Just a fish tank update

It's been a while since i mentioned about my fish tank. Because i don't want to have any problems with leaks i coated the tank with Four coats of sealer. OK i know a bit over the top but i want it right. I was lucky to find a company who sell the Epoxy Resin to do my final coat and i wanted a blue for the sides.

Today i did the first of two coats of my blue Epoxy Resin. I asked the company if the Resin was fish safe and they answered that they had recently supplied a UK public aquarium so it must be OK. This is the side wall and when finished the tank will be about 5,000lt.

I couldn't get an angle to take in the whole of the back wall. The Epoxy Resin was wet when i took these pictures and it may look blotchy but it's dried out OK.

Summer has come and gone

I have seen many pictures of countryside where as Autumn comes the leaves on the trees turn brown and then die and fall of the trees.

Looking from my veanda i can see my pear tree and in the distance a couple of cherry trees loosing there leaves as winter approaches.











All that you can see as far as you can see is trees that are grown for money, a product. Nothing like you see in other countries where you see the season changes but I'm stuck with green all year round.

Down in the valley there are a few fruit trees where the leaves are also dying till next year.

The Council like everywhere tidy

At this time due to high winds and the drains at the side of the road getting blocked the local Camara ( Council ) send groups of workers out to clear the detritus.

It was easy to take pictures from my house. On the right at the bottom of the wall this a drain that is being cleared. 


















Not just the villages but also all the lanes are cleared.

Here is a worker strimming up the lane from my house. After they have done there job they then clean up after themselves.

Log burner replaced

A long time ago while building my bathroom I built up the floor to the height of the loung floor. My idea was as years go by I didn't want to have to step up by one step from the bathroom to the lounge.

After last years rainy winter and have to walk down the lane to get my firewood I couldn't go through that again. I looked to what life would be like as years go back after all I am not as young as I was so I had to do something.

Friends have a house with two pellet burners installed when there house renovation was complete and ready for when they moved in. I spent time watching how there burner works but what put me off was the noise while it starts. Since these where installed the new generation of pellet burners I was told where very quiet but I was not able to see one in operation and to listen to it.

I went off the a store who had a large selection on show and I saw three in my price bracket but how to decide the one for me. One had a red door and edged in black with grey side another not quite as fancy. But I didn't want a feature I picked a nice black one it just had the look I liked so that was it and of I went to buy it.

Keep with me it's a long story

I needed all the chimney pipes but I would go elsewhere because from my previous log burner I knew that this supplier was expensive. Near me there is a cross between a B&Q type shop but also a garden centre come builders merchant. When I got my pellet burner I made a note of the chimney prices and I was glad. At the place near me I got everything I need for a saving of about a 33% saving. That wasn't all I needed skirting boards but I wanted something special so it was of to Chicco's. But after a short time I found what I wanted but the wood was to thick but that's not a problem for Chicco.

Wonderful hardwood skirting boards. As you can see i have some cables to tidy up. 

 I got my new skirting home but now I needed to round over one side but the biggest part was in this environment damp and windy so of I went to my mate Robin. Robin soon got my skirting varnished because it was important for me to show of not just my burner but also my great skirting.

If only it was that simple

I needed a granite hearth for the burner to stand on. So off I go again this time I went to a granite workshop and it didn't take long to make my choice of type of granite. This was cut and ready for me to collect the next day so the next day I collected it and of I went home but still another problem to fix.

The last problem was I had four double sockets and a computer point that was going to be hidden away in the corner. I removed all four double sockets and fitted two new double sockets to the right of the pellet burner where I can get at them.

Everything now in place

First I had to cut a hole in the wall to have the chimney go from the pellet burner to the outside. With the hole cut the skirting  boards in place, granite put down and levelled, sockets moved. Now it was time to put the pellet burner in place and connect the chimney inside and then the outside. After this was all done I should have stopped for a cup of tea because I did need a break but I just had to get the burner started. So I just carried on, I had been reading the book that came with the burner and found the setup really simple. The longest part was the burners pipe work had to load up for the first time and that done it was simple.

 Well that's the story of my new pellet burner and I must say I am glad I didn't get one when I first saw them a few years ago. Now they almost silent pellet burners are now just a pleasure and mine is not the focal point of the room as a traditional fire would be.

Late out on a rotten night

it was a long time ago my Friend who lived in my village returned home late one windswept rainy night. Like myself my friend drove down a dark silent lane that we both use when we leave the village. This night what my friend didn't see in a open drain at the side of the road was an adult and three young wild Boar. The adult Boar jumped out in front of my friends car and did some really serious damage to his car.

Going forward to last night I came down the same lane at about 10.30 pm it was raining and very windy. About the same as on the night my friend had his accident with a wild Boar. The lane is over a mile long and as soon as I entered the lane I saw a huge wild Boar and slowed down straight away. I only passed the Boar by about a couple of hundred years when I saw another and the another. That was three in about three to four hundred yards but as I came towards the end of the lane I saw another what looked a monster wind Boar.

By the time I came to the exit off the lane I was more than glad to have got through without any problem. Should I come home late at night again I will avoid this little lane.