and today i have mostly been...

[lozz]

I'd guess the English chimney sweepers
Will be wearing breathing apparatus..tin hats ..hazmat suits

Etc these days.. H&S.

[steve_earwig]

Good point, so much safety gear they can't get in through the door, never mind pushing their sweeping equipment up any available orifice.

I actually bothered to read the new story that picture came from, head of a chimney sweeping firm that has the concession for Karlovac (and does this area too) convicted of overcharging the council and falsely issuing inspection certificates. Oh dear.

[Doggy]

I sweeps my own.
I'm the proud owner of a 11" diameter brush wot screws onto the end of my bro's drain rods, (yes, getting your hands covered in soot seems preferable to whatever to might have been clinging to said rods before introducing them to your flue).

I had the presence of mind to install a soot door in the utility room that backs onto the chimbley, so most of the mess happens there and the soot collects in the more-or-less room sealed wood burning stove in the lounge.

[Welly]

convicted of overcharging the council and falsely issuing inspection certificates. Oh dear.

See, there are similarities between the UK and Croatia after all

Was reading recently how the owner of a Bus Company here was altering the inspection/maintenance records to save money on minor* things like the brake linings and tyres; it was alright he was only doing school runs

Verdict: Greed.

[steve_earwig]

Jeopardising kid's safety is a bit more worrying than ripping off the tac payer really.

Sentence: Necklace with a bald tyre.

I sweeps my own.
I'm the proud owner of a 11" diameter brush wot screws onto the end of my bro's drain rods, (yes, getting your hands covered in soot seems preferable to whatever to might have been clinging to said rods before introducing them to your flue).

I had the presence of mind to install a soot door in the utility room that backs onto the chimbley, so most of the mess happens there and the soot collects in the more-or-less room sealed wood burning stove in the lounge.

I remember my dad having something similar when I was a kid. This is a 4-strand springy metal cable with a thread on the end to take the brush. The chimney used to be 10" but when the wife went from burning heating oil to wood it kept filling up with soot and the chimney sweep thought it would be a good idea to put an 8" stainless steel jobbie in there to make the smoke move quicker. The soot door's under the pipe from the boiler (the other side of the wall would be preferable as it's outside), about a foot off the floor and 4" wide so I've got no chance of getting a brush up there. Tbh it usually works ok, I just need to get my arse into gear and sweep it more often.

Presently painting the council house wedge and touching in some chips.

[steve_earwig]

..and I've just been to the vet's Teatime's been a bit of a stranger lately: he comes, he eats, he goes. I've noticed he's been a bit scratched up from more fighting but he wouldn't let me examine him, even when he came in covered in mud he wouldn't let me clean him up. Well, 5:45 he came for food and then I noticed what looked like blood running down his face, all in his fur and down his leg - PANIC! I phoned the vet, who'd just got in from work and she said she'd meet me there as it sounded bad. Well... it was a burst abscess, once he wasn't hiding under a chair or cowering in the cat box even I could see the difference. I apollogised to Mirela but she said it's ok, we both only live around the corner from the vet's.

Cleaning it up was obviously agony for the poor guy, I held his front legs while she did her best to clean it up and avoid his teeth. Painkillers, antibiotics and he's got to go back in the morning so he's imprisoned in the loft (he's a proven escape artist).

Mirela was telling me she's going to a symposium on Thursday about cat scratch fever, given by a former colleague who now works at the veterinary faculty in Zagreb. Unfortunately she might now have her own examples to show: he got her as we were trying to get him back in the box. Extremely tolerant he may be but obviously even he has his limits.

Ah, what an interesting day I've had

[steve_earwig]

Better?

This is all I got done today

[OllieNZ]

Looking good

[Welly]

Sorry the cat's a bit wobbly, he'll soon bounce back. Nice job on the decor, blends in so well you'd never know

[steve_earwig]

There was more screaming at the vet's this morning, I felt really sorry for him but he will have punch-ups He's imprisoned in my bedroom today as Miloš has been again (more on that in a mo) because he'll need another antibiotic tomorrow morning, this time a long.lasting one so he can be released back into the wild, to no doubt get messed up again The long-term plan now is to castrate him. I hate the idea but it's the only chance we have of stopping him fighting and getting messed up all the time. Mirela says either it will do absolutely nothing or it will calm him down, either way we have to try.

Cheers on the decor guys. Tbh it's obvious as it's the only bit that's flat and straight, everything else is lumpy and crooked. I tried to make it just as rough but it shines out to me.

SO yes, Miloš has been once more, this time to pull out a lot of structural timber from the roof. It scares the hell out of me but he's the one with the experience and he said most of it was superfluous. 3 hours with a sledge hammer, 2 crow bars and a chainsaw (a Stihl 076 AV I just happened to have hanging about ) and it's much more open up there. I've taken some pictures but I don't have any before shots to show you, so it would be meaningless, but instead of beams going all over the place and bracing everywhere, there are just 4 vertical beams holding it all up (together with the flower pot walls of course).

This is how much wood we removed

Hmm, doesn't look like much but they're all 5.5" square and the longest ones are 13'.

I need to pull all the nails out of them and they can go up the shed for future reference, and I have to shift all the crap out the way so we can mark out the rooms exactly and start ordering materials. It's all go!

[Welly]

Hope the roof stays put!

Our cat seems to have, no has, calmed down since castration. To be honest apart from the first day of having it done there were no dramas or ill effects at all.

[steve_earwig]

I know, you bring home a little drunk from the vets but they soon recover and it heals quickly, I've had lots of cats done but it doesn't stop me feeling guilty.

Back the vet's at 7, we were hoping to release him back into the wild today but there was a flap of dead skin covering the wound left by the abscess and Mirela pulled it off a bit to see how it was healing, sadly it's just not good enough - he has a hole in his face you could put a finger in, it's starting to heal but not enough so letting him go outside is just too risky. Go directly to jail

I also took Mary-Jane as she suddenly lost a lot of weight. Her teeth were pretty bad but now they do antibiotics specifically for gingivitis, she's had a week or so of those and she's put some weight back on, a good result. I'm also having to feed her in places where the kittens can't steal her food, she's always eaten really slowly which has never been a problem before but the kittens are pigs who rush in there while she's thinking about her next mouthful and scoff the lot.

[OllieNZ]

Decided to optimise the parking at work ;)

[GingerMagic]

Pffft - people always double park these days.........

Was the Smart* car already that far forwards or was it 'encouraged' by your new bumperage..?

[steve_earwig]

What what? I can't see the picture