Big weekend

Whacko! What a weekend! It's wednesday and I'm just coming to terms with it!
So:
After much materials gathering and procrastination I decided to build the new shelving that I've been talking about for the last 18 months. It looks like this, now;

This took about 2.5 full man days to build, at a total cost of about $180. Still a bit to do, like painting and getting the suction lines for dust extraction and pneumatic line for reticulated compressed air, and new power points for Lathes and saw etc., but I'm getting there!

Note the funky new rails I put in for the new benchtop which will accomodate the metal lathe, one day! Project metal lathe is frustrated by all the other folk on Ebay who think they need my lathe more than I do.

SWMBO and I spent 5.5 hours on Saturday in the yard slaughtering fowl. OMG!, The Horror, the horror...

The slaughter was incredible, 11 Drakes and 7 Roosters, and the things I learnt;

1) When wringing the neck of a rooster, remember that you've been training heavy, and that ripping the head clean off is not desirable.

2) When attempting to wring the neck of a drake, remember that they are much stronger than chickens. Apologise quickly, and then go for the axe.

3) If you are using a plucking machine blanch the roosters in boiling water for 3 seconds, but leave the ducks dry. Wear a dust mask when plucking ducks with a machine, there's something wrong about blowing out duck-down into your hanky.

4) Marry someone who has no sense of smell who doesn't mind gutting birds, makes life alot easier.

5) 18 Birds takes about 5 hours to do. Don't plan too many other chores.

Also managed to start the catenary to the shed to make the power circuits more secure. The old one tends to make the lights dim a little too much. Decided once I got in the roof that trying to fed the cable through at 4pm on Sunday was a Bad Idea, and that I would abort, and do more prep work before the final cable run. Stuff like making all the shed wiring look pretty in advance so the only work remaining on cutover day is the final termination of the cable.

Realised last night, while putting the final touches on the shelves, that I can be a litle intense when putting myself under pressure. Must control response to inane questions.

Feeling much better this week than last, have stopped being dramatic (so dramatic that the post never made it past the draft stage).

Things to do to make ready for November Crown;

1) Get all the wiring, air, suction and tools ready for the visitors so they can impart their knowledge to the populace with maximum efficiency.

2) Put the insulation and internal walls into the bar and paint it out.

3) Build the quintain for the A&S comp.

4) Build the bar?

Brass Monkey War

Ow, ow ow ow ow ow!

Note to self, Heavy fighting is low impact, Dance is High impact, and Boffer war is just freakin' insane!

Seriously, it just like rugby (as in union) only without the training. The rules.... rules?

I wonder if little miss C took any video of it?

My thighs are still burning, probably because in the very first scenario I bolted, grabbed a sheep and did a full lap of the course, no warmup.

Classic moments for me... Sprinting down the field using the sheep as a shield thinking "man Mr P is going to nail me here". Getting hit in the arm by someone, making it through the gate, and looking back to see that the only reason I made it through was becasue Mr M had accidently taken out Mr P, and the gate as he bolted for me.

Second best was seeing that Mr W and Mr B had manned the gate, doing the same trick with the sheep, except that as I approached the gate I put the sheep in front and charged the gate. Mr W (who is about twice my size) stepped up in front of my a set himself, at which point I thought "Oh darn". I found myself through the gate a couple of seconds later, not entirely sure how I got there.

The weekend started with a quick trip down the midlands, a visit to a friend (while little miss C did some shopping) and then on to the site, for a bardic circle, which wasn't. The morning saw us run the Boffer Wars, which were hilarious but painful, and then a lovely hot lunch from Mr S. The afternoon saw the most stringent Marshaling that the Barony has seen in a long long time.

The actual war was fought in the afternoon, but most folk were too buggered to make a real go of it at that point. I picked the most savage armour bite I've ever had. Time for new arm harness.

The ball was great for all those that danced, lot's of dance, Rondels, court and food. I spent most of the night in the throne being regal, and avoiding injury by avoiding dance. Did some singing with Mrs M which was fun, if only we were singing the same words to the same song in the same timing, it could have been great!

