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Post by PinkFloyd on Jul 28, 2006 11:58:08 GMT
Wow, finally made it through the mess to my computer! This is the last time I will EVER move unless they come to carry me out in a coffin, what a f**kin' upheaval it's been I can't find anything! The place is just incredible being a stone built cottage with "everything" the best of quality........ solid wood doors, top class electrics, log burning stoves, coal fires etc. etc. I just can't sit down for a minute I'm that excited, so much to do and I want to do it all at once!! Trees all over the place so I bought a chainsaw and have been doing some "logging" in preperation for the winter. This way of life is a totally different concept to what I'm used to with big fires at the end of the garden and chopping down trees being partt of a "normal day". The pace of life here is so slow that you don't even care what time it is let alone what day it is! You know it took me an entire day just to cut the grass but it was SO enjoyable..... all the grass cuttings go on the compost heap and, further down the line, the compost goes on the vegetable plot. Nothing here will go to waste or end up on a landfill site, everything is either burnable or compostable. To the right is the town of Thurso (20 minutes in the car) and to the left is Sutherlandshire which is absolutely crammed with SPECTACULAR scenery. Watched the sun setting on the sea the other day and it was like a gigantic RED ball of flame that you could almost reach out and grab, have never seen anything like it....... awesome! Everywhere you go you see seals, rare birds and even the odd Whale! Coastal part is just packed with cliffs and caves and land part is mountainous and spectacular scenery. Waking up in the morning and looking out onto the hills is just fantastic.... the best place I have ever lived and the best place I have ever seen, for sure. You'd think the place would be pretty remote but, no, there are plenty of shops but not these shops you get in any old high street across the UK...... the shops are all little unique places with "tradition" and different being the norm.... some of the stuff you can pick up here you could never get in a city..... fresh fish at the harbour, Orkney cheese, Orkney potatoes, local produce all over the place and none of your pre-packed, plastic wrapped, emulsified, pastuerised, processed CRAP! I feel FITTER, healthier, got colour in my cheeks, bags more energy and all that in the space of one week. I dread to think what I'll be like in one year from now! The locals are so friendly and down to earth, a guy turns up at the door yesterday and invites me over to the Orkney Islands on his boat next Wednesday!!! "oh yes please!" was my answer. I got to meet him @ John o' Groats harbour and we're off for a days fishing and sightseeing on the Orkney Islands. This is the way it should be and there is NO way I'd ever want to go back to so called civilisation with all the inherent crap that goes with it. This is all about being at one with nature and using nature and giving back to nature...... I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, just to let you know I've cleared a path (with an axe in places) to the computer and am now officially back online All the best. Johnny!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2006 16:46:54 GMT
Good health, Johnny, er Mike. Being a keen birdwatcher myself, I'm envious. Good for you.
Slancha
Ian
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Jul 30, 2006 22:36:02 GMT
You've had your whole f**king life to think things over, what good's a few minutes more gonna do you now? (line from the Shining ) but why do i get more this picture when thinking of Mike and "Here's Johnny" in the same sentence ? Homer uses an axe to cut through the door just like Jack and screams "Here's Johnny!", before he realises that he has cut through the wrong doorDOH !!!!! ;D
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rickcr42
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Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Jul 30, 2006 22:38:28 GMT
mike meets the neighbors: resulting in:
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Jul 30, 2006 22:42:36 GMT
......then gets lost on the way back home with disastrous results !!!!! ...still looks pretty pissed though
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Post by PinkFloyd on Aug 1, 2006 0:47:59 GMT
