Albedo

What I don't get is..... when an insurance company reckons a tree is causing subsidence on a clay soil, so recomends its removal. If the claim of subsidence is real then wouldn't the removal of the tree almost by definition risk heave? If the tree takes enough water from the (clay) soil to cause it to shrink, then the removal of the tree will cause it to expand the next time significant or prolonged rainfall occurs. Also would like to see some evidence of a shrub being significant Lee. I bow to your experience but I am surprised by this. just add as an edit : I would reckon that staged reduction and long term management would be the preferred option in this scenario

I assume you know about the jobs section on 'Trademe',look under forestry for arb work. Its apple thinning season down in Motueka (Golden Bay) South Island. Spent a christmas doing that myself a couple of years ago. The pays not great but it'll see you through. Also other fruit growing regions have similar types of work. Things slow down near to christmas so its hard to start a new job, but the fruit picking/thinning etc will see you through this time. Hope this helps, good luck:001_smile:

On the planning front you have 2 options. For a static you will have to get it checked out, depending on how many neighbours there are. If only the one , who is your tenant, it may be worth the risk. Two and the preferrred one, is to stick your touring caravan on its site and see if you get kicked out. I have had no problems at my current location in a touring thing with no permission. You only get the problems travellers get if theres more than one of you. Even on campsites there is a limit by law of so many days, but some rural farmer type places will ignore this rule.

Those are lovely stoves in the link, but I bet they're a bit pricey. My burner I'm using at the moment is from a Spanish hardware store for 40 euros, and my other stove is a Gaudin brick lined French jobby, picked up for 50 quid, but its too hot for my wee caravan. Fitting is easy, just cut a hole in the roof and fabricate 2 plates about 1 foot 6 inch square for it to poke thru, one inside one outside. Sealed with stove gumph. There's a lot of options with stoves, so will give it some thought. There may be someone on here who can knock you up a gas bottle one.

We posted at the same time there:001_smile: Not naive to get something with shower and toilet in at all, probably just more expensive. I,ve never had shower and toilet in mine but the first four of my nine years were in spain where it was hot which makes a difference. then a year on campsites in wales then at my current secret location which allows me access to shower and loo. I'm just thinking that the type of dwelling vehicle becomes an issue here. If its a big thing like a static you may be able to get plumbed into your neighbouring property, but the council may frown. You could try to sell it as an office building in terms of permissions. If you start with a chemical loo, you still need to empty it. The long drop is usually preferred, in my overseas experience, but here in a yard near a house, I'm not so sure. Theres lots to think about but a bit of forward planning will save you time in the end. Off mains living is labour intensive, I still have to fetch water for cups of tea etc and cooking. I've actually fetched water from up to 2 kilometres away on foot in my time, so a little thought in advance will make life easier in the long run

Its never cold in winter with a burner, I have to have the door open till I run the fire down last thing at night, its too hot otherwise. Makes sense when you think about it as you only have to heat a small space, people in houses can never get their head around that I'm warmer than they are, no matter what the winter throws at us.

OK so youv'e got mains power and water. So you don't need solar 12v system for light and music or generator for 240v. Thats a good start. You can use mains power or gas for heating to start with but were gonna have to talk installing a wood burner before the winter is out as its the only way to dry the place out. Access to water is a major plus, do you have access to shower and toilet? or are we gonna get into some nitty gritty of undercover off mains living. Shower is not a big problem with a gas water heater on board, but toilet is either nasty chemical jobby, long drop which is better, or composting which is quite an interesting world and almost a hobby of mine. I have all mains services at the moment and have lived totally off mains, but my information on exactly which bit of kit and where to get it will be rusty or in the case of water heaters , non existant. Just building a picture, of your situation at the moment, welcome to my world by the way:001_smile:

Yip I do. About 9 years now. What services, if any, does your proposed site give you access to, i.e mains power, water etc, and we'll take it from there mate.

Hi SJH didn't get a chance last night to reply. Thanks for posting the other link, which raises a question. The Svante knives in the second link are roughly twice the price of the 'hook' knives in the first link. You gets what you pays for with tools and I'm a big believer in not scrimping in this department, but do you have a preference from experience? The oak I have is from the wood pile, I pick up a split log and think... too nice to burn, gonna whittle it:001_smile: but I appreciate it may be hard going. Have only done two by the way (recently anyway) and a spoon which has dissapeared, so the build up is a bit daunting for when I eventually photo and post them. One is from a seasoned oak log but done with a mallet and curved chissel and the other hollowed out by burning as in previous pic.

Not peeved mate, just jokeing, (perhaps wrong choice of smiley face thingy) as we agreed that us having just bought LX5s that your camera should go to someone who needs it. Whats the BMS? if you think its good enough, there's no harm giving it a go, do you have a link or contact or something? I like the idea of someone publishing a pic.

