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Romania - Clive's House and Excursions

Did the girl in picture No 2 ever get her Fag Re- Lit...?
 
Well, it was time the old cherry tree by the shed got felled, so last weekend I lopped all the branches off with a cheapo chainsaw-on-a-stick thingy (worked beautifully) and this weekend I burned all the foliage and cut down the trunk and sliced it up...
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This skinny looking chappie will replace it, it’s a summer flowering tree, our attempt to get more color ...

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A couple of the slices rolled away after cutting, this one stopped earlier than the other, which went half the way down the hill, stopping just past that tree on the left in the distance...

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They were heavy, would have knocked someone over:lol:

So there’s some free firewood for the neighbor unless anyone else wants it. Cherrywood burns nicely :icon-biggrin:

Thanks go to Rich @StarCruiser again for fixing my chainsaw, I treated it to a new chain this morning (Sunday) and it worked beautifully... :thumbup:
 
Like your Work Clive.... Pretty Nifty with a chainsaw! :violence-chainsaw:
 
Like your Work Clive.... Pretty Nifty with a chainsaw! :violence-chainsaw:

Gotta have a go, when needs must! The saw was given to me years ago when it stopped working at my ma-in-law’s place. Knowing nothing about them, I investigated it’s silence and found a bit missing from the air filter that acts a catch for the cover to connect to.
@Chas was kind enough to help me get a replacement part, but after fitting it still wouldn’t go. Checking further, I found another bit missing, a retainer for the choke pivot. At this I gave up (for the moment) and slung it in the shed. Then Rich (@StarCruiser) paid us a visit, and an hour or so of his ingenuity got the pivot fixed in place. I’ve used it since, but it was hard work cos the chain was blunt. I bought a new one and it’s been waiting in the shed for a job to come along.
While in one of the DIY depots here, I saw a 2-stroke multi-tool thingy, that has the motor on a tube, with various attachments which attach to the tube. It was only £85 equivalent, so I couldn’t resist. It’s got a hedge cutter, string trimmer spool, brush cutter blade, and a long-reach mini chainsaw which appealed. I’d used the hedgecutter bit quite a lot, but not the other attachments till last weekend when I started lopping the branches off this old cherry tree. It worked a treat, doing away with balancing on a ladder and all that goes with it. After burning all the leaves and smaller branches, out came the chainsaw shod with its new blade, and it made short work of the trunk.
Lots of folks to thank for their kind assistance and a job I can do easily myself, now I have the tools.
I like the garden and keeping it as neat as possible, although I’m no ‘gardener’ as such. I just like being outdoors I suppose, specially in the summer. I guess you guys have had it warn too lately, it was 34 degrees this weekend which is a bit exceptional for our place near the mountains at 750m above sea level. It must have been close to 40 down in the city.
Anyway, a most enjoyable little job...
 
Glad it’s serving you well Clive. I invested in a little chain sharpening machine from Lidl a few years back and it makes short work of sharpening the chains properly. It’s hell trying to cut with a blunt chain, worse still one that’s blunt on one side.
 
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Glad it’s serving you well Clive. I invested in a little chain sharpening machine from Lidl a few years back and it makes short work of sharpening the chains properly. It’s hell trying to cut with a blunt chain, worse still one that’s blunt on one side.

Like the idea of sharpening my own Rich, it’s more a matter of convenience than the cost of a new chain. I’ve got 3 new chains (well 2 now) on the rack in the shed... just in case, but a sharpening tool would be handy just to keep a good edge instead of grinding a chain down to nothing. They get very hot when blunt and that tempers all the teeth. The poor saw had been run dry of chain oil at some stage too, the carrier was all burred up on the friction faces against the chain. Brought them up square with a fine file, nice and smooth again. It started second pull after standing for over a year, even with the old mixture in it :lol:
Thanks mate and Chas :thumbup:
 
I like the garden and keeping it as neat as possible,
...
Thanks for the credits Clive, :hearteyes: and I remember last year? when the gateway entrance to your garden looked like the battlefields of the Somme :violence-rapidfire::violence-rambo: with the tooing and froing of Cruisers. :angry-screaming:
 
Good on yer Clive... I use to earn good money in the winters with me chainsaw, when things were slack on the Farm... Its hard enjoyable Graft cutting and splitting a pick up load of Logs....I use to sell them to the Local village shop.. Then he would bag em up and sell em for 3 times the price.... Fair Play i guess.
 