Sunday was slow, late breakfast, and minimal activity. A late Pas with a few challenges, most of which were fairly lax, as everyone was knackered. Man!, Mr P can hit hard, one of his quillons hit my basket hilt so hard that the impact strained a ligament in my hand.

Got home lateish and did some unpacking and went to bed. phleaagh!

I'd put some photo's up but they were all kind of dodge, and the video was from too far away to be any good.

Slow down, SLOW DOWN!!

Did you ever wake up 45 minutes before your alarm (0545 so 0500) and practically launch out of bed?

SWMBO spent the night elsewhere last night so I had the doona to myself, and slept like the dead. My multivits have started to kick in again so I'm not having headspins every time I stand up. Not feeling Aenemic (sp?)..... but...

My boss walked in to drop off some approved orders about 20 minutes ago and looked a little freaked out by my reaction. Which was to launch about 8 inches straight up and look like a rabbit in the headlights. I'm so hyper my hands are shaking my pulse is about 120.... tenner says I crash about midday and turn into Baron Crankypants through to bed time tonight.

Last time I felt like this my lovely long suffering contractor Mrs F went home early cos I was too intense to deal with.

Must slow down....

So, the weekend. Boffer War, War, Pas, Ball, Feast, Everything!! Mr S sounds like he has an absolutely rockin' weekend planned.

Our marshal Mr W is on a crusade to make sure everyones helm is appropriately padded at the moment, so i've stocked up on contact adhesive, closed cell foam and tape. The mad rush to repad helms should be a lark. Did the big pack session last night, have I got everything!?!?

Little miss C will be driving down with me. Should be entertaining, for me. She's going to make me a mask for the Ball on the way down, using peacock feathers, which is very me, but far enough from blue to be safe.

99.3kg this morning, Yay for new scales that work!
only 8.3 to go.

Why did I just drink a cup of coffee?
Explain that thought process.

Event report to follow on Monday.

No things Biff

No biff last night.
Very frustrating, and I reckon I'll spend this weekend marshalling.

Got the new stick taped up and the demi-gauntlet waxed and shaped to fit.

Oh well, maybe I can do some training in the boffer wars.

All Things Biff

I guess I should start putting stuff down about what I want to acheive as a fighter, before tonights fighter training.

Well, tonight specifically I want to use my new stick, made from rattan I got from Mr G, and a funky basket hilt I got off EBay, and my new right hand demi gauntlet that I made last night (still to be waxed and padded). I need to see if the move back to basket il works for me.

Need to see how my back holds up under the strain. Must remember to stretch before biff tonight.

Mr E might not be biffing as he wants to rebuild his kit for Brass Monkey War this weekend. Mr D might biff, but we'll see, and newbies Mr S and Mr P would be good to get in kit again, especially since I haven't biffed them yet.

Looking forward to the Polit invest weekend and the Anealan invest, where I can get experience with a few differnet bods.

Long term... well.... Not Sure

Hmmmm.... Me with a blog, what a concept.

Q: Why?

A1: Noone told me to, the perfect reason

A2: I wanted somewhere to put my fighting log, and get critique, which didn't involve putting it on my PDA, which I forget about all the time.

A3: At a management training course recently a lot of my course work was about gentling down with people. Apparently I'm a bit full on sometimes (who would have thought). Being nicer, and holding back has been taking its toll on my state of mind, especially since I hurt my back on the day I came back from the course, and haven't been able to hit anyone for weeks. So I'm going to vent here a bit I think....

A4: I have something like 70 sheets in front of me and about 30 hours work to complete a full site wide fault level calculation for work, so we can couple in with the National Electricity Market. This is dull work, and not much fun, and here I have this handy tool to procrastinate.

A5: It's a grate chanc to iritat my frend who is a magizin etitor by puting relly bad speling and grama on tha intanet.

Disclaimer: I have strong views. I write like poo. I get concepts and feelings across a lot better in person. This blog is a) private (yeah right!) so you've got noone but yourself to blame if you get offended and b) here for my benefit not yours. Everything from here in is subject to a language warning, and a concept warning. Of course if you really know me, there shouldn't be any surprises here.

Wonder if the first post will work?