difflock

Meh, am not bigly inta ma politics, ye ken Sur. Perfectly normal word in our NI dialect.

I was admiring a few Biro pen sized holes in the softwood I was splitting last week, again it had been lying 2 or 3 years, most impressive tunnelling work. And yon monster of a Hornet=Woodwasp I observed and mentioned on here. As my ould Uncle Tony would likely have commented; "I am glad she is sticking her boyo into dead trees an not my arse instead" m

That would be like pricing for a Ford Edge, and being supplied a Fiesta, at the Ford Edge price, you have priced for one task, and executed another, therefore the price should be different, especially if a deal of sucking teeth and underbreath muttering were any part of your protracted price calculation, for such a complex task. Which you then choose to do the easy way. To me it is clear that one should keep the customer informed, & explain; (i) Plan "A" is quick, cheap but risky, your household insurance or mine, for any damage arising.(And allowing for an insurance claim has to carry a price cost) (ii)Plan "B" is slower and therefore more expensive, but much safer. Regards Marcus

Well DOH!!! It absolutly never occured to me to use "Ox", in my search. cheers m

Since I near got well-burned by those "*entrepreneurs" at West Yorkshire Machinery. btw/fyi * the word "entrepreneur" is apparently interchangable with "rotten-whore", phonetically at least. Tunstalls Tractors are my reliable back-stop dealer. marcus

World's first 'flat pack truck' revealed | | Honest John I know there was a thread about this vehicle, but could not find it. cheers marcus

I detect a move, by the major brands towards a basic "Africa" spec tractor. Kubota brought out the MK 5000 JD has its 3036E varient et al Iseki has the new LTE 3400, all open station or cabless, limited mech gears(mostly) single speed PTO etc and I also came across a poverty spec cabless NH. So? Is this a fight back against the Kioti/Siromar/LS/Deadong whatever out of Korea and China? m

I am warming to an open station Hurlimann Prince 45 at sub £13k(brand new) or an even 16k with a sigma loader, on fat Ag tyres. A standard gearbox with a mechanical F-R shuttle, & otherwise a "proper" 40HP tractor. Like with a 2 speed PTO, quite a few of the poverty spec compact tractors (from leading manufacturers too) make do with a single speed PTO, CHEAPSKATES! Of course what I really really want is one of the 2 ex demo jd 4049, with fixed loader, cept they are 20k plus VAT. GULP More than I have ever spent on a car, even a new car.

Ok, prob a woodwasp then,(phew!) ah did wonder if it could really be a hornet.

see att doc Renault MAXTER G300 4x4.docx

The wasps here in Co Antrim are shocking small and scrawny for August, plus not many about, so much so, ah near feel sorry for them.

The hornet, the first I recall seeing, & I cant figure out what else it could have been, about 40mm long was taking a great interest in the fresh split sticks, but finally alighted on the mudguard of the tractor, quite a magnificent creature(as long as there is only one!) Then during a breather at the pond, endless smaller reddish dragonflies, and one humengeous blue one, which appears to have been a male emporer. Bloody thing would not let me get a photo though, with its super-fast zooming about. WOW! Life is good.

glad about that eggs, 100% sound decision if only the 2 of you. I do constantly attempt to try to explain that collies , and indeed rotties will "nip" as part of their herding instinct, generally to the lower leg. Never mind bloody jack russels. This Should NOT be interpertated as "biting", or an attack per se. A world of difference in an excited nip, and a deliberated attack, being multiple bites & directed towards the head, upper body, throat, the arms used defensively generally taking the brunt. But most people fail to be interested in the difference. Which is a pity.

Eggs, what was the temperature like?, we had a v placid American bulldog/pitbull, attack another dog, on a stinking stinking hot Sunday afternoon, this particular girl simply would NOT stay about, and always wandered off, after umpteen ph calls and friendly dog warden intervention, we were attempting to rehome her, she was away with a very dog-savvy woman on a try-out. Despite zero human harm, she paid the ultimate price for her one outburst, which I could only attribute to the deadly heat that day. We still got her photos plastered all over the fridge. regards m

