I like Hammocks.

[No Idea]

He is crimping the bottom part of the stove..

Took a while to get him to understand that crimping all the way to the back would make it leak...

He is rubbing off the sharp edges and knurling it a bit.

He even managed not to cut himself

 

[No Idea]

Testing it time.

In with the meths

penny on and a little cotton wool to act as a wick...

Lifted it into the pencil holder with a long nosed pair of pliers without even dropping it once. Grr...Not admitting I dropped mine.

He fired it up first go with my firesteel that took 3 goes to light mine. Double Grrr....

He found those new pots I got...

He doesnt miss much.

 

[No Idea]

Its burning nicely, but could do with a shield...

er....the pencil holders paint....

Well....Hes happy - even if it does stink.

Probably because he blamed me for the smell.

The holder has goen out and its almost done.

That was him! Not me! Horrible sod was blaming me.

Just going out as it started to bubble. Its tap water and he doesnt do hot, so it will be fine.

Chocolate powder...

 

[No Idea]

Mc Donalds is a lot faster, but somehow it just doesnt feel the same.

 

[No Idea]

He found my roll of cloth.

Should have hid it better.

Wonder how he managed to blur his head.

 

[No Idea]

Hmmm....

Looks like hes found my new hammock stock too.

Zig zags....

er.....

Looks like Im about to run out of needles again.

That was it. He got bored and packed up.

Wonder how long it will be before he picks it up again.

 

[No Idea]

Im sort of having a feeling of disquiet.

I spent much of my childhood playing in the forests and woodland. Living on a farm helped. I sort of reached the stage where I was quite at home pretty much wherever I was. So long as I was warm, reasonably dry, had something to eat and nothing looked like it would fall on me...

However, I sort of started to have needs when I got married and had kids. Kids seem to need so much. They are supposed to sleep in a house when there is school in the morning. They are supposed to eat things out of fridges and packets. TV suddenly becomes a must.

I sort of collected all the junk they needed. I proved to be good at that. I like collecting junk.

Then I had a bit of a mishap. I sort of ran out of house and stuff. I had a 15 year old, a 6 yr old and an 18 month old baby, oh, and two aging lurchers.

I didnt have anywhere to go and the kids were all stuff dependant, with two at school. Would have helped if Id run out of stuff in the middle of a holiday...

I ended up camping in a friends spare room. I am deeply indebted to my friend.

However, it sort of bothered me that if I could mess up that badly once.....

I stopped working on the nice fluffy daydream that bad things only happen to horrible people, and that if anything were to happen to me and mine, someone would rescue us again....

The results were, to my mind, predictable.

The kids learned how to build camps, got used to sleeping out, learned how to build things out of scrap, learned how to camp with the stuff they actually remembered, hammocks, tarps, hobos....

Even took every opportunity to teach them how to build boats - just in case the melting icecaps do flood everywhere.

I thought I was doing rather well...

...until I read a website put together by a survivor of the American floods.

Ive sort of been collecting my essential valuables - like certificates and data and adding them to data pens to keep in my bags in case I have to leave in 10 minutes.

I was reasonably happy that I was getting pretty close to safe.

Then the Japanese earthquake and tsnami and power plants.....

I might just be feeling disquiet simply because I havent got any iodene in our kit.

I live on top of a hill, so thats not a problem.

Hmmm.....

Need to think about this.

 

[No Idea]

It wasnt raining and we had some time.

I wanted to go boating, so the kids decided that they wanted to go hammocking.

They won.

He ran down there first and picked the best spot again (not admitting that I wouldnt want it lol).

 

[No Idea]

Er....

I sort of wouldnt want to pitch on top of a bank like that.

He did squeak and grunt a lot as he discovered what tying hammock ropes around hawthorn is like.

Little one sneaked up on him and screamed BOOO !

Took a while for them to stop yelling at each other and the birds to return.

There were a lot of little yellow birds. Ive seen some like them in cages. I think they were called finches. Not sure if there are wild finches or if they are something else.

Was in my hammock looking at all these nice straight but bendy sticks....

Couldnt help wondering how easy it would be to bend some and lash them into the shape and tie some tarp to them.....

Wonder if it would sink before the other side of the lake...

Hmm... That wonder could get me into trouble.

Biggset found a hole and pitched his hammock in the bottom.

then started complaining because he couldnt get back out and the ground was boggy.

 

[No Idea]

I yelled at him thinking he was polluting the lake.

Turned out he was fishing for garden chairs.

Hes back on the top of the bank with his hammock tied to the hawthorne..

I think his fak will need more plasters. Seems his tweezers have vanished as well.

He was listening to music on his phone.

