with No Comments

Why won’t it start?

This week: The spring has sprung; Spring projects; Why won’t it start?;


A dead tree in the Maquis
A dead tree by the path in the Maquis

It has been a cold week this week, not withstanding that, I have been doing bits and pieces outside.

The sun is noticably higher, the days are drawing out nicely and when the sun shines, it is really warm.

Out of the sun it is deciedly cool though.

December and the first couple of weeks of January have been cooler than in the last couple of years. I have had my wood stove going for longer and in consequence have burnt more of my winter wood supply.

This week I cut up some more of the old furniture which came with the next door property I bought.

Wood for the wood stove
Wood for the wood stove

The sturdy Yugoslavian made chest of drawers and wardrobes have all got woodworm. This means that whilst I could perhaps have salvaged some wood for projects, most likely the wood worm is still active, so the wood is basically scrap.

At the end of the work, another couple of wheelbarrow’s of wood have been added to the pile, ready for burning.

There is a problem because this wood has been inside for probably 70 years, it is absolutely dry so burns very quickly. It gives off a lot of heat, but not for long, so I burn through it quite quickly.

There is no wood recycling on the island, so it is a choice of land fill, burn on a bonfire or use the wood in the wood stove. My wood stove is the lesser of all the evils…


The spring has sprung

I was out in the orchard on Saturday morning in warm sunshine. There was an unbroken blue sky above and everything seems to be growing, especially the weeds.

A movement on some stones caught my eye and looking closer I saw one of my resident lizards had emerged from hibernation and was basking in the sunshine.

A basking Balkan Wall Lizard
A basking Balkan Wall Lizard

I had really gone to cut some bean shoots to have in a stir-fry at lunch time, but everywhere I looked, I could see buds swelling and young leaves emerging.

Swelling buds on a sweet cherry tree
Swelling buds on a sweet cherry tree

We may only be just over two weeks into the New Year, but already the natural world seems to have decided that it is time to wake up and get going.

In one of my plum trees, a male Great Tit, Purus Major, was singing his heart out from the top most branch. In the distance, another was answering. A Robin was giving an alarm call.

I was joined by a couple of the felines, who hearing the rustling of the lizard as it foraged for grubs, chased it away. They then settled in the grass for a bit of a sun bathe.

"I can hear you"!
“I can hear you”!

As the day length accelerates and the sun’s strength increases, so our early spring will rapidly move forward.

Loquat fruit swelling
Loquat (Nispero) fruit swelling

Spring projects

Spring is the time of year when all kinds of plans for the orchards can be enacted.

Something I have had in every home I have owned has been a pond or water feature.

I have planned one for a spot in the Top Orchard, where the ground is in a lot of shade for much of the day, the soil quality is so poor as to make growing much almost impossible and I can’t really plant anything else.

Pond area
Pond area

HOWEVER (note the emphasis!), in summer the Dol climate is extremely hot and very dry, so water conservation is very important to me.

Adding water to a water feature every week is not a good use of resources.

I already harvest all the rainfall from my roofs, directing it via pipes to the orchards. I also recycle as much grey water as I can.

We don’t have a mains waste water system in the village, so black water goes to cess pits, so the water seeps into the porus underlying rocks. Not the ideal system, but it is what most people on the island have.

I have a plan for an ornamental pond, I even have the butyl rubber liner, underlay and a number of aquatic plants, but I have dithered over digging a pond, because I am concerned about the environmental effects.

Water plants on the plaza
Water plants on the plaza

One of the Facebook groups I belong to is Mediterranean Gardens and I asked on there about member’s views of having water gardens in hot climates. I also asked how many people have them.

I had expected some strident views, for and against. But what surprised me was that all the responses were in favour of the idea. Some citing the environmental benefits of having a water feature for insects, reptiles and other local wildlife.

There was no one against the idea, but there were suggestions about how to make the feature as environmentally friendly as possible.

It was pointed out that water was especially prevalent in gardens in the Roman era, so there is a president for water in Mediterranean gardens.

My harvesting of rain water could keep the pond topped up for much of the year, coupled with shade to reduce evaporation and water plants and marginals to reduce the open water surface area.

I think I just added another thing to my 2025 project list!


Why won’t it start?

In the same vein I will need my mini JCB to dig out the pond. I also have several other projects where I need some powerful digging assistance.

In the east orchard there are some roots of “weeds trees” which I need to remove.

The options are a small amount of C4 explosive, or the mini JCB. The neighbours probably won’t take kindly to explosives, even though they were used 100 years ago to excavate the garden water cisterns.

So the digger will be needed. I took the waterproof cover off and opened the engine cover to give the machine a thorough pre-season service.

Engine cover open
Engine cover open

I have had a small rodent storing kernels on top of the air filter – probably one of our Edible Door mice, the Glis glis.

Edible Dormouse
Edible Dormouse

A soft brush soon cleared away the full and empty shells. Then it was a check of the systems looking for any leaks, checking the hydraulic line connections and adding a healthy amount of grease in the various grease nipples.

I checked the oil filter and fuel tank, checked the engine and gearbox oil levels, then it was time to connect the battery.

Last autumn I disconnected the battery, after the last time I had the digger running. This was so the battery didn’t go flat over the winter.

Once reconnected, I turned on the ignition and nothing…. No lights, no horn, no starter, just nothing.

I checked the main fuse and it was OK, so suspected the battery maybe needed a booster charge. After removal, I connected my trickle charger and left the battery on charge overnight.

Wednesday morning dawned bright, cold and clear. Once the sun was high enough to warm the area where I keep the digger, I replaced the battery, connected everything up and tried again.

Nothing, zilch, nada!

To get to the main electrics, the battery needs removing, so out it came again.

There is little space in the engine bay, but this time I removed the main fuse completely. There is actually a spare fuse in the lid of fuse holder, which I had not noticed. The fuse was OK.

So I moved on to the three subsiduary fuses. These are the typical standard automotive bayonet fuses in plastic carriers. Visually they appeared OK. However I brought my circuit tester out.

The first fuse I removed appeared visually OK, but the circuit tester said there was no circuit. My first thought was that I had a fault with the tester, so I tried the other bayonet fuses.

The first automotive fuse I tested
The first automotive fuse I tested

The circuit tester screeched to confirm there was current flowing through the cartridge, so I went back to testing the first one. This time I got an intermittent circuit.

Being standard EU automotive fuses, I have some spares so brought out my box. I checked a replacement and got a proper test result, so replaced it into the digger.

Once the batter was back and connected, I turned on the ignition and the engine fired into life straight away.

Everything works - digger running at a fast tickover.
Everything works – digger running at a fast idle.

I wasn’t ready to do any digging, but tested all the controls. Then I let the engine run at a fast idle until it was completely warmed through.

Before putting the cover back, I disconnected the battery completely and moved it into my workshop, so it is ready for the next time I need it. NCG

Back under the weatherproof cover
Back under the weatherproof cover