and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

I didn't think they were that small, do the back seats fold down?

It's really up to you and how you feel about it, if you can get your fix elsewhere then there is no rush to go back into ownership.

My dad's the opposite, he lost his last dog, rescue retriever Rex, last July, just before we came out here. He'd kind of let Rex go on a bit long in our opinion (aided and abetted by a greedy vet), he was a mass of lumps and probably in a bit of pain but I just thought he was trying to get the most out of what was probably his last dog. My bro and sis-in-law, who I guess were closer to it, found it cruel, and were quite relieved when Rex had (probably) a heart attack and had to be pts. Then he came out here for a couple of weeks and stayed for almost 9 months He loved all our animals, I have lots of pictures of him with cats all over him etc. so now he's gone home he's finding it empty and is lonely. So he wants to get another dog and points out he's had dogs all his life. Bro and sis are horrified of course, they point out that without a dog he has no need for a car and no huge vet's bills. My dad will be 88 tomorrow, his eyesight is failing but he won't wear his glasses, plus walking it would be difficult as he has chronic arthritis in his ankles, has already had both hip joints done and his balance isn't the best. Well, at the very most, get a small dog like Scooter or Teddy so they're easy to handle if there's a problem. But of course he wants another retriever...

So, this little girl. We were at the vet's last week with Teddy and Mina, both needing manicures - Teddy's the tiny collie rescue, he came with a badly healed broken toe, the claw doesn't grow right and if it gets long it catches on stuff and he limps. Mina is the disabled kitten, the claws on that leg don't wear so she starts catching it on stuff and gets hooked onto furniture etc. In the side room there were 6 puppies in a cage - apparently somebody just dumped them in a box in he vet's yard the week before T'wife was all aver them of course. I was more interested in the cage with mother and energetic kittens and the female cat that looked just like our Annie in another cage. "If I could have one of them I'd have this one." She said.

Well, we were back there with Charles, his sister Camilla and Pickle on Saturday for their regular shots. And there are those puppies again I guess t'wife couldn't help herself. Of course, I wasn't allowed to increase our cat tribe at the same time


Yes, I mamanged to get Charles and Camilla in the same box. Oddly he was going postal before I put her in, then he calmed right down.


Please take me with you.


Finally she fell asleep. T'wife has decided on the name Linda (uff ). She's currently in to everything and pooping everywhere, bless (not my problem )

[Doggy]

Sit down and avoid touching anything sharp/fragile/expensive....
Ready?

I think I've just fixed the Citroen

Daughter's other half has designs on it, they used it to tow their trailer tent to Cornwall last summer and he kinda likes it, (plus his Mazda 3 is dying of tinworm).

"Plug this here blewtoof gubbins in the diag port and I'll tell you wots wrong wiv this phone app", he announced. I obliged, not expecting to be impressed.....
Wonky crank sensor was the prognosis. Accepting that would definitely stop it, I thought it's worth consulting the Lexia oracle for confirmation.

Last time I tried this I couldn't get any comms with the car but could get limited results by fibbing to PP2000 that its really a 407. This time I was a little more patient/thorough and discovered more Citroen models by scrolling the page until "C5 X7" appeared.
After an abortive global scan, many attempts to enter the build code or the VIN I did something right and got it talking properly. No less than 6 separate temporary faults were logged, all related to the crank sensor.

I thought this lived at the gearbox end, but eventually located it right by the crank pulley. Connector was saturated in oil/gunge and while these are supposed to oil tight connectors I reasoned enough contamination could give an intermittent connection. Got it up on ramps, left it ticking over and wiggled said connector. Engine stopped immediately. Turns out the retaining lug was broken off the plug, god knows how it didn't fall off.

Just finished grafting a matching connector + short bit of loom liberated from local scappy in its place after plaiting my DIY twisted pair arrangement into said wiring. Seems to work.


Never mind.

Still like the BMW

[steve_earwig]

Lordy, perseverance pays ov . Now you see if you hadn't replaced it you'd never have found the fault. Ah well, it's too late, you've moved on anyway, it has a new home all lined up and you can let him have it without having to worry about any homicidal tendencies.

[Welly]

1 utterly barmy cocker spaniel

Funny you say that, our ex next-door neighbore had one that got too much for them in the end.

