Kenty

I have a real bug bear with the LEZ as I used to live within the zone when they changed the rules to smaller commercial vehicles & had to get into debt to replace a very good vehicle that passed emissions test every year. It has put quite a few companies out of business & some in serious amounts of debt to comply, yet you can smoke around in a V8 chelsea tractor or 6.5 l V12 merc which have by design got to be more polluting than an older 2.5 diesel. Just another kick in the nuts to the self employed & business owners.

The Alaskan Malamute is not like other domestic breeds, they are extremely independant & do not rely on humans to take care of them, they were originally worked as a heavy freight dog, & were used by the indigenous nomadic tribes of Alaska to haul, hunt, protect from bear & wolf attacks. In extreme weather they would bed down with the children of the tribe to keep them warm & are generally very affectionate towards children. They are a breed which still have their natural instincts to which they were bred for & people just do not realise what they are letting themselves in for when they get one. I have lost count of the amount of people who stop us & ask where can we get one ( cos they look awesome) & my reply is always the same, " unless you can allow at least three hours a day to excercise, train & work them then they are not the right dog for you". As you may be aware by now along with trees my other passion is the Malamute & I hope this recent event will not tarnish the excellent reputation that the breed has quite rightly earned over the years. Its about time we put a stop to home breeders for all breeds & cross breeding to get a particular look irrespective of the temparement, make it compulsory for all dogs to attend training & socialisation, not just at puppy stage but for life of the dog. How many people as dog owners know the law. Did you know that all dogs in the UK by law have to wear a collar with a tag showing at least a phone number, dogs should be kept on a lead at all times when in a public place & yes that even means your local park, the list goes on. And please never leave your dog unsupervised & put them in situations they are not comfortable with no matter how well you know your dog, they are animals with very sharp teeth & immense power for their size. Keep your dogs, yourself & others safe around your dogs & respect their awesomeness.

Due to the lack of snow in the south we use wheeled rigs for the dogs to pull, also cani cross simulates pulling, I'm training two at the moment to pull logs with very limited success. Our two youngest have shown over the years a real aptitude for canine agility which they do every weekend for fun, which is quite unusual for Mals, just shows what you can do with the right training & loads of time.

I'm mortified to hear this news as I share my life with three Mals, one in retirement, two still working & have extensive knowledge of the breed. Two lives have been lost, the child & the dog, because of the parents irresponsibility. The sled dog breeds appear to be gaining popularity but the truth is these breeds should not be owned without learning extensively about them & future life sharers willing to change their lives to accomodate their need to be worked & trained to stimulate their natural instincts. They are one of the most powerful breeds & can pull weights you would not believe possible. You do not own this breed, you share your life with them as they are unlike any other breed you will come across, if you have ever had the privaledge of spending time with one you'll know what I mean. Very sad day for the child & the breed.

You did nothing wrong mate. I wouldn't be surprised if the land agent just wanted an idea of the cost, got cheap labour to sort the trees to make a few quid himself.

Save yourself the worry & cover your backside when freelancing & purchase PL & EL then there are no grey areas.

Its not how I was taught to fell but been in situations with windblown where something similar was the safest option. He new exactly where his safety zone was to retreat to if things went squirley, & the tree is on the deck.

I'm good thanks mate, tired of getting wet but hey ho, my career choice. How are you and the family & are you working in the UK at the mo?

Good vid Rich, most enjoyable watch.

Thanks very much for your help. I will look up the fungi directory.

The winds picking up in East Sussex now. Not nice out there.

Could anyone id these brackets for me please. I've not come across these before & cannot glean any info from my books or tinternet. They are located at the base of an Oak set in 12 acres of native species woodland & the only tree which appears to have them. Thanks.

I used service magic around six years ago & it worked well for me for around a year, then all of these other trades persons sites arrived on tinternet & was finding I was paying for the customers info only to contact them & the work had already been done. This happened loads. I know a high percentage of posts from customers are not real jobs, but once you ask for their details it cost you. Steer well clear is my advice.

Save yourself a bit of time sharpening chains by taking of the bark with a mattock & brush the stumps to remove as much dirt as possible, failing that dig them out with a mattock. Done this once, before I bought a stumpy, never again. You don't just knacker chains, the dirt can get into all manner of places on your saw.

Keep it. Wish I'd not sold my 98 plate smiley with high ally sides for a modern motor with sensors on everything. At least you can fix it yourself if it goes wrong.

While driving down the M2 in Kent this morning on my way to work, I was behind another arborist & without warning one of the wheels on their chipper came flying off along with the mud guard, narrowly missing my truck. There was no signs that the wheel was loose prior to it coming off. Check your nuts regularly as could have been a nasty collision. If you are a member on here I hope your chipper is ok.

Just out of interest, how many pick litter up either where you live or working if you see it lying around? We used to have keep Britain tidy ads when I was growing up & it was a cleaner country. Maybe if other people saw litter being picked up by general jo some may follow suit & educate others in doing the same. Just a thought.

There were two, I continued working in the rear garden taking the arisings to the front but these school run mums have nicking parking spaces down to a fine art.

The location was in a cul de sac with plenty of places to park, signage was placed in front of the red van & off camera at the other end, cones were placed in space & were moved by the car driver, chipper was wheel clamped as the work was in the rear garden. The job didn't warrant an extra body. You could clearly see it was a work area. I think the op was clearly stating not to underestimate the stupidity & resourcefulness of the general public.

Mines one way traffic.

Tree owner but £2500 my arse.

Just another thought, as it takes so long to get the ok for the works, dot the i's & cross the t 's as any small mistake may result in the application being sent back to you to re do.

Hello Quercus 90, you can buy a sketch plan which is to scale. There are links on the planning portal to several approved suppliers or you could do what I do & draw the plan on your computer as long as it is concise with house numbers, street names, exact location of the tree etc. I have never had an application declined with my on sketch plan. I would not draw one free hand, as long as the map can be printed on A4 then you should not have any probs. There are no free maps you can use as they are crown copyright.

For starters never trust a customer to i.d a tree, they are rarely correct. As already said, Sycamores do scale with age & location is a factor to bark condition. Undertake a site visit, even if no work is required it shows the customer you are willing to put yourself out & they will remember you in the future.

Hello Rich Rule, hope you're well mate. The dogs didn't even stir. Useless as guard dogs. Are you back in the UK?