It's convenience too for me Clive. The little tool is a cracker and takes about 10 minutes to put a razor sharp edge back on a chain.

This is the one:-
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/222280735801

Don’t forget you can turn the chain bar over to let it wear on the other side. Gotta keep the oil in there otherwise, as you say, the chain loses its temper and goes soft.

My main problem is hitting nails, not something you’ll come across too often on trees but on pallet wood I often catch a nail and that’s a chain screwed. The sharpener comes into its own then.
 
It's convenience too for me Clive. The little tool is a cracker and takes about 10 minutes to put a razor sharp edge back on a chain.

This is the one:-
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/222280735801

Don’t forget you can turn the chain bar over to let it wear on the other side. Gotta keep the oil in there otherwise, as you say, the chain loses its temper and goes soft.

My main problem is hitting nails, not something you’ll come across too often on trees but on pallet wood I often catch a nail and that’s a chain screwed. The sharpener comes into its own then.

You’d be surprised how many nails I have found, I suppose when picking fruit, you have to hang your jacket somewhere :lol:

Thanks for the links... :thumbup:
 
10 July 2019

I’m only posting this, mainly for the benefit of those of you who have met him, but back in May, my father-in-law - Aurel (my daughter named him Relu for short) - aged 99 this October - had a number of mini strokes, leaving him unable to walk, with both aspects of incontinence, and confirmed advanced dementia.
We took action immediately as a state of emergency, and after a brief spell in hospital for diagnosis purposes, we had no option but the heartbreaking decision to sign him into a care home.
We didn’t have much time to select one, but we found a nice place that also specializes in post trauma therapy, both physical and mental.
Of course he reacted badly from being ‘abandoned in a place full of dying people’ as he put it, although it couldn’t be further from the truth...
Worst still, and aided by his dementia, he dreamt up all sorts of nonsense about me being usurped by the mafia and the only reason we ‘committed’ him to this home was to seize his apartment... whatever... so it’s been a pretty tough time of late, especially for my wife Aura. It all happened so quickly too, in just a few weeks he’s gone from a strapping almost upright 99 year old sharp-minded man to a frail and helpless gibbering (at times) bag-o-bones, there’s no other way to describe him.
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I’m sure many members here have had similar trials or worse, so there’s nothing exceptional by this post.

However, we finally convinced him that he could no longer go home (as he was violently insisting) to live alone as he was before the events, and he’s set about cooperating with the staff at the clinic (who are absolute angels) and having a go at some of the available therapy in their gym. He was dismissive of passing a ball from one wheelchaired old fogey to another wheel-chaired old fogey, what good can that do? You can imagine the attitude of a former Government Minister (Agriculture and Forestry) back in the 40s to 70s, when this gent was responsible for the concept and construction of the Transfagarasan and many other tourist roads in Romania, as well as a present day active supporter of several forestry protection groups.
Anyway, it seems to be paying off to an extent, we received this video by WhatsApp today, his first ‘walk’ in 2 months... he just never gives up...
“Bravo Dl. Ungur” - as the nurse said, yes indeed - well done Mr. Ungur:clap:
 
Thanks for the credits Clive, :hearteyes: and I remember last year? when the gateway entrance to your garden looked like the battlefields of the Somme :violence-rapidfire::violence-rambo: with the tooing and froing of Cruisers. :angry-screaming:

After some ‘treatment’ we’ve finally got some grass growing around the gate apron, but it still gets a bit soggy there when it rains hard, as of late.
It will probably get chewed up again in August, but what the heck :lol: it will be worth it to have visitors :dance:
 