Just thought I'd share a few pics of the back garden and my "fire" here's what I layed down over at HF: Hi Guys! As a kind of house warming I'd like to share my bonfire with you all!! Most of you probably didn't notice that I'd been offline for a while, the reason being I've just moved house, It's been a hectic few weeks but finally I can say that I've died and gone to paradise! Gone are the neighbours, gone is the stress, gone is the feeling of despair...... this place is making me So happy it's unbelievable!! My last "fire" was 30 odd years ago at school and it's just so good to be able to make a fire again without "neighbours" in your face. I'm at the most northerly point of bonny Scotland and let me tell you, it's absolutely beautiful up here like stepping back 100 years in time. The pace of life is so slow and clock watching is just not on the agenda. I'm living at the foothills of some pretty breathtaking mountains and all around me is pretty much a go as you please free zone. Beaches, cliffs, caves, seals, orka whales, puffins, birds of prey, frogs (yes a load of them in the garden!!)...... you name it, it's here! Just across the water are the Orkney Islands and I'm off over for the day on Wednesday, really looking forward to it. The people are just TERRIFIC and the most friendly I have EVER met. Doors here are left open 24/7 and the crime rate is ZERO. God, someone slap me! Am I dreaming? This time last year I really did think I was on my last legs with the alcohol and the only exercise I got was typing on a keyboard (seriously) Now I find myself feeling like a million dollars with a smile on my face and energy levels are at an all time high, I never thought I'd ever feel this good again my appetite for life has been restored and I just can't sit for more than 5 minutes I'm that keen and raring to get on with things! Bought a chainsaw (petrol) as there are a lot of trees that need felled so any tips from fellow chainsawers would be welcome! I don't want to spoil the happiness by sawing an arm off! It's all going to be pretty much self efficient with the trees being converted into logs for the open fires inside the building. It has oil central heating and electric heating but I may as well put the logs to good use in the open fires!! My plan is to spend the rest of this week logging and stacking up enough ready for the oncoming winter months where daylight begins at 10am and sunset is at 2pm (yes! 4 hours of daylight!) great at the moment where sunrise is at about 4am and sunset at midnight but best to think ahead! Sooooooooooo, any tips on logging, firestarting etc. most welcome. The cottage itself was built in 1899 with an extension added on in 1999. Walls are 3 foot thick (solid stone) and the building is generally in a first class state of repair. Acoustics are absolutely SPOT ON and there's plenty of room in the cottage so.................. once I'm fully settled in I'd love to throw one big party for any of you who may be in the hood! It'll be next summer now but I'd like to invite head-fiers from all around the globe to spend a few days listening to music and generally getting down with nature so keep this in mind if you're thinking of visiting Scotland next summer ok? Well, nuff said, I'm sleepy with all this uber fresh air and exercise so I'll hit the sack. Here are a few pics of the back garden and my bonfire, you can probably see why I'm so excited about this place!! All the best. Mike.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Aug 1, 2006 0:49:17 GMT
Just a bit! It's more the upheaval that was doing my head in...... all the paperwork, the boxes, the unpacking, not knowing where anything is, the changes of address notifications, change of doctor, change of "everything"....... in general though the actual "move" was totally stress free and chainsawing trees and getting down with nature really is helping to bust "any" stress that may be remaining. So much to see, so much to do I don't have time to think anything "negative" at the moment. I honestly thought the place would be a wilderness but, in all honesty, there's more to see and do here than any city I have ever lived in and the things to do are FREE and more enjoyable than all the mass market, processed "nights out" and policed politically correct venues.............. to hell with all that crap I'm going to burn my mobile phone and to hell with the supermarket "pile em high sell em low" lifestyle. This place has put a new perspective on what life is all about........ I shouldn't be sitting in some stuffy office biting my tongue in case I upset some politically correct moron, I should be out in the air making a fire, shooting rabbits and burning their arse on the fire for dinner in a caveman style! that's what men are SUPPOSED to do! It just feels so natural.. to hell with sitting in traffic jams..... stop / start, walk / don't walk, talk / don't talk, conform or be penalised.......... BOLLOCKS! I've had enough of that way of "life" they can take their rules and shove them up their arse sideways!
