Yay, I posted a picture!

Ok, so I finally got that right! Turns out to be very simple, I was just being stupid! Can't seem to figure out how to post several pictures at a time from my phone though so will have to settle with making individual posts for individual photos until I get a new computer sorted....

Around Chistmas time I discovered the joys of homebrew. I started off with making some ales using kits and then decided to try a few different wine kits. My plan was to get to understand the process before having a go at a full mash beer made completely from scratch and indeed, to make wine from scratch also. But, it turns out the kits are very very good. Not only are they great fun to make, but taste excellent and work out to be very cheap. The wine works out around £1 per bottle compared to the £5 or so that you pay in the shop and the beer turns out at around 35p per pint compared to £3 per pint in the pub!!! Madness, why are more people not making their own booze?!
I recently bottled 40 pints of lager which I made using a Morgan's 'Blue Mountain' lager kit. I am looking forward to trying it when it has matured some and will of course let you all know how it tastes! Once I bottled it all I realized 40 pint bottles take up a lot of space, therefore I decided to make myself a beer crate that looks like those old wooden beer crates you sometimes see in auction rooms. I used wood that I salvaged from a wooden shipping pallet and purposely left some nails protruding which I then bent over with the hammer to give that 'old' look! Anyway, it does the job at least, holding 20 of my 40 pint bottles. Now to make another for the remaining bottles!!

Pictures to follow..

My canoe

Ok, here is my second attempt at posting a photo from my phone. You
should hopefully be able to see one of my wooden canoes if this has
worked. If it doesn't work this time I will have to try something else!

Has it really been that long!?

I can't believe it's been over a year since I last posted to my blog! A lot has happened since my last post, including taking up a new hobby, getting a pet rabbit and probably the most significant - we've moved to a new house. So I no longer live at cottage number 9 which is one of the reasons I never continued my blog. I am now considering starting it back up though, and can't decide whether to keep it as it is or try to rename it or indeed whether to start a new blog altogether.

So a year ago we moved from our beautiful cottage in the country to a modern 3 bedroom semi-detached in town. It seemed like a great idea at the time but I really do miss the cottage. For me it was more than just moving house, it was a lifestyle change too. I miss the vast amount of space that we had outside, now we have a small enclosed garden surrounded by other gardens and over looked by no less that 4 houses!!! I want my privacy back! I am grateful for what I have though and am lucky to have my wife and children,and a roof over our heads. I think we will stay here for a fw years before hopefully moving back to a similar property to where we were living before.

One good thing about moving into town is that we have a river running right through the middle of it, very handy for my new hobby - canoeing! I recently bought 2 wooden canoes and absolutely love to escape. Living in such a small country we are never far from civilization but the few hours out on the river feel like I am in my own little world, miles from anyone.

I have also started making my own wines and beers from kits. I initially started doing this to save money but I actually rathe enjoy doing it and the end product is as good as, if not better than, any shop bought wine or beer. I recently bottled 40 pints of lager and yesterday I made a crate for some of the bottles using an old shipping pallet. I also have at the moment 30 bottles of wine clearing ready to be bottled.

So I'm keeping busy, that's for sure! I will try to keep up with my blog now that I have figured out how to post from my iPhone!

Easter Bank Holiday

We are having a very lazy day here at number 9 today. Amelia has watched around three movies which is doing my head in.. Why do girls have to like musicals so much?!!!!

I know a way to get her attention though. I decided to tie some flies this afternoon ready for the next fishing trip and as always, Amelia wanted to have a go. It's great that she's interested and I gently encourage her, she hasn't been fishing yet but now the weather is warming up she will be able to come out with me on the boat.

I left the house at 7 o'clock this morning and jumped in my van for the 15 minute drive to Eyebrook Reservoir. Jimmy and I bought our fishing tickets, paid for the boat and booked ourselves in. A quick coffee in the fishing lodge and then out we went to tackle up and load the boat. The weather was overcast but calm, a very nice morning in fact - especially considering we nearly didn't go due to the weather forecast...

We had to wait until half past 8 before boats were allowed out and we were the first to leave! Jimmy knew exactly where to take us...

We arrived at our fishing spot and dropped the anchor. I started with a Diawl Bach while Jimmy started with a Buzzer. We both caught our first fish at the same time, within 10 minutes of dropping anchor! It wasn't long before I had another and Jimmy had another 2!
The fish seemed to stop feeding for a while after that before picking up again an hour or so later. It rained on and off during the day but nothing too bad - at least the wind stayed down! In all Jimmy caught 8 fish and I caught 6. I lost 2 fish that managed to spit the hook out as I was bringing them in and I also missed quite a few pulls... Jimmy also missed a few. 4 of mine were caught on Diawl Back with 2 being caught on bloodworm. Jimmy's were caught on Diawl Bach, and buzzers.

At around half past 4 we hadn't caught any fish for an hour or so and it was starting to rain heavily so we headed back to the lodge. We both had a great day and I was impressed with my first visit to Eyebrook Reservoir. I hope to catch many more fish there in the future but one things for sure, if I'm to continue boat fishing I need to invest in a boat seat with a backrest!

My pallet wood workbench.

Last week my dad kindly gave me a number of wooden pallets so that I could use the wood from them. I have several projects which I need wood for including the edging for my veggie patch, a chicken coop and I also need to fix my gate which the wood will be useful for. The first thing I have built though is a workbench. I should really have sanded down each plank before I started but I'm too lazy!! I quickly sanded down the edges only and then got the box of screws out!

First I made the legs and screwed the sides onto them. I reused the blocks from the pallets as well to give the legs some strength.

I then selected planks of the same thickness to use for the top. I screwed them on using four screws for each plank - two at each end. Rather than drilling pilot holes I gently tapped the screw into the wood with a hammer before screwing it in the rest of the way. I also added at this stage a plank at each end between the legs for added support.

Once all of the top planks were secure I simply measured the width and marked a line down each side leaving a 5 inch overhang on either side. I then cut along the lines removing the ends to leave me with nice straight edges.

Next, I screwed three planks on the leg supports going the length of the table. This adds more rigidity at the same time as providing a ledge for my toolbox!

And that's it, my free workbench all finished. It took me a few hours but you could do it quicker if you have a cordless screwdriver.. I don't own one so had to do it the old fashioned way screwing each screw into the wood by hand.