use called Pharosparcels. I have mentioned it because many members need parcels delivered and my experience may have been of help. 

Today I am sad to say when I called to arrange another parcel to de dropped off and not collected by a driver. Fiona at the end of the phone told me how an expat in Portugal who claims to be ex military gave her the most disgraceful verbal abuse.

This all came about because a badly packaged parcel had to be repackaged by UPS. It seems it arrived with no damages or anything missing. Then why give verbal to someone sat at the end of a Phone. 

Moral of the story make sure any parcels you have sent over from the Uk are packaged correctly.

Sorry for this rant 

Happy New Year to all Forum members

Peter

On my last trip to the UK

I went with a friend to measure up to install a mirror into a swimming pool. The difference being it took nine years to get planning permission for the pool house but that's another story.

Today i received a picture of the install of the  mirror. As the wall is 4 panels high only one panel can be installed at a time.

The black lines on the wall are so that between the panels on glass you can't see the join. This room is about 7 metres wide and over 3 metres high and this is the main feature wall.

Here is the wall on day 2 of the install of the mirrors.

The amount of planning to get this mirrored wall done was huge, i know because i was there for part of it. I am very proud of the person who did this epic job.

Here is another i saw while in Liverpool it's made up of a backing mirror, then a sheet of special glass, then a front sheet of glass. by magic the glass in the middle is cracked to give the effect you can see. When this is put all round the kitchen i went to see it will look stunning.

My Christmas cartoon

Each Christmas i post a cartoon that i find funny and this year is no different apart from it being a couple of days earlier.
My favourite was the one about Father Christmas landing on a roof and Rudolf was up on bricks. That's what Father Christmas gets for going to Liverpool.
Well this year i have chosen a really good cartoon for my Christmas cartoon and i hope you enjoy it as much as i did finding it.

It's almost Christmas but what about

It's that time of year again , seems just like last week and Christmas is being planned.
The children have a list so big millionaires could just about manage to fill all that the want. Mum's and Dad's all have there secret with that they would like from there other half.
You may need to plan for  those in-laws, grandparents and so many more that puts a strain on finances and then it's gone all this worry for one day.

But yes a big BUT what about those who own Chickens not the eating Chickens but the ones who give you with Love eggs all year and ask for nothing in return. What about them.

This year i posted 2 Adds offering something free to a good home. Now if you are a regular reader you will know about all the wood work i do. Believe it or not but i create lots and lots of saw dust. Being kind i decided to offer Free to a kind home for Chickens saw dust. Now that;s about the best i have been for a long time and i made a point of it being free. It seems that nobody cares enough about there Chickens to get them something for Christmas.

Shame all the love the Chickens give in there eggs and nobody wants to give them a treat.

Rant over

Today was install day

After putting up a couple of my new lights yesterday i decided to install them all and that's 20 in total. Now the room has 28 lights with 8 on 2 switches and 20 on timers.Looks more like Christmas but the lights won't be coming down.

This is from the TV room and it took so long to get the spacing right. It takes so long to get the spaces right to use all the lights that come in a pack.

Each light is spaced to within 1mm apart from the next on either side of it. Then there is also how to hide the cable is also a big problem.













The downside is they use a UK plugged power supply so i have to buy adapters and timers but it's all worthwhile.

You really need vision

A long time ago i finished my ceiling in my lounge and for a time i was happy with how it turned out. I had 8 LED ceiling lights, 2 above the dinning area and 6 over the rest of the lounge. That was all well and good but after i had finished in the spare bedroom with ceiling lights round the room behind the coving well.

I was not satisfied with how the lounge looked 8 LED lights may be enough for most people but as i have a TV room that has 4 LED lights and 18 hidden behind the coving i just got thinking i had to do something in the Lounge.

Using a piece of coving i decided to see what it would look like so i made a start and put a couple of lights up. I used pins to hold the coving up and it looks great but i need to see how it looks at night. Will it look how i imagine, i think it will.So i will be putting up 20 Lights that use about 10 watts of electric.
As they say and here is one i did earlier.

This is the spare bedroom and like the TV room the mine lights are on a timer ready for when they are needed.

Found Chestnut so work has started again

For a long time since Chicco had his accident i have not been able to get myselfa stock of Chestnut in plank form. What that means is i have to cut it down to the size i want and then run it through my plane.

I managed on the first day of work to cut and prepare the timber i need to finish round the window in my spare bedroom. Once done that room will be complete.

This is how the window should look now i can prepare all my own timber.

This is how far i had got to when Chicco had his accident so i still have lots to do.

A new picture of progress

Well here we are getting on with the building of my Fish tank. I have one more layer to complete the walls but with a much narrower section block. What you can't see is the insulation in the side and rear walls.

The hollow section in the blocks allows me to put the pipework for the filter and also the cables to power the pumps.

The tank gets more done

This last week i have been lucky to have had a friend stay for a couple of days and again he stood over me so i could do more to my tank. I can say when i finish that i have done wall the construction work my self.

I am having a steel cage made to ensure that with the pressure of the water the front stays leak proof.
The cage is designed to fit into the holes you see in the block work. In front of the steel door will be a tank to take the heat from the door for water changes.

All round the sides and back there is the kind of steel you see when a concrete floor is being laid For those who don't know it's called Rebar.

This is a Pacu and is related to the Piranha but this fish also has a family member called the Red bellied Pacu that looks so like the Piranha

Working 2nd December

Tomorrow the 2nd December i have a mornings work.

I had to try on my work uniform to see it fit. Thankfully it's just for a morning and only once a year.

It's the 1st December

Well unlike the UK and maybe most of the western world Christmas doesn't start in my house until the 1st December.

It's time now for Margaret the fairy to come out until she goes back in the box till the next time she comes out. Margaret as you may have guessed is my fairy. Margaret even has lights in the shape of little skulls. Really festive.