JimM

Running a 55 plate 4x4 Octavia Estate. Great machine in the mud and snow. Cavernous boot, great mileage as Spud says. All my kit goes in it piece of cake and if the truck is in the garage it easily pulls the chipper.definitely recommend.

Just shy of 600 for mine. Local dealer though, so when you add the ridiculous postage up to here I'm only really about 25 more. 14" bar on it. Set the autotune today by running it through bar depth hard dead elm. Flippin' eck it can cut. So used to the 201 choking up, but this beastie didn't. Snedded up the rest of the elm with it, to get a tankful through it. It didn't flinch once. It'll be interesting to see how the plastics bear up to work in the tree.

Winched out thrown elm today. Left a b@@£)() of a hanger about 30 ft up in a beech. It's deep in a wood, so will look next week t see if its out after this weekend's winds. If not it'll be a climb to cut it out. I love working wind throw too. A winch is definitely your best friend. Hoping next week provides some fun.

Yeh, missing you. Get your ares back up here to do some proper work and stop enjoying yourself in Holmfirth :-)

Watched it as it happened in Operations at work, thinking how we'd end up going somewhere sandy. It's my birthday too, so not something I can ever forget. I remember thinking quite cruelly that it was a wake-up call to the Americans. I'd spent years doing anti-terrorist stuff, knowing that "patriots" in the US were helping fund the IRA. years of checking my car for devices, years of driving to work hiding my uniform. Remember the nail bombs? The barracks bombings? Hyde Park? Big events in Britain, small events in the World. But 9/11 was an horrific sight. My brother-in-law was evacuated from an hotel nearby and ran with thousands of others to Central Park. It was a long wait to hear that he was ok. Then we had the pleasure! of endless trips to the Gulf, the fear of flying into Basrah at night, wondering if our anti-missile defences would work properly. Listening to the base getting rocketed around us. Watching the firefights below in Al Amarah, Najaf, Baghdad, and Basrah itself. Scrambling to assist in a TIC (Troops In Contact). Collapsing in horror when our friends of many years died in the Nimrod crash. So 9/11 was a continuation of crap, but in an unimaginable scale. And as someone said above, the effects will go on for many years to come. It also taught me how much the Americans regard their Armed Forces, and the indifference the majority of British civilians had to us. Our visit to New York and the site was full of support, thanks, praise for what were doing, and it was simple and honest. Nowadays Help For Heroes has changed that. So many UK families now have a link to guys who have headed east. So that's part of my take on 9/11. Other views are available.

It's all gone well, Stevie. Put the pictures on Today's job picture thread. Drop the last 50 ft or so of the stem in the morning. Really interesting job. Planned 2 days to get down, and if the mewp had arrived on time yesterday it would be a stump right now. Chuffed to bits. Had a good team helping though

Great news. Very well deserved Steve. Arbtalk has more than helped me get to where I am today. Thank you.

3m lengths and dumped in the woods

Not got it dirty yet. Kids gave it to me at breakfast this morning (complete with ribbon around the scabbard!) Used my 550 15" and 576 26" on the tree today. Wasn't hanging around! Have you got rid of your lurgi yet?

Cheers. It's been a good day. Plus I got a new T540xp for my birthday

Yeh. Annoyed as it didn't arrive until 10 yesterday, so lost a couple of hours. Otherwise the stem would have been down by ceasework today. The big extra leaders were a pain, there were about ten all in. Once the surrounding branches were out I could fell them out separately. Then get to the main stem. I've only been climbing a year now. I reckon I would have added at least another day if climbing.

Day 2 removing a Noble Fir. Will drop the stem first thing in the morning.

Well it turns out it's a Noble Fir. Today was day 1. MEWP didn't appear till 10 which was a bummer, but got a good tonnage down. The building behind is listed (not the shed!), as is the house next to it. Removed the bulk of the front face today though, will rig out the back and then fell tomorrow. The best bit was my extra groundie appearing. I rec climbed it on Sunday and measured out at 98ft to the tips.

:-)))

Grin. Sounds good to me. Anything shiny to be honest.

I like the sound if the freebies too. Don't think you would want to offer me free postage to the north of Scotland. Skip caps, mini tool krabs, key rings etc put a wee smile in your face when they're unexpected.

Rained hard last night. Settled into a morning of heavy showers. Perfect day for conny bashing.

And another blog with pics here Carve Carrbridge 2013 - Make it Snow

Sunshine, 15C and gusting 25 knots. Cobwebs gone.

Hopefully before next year then :-)

Don't be disheartened Roni, very nice carving. Pete really had nailed it though with his old lumberjack. You could see a few that just needed a bit more time, but I guess that's competition carving for you. The gnome on the dragonfly was clever and quirky. But what goes through your mind when you start your eagle, look round 20 minutes later and spot another two or three? Amazing to watch you all at it.

Would have been good to have a chat mate. Yup, red Arbtalk Tshirt and proud of it My missus now happy for me to buy another saw to have a go. A bear is the first request. Having watched Ian Chalmers do his, I might just start on mushrooms.

Last couple

And more.

Apologies, not the greatest shots, and not finished pieces as I was roving round herding kids.