We’re getting a bit EU mad.

My house is a ‘project’ as many of you know – it’s getting there, but I’ve been putting my efforts into the garden lately, as I’m so lucky to have one and who doesn’t prefer being outside? (Plus I’ve been able to do it myself, rather than pay someone 🙂 )

Made best mates with the lady at B&Q that reduces plants to 10p, grown some stuff from seed, and this is the result. It really makes me happy to spend time in it – small, but mine, and today, sunny.

Feel free to post something that’s making you happy 🙂

2 years ago.

Start of this year

Now

Bear necessities that is a lovely garden. We’re still waging war with ours after nearly ten years in the house but it’s a place of much fun and happiness.

Today two and a half hours out on the bike on my own on some favourite trails in a year where riding time has been far too little and as an added bonus it piddled it down 30 seconds after I climbed back into the car (not happy about the rain but the luck in missing the rain was good for a change). Perfect timing! 😆

The new Cult of Luna album. Other than that: Nothing.

Nice garden, by the way.

Looking good BN, keep up the good work fella.

😀 – only your first pic popped up for a minute or two. I was trying to think of something nice to say

Nice job,

What makes me happy ?

Getting away from the 10 a penny instant economist on FB by doing a bit of labour in the garden, built a concrete step for the boilerhouse and then bled my rear brakes on my nomad in preparation for Morzine in 10 days

Nice garden there Bear 🙂

An imminent new bike purchase, current alcohol level and my wife are the top 3 on my making me happy list 😀

Edit – not necessarily in that order 😆

Nice garden!

Miles away from where I want ours to be, but here is ours… It’s quite down the list of priorities, so progress is slow.
Sorry for the rubbish pic, but taken through the windows just now in low light with interior lights reflecting off the glass (and the camera on my tablet is rubbish)

And probably a bit cliched, but here is the actual thing I have been putting most effort into and what currently makes me happy. Our 8 month old daughter, Chloe…

I wish mine looked that neat! Ours is a bigger, longer project. 🙁

When we bought the house I had no idea I had a compost heap – let alone one 10’x6′. So far we have had five small trees and one large birch brought down, cut away a skip load of fruit trees that grew though the greenhouse roof (and over, burying the thing), multiple stumps, relaid lawn and continue to fight weeds…

And probably a bit cliched

No, it’s bang on topic! Chloe’s smiling mush is awesome 🙂

Went to the funfair today with my son, couldnt get him to bring any mates, so I had to go on the rides, bit like this bloody thing

Always been too scared that they’re gonna fall to bits, but it was briiliant. And bumper cars and the shonkiest ghost train evah! and much pissings down with rain whilst playing crazy (oh yes) golf. 😀

😆

That smiling mush is topped off at the moment with some teeny toothy pegs just coming through!
She’s a little star…

Grass is starting to look good. New extension to the decking is looking settled. Overall happy!

Mind you real reason i am happy us this wee pudding .. 2 weeks old today!

Does anyone want some ground elder seeds?

I have a larch and two rowans that need choppychoppy.

A pile of cuttings that needs transported.

A million sparrows, associated hawk. Tawney owl. The usual tits etc.

And amidst the wilderness….

That Aphex Twin asked a visually impaired autistic twelve year old kid to make a music video, a video so good Warp decided it didn’t need any extra editing thus giving the lad full credit. Not that fussed with the track, but the video is awesome:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEP-Qpw3lHg[/video]

JnrOath got a Mr potato head. We’ve had great fun adding “bum tongues”. 😀

You need some trees Stevemuzzy.

Whats making you happy?

Thanks to Underworld on Iplayer from Glastonbury I’m starting to come round a bit from the shock and dismay of the result. I wouldn’t go quite as far to say I’m happy but I have to admit the restorative power of music is damn fine, especially when played so loud that I feel the bass penetrate every cell in my body, God bless KRK speakers & subwoofers…………and blue tack!, I need that to stick my drink to to the table as it bounced off during “king of snake”., along with everything else on a flat surface in the room. Never before had the system up quite so loud that I needed to use my acs noise attenuating buds at home.

Went to buy an 8ft paddling pool today for the lad, then remembered my garden is on a proper slope – not a good combo for level water.