And then yesterday a neighbore a few doors up came down to see me with their cocker spanner and that too was 'enthusiastic' I crouched down to give it some Welly fuss and it kept trying to eat my face, then scratched my arm

Wiggy - is there a dog breed you haven't tried yet? all I know is there's a lotta love heading the way of that little pooch

[steve_earwig]

Meh, these are all dolly mixtures now, the results of people not bothering to get their dogs "done" or do anything about it when they come into season

And I just came here to post some updates! Crikey, looks like they're long overdue

Spot (Linda) has been here a month, she's a nightmare! Into everything, destroying shoes, tiddling and pooping on the floor.... You know, puppy stuff.

First problem: Teddy bit her She is a bit annoying but there was blood everywhere and an emergency trip to the vet's, she was fine though. Unlike Teddy the next time he tried it...




We suspect her mum was a golden retriever because she won't leave Ollie alone.




Mina's not quite sure about this coronavirus thing


I kill you!






Sometimes I think Ollie enjoys the attention


Scooter certainly doesn't




Oddly she and Mina play-fight rather a lot, I think they're friends.




And some vids. (One of)Mina's (many) favourite thing(s) is to cry outside the kitchen window for me to come and get her, carry her in and give her a catstick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcF3CfMfHdI Hmm, no Youtube link any more

And a couple of Spot and Mina https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cKGps4-nvg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd7BLXppFgI

Hmm, that's probably enough for now...

[Doggy]

Great pictures, looks like a lot of fun.
(Daren't show Mrs Doggy with the ridiculous price of dogs in Blighty).

[Welly]

The ridiculous price of everything in Blighty.....

Lovely pics Steve

[steve_earwig]

And here there are 100's of cats and dogs looking for homes for free

Thankyou guys! Although I've been reminded I didn't take any pictures lately, so I rushed out with the camera earlier so I could record stuff before the "storm".

The weather here's been horrible, months long drought with only the occasional derisory shower, temperatures up in the 30's. I'm just about managing with the well but I only get a few gallons out of it at a time, so I've been pumping it out every 4 hours. Up around 5am every day, open up the house, out to water, then rush indoors, shut it all up and hide from the heat. Back out in the evening for some more watering then early to bed. Day in, day out. The forecasts generally say it'll rain in about a week but either it comes to nothing (or just keeps moving into the future, what I call carrot on a stick weather) or the rain just doesn't quite get to us (bloody mountains). This morning was meant to be a thunderstorm, there was all sorts of crashing and booming but there wasn't enough rain to dampen the ground. Uff.

This morning's pictures:









Kika and Tippi keeping me company.

Spot (Linderp) is getting bigger of course, the current theory is she'll be a gonić (hound) of some variety, maybe an Istarski kratkodlaki gonić

More likely a Croatian toilet paper hound:


Dishwasher is redundant:


Mina is currently under the vet, she's managed to damager her dumb leg again, she doesn't feel any pain in it so I didn't get any warning but her paw blew up like a balloon Sunday, prompting a trip to the emergency vet. It's under control but I did say if the leg proved a problem then I'd consider having it amputated. I'm not keen but she won't really notice, the leg generally gets in the way, she lays awkwardly on it, it catches on stuff and it keeps getting damaged. Our vet Mirela now thinks she was probably born like it, the leg is absolutely nerveless from the shoulder down.

What else? Oh, I made a ramp for her to get up on the wood pallets:

She could get up there and seemed to enjoy it, the problem was the drop down again. However nobody was using it:

(That's talcum powder) so I lengthened it, cut it in half and put it over the fence at the end, where I just had some old bits of wood from the shed:


]

And finally I've made myself a temporary left-hooker by damaging my right thumb 4 times: 1: fell over trying to stop Grace, who was also under the vet, escaping (bent back and split nail); 2: tried to saw up frozen chicken with a reciprocating saw (huge blister which burst) 3: Tried to remove half the fingerprint slicing a cucumber on our new oh-so-sharp veg slicer (my god, so much blood!) 4: Mina sunk her teeth into it at the vet's. Mostly I'm wearing a big plaster on it, the problem is I keep trying to use it and have opened it up a couple of times.

Oooh! More rain! Yay! Maybe I won't need to water

[Welly]

Eww don't talk to me about cutting yourself, since being on blood-thinning and anti-platelet meds the slightest cut sees a non-stop stream of claret
The other day I cut my finger cleaning the car and a large jellyfied 'blob' of blood fell into the bucket....have you finished your lunch?

