Blogfromthebarn

Saturday is officially deflation day, literal and metaphorical


Deflation the first
Off early on Saturday morning in the mud and the gunge for our usual bike ride, a circuit of around 11 miles of bridlepaths and heathland with some tough uphill slogs and a couple of joyful downhill scrambles.


About 8 miles in I started feeling very mushy around my rear end, getting the wheel off and the tube replaced was incredibly filthy work but not technically taxing, re-inflation was a different matter. I've a CO2 inflator which saves me carrying a pump, it's never been used in anger (and still hasn't) the "simply twist the cartridge into place and release the gas with the attached valve" took me a vice and two mole wrenches when I finally got home. My co-mudplugger Graham had a pump,albeit a purely decorative one, or so it turned out. We aborted the ride and cadged a lift back to the farm for a shower and bacon sandwiches (sequentially not concurrently). I hold to the belief that failing to burn off the calories doesn't necessarily mean they don't need replacing.

Deflation II
A solo guitar lesson, no ChaCha so a whole hour of absolute and total concentration on my inability to play any rhythym on the guitar which doesn't sound like "when I'm cleaning windows" I appear to have two options, lots of practice or restrict my repertoire to 'The hits of George Formby"


The final deflation
A physical afternoon, repairing a broken floodlight, lawn mowing, gutter cleansing (that's fun) and chainsawing and removing a dead tree which fell last week. I hate starting chainsaws, I think its a rhythm thing again but I always end up bathed in sweat, probably too much detail for those of you with delicate sensibilities. I hauled off the carved up tree in the Gator, a little diesel truckette with 6 balloon type tyres, How I managed to puncture a third of them driving across a lawn and a bit of the wood with a total absence of pointness is a bit of a mystery.
Ah, autumn,season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. The tree made a delightful bonfire, it's a classic autumnal scene, the singing of birds, the evocative smell of woodsmoke, the alluring scent of a sweaty lumberjack and the gentle hiss of deflating agricultural machinery.

posted by Stuffy @ 3:26 pm