codlasher

I had a 407 for five years. Whilst it was a good car, comfortable, economical and reasonably rapid, it was always beeping at me! Each beep cost £30 plus the part and fitting. I couldn't simply drive it for say a month or two without some electronic fault. My parents have similar problems with their 407 pug too having moved up from a bullet proof 405 with 220,000 miles! I bought a small Skoda estate for a 'family' car but rarely see it as children have it far more than me...I will probably keep with this marque and avoid Peugeot in the future. I have to ask if they have checked the engine recently as it seems to be reliable. codlasher

Ha! My youngest daughter knitted the jacket for the teapot when I was working away from home and living in a caravan. It makes a big difference too. codlasher

Bedford MK? Looks a very useful piece of machinery. Off topic MK story...sorry..... I helped recover one with my old county winch tractor. He'd fell in a ditch trying to get to a Calor gas tanker that was squashing a LR Discovery (belonging to a lady friend who had called me for help) that had slipped into the same ditch.......in the snow of 2009/10. I could and did pull the MK out then the Disco but I could only pull the front wheels of the gas tanker out of the ditch as the Cooks was only rated at 10 tons. The MK driver and I managed to get a belay onto a big beech tree to pull his machine into position where he could finally deploy his powerful 30 ton winch and recover the gas tanker. Two other vehicles slid into us and the tanker as we were doing this job and blamed us for being there....I was impressed with the power of the MK winch. It was very slow but with that amount of pull to hand you can take your time and not pull the front off a wagon! codlasher PS. the belay was done using a purpose built snatch block that took two of us to lift!

This is the best room in the winter for us, drying wet clothes and wet dogs. The kettle is on all the time ready for making tea and hot drinks. codlasher

A spoonful of local honey in your tea is nice too! A real treat is Russian Caravan tea and ordinary. 50/50 mix. From the copper kettle that has just boiled on the wood burner of course! codlasher

Well H-A. What a nice little tale and a good working saw after your repair work. I purchased my 020 in 1987 and rebuilt it about four years ago and still use it for all sorts of jobs. I would say it's a classic to keep as it is very handy! codlasher

How about a Rill? See these pics for ideas; https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Rill&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Q1svUtTHMs6I7Aazx4DIAQ&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1828&bih=801 I went to a house with one of these. It was in a beautiful walled garden and the noise of the water running was very pleasant. It ended in a waterfall so you will get your aeration too. codlasher

@WillTimberlake Try here; Training Centre for Traffic Management Operatives Re the beacon, I have one that moves between which-ever vehicle that goes on the road. Mainly my tractor. codlasher

@Johnny Walker. I'm based in East Anglia. codlasher

My friend dries chip on concrete during the summer. He piles this semi dried into a dutch barn and builds a wall using Hesston straw bales. There are grain drying pipes with little extractor fans in their tops to keep the heat down just like in a grain store. Each batch is separate from the previous and they are used in turn when they are needed. 50% is from arb arisings as his wood chip boilers are not fussy The main boiler is 300Kw and happily burns this chip when it is called for. We tried chipping when dry......Not pleasant! The dust went everywhere. The machinery was fantastic to see in operation though and a good learning experience for the pair of us. codlasher

There was a patch of JKW that some thoughtful gardener had dumped beside the land-owners hedge-line. This had spread through the hedge into the field. It took five years to get under control with two doses of glyphosate annually. There's still a watching brief. The important thing was not to kill the hedge hence the cautious approach. I'd be very cautious dealing with this particularly as the potential customer wants to sell the property. I would consider the 'dig and remove' option as being the best, but I'm sure any mortgage company would want a twenty five year disclaimer so the insurance liability implications would be an interesting one.... To your benefit If you could pull this off in a business-like fashion you are half way to becoming a specialist in this area with the experience too! Seen from the 'specialist' angle you could set your rates to match those who operate from Harley Street or those who deal with Bat surveys. £600 per visit/consultation.... codlasher

I use one of these, a very useful piece of my equipment and handy in all areas when seeding is required. THE AERO BROADCASTER SEED SOWER FIDDLE DRILL | eBay codlasher

