AHPP

He'll open the cavity walls if I hide food so that's not happening. I have an even clearer than usual day tomorrow so a big walk for a great reset I think. I now retire for another beer and to throw the squeaky elephant (replacement for the squeaky reindeer) for him.

I'm tickled you think I go to work. But when I do, he comes with me. He's with me basically all the time. That is quite a lot of watching me on the computer atm though. Pheasants are perfect timing. I'm getting fat even if he isn't. Hiding food round the place sounds like the last thing I want to do, since eating food found round the place is the last thing I want to encourage.

Sailor's been a difficult housemate recently. Howled while I was (upstairs) in the house earlier. Hasn't done that since I got him. Now just got back from the shop to find he's tanned half a pat of butter. It was my biscuits the other day.

This lot are great. Like a much easier 65daysofstatic and a much better Sigur Rós.

I meant in a Dempsey strap kind of way.

Tease.

Duh.

I've got some rings knotted on double braid. Is it as strong or as neat as a splice? No but I can tie knots and see they're still there. And the price was right. I can't splice double braid. Or rather I never have. Also have some spliced onto three strand, which I can splice and was happy to because you can see the strands holding. By yourself or not, rigging from the tree is mega useful. Sometimes the groundsman is useless, sometimes he's gone to chip up or shoot up. Sometimes you'll want to drift a piece onto the main system, or catch a butt. Or even sometimes you can run another down on a crotch before they've untied the last one on the main system. Or or or. The friction up top thing is less about protecting a weak rigging point (you can do that better by triangulating with predirects™ and redirects) and more about spreading it about being just nice. Reg Coates has a video on youtube explaining why he likes rings. The fact you can drop the rope and it won't zip up to the top of the tree is a good start. I use the 16mm Marlow in your link. There's nothing illegal about running it through pulleys and rings too. It might trouble Joe and his catalogue model mates though.

What kind of larva is that?

Isn't it just. I'd say it's aged better the the Matrix.

A symphony in beige. I had a pot of that. Too chemically.

So the last shall be first, and the first last.

Steve. You need some anti-robot measures. Like the children from Equilibrium who can spot sense offenders.

I watched the reboot (semi prequel really) and OG 2 and 3 last week. The original tonight and then I shall pass judgement.

Aye. Good gruel vibes. Delicious though. Bit of leek wouldn't have harmed.

Bacon skink. Have some potatoes of indeterminate breeding that aren’t good for mash or chips so made a chunky slurry as gaia clearly intended. Bacon, onion, chilli, garlic, salt, pepper. Cream cheese and the starchy water for the slop element. Thyme for a bit of sweetness. That’s the next few weeks sorted until the pheasants come on.

Racist.

Use your arbsurplus lengths for deadeyes, ring deadeyes etc. Before you know it, you'll have a good arsenal.

On weight, the fluffy bits of trees generally weigh less than tree blokes think. And you still underestimated it. Not by much but you still came down on the wrong side so get out of that habit. Be wrong the other way. This should be your main wake up call. You haven't built, "What if I'm wrong?" into your strategy. You need to or you'll break something expensive and look a twat. Worse, you'll be a twat. Small pieces = small problems. I've rigged the world and in your example, I'd have still gone a few feet higher and done it in three or four piffling pieces. Those pieces could have been slung up so you cut and catch one, see how the rigging point feels, cut another, make sure it's still OK and so on. You can do things like bundle a few up and lower them in a loop, then pull the loop through and have your rope back. No-groundsman tactics. If you had to to take it in one, you should have involved the main stem to strengthen the final rigging point. I generally look for a main point in strong, central wood and a redirect over the best drop zone. You'll find those points in honestly 95% of trees. You were basically only using the redirect point. Weak without the context of a main point. Your current learning style reminds me of me. I got by on wit and feel and I got by well but what I didn't do was engage in the analytical and theoretical learning early enough. If I'd devoted some effort to the stuff that looks like bollocksy compliance from the get go, I'd have got better, faster. MBL, WLL etc is more than just bollocksy compliance. It's real and important. And it's also pretty easy once you decide to learn it. Now is a great time to decide to make your rigging decisions unimpeachable. If you work by yourself, you're going to have to learn some natural crotch (and other up-tree friction tricks). You should learn it anyway. It's a key skill. The rope for natural crotch is 3 strand. Get some of that first. Owning a length of 16mm double braid without the rest of the skill, people and ancillary gear to utilise it is just spending £150 to look like a billy big bollocks tree man with a heavy rope bag.

@kram Not sure if you didn't see this or did see it and ignored me because you thought I was going to bray you over the head with whatever you said like the prevailing sentiment of this thread. Did in fact have something constructive to add if you're interested.

Mick, at home, wearing this, protesting too much.

Nearly as bad as ivy.

From memory, English Braids isn't the strongest. I use it because I like the colour. What's the £75 one, Joe?