Travels with my camera

Well I had a fun-filled, action packed day today. Made Snuffles' luxury pad, amidst much cursing and swearing, throwing things and a few kicks at stuff. At one time I used to love making things, doing a bit of diy, but now it really is a chore, my back hurts as soon as I start lifting or bending, I need to wee as soon as I bend about, and that makes me so cross, my nose won't stop running when I'm outside.... the list goes on and on. Don't get old folks. Anyways, I finally did it and although my title says it's a bodge, luckily it is strong, waterproof (hopefully) and the felt has covered a multitude of cock-ups! The pine tongue and groove construction of the panels does not stand a lot of hammering and chopping, but there again, it is supposed to be a pine storage chest, not a hedgehog residence. One thing for sure, it's not likely to blow away, it weighs a ton. I think I'm going to put it in the front garden alongside the fence, backing onto the garage wall. It will be nice and sheltered there, and hidden behind the bush thing that's growing. I think I'll put Snuffles and all his bedding out of the other one in there tonight in the porch though, so he gets used to it for a while before the big release.

Other than making the above, I managed to whizz down to Morrisons, supposedly to buy some apples, and ended up spending £51.00 !! I hate that bloody shop, I always end up buying too much, well it's all stuff I will use, but I also have this shopping disorder, to do with my depression I think, where I love buying new electrical items, or just any shopping in general, stocking up on things. I always try not to do it, but came home with a new kettle, even though there wasn't really a lot wrong with my old one, except that it was noisy, and the white plastic had started to go a bit yellow. Anyway, I've had my eye on this one for months, and couldn't stop myself this time - its a clear glass one so you can see the water level. That was another thing I hated about the old one, you had to hold it up to the light to see if there was enough water in it all the time, which meant that half the time I put too much in as I couldn't be bothered to look. The only downer is this one isn't a rapid boil, it took a bit longer to make my tea, but still, we are only talking a minute or so, I'm sure I can wait.... The old one is poised to go up in the loft with all the other crap for when I do another car boot. The pile is building nicely again. I sold about £60 worth of crap at my last one. Mind you, it was stuff that had probably cost me about £200, I sure know how to make money....

Not much else to report, watched Deal or No Deal, another bad day for the contestant, she only got £1000. Am now watching Doctor Who for the first time in mega years, since the days of Patrick Troughton actually. I am only watching because of David Tennant, he is bloody gorgeous,:swoon smiley: but not sure I will be able to suffer this crap, it is just so stupid! How there can be such a cult following is beyond me! Oh well each to their own. I will just drool over DT and ignore the ridiculous monsters and script! (I wonder if he will get it on with Billie Piper - in this show I mean, not in real life)


Well, it's assembled, eventually, and the hole cut out for the entrance porch. The pine wood is that tongue and groove sort, and the front bit here literally fell to bits after I had cut the hole, lol! So its in about 9 pieces, nailed, not screwed!

The inside, showing the little two-sided tunnel that should hopefully deter predators, it would have to be a very small cat to get in that. It's also big enough for Snuffles to actually sleep on top of it if he wanted, so he has a two-storey des-res. Doing it this way means I can also put a dish of food down the side of the entrance tunnel, so that no cat can get to it :smirk: smiley

Okay, so here I put in a piece of plastic fascia board, as its so easy to work with. This provides (a) a draft break and (b) a staggered entrance, which will be even harder for a predator to get in, but hopefully, plenty of room for Snuffles to manoeuvre.

Looking in through the entrance porch

Assembled, and lid on

I've left the lid hinged, so that I can open for cleaning and inspection.

Finished, thank gawd! Lost count of how many staples went in wrong, and were wrenched out again with the pliers. And I cut my hand on the felt, and there are blood stains on the pine now, luckily under the felt, and will never be seen again, sob!

Side view, finished article

The inside, with the hinged lid up

Whilst I was out there, here's the new fence panel that I broke my back doing last Saturday! The Flowering Currant is so pretty though in front, shame about the smell though, it smells like cat's pee to me. :(