Looks handy! codlasher

Some ten years ago I was asked to supply a woodland environment/forestry site for Echo to do a photo shoot for their brochure. We spent a day with their photographer and played with the saws. One was a 5500 and the other was their little top handle unit which I filed away as a nice little saw. I was presented with the 5500 at the end of the day and I still use it as my all-round saw. codlasher

I had some problems last year with this site with a notice warning of 'malware' so I bet it happens quite often. More recently I was looking for quantities of a particular aggregate and one of the sites I looked at had been hacked to display sex toys and cheap viagra! codlasher

I already had the grapple from an older forestry crane but everything else is new. So, rough fag packet costs, £1700 without the grapple, which would probably cost £400 so all in £2100. The pipework and the associated BSP fittings alone were £400....Each were measured as a pair and bound in 'Spiralux' for protection. Plus my time thinking the project through and making the smaller bracketry needed for things like the diverter valves and mounting the Holmbury flush-fit couplings. Two were already fitted, as there is a pecker circuit that works the grapple itself, but I had to divert the bucket crowd ram circuit to operate the rotator. I have already done several little jobs just 'moving' equipment in a end of summer tidy up. This has given me a chance to try it out and get used to what to watch out for.....Don't get too close to the cab.......Which way the pecker operating lever releases the grapple. I've written that in permanent marker so I can see it in front of me, just as a reminder! codlasher

As Timbermcpherson rightly says, having one with a skilled operator is the best way. I've just finished fitting a timber grapple to my 360 machine and even with over 30 years experience on a County based forwarder I am being very cautious. Surrey is a very long way from me too! codlasher

Agreed! Particularly with No1. Keeping the heat IN the house and in winter a ROOM is paramount. codlasher

The KISS principal is very important with these pieces of machinery. @StephF is right too in injury, but there is also AGE too! Unless you have a huge yard, a loader to fill your hopper (see picture, excuse the dirty windscreen!)) for the next week and understand your boiler completely, avoid anything with too much 'tek' as you will have to pay the specialists considerable sums to 'fix' the silly niggling problems. A friend and I tried chipping dry arb arisings that had been stockpiled for 18 months and I wouldn't want to try that again! The poor chap operating the crane feeding the Heizohak couldn't see most of the time and he was wearing BA too. Arisings are the best way but you need quite an area of concrete in the summer and quite a storage area under cover to put the dried chip too with grain drying ventilators to keep the air moving through. I think the heat meter is the recognised way to claim any tariff but I'm not up to speed on that yet. codlasher

I will pm you with some details of a contact I have near Naarwich. codlasher

As long as my piece of string......Or 42' codlasher

We've had apple since the original SE in the late 80's then the first iMac then mac mini's right up to last years model. Can't fault them. Don't get suckered in buying Microsoft's office programme costing £££'s, look for Oracles 'open office.org 3' for mac's and as it is an Oracle product is free. I'm running one here on this 2012 mac. The children are using the older minis (the ones in the slightly smaller box than the new items) without problems and turn in homework that is interconnected with the school network. We will upgrade again in about 2016. You will need a newer type screen as the older ones are not up to the speed of the new computer. Samsung SyncMaster S22B350 is a good match. Available from PC world. We're lucky in having an apple store in Naaarwich but the one in Regents Street is not too hard to get to either by train & tube and I think there is an apple store in Oxford too. Park and ride is entertaining! Hope this helps. I must apologise Swinny, I've just seen that you're in Yorkshire so London, Oxford & Naarwich are OUT!!! Sorry. codlasher

I would write to your Landlord, just for the record, thanking him for his 'valuable' time and request that he considers repairing/replacing the cutters before the winter. This would hopefully spur him to do that which you have requested and is on the record so won't be taken from your deposit when you leave. Man sounds like an ar*e though! codlasher

They can smell fresh Larch from a long way away and turn up to investigate. This is a close up of a beautiful insect. The black thing that looks like an extra leg is the borer/egg laying device.