Yeh, moving can be stressful
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Post by PinkFloyd on Aug 1, 2006 0:50:08 GMT
Actually, the shops are only 15 mile away and they're the traditional type with everything you'll ever need and with produce and gear you will NEVER see in a city. Fresh lobsters at the harbour, locally grown potatoes, the best beef in the world, anything you want in fact. Thankfully there are NO fast food joints and no plans to have any apparantly, the local council here want to keep the place traditional and that's fine by me. To cram the place with fast food joints and "people" would be a travesty.... there's a fish and chip shop with the fish being landed straight out of the sea into the fish and chip shop...... cooked lobsters, crabs all types of seafood at everyday down to earth prices without the garnish (and x 10 price hike) so typically applied by restaurants in cities. Roads with no cars on them, no traffic lights, no police (in sight) you want a tree? chop the bugger down and the wood's yours for the taking. There's even a 20 mile section of peat bog so easy to gather peat for the fires. Her majesty the queen was up here the other day in her boat, there was a continetal traveling market and a huge cruiseliner anchored offshore packed with american tourists so it really is a pretty happening place with everything you'd ever require. 30 foot waves for surfing on, caves to explore and mowing the grass at 11pm at night in BROAD daylight is just incredible! 3 or four things in the pipeline business wise, may be (will be working on) a new kit amp, Will be doing some art (sculptures) and making some very nive walking canes out of some of the wood I chop. Plenty of ways of making a very good living here and one of them would be selling to tourist passing by the cottage (quite a lot of them) I don't want to limit myself to just one thing as there's so much here I can turn my hand to wheter it be selling the occasional log, selling some of my garden produce (next year), keeping the amp thing up and really getting into new designs in a big way....... so much to do and I wouldn't consider any of it a "job" more like an enjoyable pastime with the odd bit of money here and there. I definitely have no desire to get hooked by the money bug and as long as I have enough to pay the bills that'll do me! Not here to keep up with the joneses, I'm here to enjoy life with as little stress as possible. I may go fishing one day a week and sell the salmon locally, the next day I'll work on the amp, next day chop some logs, next day................... anything's possible the next day! depends on what I feel like doing. But, in answer to your question I'd like to focus, primarily, on the thing I enjoy most....... amps. Smallscale but top quality workmanship building each as if they were my own........ spose everything will become clearer once I've been here a while but, no problems making money, there's so much that can be produced from the garden along....... walking canes, logs, garden seats, vegetables, fruit, eggs (yep, getting a few outdoor hens once I build a run for them) Plenty of angles to look at
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 1, 2006 1:10:46 GMT
PETA is looking for you as we speak.There is something seriously twisted about getting cattle lit ! BTW-that cow is a friggin' bogart ;D
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Post by jelosno on Aug 1, 2006 15:35:51 GMT
For chainsaw operation there's nothing really special. A few things can make a difference though. - Wear eye protection. These woodpieces can reach incredible speeds and once they hit your eye... even when its closed -> BAD!
- If it is going rough wear protection gloves as well. But you must not loose the feeling for the saw (too thick gloves) otherwise you have no idea wat that thing is doing on its own. This can be a pain in winter since you want to wear nice thick & warm gloves....
- If you really go wild and you might not be sure if you can fully control that beast always cut from up do down AND wear - I don't know what it's called - a 'chainsaw apron'. It's like an apron with lots of strands (textile) on it. If the chain hits the strands they're being cought by the chainpieces and immediately jam the movement. Like a last resort power stall.
- Keep the chain well oiled with biodegradable oil, tensionded to manufacturer spec and if needed sharpen the chain or change it. Otherwise it can run too hot and snap -> no fun!
- For longer operation wear ear protection but NO HEADPHONES. You want to hear 'things coming'. That includes objects - human & others - approaching as well as things going a weird way with the chainsaw in the wood. Also any strange noise while the chainsaw is in idle might lead to a switch off and inspection.
We have a old farmhouse biuld in 1766 in southern Germany. Used to do a lot of wood cutting there. The old farmhouses there always had a little forrest piece as part of the property to have some supply for repairs on the house - which is a complete wood construction - as well as firewood for winter. To make it completely practical they always had a place at the local grave yard as well as a part of the whole 'package'. I never figured really what a defines a cottage as such. Yours looks like a proper 'house' to me. Or does cottage mean a house in the country?
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