Oddly, Despite homing a succession of rescue dogs of all breeds, and several times intervening in fights between the pit bull/staffie/ mastiff types, who were plainly intent on killing each other. And never but never beat these dogs or even used strong discipline. only got marked once, and entirely accidently , when raked by a protruding tooth. This despite kicking(with increasing severity) in the ribcage in a futile attempt to distract the agressor, might as well tickle them with a feather when in "fight" mode. Also putting the full of my strength in twisting a choke chain, to strangle one, to persuade it to let go. To no avail. and seconds after it is over? back to being placid big dotes. We was also rearing 2 youngsters/children during these years. I trusted the dogs implicitly, Bessie, the one who raked me with her tooth, was actually v. protective of our children, since they were part of her pack.

well put Sir, but a foul calumny on any Mississippi steamboat gamblers methinks:lol:

Gotta be Hagen Daaz coffee or strawberries and cream, or even plain vanilla. The 500ml tub is perfect for sharing*. marcus *In emergency situations it is however, entirely possible to finish a 500ml tub on ones own.

An "informed insider" admitted to me v recently that Kubota HST's did not like working on hills, which I could only interpretate as "did not really like heavy work". And Kubota are still surprisingly "big" on geared transmissions. Kioti, I understand are clones/copies of Kubota, having built Kubotas under contract, until a falling out. That said I am currently waiting a price for a 45HP Kioti with a loader. BUT John Deere have "majored" on their HST equivalent "eHydro" hydrostatic drive tractors, up to 66HP in the newest 4 series, optional on the bargain basement cabless "M" spec, BUT standard, on the higher spec cabbed "R" series. That tells me JD has faith in its eHydro drive technology, which in conscience with its LoadMatch "e"lectronic wizardy, is I think justified. You get what you pay for, or more rather, definately DO NOT get what one does NOT pay for, if you see what I imagine I mean. This whole subject being very close to my heart at the moment. cheers m

"converted from a Hearse", & a used Hearse I can only presume.

Here in NI, uncovered logs have actually got wetter over the summer, with a combination of endless light rain and stonking humidity on the few days the Sun broke through. Since I cut and split some last week, that had been lying over 15 months. marcus

Thanks David, exactly my feelings about the 3720 JD, being very well hammered together/unburstable(and I imagine I prefer the Yanmar engine, which I also reckon to be more fuel efficient) , but I reckon the clincher is JD's LoadMatch system, which is tremendous for loader applications. PS We, that is I just purchased a JD 1585 mower for work, which is really really rated by the operator, who used to pilot a Class Jaguar self propelled forage harvester, I am sure he was glad of the JD A/C yesterday in our humid 25 deg heat. The cab is also very nicely tidied up from the Mauser cab on the 15 year old one it replaced. BUT I would have bought a Kubota, except less spec(lower transport speed for 1) than the JD, the standard fit JD A/C being the deciding factor. cheers m Still fancy a 47HP Iseki(which kit I seriously rate) or cloned MF mind.

Thank you David! PPS The JD 3720 is 50% more powerful than the 3030 Kubota though, could possibly have a wee bearing on the issue. cheers m

Bloody hell, yees is all telling me what ah dinny wanna hear! From a long time Kubota fan, who has only recently warmed to J Deere, through direct personal experience. And also slightly went off Kubota ride on mowers as not being built(penny pinching/cost cutting?)like the late 1990's G17/G19's were. Though being aware that JD are all too good at banging out low-rent specials like perhaps the 3036 range, which are missing the options of their pricer models. But honestly the hours issue is prob less pertinent than the way the tractor was used, serviced and maintained. And I would only be putting little more than hobby hours on, so could accept higher hours, as long as this was reflected in the price. cheers all marcus

Still looking for a nominal 45 HP hydro trans tractor with loader. got 2 lined up, only £500.00 difference in price, and VAT on both. one is a Kubota with no cab, Ag tyres and low hours, the other is a 4R JD, with cab but turf tyres and about twice the Kubota's hours, but much fresher looking, I dont really want a cab, but fancy the J Deere, being used to the wee 3720 at work. So, do I know what I like, or merely like what I know. Ah hate making decisions. No doubt if I continue to faff about, someone will buy the 1 I wanted! PS Is there any seasonal element to this type of kit? i.e. is it more likely to be changed between Jan and March, than now in the late summer/ Autumn.

Is there no merit in considering a hydraulic drive chainsaw bar, on the end of the dipper arm, alongside the grab, to snick to logs to length, AS one deposits them on/in the horizontal splitter, or cut knotty/branched or bent sections into thin rings for vertical splitting another time. The digger operator is perfectly placed to sort a mixture of timber types. And essentially eliminate chainsaw aches and pains. Since I see a 3-5-8 tonne excavator with a grab as an extension of the operators arm. m