10 July 2019

I’m only posting this, mainly for the benefit of those of you who have met him, but back in May, my father-in-law - Aurel (my daughter named him Relu for short) - aged 99 this October - had a number of mini strokes, leaving him unable to walk, with both aspects of incontinence, and confirmed advanced dementia.
We took action immediately as a state of emergency, and after a brief spell in hospital for diagnosis purposes, we had no option but the heartbreaking decision to sign him into a care home.
We didn’t have much time to select one, but we found a nice place that also specializes in post trauma therapy, both physical and mental.
Of course he reacted badly from being ‘abandoned in a place full of dying people’ as he put it, although it couldn’t be further from the truth...
Worst still, and aided by his dementia, he dreamt up all sorts of nonsense about me being usurped by the mafia and the only reason we ‘committed’ him to this home was to seize his apartment... whatever... so it’s been a pretty tough time of late, especially for my wife Aura. It all happened so quickly too, in just a few weeks he’s gone from a strapping almost upright 99 year old sharp-minded man to a frail and helpless gibbering (at times) bag-o-bones, there’s no other way to describe him.
View attachment 157150
I’m sure many members here have had similar trials or worse, so there’s nothing exceptional by this post.

However, we finally convinced him that he could no longer go home (as he was violently insisting) to live alone as he was before the events, and he’s set about cooperating with the staff at the clinic (who are absolute angels) and having a go at some of the available therapy in their gym. He was dismissive of passing a ball from one wheelchaired old fogey to another wheel-chaired old fogey, what good can that do? You can imagine the attitude of a former Government Minister (Agriculture and Forestry) back in the 40s to 70s, when this gent was responsible for the concept and construction of the Transfagarasan and many other tourist roads in Romania, as well as a present day active supporter of several forestry protection groups.
Anyway, it seems to be paying off to an extent, we received this video by WhatsApp today, his first ‘walk’ in 2 months... he just never gives up...
“Bravo Dl. Ungur” - as the nurse said, yes indeed - well done Mr. Ungur:clap:
:icon-cry: That is so sad for such a respected man, but his legacy will live on in the Transfagarasan Highway for which all of Romania should be thankful, as I am for meeting such an impressive man.
I will always remember him giving us a lecture in your house, in Romanian, about the TransFag road we couldn't understand a word but the passion was there.
 
Clive

My thoughts are with you mate, I've been having the same experience with my Mum for the past year. Its emotionally tuff.

Regards
Gary
 
Sad news Clive what can i say about Aurel .

for the benefit of those who might never get to meet him , disregarding all his history and achievements which of course can only be celebrated the charisma of the man when i met him was something to behold . Whenever he was in company i regretted the language barrier but suffice to say had i met him as a complete stranger at a bus stop i'm sure he would have earned my respect anyway .

Perhaps dementia is a blessing in disguise for such a man because it lets him live out his days in lucid moments when he is who he always was so take heart when he rages at you because such a powerful character will do that .
We all fall in the end and the only way to win is to go down fighting , thats why he is walking again , and we all know Owra is the only mafia ruling you .
 
Clive

My thoughts are with you mate, I've been having the same experience with my Mum for the past year. Its emotionally tuff.

Regards
Gary

It is tough Gary, my mum (96) has been in care (in the UK) for the last 4 years. She knows nobody, not even herself, when she could talk and put her mind to thoughts. She has no memory of ever being married (mum & dad celebrated their 50th anniversary the year he died) or us 3 kids, and the nurses think she’s probably mentally back at the age of about 9 or 10. She used to speak of her older brother (who’s 98 and fit as a fiddle) “he’ll he home from school in a moment” but she hasn’t spoken a word in the last 18 months. She’s happy though, she’s never complained all through her life, and when she went into the home, she couldn’t praise it and the staff enough.
Life can be cruel, she doesn’t deserve to hang on like this for so long.
She told me once in her 80s when she was 100%, “actually I’m tired, I’ve had a good life and I’d be quite happy to go tomorrow”.
What can we do? Only see to it that they get good care. My brother and sister took it in turns to care for her at home for as long as they could, but there’s a physical limit to that.
 
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