11th January 2014 - Of the Uses of Tarpaulins

Another wet and windy day yesterday...   Not as blowy as previously experienced, and in fairness the heating went back onto timing for the first time in a month or so. But the chicken have been suffering!! The storms had ripped the roofing on the chicken coup, and the chip board was suffering, and leaking badly in the joints....  An attempt to stay the damage had been partially successful, with plastic sheeting draped over the sections, loaded down with bricks, but the clips ( stolen from Bertha ) had done their damage and ripped the plastic in a number of places. The flapping also seemed to scare the birds a little, meaning that in the breeze they were fairly reluctant to return to the cover of the chicken house...

And so - the trip to Wilkinsons - to find a tarpaulin... sadly not the right size. Trip to B & Q had a similar result.. The 3 x 4 meter versions were not to be found.. But for a few pounds more, a double size tarp was available - and a few cable ties.....

Which brings us to the problem of how to drag a double size tarp - needing to be double folded, over the top of a 3m x 3m roof, that is not very safe - 8ft high.... The roof itself was not very strong it must be said - but the frame was constructed by Susie. Had it been built by me it would not have survived this long ..  but in the mild rain - with some fairly surprised looking chickens clucking around the ladder, I managed to crawl around the side frame - and get the tarp into place...   clipped and cable tied....

Hopefully - they have a warm and dry night ....  we will see..

So on the subject of tarpaulins - it seems that there is almost a science in how to present your trap - if you are thinking of camping.. I feel almost tempted to go and buy another tarp just to experiment - though may wish to wait until I have a little more space to experiment.

Never knew there were so many ways to fold a tarpaulin. Bet you cannot fold it more than 7 times though!!

On the subject of field craft, on a similar location I found two other interesting tips for the traveller...

The first related to deciding how much daylight is left during the day by using the fingers of the hand. It still doesn't tell me how my wife knows it will rain within twenty minutes - just enough time to get all the canvass put under cover when on event in the past. But it always worked ...

This is a handy tip and way to gather up the extra strings on the tent - another little tip that I do not really need now I have the Bothy ..

Hoping for some news about the Bothy next week ..  Looks a little sad with the engine out and the front off it - sitting in the garage....

Maybe I should cover it up with a tarpaulin !!!

And a final thought for the day ...
A friend has just ordered a Chicken and an Egg from Amazon ... I will let you know....