sime42

Good work again by Pie. Good cameos and good comments on it too.

Conifer foliage rots down to make good ericaceous humus, organic matter , (acidic for acid loving plants like Azaleas, Heathers etc). If you could find a compost manufacturer or supplier they might be interested in buying clippings. Or set up a sideline business for yourself...........

Scandalous. Some even commited suicide because of the stress due to bankruptcy and the false accusations of dishonesty.

Some rare good news;- Post Office scandal: Government to foot bill for postmasters' compensation WWW.BBC.CO.UK The Department for Business said that the impact on postmasters' lives "cannot be overstated".

Much prettier than the rat shit and, other detritus, that I kept finding in one of my stacks last year!

That'll be fine. Good airflow, wind is more important that sun anyway.

That's great, just what we need. Good job that the insect population isn't already in a massive decline, and that we're not in the midst of an obesity epidemic. "In 2017, Michael Gove, the then environment secretary, welcomed the EU ban, and promised that “unless the scientific evidence changes, the government will maintain these increased restrictions post-Brexit”". It would be good to see the "scientific evidence" that thiamethoxam is now NOT lethal to bees and other insects. The dark truth about sugar beet - Feedback FEEDBACKGLOBAL.ORG We all know sugar is bad for our health. But were you aware just how bad it is for our soil? Today, Feedback publishes a report uncovering the hidden damage growing sugar beet is doing to our soil. In the UK we use over 100,000 hectares of prime agriculture land to grow a product we […]

Result! I find popcorn a bit like bacon. The eating of it doesn't quite live up to it's tantalising smell as you cook it.

Good book that.

Thanks. Lucky bugger. (Whatever his first love is).

Not exactly an experienced popcorn man but never struggled. Fairly high heat but no idea what exactly, half way round on our gas hob dial. They normally start popping pretty quick so if yours didn't maybe it was too low, or maybe dodgy batch of corn? Think you're meant to use a splash of vegetable oil as well..

I been meaning to ask this; whereabouts has Mr Silky Fox got to these days? Not seen him on here for ages.

Indeed. I know I wouldn't want to be one. Bloody glad some people are good enough to do the job though, think how much more of a mess we'd be in without them. In some cases a social worker knows there is serious problem but is powerless to do anything about it as those above either don't believe them or don't have the resources to resolve the situation. That must be horrendous. I've heard that story in a few instances like this tragic one.

Also depends how much the saw has been pushed on whilst cutting. Obviously if the chain is kept sharp there shouldn't really be too much pushing/forcing the bar through.

Don't, I wouldn't recommend it. Kind of wish I hadn't heard about it on the news last night.

This is horrible, sickening and sad in equal measure. Not sure if it's because I've got a young son myself but this one really got to me. Actually makes me shudder to think what that poor little lad went through. I can't even begin to comprehend how those two people could treat a defenceless child like that. Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: Emma Tustin and Thomas Hughes jailed over killing WWW.BBC.CO.UK Thomas Hughes will serve 21 years and Emma Tustin a minimum of 29 for the killing and torture of his son.

Ah, that's bigger than I've spotted before, must be a good age. Enough to get a few spindles and knitting needles from I guess.

Robotic tree cutters are on the way as well. We're all fcked then. Technological advancements, so called progress eh?

Thanks. It'll be interesting to know.

Anyone know how big they get? Or seen one with decent diameter wood? The ones I've seen have only ever been shrubs or very small trees really. Hard to imagine being able to make anything from them.

I love em too. For the majority of the year they're completely inconspicuous, but round about now they really stand out; vivid splashes of colour when almost everything else is faded, brown or nothing but twigs. I also enjoy seeing them in the knowledge that they're indicators of ancient woodland or hedges, as has already been mentioned. I've got a small one that I cultivated from a hedgerow cutting. (So by no means ancient!). I think the flowers are small and white, but obviously not memorable. I think I read somewhere that they're called Spindle as they used to be used for making the bobbin spindles on spinning wheels, so a hard wood when sizable.

Can't be many trees either, I'd have thought.

Seems to me that there was more than a little needless provocative involved. I don't think it was as much about the subject as certain of the protagonists. There's never a need to disparage family members.

They're tasty enough but a bit of a faff and fiddle to peel enough for a mouthful. The leaves of beech are also edible. When young you can use them in a salad, rather bitter though. There's a drink called Beech Leaf Noyau as well, french I think. My dad used to make it. Gin or brandy with the leaves soaked in it then some sugar added. Tasty.

Bit of an irony given that the UK has just hosted COP26. Not a great surprise after our lame or at best lacklustre leadership of the event, Boris wasn't even there most of the time, kind of indicative of his view on the issue. I'd want to move here if I was Shell.