Billy Goat Gruff

ARBTALK at the top of your tree We need a good logo as well as a caption, to have the most impact.

I have a 110 pick up and also a mk3 Hilux, The landie is better at towing as it has a 2.5 turbo, and will happily pull any thing. The Hilux has a 2.4 non turbo engine and when it's pulling a couple of ton behind, it's a strugle up the hills. The landie is a pain to maintain, Where as the Hilux never goes wrong, is comfy to drive and cruising to look at jobs. DO NOT GO TO MAIN DEALERS FOR SPARES, they are three times the price that you will pay on line. GO TO : http://www.roughtrax4x4.com These are a specialist Toyota Hilux spares suppliers, and are really cheap and very helpfull, based in Bristol, but offer full on line spares etc. One Life Live it..... Drive a Hilux

Incorrect Sonny, I am a Farmer, and wear a belt, generally people with poor dentition wear braces !!

This may be true, But: There is nothing like a nice women to keep you in bed in the morning, I went through a stage where I changed my women, 7 times in 18 months, I also lost a fortune, I would also get up at night and look between the sheets to see the new women there. It would also give me butterflies and I would get really excited and couldn't wait to go to work !!!!!!! Arghhh those were the days, but I ended up marrying her, so things are different now,

I own two, so can I say twice as many nasty things about them ? I also have a 17 year old Hilux which I only have put a new starter motor on since I've had it, Hilux for me any day :thumbup:

Steve, am I too late to purchase tickets? tried doing it via the link but said I had to be logged in ? could you let me know asap, thanks

Come on, these Timberwolfs are built in deepest Suffolk, they would have thought of that straight away, and built in an auto ALQ 131 overide system!!

Sorry to hear you got probs Dean, I have recently installed sensors at my farm. I have a long chase down to the farm, it's just one way in and no way out!! the sign at the top says that. My timber is stored half way down, but away from the farm house about 200yards, so i have one beam sensor at top of farm chase, and one in yard near workshop. If the beam is broken the sensor is triggered and sends a radio signal to a reciever, I have two in the house one in my bedroom, and one in my office, where I am most evenings, you can have a belt pager, but thats quite expensive. This will tell you if you have any body sneaking about, or coming down to your yard with out them knowing, then you can appear out of the darkness to greet them. Cost for a cheap system is about £200.00 upwards. http://www.parabeam.co.uk, or just type in to a search engine, farm yard security systems and some should come up. Good luck hope you catch em

All those pressies seem quite tame, I got a 12 gauge semi auto, had it modified to a eight shot, on my firearms cert, don't get any carol singers now!! I'm off out on the quad to lower the local wabbit population. Hav a good new year you'll

I agree exactly, whats the point in putting your self in a more dangerous situation:confused1: If your up the tree anyway just fell or fold it out , It's the simple safe option.:

Discouting your quote is like shooting yourself in the foot, say you now have a market for the wood, so can deduct that value from your original price.

I'm movin right now following that yellow brick road up north, come on toto let's go!!!!

Also save a conifer job for early Dec, lop out the top and hey presto, Only the kids ganged up on me this year said I was a cheapskate, so off to B&Q £19.99 for a 5ft one. Got it home kids said it was too small, called me a cheapskate, so will be lopping out the top of those big conifers on Monday !!!!!!!!!!

Agree with that one stockers: laugh1:

I beg to differ, BUT I have owned a Toyota Hilux 4x4 for the last 15 years on a K plate it's a real workhorse, and the only parts I have replaced, One starter motor and a set of glow plugs. I wouldn't sell it for the world. I have a 110 Landie pickup, I agree it's a real work horse, and goes well, Because I'm underneath the damn thing every weekend replacing parts, I am going to sell it. Also have a L200 doublecab, which everybody wants to drive as its so comfortable, no drafts, you can hear the stereo etc etc, The wife has a Discovery which is nice, so I guess we are split down the middle, 2 Landies and 2 japs, Me I'm staying with my old Hilux.: ::thumbup1::

Have decided to have a few days off over christmas after working last year. Not going to answer the phone for that period, as last year a lady phones the 23rd Dec asking for a load of logs, my wife politely says we won't be working christmas eve, so the lady says can we deliver on Boxing day. Can't repeat what my wife told her!!!!!!!

