Gareth Dalzell

In our yard we've about 10" average with a few drifts of a foot and a half. Most of the guys were off today and did a bit of snow clearance with the others, MOT'd a van and experimented with our new 15hp Billy Goat blower - using it as a snow blower. Works well on freshly fallen snow before any traffic gets onto it. Creates a mega snow storm effect and shifts the snow nicely - looks a bit mad though. Roll on Wednesday when we close the doors for Christmas. One of my foremen has just left for a Carribean Cruise for Christmas - think he's got the right idea

Just outside Holywood North Down. About 50mm of snow has just fallen in the last 1hour up here, popped out earlier to collect something and had to deflate the tyres in the van to get back home.

You'll need one of the "Log Counters" on Arbtalk to give you a proper answer, but working out at 22p a log and bearing in mind how many you'd get in a small net, I'd say the price is competitive. The problem may be more in their mind - there is a bit of resistance to spend £100 quid on 1 bag, but if it was the same quantity in two bags they'd probably think it was good value.

Hi Lancstree No didn't have to adjust the door hinge end, but probably have turned the door handle to tighten it. The new rope seal is perfect, we can choke the fire right down again. A couple oak logs on this morning at around 10am and the fire was still toastie at 2.30pm. Until the rope was fixed last night it was firing through the logs with no way of slowing them down. The rope seal kit from Clearview was easy enough to fit. The black sealant is a bit messy and the rope had contracted a bit in its packing which meant when I was about 2" from making a full loop I'd runn out of rope. Just needed to stretch it out a little to make is complete the loop. I wouldn't worry about getting a fitter out to make any adjustments, its a straightforward enough operation. Took about 10minutes after midnight last night before I hit the sheets so it would be sorted for the morning - although Clearview tell me it sealant can be used while the fire is warm, its easier to let the fire cool.

Yes - just put a new door rope seal on my Clearview Vision 500 10 minutes ago and yes the door does have a slight curvature from left to right - it matches the curvature of the stove body. Is that what you noticed on yours? My door rope had worn/got damaged in the top LHS and with just a 50mm section not sealing you couldn't choke it down enough to slow the burn right down. I'll let you know tomorrow if that sorts it. I have a big 750 clearview in the other room. Got to say they are excellent stoves. Got the first one about 8 years ago.

We've been putting up tree's on sites now since the 6th November and the grande finale is always our own one at home. My wee twin boys are 5years old now and the excitment is mounting. One of them is train mad and the tree we put up at the Museum on Monday was all his dreams in one picture.

We have a ZX 200 Schliesling on a 35Hp Kubota and it is fantantic. It is heavy on the tractor weight wise, but power is just about right. Its a great way of getting the chipper to the exact point of use, over fields, through woods places most 4x4 wouldn't look at. We looked at a few other makes, but the Schliesling weight about 150-200 kg more than most of the other brands and being a bit old fashioned I reckon the more it weighs the more steel there is in it and the stronger it will be. It hasn't let me down in 2 1/2 years It was a demo machine - think we paid around £5k for it

That about covers it - it's all down to your contract or if you have no contract - custom and practice. We have a "laying off" clause in our contracts. If we get hit with extreme weather and can't work we will lay off staff (short term) to protect their long term employment. Long term survival is more important. We will work with staff if they have problems with this. We cover everything that we can control - but extreme weather is everyones problem not just employers.

Does that mean than you are doing about 350-400 miles a tank - i'd be filling up twice a week:thumbdown:

Keep them frost free in a plastic bag with the roots in the bag with a bit of moisture around them( throw some damp compost in to keep them moist) Don't let them get warm or they'll rot/mould-up. They'll keep for weeks if you keep them moist and frost free. Any longer then "heel them in"

Lived in a 28ft static for 4 years while I built our house. Can be a bit cold and heat retention is a big problem. Like the last post, make sure the floor is sound and insulate it from the underside. Another option is to get a portacabin and kit it out yourself. They tend to be better constructed and insulated. Just a thought.

That's a strange bit of vandalism - very controlled and slightly worrying. Having said that, I've seen trees in the nursery pruned (more neatly) as hard as that and they thrive. Still, I reckon the person who has this level of control over their vandalism has deeper issues!

"Must try harder"

If this is purely business owing and assets that's scary "gearing" but not uncommon. 5 years ago the banks would have loved to lend on this ratio, now if you divide by two which is often the value of assets when sold under pressure it's a different story.

It's even shorter than you think - for some strange reason in Northern Ireland we always take Easter Monday and Tuesday off and not Good Friday(I know my mother in law is English and she can never understand this one). So that means we are off Monday Tuesday for easter, at work for the Wednesday and Thursday and off again on the Friday. A two day week!!!! That will be a fun week trying to cover weekly maintenance cycle committments during the growing season

Rupe, thanks for that. It got me thinking and I got onto the Labour Relations Agency site and then linked across to a "Working Time Directive" advice note that says Bank, public and holidays by Royal Warrant can currently be included within the existing holiday entitlement - Excellent - so the trip to Poundstretcher to get some towels for the Happy couple is back on.

Its just that if I have to pay my guys for an extra day its going to cost over £1000 in wages and not really knowing the happy couple that well, I'd probably only have sent them a card or some towels and wasn't planning this level of generousity

So just to check this out. This extra Public Holiday (For the Royal Wedding) - is it to be taken out of our existing 5.6weeks paid holiday? No Royalist/Republican angle here, just curious as an employer on which this has an impact:confused1:

That made me laugh:lol::lol:

The fire is surrounded by fire boards and set on a granite hearth. I'm really impressed with how long each log burns for. Just read this again - it might need pulls out if its in a recess. Again the smell of the paint is really severe as it cures. Loads of windows open to let it out.

Like others have said, the paint needs to cure slowly and will be like soft varnish until its been well heated up a few times. Don't let anything touch it at this stage otherwise you'll have the marks forever. Is the stove setting tucked into a hearth - we had to pull ours out from the fireplace to get the heat into the room. It now sits about 10" our from the fireplace and makes all the difference. Before that it was pretty poor - its the same model as yours 500 vision.

Don't get too worried about having pictures of machines up here. There are lots on most threads and the people who know where you are probably did before you posted here anyway. Great looking machine and set-up. Need to keep it locked up though - only joking:lol:

Looks like he's making a "high horse" with a chip on it's shoulder

'totally normal reaction - there's always a bad feeling when someone threatens your business for whatever reason - we've all been there. What you need to do now is focus on your business. Push yourself in a more productive direction. Like others have said - competition exists in many forms. My initial reaction - probably blow his kneecaps, burn the buildings and disappear his wood. That's probably not going to get you anywhere though. Keep splitting timber and get it sold.

Lilke others have said - if you have the letters use them. I don't sign off letters or correspondence with them after my name but I do have them on my business cards. Yes it might all be perception, but that doesn't really matter. If you can get across to someone that you have experience, competance and the cherry on top you have a professional qualification and you end up in court often the only real bench mark they are going to take into consideration is the qualification because nothing else has been measured in their terms. It doesn't make me any better than the guy without letters but it is often perceived that way and on those occassions, youll get the job and the other guy won't. So if you're in business, you want to give yourself every edge, so use them.