Too much misery

There is way too much doom and gloom around at the moment with the commies working furiously to somehow copy the anti Trump resistance crap here along with the usual guff from the BBC etc.Well here at OTW we are celebrating the birthday of my eldest daughter and looking to a brighter future.....have a great day my dearest.

Johnny ramone guitar 5

The neck of the guitar has been a quick and easy job with no real surprises and a pleasing end result. to get a vintage colour I used my childrens toy paint set to dye the maple  as opposed to buying a specialist product....cheap! Then I used truoil ( a gunstock oil) to give the neck a silky finish using about 10 coats, with wire wool rubdown between coats. The frets needed a quick going over with fret file and after oiling the rosewood with lemon oil it was job done after the 10 minute job of fitting the machine heads........next!

Voting

I proudly cast my first vote at 18 for my local M.P. Harold Wilson the labour party premier, from that point on I quickly veered off to the right. Being a Tory in Liverpool is pretty much of a nonstarter in all social interaction even with friends and family, but I've quietly stuck to my guns and I look forward to voting this week. The polls show a narrowing between the two major parties but I still think it shows the inbuilt bias towards labour due to conservative voters not wanting to be identified. Now why would this be? for me its because A. I don't want to end up arguing with most people I know mainly because my arguments tend to get physical quickly...yes I know...I'm an idiot! B. conservatives tend to be busy and have lives beyond identity politics, no idols for us (praise be Maggie). The left just loves a cult of personality and also most of the lazy bastards have nothing else to do other than get pissed/stoned and run around chanting "Jez we can!" So come Thursday I'll vote for May even if I think she is rather gun shy on most issues and then get on with my life.....the left can riot/cry or do whatever it is commies do when thwarted.

At times like these

I went for a walk on the beach with my youngest this morning, a walk to try and make me forget the horrors other parents in our neighbouring city Manchester were at that moment enduring. I knew Facebook and the media would be full of horror stories and of the usual clichés....I wanted none of it.Our govt and betters refuse to do what is needed to stop the slaughter of our children and I am beyond angry.If I speak out I will be punished if my words reach the wrong ears and the wicked comforted, so I do in my own quiet way the myriad small things I can do to secure my childrens safety.....my little girl played in the sand.

Serving my time

One of the first jobs I ever took on was a Georgian townhouse in Liverpool's Hope street the home of the cities two Cathedrals complete with views of the river and the mountains of Wales. I'd lived in the area for a few years and even though it was the red light district and bordered Toxteth I knew it was a good place to buy as it was a rare untouched survivor of Liverpools more prosperous past. The entrance to the house needed new steps and railings cast from the surviving few, the door and surround dismantling and painstakingly repaired and replaced where required. I didn't have as much money to spend on my renovations then and so I was hands on most aspects of this restoration  to cut costs and for many more afterwards........ something of an apprenticeship I think

Pizza pie

Being retired (semi) is a lot busier than I was led to believe, the family wanted a wood fired pizza oven so here courtesy of my rock grock friend and my aching back it is!

Thank Heaven 3

Like many I'm fed up with the political shenanigans both here and abroad and so I'm concentrating on the important stuff in life....like a Wendy house for my kids....priorities!

This is England

We do St Georges day round here, lots of Dragons to slay for my little uns.

Thank heaven 2

Pretty much framed now, not how I would usually do it but there is a method in my madness. A chap (haddock) who knows his stuff suggested wattle and daub...lotsa cows in the field behind this so who knows?

Thank Heaven for little girls

My girls and my precocious 3 year old niece have been asking (demanding) that I build them a little cottage for summer, so in between more serious work I made a start today. With the help of my Brother in law (Monkey) we first set some dense block in concrete for founds and then made up a simple frame from 3x3 tanalised we had knocking around. Tomorrow we will frame the roof and then frame up the little clock tower....its not going to be just a simple little house is it?

Suns out, guns out

The boy and I have a little fun, its been a long winter and its good to get out and.....shoot things!

Da Brudders

While working on the Ramones Guitar copy for my daughter I have been thinking about my love for the band and their music, something that has outlasted most other fads etc in my life. The pics here show myself and a bunch of other Huyton boys meeting the brothers Ramone outside Liverpool Erics club in early 77. We were just hanging about town (as 16 year olds did) when we met the band and by getting to know them and humping gear into the club we got in free that night....and what a night!  The sound and the impact of the band that night still reverberates through my life today...who'd a thunk it?

Johnny Ramone guitar build 4

The paint has been drying for 5 weeks so I decided to get started on the finishing work. Its an easy if tedious job involving firstly using wet and dry paper from 1000 to 2000 grade (making sure not to burn through clear coat) and then polishing with 3 grades of liquid polish. A couple of hours elbow grease resulted in a glass like finish with only small patches of faint orange peel near holes for pickups. After 24 hours mulling it over I decided to give it another going over,so today a couple of hours should see the whole guitar finished to satisfaction and then its onto the neck and headstock.

Shake off the cobwebs

Spring is just around the corner so I've been busy the last couple of weeks doing jobs around here in preparation for the hopefully good weather to come. To make good the damage done by various storms I've quite a few fence panels to make which is pretty tedious and is amongst the jobs we scornfully refer to as haberdashery (it's a builders thing). When I get them finished I can get things ready for the roof to come off part of the house and new windows and stone surrounds fitted....that's more like it!