Got drenched again this morning. Doing an Ash Take down, very slippery, we are all covered in green slime. Not as bad as Monday 10th November, went down to Catford South London. Left my farm at 05.45 picked up the other guys on the M11 and they had the sat nav, I followed they went through 2 orange lights, don't you just love that, so I'm waiting for my ticket in the post. Got to the building site, and got set up/inducted, the heavens opened, the builders cleared off, too wet to work. I went through 2 sets of shower proof gear. It hammered it down all day, like a monsoon, then had to fight our way back through the rush hour, a car broken down in the Blackwell tunnel didnt help sat in a queque for 45mins nice view of the dome, finally got back 18.00 hrs. So every time I look at the weather, it's like this every day in the North, How do you guy's cope?? or do you just have webbed feet?

In our terms and conditions it states that the ownership of the tree remains with the customer, until payment is recieved in full. If they fail to pay they are reminded of this in a polite letter, suggesting that it will be returned to them in chip form. Normally the cheque arrives soon after. Otherwise we just pay em a visit.

O.K. this is what happened on the day. Four of us were working on site, myself and my other most experienced climber ( both of us are fully certified), we dismantled the tree in a short period of time, as we were going to another job in the afternoon. The new groundie was clearing and chipping for us, and the other one was operating the stump grinder, grinding out the root, and one person was ringing up the trunk, so all staff were working at their jobs, they are all wearing full PPE so no one heard him start up the chipper and fire the stuff through, We have a tracked Timberwolf 190 so quite often we move it about on site, it's not like a road tow stuck behind the van so it often gets started up and no one bats an eyelid, It's just no one expected him to do that, it's some thing you cannot prejudge, I do expect that they possibly saw what he had done afterwards, but let him get what was coming his way. We are all more relaxed now that he has gone, and the new guy shows alot more promise, intelligence etc. I did give him a fair go as he was on three months probation, but just didn't make the grade.

I own up,..... I did it was employing that groundie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbdown:

Not So, All of the guy's I employ are in their twenty's with approx 3-6 years experience, and are all very capable, it's just that you have to give the young uns a chance, and they do have to start at the bottom and WORK their way up, this particular one was really not cut out for it, and during his three month probationary period showed no signs of improvement, so off he went.

I think personally that we should all be responsible for our own health and safety, and that also includes the safety of our fellow workers on site, Basically in our gang we all look out for each other, besides I'm running a tree business not a creche !!!!!!! If I spent all day supervising we wouldn't get half as much done.

What sort of prizes do ya want steve? I make a mean Sloe Gin, Do yu want moonshine, or something more practical?

Great photo's wellwel, looks like a blast of a job, really this is what the job is about, not all the conifer stuff we have to suffer, really makes it worthwhile when you get a job like this.

At 50 years old, and being widely travelled, and worked in many difficult situations, and in different parts of the world, I would say that I am more tolerant than most, fairly easy going in my attitude, and have a good eye for potential in people. I also consider my self to be a reasonable good judge of character. I find it always preferable to engage ones brain before ones mouth, as historically this has gotten me into some awkward situations. I am a perfectionist though, My opinion is " If a job is worth doing it is worth doing well", and this lad had been with me for nearly three months, in which time he showed: No potential for improvement, No initive to work well when left on his own, to do the simplest of tasks. Consitently denied making mistakes, like the chipper episode. Could not grasp the simplest of tasks, e.g how to file a chain, after being shown numerous times. Forgot what you told him to do 10mins later. Always looked for the easiest task, when we were all working our nuts off, and didn't take note of any of the verbal warnings that he was issued. Like the ideas of making him clean the mesh up with a tooth brush, but I don't think it right to humiliate a person in front of the rest of the staff. That only alienates yourself from your work force in my humble opinion. I would never have guessed that my little post would have sparked such an interesting debate. Thanks guy's But I have absolutely no regret on dismissing him. I have now employed another young lad, who is keen, showing potential, has an opinion doesn't lie and arrives for work before I'm up in the morning.:thumbup1: