Barkeep's Blog - Vollsanger: February 2022

Monday, 28 February 2022

28th February 2022 - Rain Stops Play

Thought for the day :"Patient in hospital just moans about the nurses, the food, the ward, everything. The doctors say that they remain critical."

Day 6 of the war in Ukraine and they are still holding the Russians back - but not for much longer I fear.

Fuel costs in the UK are showing over £1.50 a litre - £1.56 for Diesel so filled up at our local for £1.50 for diesel before things get too silly.

Saw this posted on another page.

For anyone that’s confused about what’s happening in Russia and Ukraine, here it is in layman’s terms:
-Ukraine used to be in an abusive relationship with Russia, feeding him, letting him use her car, paying for the coffee etc and giving him whatever he asked for until she built up the confidence to call it quits back in 1991.
-Since then, Ukraine has been working on herself, becoming a strong independent woman with help from friends like France, America, Poland, and others. They give her support, loan her money, and are helping her find her way.
-Ukraine has been enjoying being single for 30 years and looking forward to continuing to grow and create new friendships.
-Now Russia, being the toxic ex that he is, wants her back, and doesn’t want her meeting new people or creating any new relationships as this impacts the level of power and control he can exert over her.
-A couple of weeks ago Russia started sitting out the front of Ukraine’s house & when her friends ask him what was he doing there, he said “Oh nothing, just getting a little bit of exercise in, that’s all.”
-After her friends told her that Russia was potentially getting ready to do something bad to her, he said “They’re lying, they just want you to be scared of me and that’s not what it is.”
-Yesterday Russia broke into Ukraine’s house, beat her up & “took advantage” of her while live-streaming and double dog dared any of her friends to do something about it. She’s still waiting for help.

I didn't write this but it is an interesting analogy.

Did not go outside today other than a trip to the local shop, but fiddled around with some wiring that needed tidying up - and sorting out the speakers in the living room. After changing the tack plug and rewiring four times it is all working but I have no understanding of the circuit that makes it work - it follows no logical system - but it works and has a lot of insulation tape around the joins so I will leave it at that.

Also set up the OBS live streaming system and put a couple of experimental broadcasts out to see how they worked. Again - it is a work in progress as it is not looking as I want it - but we will get there - a little perseverance I think .. Rome wasn't built in a day.

And so ..
Cheers !

Sunday, 27 February 2022

27th February 2022 - Sold a Trailer and Cleared more of the Lower Quarter

Thought for the day :"Someone keeps hiding little notes around my house signed "E." I have no idea who it is. I guess it's just a Mr E. "

Well today was the end of an era for us - First the Bothy went and today we said goodbye to our faithful Box Trailer - the Drunken Monk Wagon...

She owed us nothing and had done sterling work moving us from Llanelli to Fffynnon Wen but had got to the stage where we were wondering why we were keeping her except for nostalgia. Indeed, the last time I tried to back her into the drive it took so many attempts and we had to unhook in the end to get her in.

Granted that she was useful to store a number of items including our Honda caterpillar truck - but it seemed the right time to put her on the market. Advertised her on local Facebook sites for £1,500 and probably could have held out for the price - I had three people interested but in the end took £1,400 in notes ...

But buyer cam at half past ten this morning and so we agreed a price - I had to take her out to the laybye as his truck would not have managed the turn by the Dragon - and we had to unload all the "stuff2 that was in the trailer.

And that was my day then - to find places for all that storage - the Burgundian tent - the sun sail, the caterpillar truck - which still will not run !! and lots of other "stuff" ... But it is all now put into the sheds in some sort of orderly fashion - though I have two vacuum cleaners that I need to dispose of and a Vax which we probably need to keep- but also need to find somewhere to keep it..

So that was my day - and Tby kept me company most of the day. 'Thena came out for a while and they had enough exercise to justify not taking for a walk - that would have been one step to far for me today!

Meanwhile 'Thean decided that she could push through the gate into the chicken run to feast on the chicken food everywhere - ad probably the chicken poo whish is also very tasty apparently. Sadly this meant that as she got in the Chickens all got out and had a good day free - ranging in the paddock. They enjoyed - but we had to put them back in as the Avian Flu restrictions are still with us and they are not meant to be out.

So we have an extra piece of gate over the Chicken entrance to stop 'The pushing her way in..

Of course Susie was in the lower quarter as all this was happening - and she has done a sterling job of clearing huge areas of Brambles - the areas we did not complete last year as well as trimming the cleared areas... And so we found another path and some rock outcrops which may prove to be an interesting addition in due course...

In other news - Putin just put nuclear deterrents on highest readiness, Ukraine claims that it has managed to push back the Russian invasion, Putin claims that the West is illegally putting in sanctions, Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia are agreed on the border with Belarus before they bring their troops to play, EU gives No - Fly rules over EU air space, SWIFT financial facilitates are removed from many Russian Banks, Assets are frozen, and the Comedian that became a President in Ukraine is becoming a Hero as he leads his resistance against all the odds....

Rumour is that all young Russian recruits captured are being allowed to phone home to say that they are safe - what a wonderful way of passing information about what is really happening back to Russia while their own Media will not talk of war or invasion and claims that the "military action" is to free the Russian separatists int he east of Ukraine from the despotic and (interestingly as he is Jewish) Neo Nazi leadership.

