TGB

I considered the 261 but found the handles too close together for the weight. And yes, overall too heavy.

thetoolnut_ so are you running 1/6 like a detox?

I know tennis is boring as hell and one loses the will to live with all the TV coverage. But that's a drastic way to end it all.

Used to be, one was rewarded for using that thing called the brain. Now the law & courts reward people, who can't walk, talk and chew gum at the same time. In the age of sue if you can, even if it was your own dumb actions/in-actions that caused the pickle. You could still be a winner. Why go to school, when you can sue your way through life?

Not on a road but public can access this land, to trespass through private land. Woodland is sandwiched between landscaped garden with rough pasture and canal towpath. The owners of the house, garden & woodland, (where I with group occasionally work) have to contend daily with mainly dog walkers, lifting their dogs and climbing over locked gates/barbed fence, "So that my dog can enjoy running around a wood or open field, without worry that the dog will chase sheep." We have the usual forestry operations in progress signage. The owners have private signs; while the barb and locked gates scream keep out. You'd imagine the sound of chainsaws and processor would be a forewarning. But the public just won't be told they can't or just don't care about their own safety, the safety of others or the fact that they & their dogs are wandering around someone's private land. We've even had some bloke wander through, looking to site a geo-cache location. I think one of our number had a quiet word with him. While a little way along the track, another one of our number, first pointed out the danger he was in, the fact he was on private land. Then politely told him to sling his hook and not return. He just shrugged and carried on through the wood. Some people are idiots and some are idiots all the time. While some are idiots and rude with it.

Is it just me or does that third photo look like the broken toe of a gigantic raptor?

Sushi on an in vogue platter.

You could search the net for people needing tyres for 'rammed earth' projects. Might have to go 50/50 on transport or you might be lucky and find someone who is willing to buy from you. The more of roughly the same size the better. Makes for uniformly layered walls.

They're hardly likely to highlight bad design and or manufacture with their products. As far as I can gather, (reading through various posts, here on Arbtalk and various other sources) it should be of no great surprise, if on owning either a Husky 550XP or 560XP, one had to replace more than the occasional chain brake. Though the basics of the 550XP are there in the 545, the latter does not seem to share the same mechanical misfortune.

14th Showers most of day - light wind. 15th Glorious - light breeze 16th Piddling down - rain going sideways, with even the gulls being grounded.

I thought that's how they got the fillings for the 'British Rail' sandwiches.

Stake first and weave as going along. But if mostly Blackthorn, I can see that staking afterwards would be easier, quicker and probably safer.

Read a freedom of information report about four years ago. Of the local government and police installed cctv in England & Wales, only 16% on average were even monitored. Of that 16%, only 3% of recorded data was deemed to be of suffienct quality to aid in detection leading to prosecution; and only 1.6% of the 3% could be deemed, as having been crucial in a conviction. The conlusion & forecast was that while cctv was likely to become more widespread, the aforementioned figures would not improve. Moreover, overall monitoring was likely to decrease and recording of data to help with either prevention of crimes or final prosecution, was also likely to fall below 3%. It was also noted, that some courts, (usually local and some county courts) presided over by people who didn't fully understand cctv. Were less willing to accept cctv data, as being of evidential fact or of being any real help in understanding the crime being committed.

Have a friends who live in large bungalow. They've had log burner for several years and recently gone to all electric for heating of workshop, bedrooms & h/w. The burner heats he open plan areas. The roof is plastered with PV and solar-heat panels. They bought the panels and installation outright and had budgeted for full repayment in seven years. But with ever increasing utility bills year on year. They'll shortly, (within last five years) have been repaid the full amount, via the pay-in tariffs and savings on utility bills. Their total, (not per year) utility spend from start of 2011 to date, has been just £6.70. Yes, you read that correctly, 670 pennies.

Is it just me or does that look like a whole bunch of 'Pringles'?

One thing's for sure. If you've got some spare cash, buy utility share now, as the companies are bound to increase the prices.

Could be problematic, I'm supposed to be in a wood 20mls away in Nov. and part of Dec. The comment about the north getting the worst weather, isn't a forecast, it's a racing certainty. And the thought that the UK will grind to a halt, could also be viewed as a certainty. We're not good at Winter. There used to be a time when we were but that time has long gone. We now live in a society, where we fully expect someone else to get us out of a fix. Yet are fearful of being sued if we help another. So in years gone by, side roads and pavements were cleared be gangs of local residents. But last winter was an all too familiar modern reminder. If you didn't live in London or within a short frozen spit of a motorway, you were stuffed. Side roads & pavements were impassable for most of winter and as a nation complained at every blocked turn, while their shovels were cosied in sheds across the land.

No. But you could take on a noticeably old dog. Take it everywhere and apologise for its incontinence.

Say 'Yes' to every question. Or say 'No' to every question. Sooner rather than later, the caller realises they're being wound up and hang-up. If they're willing to waste my time and try to scam me in the process, I'm willing to waste their money. If I'm busy, I just hang-up. If it's an early morning scam call. I say I'm off to work but that they can call me back in an hour and give them a number. The number given is a non-emergency line to one of the local police stations.

Well said there. The given sentence wasn't nearly hash enough. The badgers in his area still aren't safe though. If there's one sick minded man like that, there's bound to be more. Plus the fact that he didn't give info on his friend; and he went to court feigning ignorance of the available evidence. Shows him to be unrepentant in this matter. Also, a curfew of 7-7 is lessened by the clocks going back soon. It'll be dark by 17:00 all to soon and you can bet he'll have access to others' dogs and equipment.

Is that good stuff or indifferent stuff? Depending on your location; could be worth it if I bought two.

As to gaining/losing 1,000ft - if you live in the fells or valleys, a 1,000ft isn't much. Years ago I had a bored morning and employed myself in the task of find out my actual altitude at birth. I got it wrong by 10ft, as I later found out the delivery-room was on the ground floor and not the first. So my actual birth altitude was 950ft. And before some bright spark says, "What about the bed..." I took the trouble to find out the internal dimensions of the hospital, the average height of NHS beds and thickness of mattresses at that time and also the average height of delivery equipment in general use at that time. And this was before the Internet age. As I said... I was bored and needed something to occupy my mind.

As I said, I have to admit to only having calibrated the saw once. After looking through the manual, such as it is, I got a bit worried, so I contacted the dealer who said to just work the saw and it only really needed to be done once. So I worked it from new and I've not had a problem, despite cutting at differing altitudes. Also from new, it was on pump-mix. Shortly after 2-3 tanks, it went onto Aspen without missing a beat. I've also run it dry a number of times and after refuelling, it just starts up without fuss and carries on cutting. Despite how I view Stihl's 'M-tronic' as being easier to calibrate, I still like the Husky and am happy with it so far.

I grant you have a fair point there. Cutting is better than idling. However, I cut in a number if differing locations and can easily change attitude by more than 1000ft from one day's cutting to the next. Also, there may be thick logs in one place and small trees in the next. Now I admit I've only calibrated the saw the once and thus far fingers & toes crossed, all is good. But I sometimes wonder, would the saw be cutting better if I could calibrate it every different day.

Yep. Husky do make the M-tronic module thingy. But even taking off & refitting the b+c, with 30secs. of running at idle in between, is quite a bit easier, than finding "a thick log" to spend 3-5 minutes of non-stop cutting at "full throttle... for the entire time", that a Husky needs for calibration. I find it akin to two fighter jet manufacturers making similar aircraft. But one choosing to only release their bi-planes into the market. There must be a good reason why the Euro Fighter wasn't made be Airfix.