Thanks for the comments folks. Here's a few more.... I didn't put them all in Hama's comp as he wont let me win his camera anyway:sneaky2:

Decided to take the plunge with a thread of me own. Here's a few recent efforts. Starting mostly with fungi as that's been what I've been doing thanks to hama and Monkey D. The last one particularly down to these two as their kind words got me out taking pics again after a bit of a lay off from lack of enthusiasm:001_smile:

Those are good, like the second and third for composition:thumbup1: quite impressive focus and depth of field for phone pics too, have you done any with a camera? Just ask as I'm guessing they'd be quite good to see:001_smile:

that would be a trISOd.............I'll get my coat:vroam:

:thumbup1:Thanks for the link SJH some handy tools there.I still haven't photographed my finished bowls yet, but will get around to it. I do have some nice bits of oak that I want to have a go at so I can get going now. I've thrown in my most uber autumnal shot I could find, by way of making up for my derailing of your autumn theme:001_smile:

My secret weapon, the mini, rock solid, go anywhere do most things, stealth tripod.... - fully extended (and out of focus) - lowest setting (centre column detaches) - head mounted upside down, gets camera to the floor (but upside down). I haven't done this yet as I use a bean bag for ground level stuff, but it needs checking out at some point.

Thanks guys, made my day to get a pat on the back from both of the fung gurus,thats given me a bit of motivation that you don't get when you leave them sat on the hard drive. I should make the point that moveing the fung for photo purposes is only done if they are abundant. This one lives in my little fung garden back in the wild and is still going strong. I actually travelled a bit to photograph my first candlesnuff, returning to the site to try to get better shots, and now its everywhere, must be the most abundant fung around here. Edit; I keep my fung handling licence with my waste carriers licence in my imaginary licence holder:001_smile:

The kitchen bowl is a bit like one I made, but with more advanced techniques, and handles I'll put up some pics of a couple I whitled when I get round to it. One of them I hollowed out by lighting a fire in it, which leaves a nice black shine on the inside. Have attached a pick of this as I can't resist the derail, its so off track:001_smile: Love the autumn stroll vid, did you have to develop a special 'walk like a ninja' technique to get the camera to float through the trees like that?

Yip, that works, .... Double click on the vid here takes you to u-tube window, then click on 'pop out', then click on full screen icon. Nice way to show the pics, so may set up a utube account to have a go. I'm just nipping back there now to watch your kitchen bowl carving antics, this is also an interest of mine. I mean't to ask where you got that curved knife for hollowing out the bowl that I have seen in one of your pics before.

Nice one SJH But is there a way to make the pictures bigger as it doesn't do them justice in this format, too small and dark. I have clicked all available buttons and no joy. This in itself is a complement as I've never felt the need to try to make a video bigger before:thumbup1:

Another Xlaria or Candlesnuff, the first one taken in captivity and the second in the wild. Very difficult to get the top, spore bearing, white bit to be not blown out.

The most important thing to take from this experience, which AD has been kind enough to share with us, is nothing to do with boots or PPE (IMO). The lesson to take from this is, NEVER to allow yourself to be annoyed whilst working with a chainsaw up a tree. It destroys concentration and forces mistakes. Stay calm and stay alive and in one piece chaps.

Here's a link which has helped me in my learning of this painful stuff. Basic Photo Tips: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO - photo.net

My thoughts are with you littletree. I know you have a good heart from your posts, It'll see you through. Paul

I haven’t posted for a while but have been going absolutely mental on studying photography, so I can’t post all that I’ve been up to. Nice to have a new bit of input in the thread Flames, and this is how it will be most useful… with people asking stuff. I was never really qualified to be the teacher here but am happy to share the pain of learning. It seems that I/We have been playing with the ‘exposure triangle’ which has at its corners Aperture – which also affects Depth of field (as sean has pointed out) ISO- which also affects image noise, detailed and sharp to soft and grainy Shutter Speed – which also affects motion blur. Whilst what Sean says is true, I think you have motion blur going on with the wee spider critters, so you need a faster shutter speed. To keep a correct exposure at the higher speed you can either up the ISO a bit or open the aperture. You don’t want to open the aperture (going to smaller F numbers) as you're at the narrow end of DOF already so you would need to up the ISO and perhaps the F stop to get more DOF which the higher ISO will allow. Good that you gave your settings Flames and my verdict is that your ISO at 80 was too low for a moving subject, I’d go to 400 and this will give you more scope for Aperture too, in that you can choose a smaller one and get more DOF. I’m doing everything on manual at the moment which really teaches you how one thing affects another. My advice is, to not be afraid of the dreaded ‘M’ on the dial, but use it as a beginner to see what everything does. You should see an exposure meter of some digital kind which tells you when you have it right.