chilli

My little cocker locked me out of the truck, with the keys left in ignition! She regularly switches on the hazards, radio etc & she's the only one knows how to reset the clock spring & autumn.

Turned right out of the school (naughtily) to find accident just along the road. Just me & impatient girl in 'go faster' striped Peugeot queing, as traffic was stopped further back. Didn't have to wait long but then went on to hit a pot hole & bust the jockey wheel as we bounced!

Thanks Andy. I don't suppose the two truck & trailer loads I had away made much of a dent in your heap! Good luck with the main fell; I'll listen out for the thump.

Peter (above) brought me a 10 tonne load of Plane mid July. By the end of August it was all cut, split & stacked under cover. Come January that was the only wood I had left & I cautiously offered it to customers thinking it wasn't really ready but, everyone loved it & said it burned wonderfully. Now it's all gone & people are asking for more of the same!

No-one should be disadvantaged in an exam, test or assessment by whichever form of dsylexia they are inconvenienced by. It is important not to be embarrassed & to tell the examiner/ assessor beforehand. If 'word blindness' prevents you from understanding (part of) a written question then it should be read to you. Same in reverse. I'm not talking here just of arb. assessments but of exams in general, (with certain hi-tech exceptions). Once it was recognised that my lad suffered & that he wasn't just 'thick' or disruptive in class, he was able to get through GCSE's, driving test etc & a variety of NPTC's. Good luck to you Stroudy.

Too good for Arbtalk then!

Just come back from the Swiss Alps where we saw lots of traditional cabins like in the closing shots of the vid. Supported on a stone mushroom at each corner to keep the rats out. No-one lives in them now. I think they are used for storing hay for the stock.

Deni, I'm pretty sure that's Lonicera nitida in your pics, not yew. Lonicera doesn't have the strength to support itself when it gets top heavy. Even when staked with wire running through it still flops. I find it best to start recovering a hedge like this by hitting it HARD, in the spring. Couple of seasons later & good as new.

Ah, so, it's not just me then with oily legs & fingers!! One other annoyance is that on my 260 the oil cap fits in with the 'cut out' at 4 oclock but on the 441 the cap fits in the other direction, at 10 oclock. On my lads 230 the oil cap looks as though it isn't in place even when it is. Makes you keep checking it before you dare start the saw.

Years ago my ole man bagged up all his sawdust (carpentry dust at that, not chainsaw chips), sprinkled in a few drops of 'Dettol' & it was sold as medicated bedding for rabbits, guinea pigs etc through pet shops!!

I aim 'domestic' logs at 9" & 'pub' logs at 12" - 14". More & more customers are switching to the bigger size which suits me as there is less handling. All the awkward bits that wont split down go in with the bigger logs too. I had one chap try to buy wanting every log exactly 15" long & 5" across!!

Quite a number of woods develop mould on the end grain if left outside during a prolonged wet spell. The growth stops when the rings/split logs are transferred to under cover with good ventilation. The staining remains however.I often find that sycamore gets a covering of 'pink spot' (?) on the bark when left outside.

!?!?...at 600 mins a month. That's 10 hours. Two & a half hours a week. Surely you can't chat on a mobile for longer than that?

There was a similar thread on here a few weeks ago where someone posted a link to a meter available on Amazon. Well, it speaks volumes for Arbtalk that within a couple of days, Amazon had sold out!

The company that Mrs Chilli works for developed a process called 'Friction Stir Welding' which brings them an annual income of several £m from the rights. The principle was stumbled upon quite by accident when timbers used to support materials on a vibration testing rig 'welded' themselves together!

I'm just down the road from Royston, as are other Arb'ers. We've had a lot of bother the past couple of months. Too many 'caravan' parks locally. The local Stihl dealer had all his stock taken for the umpteenth time despite his ever increasing security measures. He, the dealer, is regularly in the local paper criticising the police for lack of action.

A few years back, the country was flooded with Kilmarnock willows. I had one (died a couple of years ago) & so did all the neighbours. At about 4' tall now & with a similar spread, four good pokes with a digging spade should have it out. This is the best time of year to transplant. It will be top heavy & so will need staking.

Two prizes, lucky me! Big thank you to Jonesie for the Topsaw multitool & Chris Sheppard for the Uniforest clothing etc.

I also want to say thank you to Steve & everyone who took part. The chat room draw was fun!!!! I had to chuckle as blokes were thrown out & let back in. Jonesie must have opened & closed the door a dozen times. Anyhow, well done everyone.

Then buy in the roundwood & process it yourself. Min £35.00 tonne + haulage + VAT + saw, fuel & oil, splitter or axe, sore shins & splinters under the fingernails, sawdust, bark & chip waste to clear up etc. Store until dry. I don't know what a hilux holds; single or double cab. My Ranger holds 1.4m3 level. Threads on here over the past months suggest about £100.00 per M3 to be the going rate. So, £80.00 or £90.00 for a Hilux (single cab) load seems a good price. Do you want them stacked in the shed at the bottom of the garden, via that alleyway where I can skin my knuckles sir? And yes, it would have been handy if you'd moved your car before I arrived, we did agree on 9.30 after all. Oh, had you intended to make room in the shed before I arrived? You don't have the money right now, O.K. I'll call back later when you've been to the cash machine at Tesco's. You forgot to mention that you wanted a sack of kindling? O.K. I'll bring it when I come back for the money. What's that, sorry I misheard you. Never mind, keep the sodding logs & phone someone else next time!

I've had 10 tonne loads delivered in at £35.00t cash this past year. But that's from a fellow Arbtalker. I've got my first 26t artic load coming up from kent at £35t + £16t haulage but no VAT as soon as the weather improves. That's mixed ash, oak, hornbeam & birch, all good firewoods. I'm happy that I can still get a decent winter earner at that price. The Kent supplier says that 80% of his wood (100's of tonnes) comes up to East Anglia.

What goes round comes around so life will reward you for your generosity, just wait & see.

I swam in Ullswater in November when I was 17. Had no choice....Outward Bound course.

When the 'squirrels' first visited my yard they took about 3m3 of bigger 'pub' logs but had to first dump off the burned cabling from their previous exploits. Mrs chilli was told by the police.."don't be silly, they don't steal wood, only metal"!!!

Hi Tim, I help run a little charity in my home village which helps out the 'needy', mainly old folk in the village. Over Christmas we raised just over £2000 through various madcap enterprises. I can't match that but have put another bit into the raffle.