So far it seems that Putin underestimated the Comedian in Kyiv... Up to 7 million families are on the move looking for safety. Past politicians are giving on line videos of how to make petrol bombs and every man from 18 to 60 is being recruited into the resistance ...

Sad times... Looking at families who only a few days were worried about their children's schooling and fuel prices, and are now under missile attack, fleeing to strange countries with no money and leaving their loved ones behind to fight an possibly die... Sad times indeed ...

I have not checked all the information but most of this seems to be a good summary of the historical background to the current situation ...

So, back to our oasis of calm... I liked the mural that Steve Jenks has done in Llanelli...

Cheers !

Saturday, 26 February 2022

26th February 2022 - Windy - & Raised Strawberry Beds

Thought for the day :"Entered my photo of Orion’s Belt into a local competition. I didn’t win, but I did get a constellation prize.."

A sunny, bright but chilly day at the homestead. Early trip to Newcastle Emlyn with the intention of getting a new screwdriver bit and screws from local wood store - forgot it was a Saturday and that they were closed. Went to local building supplies as an alternative and found more expensive (I think) but enough to keep the screwdriver running..

Susie chipped her tea mug this morning - so part of my challenge was to find a replacement pair of matching mugs for our tea .. not so easy in NE as there is very little around. Having given up I chanced to pass by the local Greyhound Dog Rescue Charity shop and saw two Welsh Dragon Mugs set for St David's Day (or the international rugby this afternoon). Called in to check if they were cash only (as they were) which was sad as I only had card.

Back in the Landie and found that I had put a bag of spare money into a Doggy Pooh Bag - so managed to go back and buy a matching pair...

Also got some white spirit to experiment a little more with my baked bean can fire lighters for the Tavern.... not from the Charity Shop - from the Builder's suppliers..

Meanwhile, Susie has been cleaning the windows on her Greenhouse and planting lots of "stuff".

My task of the day was to complete the raised strawberry bed frame from broken pallets.. which was finally achieved

Windy day - and had to repair the flag staffs - may last another night ...

Cheers !

Friday, 25 February 2022

25th February 2022 - War tastes of Strawberry

Thought for the day :"On my first day as a delivery driver for Mr Kipling I had to do an emergency stop! Fortunately the lorry had exceedingly good brakes..."

Day two of the Russian invasion of Ukraine today and the news is getting worse - a full scale invasion - but we really did not expect anything less...

Some information for posterity ...

This is why Ukraine matters.
It is the largest country by area in Europe, and has a population of over 40 million. 

Ukraine ranks:
1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);
2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)

Ukraine is an important agricultural country:
1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);
1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
5th largest rye producer in the world;
5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
8th place in the world in wheat exports;
9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
16th place in the world in cheese exports.
Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.

Ukraine is an important industrialised country:
1st in Europe in ammonia production;
Europe's 2nd’s and the world’s 4th largest natural gas pipeline system;
3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
3rd largest iron exporter in the world
4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
4th place in the world in clay exports
4th place in the world in titanium exports
8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
9th place in the world in exports of defence industry products;
10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).

Ukraine matters . That is why its independence is important to the rest of the world.

Somber thoughts ...

In other news ...

Weather good for a change and quite bright ..
Extra BT Mesh arrived and installed int he bedroom which provides a good signal out to the tavern.
Getting 20MB download which is pretty good and 7-8MB upload which is as good as in the house.
Should be able to stream with those figures - another step forward.

Took a long walk with the dogs today and got completely lost in the fields but managed to power through the brambles to find the river and get back on track - dogs seemed to enjoy ...

Susie cleared her strawberry beds and put up the bits of Bertha that will form the base for her waist height strawberry beds this year - ordered the grow bags on line so I have to break some more pallets to provide the base for the beds...

Cheers !

Thursday, 24 February 2022

24th February 2022 - A day in the Garden

Thought for the day :"-- --- .-. ... . is morse for morse"

A good day out in the garden. Temperature pretty cold but hard work meant that it was a mainly shirt sleeve day.

Broke a pallet to start the day and converted it into 2 x 1 batons. Used these to make a base for the stage tarpaulin so that it has a weight to keep it down and also will assist for rolling up when not in use.

Used the remaining batons to reinforce the rat proofing of the chicken area. We could see where the rats were chewing through the wooden frame so I used chicken wire mesh to go all around the base - with a fold under for the ground cover and then used the batons to fix to the walls so nothing can get through.

Put a couple of extra perches for the peacocks - having seen that they one was broken and another looked as though it could be used. also did another perch for the Chickens in Brahma's pen. The other one had broken and I was not sure that she could perch properly.

Last pieces used to repair the gate to the Chicken run .. but managed to ruin the last screwdriver bit so will need to buy more screws before I can do any more with the screwdriver.

One pallet down

Then spent an hour with Susie attacking the brambles by the upper spring - the area that we cleared last year and also into the area that we did not get to.

Meanwhile Susie has cleaned the glass on the Green house - a mammoth task - it is a lot larger than you think. She has used the sulphur bombs to clear the spores and planted lots of things. Put some electrics down there so we can used the planters and propogators down there.

She has plenty of seeds so she is in her happy place.

My aching bones say that we had a successful day in the garden...

Cheers !