[Doggy]

Weather seems a bit of a problem for many lately, thinking mainly of the recent German/Dutch/Belgian/French flooding.
Just spotted this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-l ... e-57909700

Hope Welly's OK, that's a bit close for comfort.

[steve_earwig]

Giant hail? Giant?? Pfft. We have hail here that.... meh, shoebox in t' middle of road.

He'll have insurance, as long as he doesn't go out in it he'll be fine, which is the important thing.

[steve_earwig]

Bleedin' 'ot again I've been slogging away at this and that but it's that winning combination again, hot and humid. For a diversion I've just been watching this guy out the front by the firehouse

Stalls Rurururururh..ruh...ruh....ruh. Ruruh..ruh...ruh....ruh.... opens bonnet, looks inside, shuts bonnet ruh...ruh....ruh.....ruh.......click

Some sort of BMW, no idea what as all the badges appear to have fallen off (so a 1.6 then) but it's not black so it must be something different. If it helps it's the generation that looks like it's already been rear-ended.

What, offer assistance? Hold on, where did I put my magic wand?

[Doggy]

May I draw your attention to one non-black, debadged and most definitely not 1.6 example?



Heavy rain recently? (Mine expired due to blocked under bonnet drains allowing the well the ecu box sits in to fill with water).

Common problem apparently, easily rectified by clearing all the leaves/mud/crap out of the drains,
removing the rubber grommet that prevents the recess from draining,
oh and £1k+ and 3 weeks for a replacement ecu.

Now I have a warning message for a seriously overdue oil change, (12/2001 go figure).

For a change, I've been attempting to fix the washing machine:
Won't drain - siezed pump replaced
Won't fill - open circuit inlet valve coil swapped for t'other one (only needed for pre-wash).
Now it won't stop filling

I've had enough. Time for beer

[GingerMagic]

I had the non stop filling on my old machine - luckily it was one of those rare occasions where I didn't put it on timer to be ready in the morning otherwise there would have been much floodedness over the kitchen floor...

Upon closer inspection* I spotted a sort of vacuum pipe that had come away from the circuit board behind the dial - I figured as the drum fills with water it creates air pressure that rises up the tube and flicks a switch.

No pipe connection, no pressure, no switch flickery, wet floor.

It was easily* remedied by gently* withdrawing the machine from its cubby hole which was a mere inch narrower than the machine, then reaching behind with my Mr Tickle arms to release the pipe gubbins, before finally removing the top of the machine, mildly electrocuting myself by resting my hands on the live circuit board, before reattaching the aforementioned vacuum pipe.

Refitting is the same as the above but in reverse and with added swearing.

[steve_earwig]

Level sensor borked?

Oh, it's blue! Sorry, I'm black/dark blue colourblind So some of them might actually be dark blue then. I hope so anyway. Yeah, we had a shedload of rain about a week ago. I think this particular one has a charging issue though, it was running and then died, unless this is all in that ecu? I was waiting for the low loader to appear but someone came in an Ashtray, there was some tinkering and off it screamed (sounded 4 cylinder, oddly) so I presume it got a battery. I see a lot of blocked underbonnet drains here (scuttle?) when I'm at the workshop, something I fastidiously clear out on my cars 'cos water pouring into somewhere vital seems quite common consequence on many cars.

And t'wife is at the seaside again I can't think of anywhere I'd want to be less (maybe in the dock?) but she takes every opportunity and she's down there with our neighbour Nada (and it won't be party party 'cos she's almost 70) and I'm back looking after the chickens and now, for some reason, the rabbits. So currently I'm looking after 10 cats, 4 dogs, 15 chickens, 1 cock and 8 rabbits. Oh, and me.

Yesterday I did this:






Mina is still shut upstairs because of her leg so I couldn't open the shutters for fear of her (and Kika) jumping off the terrace. So I bought a 2x1.5m fencing panel, cut it to size and hooked onto the outside so I can put it on/take it off from inside. I had to reverse the bumpers but the roulette goes up and down just fine. So now I get to air out upstairs once the temperature drops below horrible. You can see what I was using before in the last pic, just a bit of mesh only big enough to poke a fan through.

Oh, and of course, tomatoes