Need to get creative.

I’ll be happy when the rain stops and allows me to get on hacking away at the garden

OP bumblebees going about their business really give me a lift.

I’m currently being amused by my newly acquired man cave.

Although I don’t know what I’m happy about – I’ve bought it and this is as much as I’ve seen of it so far. All I know is theres about 3000 – 4000 sq feet down there, it echoes and it doesn’t smell like anything has died in there recently. Need to get some ladders, ropes a torch and some back up to explore it properly.

That needs more explanation!

Water tank?

Bunker?

Bastard to store your bikes in.

Aphex Twin….video is awesome

Yeah! Watched that yesterday,didn’t know the back-story though…. even better now 🙂

OP, be warned, gardening is addictive.

Top work Mr Bear. Did you do the fencing yourself?

Some lovely gardens but we need more on maccruiskeen’s bunker ^^^…there’s a thread there by itself. Its intriguing and needs more explanation 😕

Getting tired and muddy
[url=https://flic.kr/p/JttaUd]IMG_20160625_153904547[/url] by Murray C, on Flickr

Spacemonkey – I put the fencing up that is on the garage base (out of sight) which was fun on my tod! – the rest of it is sat on 6 courses of brickwork in the ground. I got some burly northerners to do that – by god they worked hard digging that out!

Agreed on Mac’s cave too – more updates needed!

Some lovely gardens but we need more on maccruiskeen’s bunker ^^^…there’s a thread there by itself. Its intriguing and needs more explanation

I think it will indeed be a thread one day!.

Its an impulse purchase – a redundant underground reservoir a few miles from my house that came up at auction at short notice. I was working away from home at the time so had to put in a proxy bid pretty much blind and because there was no internet or mobile signal in the corner of Skye I was working in for two days I didn’t know whether or not I’d actually bought it. Turned out I was the only bidder so got it for the reserve price of £4k – so pretty much a £1 per sq ft for the site.

So what it is is a brown-field site where I’m planning to build myself a studio / workshop. The plus side is the view is great – its at the top of a hill so on a clear day you can see Arran, Ben Lomond and the Heads of Ayr. On the (possibly) negative side it got a great big black unexplored void beneath – and that lid has been left unlocked for an unknown amount of time – so god knows who or what has fallen or been thrown down there!.

I’m in no rush to start work on it – give myself a few years to get my ideas together and get some funds in place – but if the tank beneath is a a good depth and shape then I might retain it as a lower floor for storage. If I’m feeling really clever I might make the floor sections removable so that I can have double height spaces for bigger build projects (I build film sets and public sculptures). If space inside isn’t so useful I’ll just take off the top and fill it in before I build.

Get some pics taken soon pleeeeease!

Seconded.

Jesus I got excited by the fritzl suite in my basement you could swing a tiger in that bad boy.

Stw rave?

Yes I’d like to see what’s in the hole!!

Nice job, Rich!

Today I’m still grinning like a lunatic at New Bike. Pictured here in (friend’s) garden last week. To top it all, it came with a free pedal-mounted STW meme!

Early thoughts/feedback – best bike I ever had* 🙂

*Edit – Opinion to be revisited following honeymoon 😉

helping my 9 year old daughter with her art homework – ‘make something creative linked to your project on Hastings’. Off to the shed we went for 30 minutes away from the world in general.

Thus – electric tools used by me under direction, but idea, shaping, sanding and painting all done by her nibs: out of some scaffold board offcuts, wood glue and a spare long bolt – meet RX996

(idea copyright Martha. 2016)

So are you a Rye/Hastings resident? (port of Rye is RX)

So are you a Rye/Hastings resident? (port of Rye is RX)

Sussex – though not too far inland from Rye / Hastings.

double post.

Just started our 6 month old on stuff other than boob. The faces she’s pulling at the taste of everything is ace, you can’t help but smile.

Best face yet, mango!!

Well done Martha 🙂

This made me smile on the way to work.

”Oor Wullie! Your Wullie! A’body’s Wullie!”

A selection of Wullies

Jesus I got excited by the fritzl suite in my basement you could swing a tiger in that bad boy.

FTFY,

Get the pampas grass on top, a nice big bowl for keys and you’re all set 😉