He leaned out under his hammock to jump a track..

He kept leaning.

There was a thump as he fell out.

there was a series of grunts as he rolled down the bank.

There was a splash.

Seems he forgot his towel.

I just couldnt stop laughing long enough to take a pic.

He wasnt very happy.

He pitched his hammock over some flat ground.

 

[No Idea]

Er....no.

It wasnt a fish.

Think I need to work on their tracking skills.

There was this plane.

Er...

I want to find out who I should complain to as they go too fast for me to get a pic.

I like it here.

I thought he was packing up....

Well... until the smoke started drifting past.

 

[No Idea]

It sort of ran out of smoke.

He is good at grumbling.

Wonder if he put the tinder on top of the fuel again.

I know I shouldnt laugh....

He has just worked out why he shoulnd light his hobo stove under his hammock.

Er.....

It seems that you should always make sure the ground under your hobo is flat.

If its not, you can always hit it with your knuckles until it is.

Seems he wants my plasters now.

I cant help wondering what he did with his little shovel.

Maybe thats got plasters on it too.

 

[No Idea]

I am astonished that my knowledge of how to use these stoves is so lacking.

They teach me stuff everytime they use them.

He put some twigs in it...

Then some lollypop sticks....

Then some paper....

Then his coke can burner...

Then he squirted it all with meths....

Then he stuffed in some cotton wool...

...and borrowed my firesteel as he er.... mislplaced his.

Not sure about this...

Er....

Not sure if I want to go run away...

 

[No Idea]

I really thought you should either use twigs or the meths.

When I came out of hiding....

Turns out his meths stove had lit.

Never thought of setting fire to everything around it to warm up the meths.

Still...

Im not a gruntager.

The little one is screachy because his stove keeps going out.

The older one keep strying to get him to squirt meths on it while its still glowing...

the little one is squeaking because bits of mud and moss keep hitting the back of his head....

I end up banning the older one for firing stuff.

Pigging kids.

OI !

Thats my stove !

Seems his wouldnt stay alight and I had cooked my hot chocolate.

Er....

I would have tipped the soup into the mug...

Wouldnt have occurred to me to put the can of soup in the mug and then putting the whole lot on the fire.

 

[No Idea]

He is fishing for garden chairs too.

He got one!

Then whinged because it was wet.

Er....

No Idea what he was doing.

Biggest is whinging that hes cold. Er.... falling in the lake can do that to you.

Littlest is educating me on how to fold up a hammock for transport.

Seems you tie it in a nice big knot.

This would be a lovely spot if it wasnt so noisy and smokey.

 

[No Idea]

My biggest is 16.

He has just announced he wants to buy a tractor. This has caught me out. I havent had anything to do with tractor driving for 20 years or so.

He says you can still drive a tractor at 16.

I said the insurance would be astronomical on a provisional license.

He has got a quote for less than I pay for the car.

Can he really just apply for a provisional tractor license, buy and insure one and go driving?

Is it really that simple?

 

[charleslockerbie]

http://www.ukdrivers.com/Tractor%20Tests.asp

You can drive a tractor on the road at 16, but only if you’ve passed the DSA Tractor Driving Test. You can drive a tractor to and from the driving test appointment ,but you can’t practise on the road. At 17, however, you can drive any tractor unaccompanied on the road as long as you display L-plates.

New stuff is still a great read No Idea, Hope your feeling better.

 

[No Idea]

Thank you CharlesLockerbie

Looks like I might have a reprieve for a while then.

He still struggles with the green cross code.

Glad to hear Im not getting boring.

I am getting better. Its taking me a while.

Ive been to the gym half a dozen times and very gently just stretched a bit more each time.

I still cant even walk that far though. No puff.

Headaches are a lot better and Im not feeling dizzy all the time.

Decided to test how much I had improved yesterday.

Seems Ive not improved quite as much as I thought.

Still....

Thats a disaster story for another day lol.

 

[No Idea]

It was a glorious day.

The sun was shining, the wind was about 7mph, the temperature was about 14C.....

The kids decided that it wasnt a good day to go skateboarding as last time they went, biggest managed to fall off a half pipe and fire his board into the back of littlests head.

Biggest decided he wanted to go to the beach and break pebbles with a large gate bolt. No Idea why, thats just what he wanted to do.

Littlest who hasnt wanted to sail his boat since he made his new sails, decided that he wanted to go sailing.

Im sitting there thinking, first trip out for 6 months...Hes going to drown - or hit a ferry - or both.

Still...

Sometimes you have to just learn how to er.....

Pray.

 

[No Idea]

Once he threw his boat together, he took it for a walk.

Er...not sure why, but then Im not 11.