Yeah - Kermit passed the MOT

Kermit got through his MOT yesterday - only two dodgy rear brake pipes to replace - well chuffed, £90 all in.

Changed enigine oil, and for a change I decided to do it by the book and measure out the quantities - so how come it was above the level? Dropped about 1/2 ltr out and level was fine. Went to put tools away and whats this?! The new oil filter sat in it's box atop the tool box - Buggar! Hence the 1/2 ltr over fill still in the old filter. What a tw@t!

Changed transfer box fluids. Worried that there seems to be lots of oil around the sump and bottom of the bell housing. Cleaned it up and will check later to see if I can spot where it's coming from.

Need to look into getting another plant sprayer or even and oil pump, to get the ATF into the gear box, - was there ever a more awkward place for a filler point - answers on a post card.

I plan to do the diffs this morning before the rains that are due this afternoon.

We now appear to have 1 pet cray fish - kept in a bucket as we lost one from the home made net. Checked the net when I walked the dogs this morning and there was nothing in there - moved the net further down the river a bit. Cray fish 1 may require a name at this rate

Max mounted and locked into next doors bitch. Scary moment - when they finally parted it looked like she'd try to suck the whole of his bits and anything attached out of the poor sod. Not a nice picture - big boy though! Things quickly settled down and back into place - he will however be kept well away from her from now on - not up here for that sort of anxious adventure. And besides, I don't need another vet bill, a trip to the vets is always welcome though, gorgeous vet called Alistair over there

Rewire of Olive may start tomorrow - any help appreciated

Right - off to get all greased up - oooer missus

how to use a shepherds whistle

I was searching for just such a thing and came across this and it amused me so much I had to share it.


HOW TO USE A SHEPHERD'S WHISTLE

I am a firm believer in putting the cart before the horse. I name puppies before they're conceived. I
train dogs to release on command before the dog has anything to be released from. And I'm learning to
use a shepherd's whistle before I step into the arena with my dog.

I'm well acquainted with handling dogs with whistles. With hunting dogs, we use good old Acme
Thunderer whistles. They're loud enough to scare away innocent bystanders for miles. You can't vary
the tone much with the Thunderers, so it's all in the whistle pattern. For example, with my Brittany a
short, sharp "PWEET!" means "get going." A quick "PWEET-PWEET!" means "Look back at me--I want
you to cast in a different direction." A long, steady "PWEEEEEEET!" means "Come back, we're packing it
in. Don't you ignore me! I KNOW you're not deaf--come back here!! HEY!"

But with a shepherd whistle, tone is everything. For example, "puh-WHEEE" means "Away." "Toot, toot,"
means "walk up." "Schlurrrgh" means "My whistle is full of spit."

For my fellow beginners, here's how to use a shepherd's whistle:
1) Place whistle in mouth and clench it between your teeth. Blow.
2) Take out the whistle and look at it really, really hard. Repeat step (1).
3) Pick whistle off ground. Place lanyard around neck and repeat step (1).
4) Rinse off whistle. Repeat step (1)
5) Get in car and drive far away from angry family.
6) Repeat step (1)
7) Wipe spit off steering wheel. Repeat step (1)
Look around triumphantly when you produce an ear-piercing "screeeeeeet"
9) Shout (in a fake Scottish accent), "Lie dooon! Lie dooon, dammya!"

Congratulations! You are now ready to compete in money trials at the Novice level.

By Judy Menown

Hoorrah!

Yesterday Dave (who seemed more active - take that as you will), and I went on a jolly shopping exhibition to Northallington.
On the list where lubes for kermit, a couple of plant sprayers...

(pause - fook me! Dave's just asked me if I want a brew "just looking after your needs")

Any way, found a lube shop and got some more bits for Olive too. Then we went on a explore of a farm suppliers - fook me was that an Alladins cave - came away with amongst other things a shepherds whistle.

In the garden centre we eventually tracked down a plant sprayer with hose an nossel. The annoying thing about this is I have 2 at home just for this purpose. One is for EP90 and the other ATF. Makes refilling those arkward parts, gearbox, axles etc, so much easier. And 2 because it is not recommended that you contaminate one sort of lubricant with another.

So a complete fluid change may happen on Kermit today - hopefully James will come over and give me a hand while Dave potters about on the farm.

Hoorrah!
Dave and I have been planning a bit of Cray fish trapping over the last few days, and on our shopping jolly yesterday we aquired all the bits we thought we'd need to make a Cray fish trap, like a lobster pot but longer.

Anyway, after much trimming and folding of garden netting and mmuch use of the savour of the world ie cable ties, we finally had what we thought would make a great cray fish pot. ]

With the addition of a modified sugar shaker as a bait holder we set of down to the beck at about 10 last night. With both of wearing head lights we must of looked like a right couple of porchers - a worry for Dave apparently.

This morning: Beutiful sunny day - best yet infact, Dave and I set of to take the dogs, Max and Buffy, for a walk and to see if we'd actually been successful.

Hoorrah! upon sliding down the bank of the river and trawling in our Cray Contraption we thought at first we'd not actually got anything but on further inspection, sitting there under one of the funnel ends was a small cray fish - it works, and buggar! I'd not got my camera with me, pictures will follow however.

No picture - it never happened, my motto