Monthly Archives: January 2017

Chicks Away!

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Most years I put some chicken eggs into an incubator to add to our flock that provide us with eggs and meat. This year I might try to set up a “chick cam” (somehow I feel that’s not going to … Continue reading →

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First batch fermenting nicely

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Just a quick photo of the first batch of beer made in the beer shack fermenting away nicely in my fermentation cabinet despite the cold temperatures outside.

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A mangled mangle

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Whilst clearing out the barn to allow space for the scaffolding, I came across the remains of this mangle, hidden away behind some other stuff that must have been there years: I wonder if they provided mangling services to Wile … Continue reading →

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YM1510D battery addendum

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

Once the old battery was removed and cleaned off, this useful part of the label became visible: The replacement battery I purchased claims to be 48Ah and has a CCA figure of 430, so looks to be a more than … Continue reading →

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Yanmar YM1510D tractor battery replacement

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

I have a Yanmar 1510D compact tractor, brought into the UK as a grey import. It’s a great little thing. Does lots of stuff that anything larger would just be too big for. The battery is giving up the ghost … Continue reading →

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Tearing the heart out of music

Posted on January 22, 2017 by james

My daughter likes to listen to Heart FM for reasons I’ve never quite felt the desperation to get to the bottom of, so it’s often what the car radio is set to when we go anywhere. I’m not a big … Continue reading →

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First brew in the beer shack

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

The conversion of my stainless pots to brewing vessels still awaited, so with the beer shack at the point of usability (by some definition — there’s still no water supply) and my old boiler repaired I had to go for … Continue reading →

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Quad Erat Demonstrandum

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

They’re all the rage at the moment, obviously, but I’ve always fancied having a remote controlled aircraft since I used to make model aeroplanes as a child. I recall a rubber-powered balsa wood biplane that I made with my dad … Continue reading →

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Barn roofing project

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

We have a barn that I believe was at some point in its life used for threshing grain, though it shows signs of having been extended a number of times and may not originally have had that purpose: Over the … Continue reading →

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Life in the old boiler yet…

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

I’d given up on the old boiler I used to use for brewing when the thermostat died. When I initially checked, to replace it was going to cost almost as much as a new boiler. Some time after it failed … Continue reading →

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