Billhook

Now I know crows are intelligent but I thought that it was we Brits who started Wintersports!

I thought that she was bettering her hedges! Anyone who thinks that writing a book is just like writing a post on Arbtalk should try and write a book and you will see that it is hard work My wife has been writing her second book, a crime novel after a successful first book which was a book on craftwork. Novels are very different and the world of novels is very competitive. Novels sometimes take years of rejection and rewrites, up every morning early to catch that still time of day, frustration, depression, and if she did not have me to support her she would be trying to fit in a job in between or if that did not work out she would be like JK on benefits. She has hope and self belief but will probably end up disappointed like thousands of others. Dyson is another example of someone who lived on the edge for years, remortgaging his house, the family suffered, his relationship suffered he risked everything. It is right that someone who sticks their neck out to produce something they believe in should be rewarded properly.

You probably are aware of Melanie Reid, the Times columnist who was on Radio 4 a few days ago which also made me think of you. The Times journalist who doesn't accept her disability - BBC News

Just put this one on youtube for you Sean. [ame] [/ame] Every year they love to sit on this weathervane, which was made for me by a friend and is a silhouette of my two Airedales now sadly deceased after nearly sixteen years of great companionship.

The most expensive story on this subject was one I heard about a student who was on VSO in Tanganyika (Tanzania) in the 1950s during the Groundnut Scheme debacle which is quite an amusing read for arbtalkers. The Tanganyikan Groundnuts Scheme It was a classic how not to try and organize something in the middle of nowhere from government offices in London They had two and a half million acres to clear and not a clue initially. It went from bad to worse, cost over £50 million (multiply by 100 today) Apart from the serious hospitalisations caused by felling trees full of angry African bees the student told stories of road building projects where those in London decided that to build roads you needed road rollers so about thirty of these were sitting in a compound never used as graders were what were needed. In an early example of HSE someone decided that Africans should not be driving bulldozers without shoes so that 100 pairs of shoes were sent out, all size 8! Because of the problems, mainly lack of rain, most of the managers time was spent meeting officials at airports to take them out to sites and look at the problems and eventually this student was out in the bush listening people explaining to the Minister of Food, John Strachey, why the scheme was failing because of lack of rain. The student, having heard all this before and bored, decided to go behind a bush and relieve himself. He came back to the group and to his horror Strachey decided to go on a little walkabout and went round to the back of the aforementioned bush. Kicking the soil around he declared " Look, there is moisture here if you search for it, I have every confidence that everything will turn out all right" I think you might call that "The Billion Dollar Pee!"

I only occasionally need something that big and I was thinking about setting a piece of oblong box section vertically in some substantial concrete foundation in the yard. I have some lengths of hard steel wearing blades from the D7 Caterpillar bulldozer which I could sharpen and slip into the box. Hopefully I could load an unlimited length of log in front of the blade and the 17 tons and 14 litre engine of D7 would do the rest. If I managed to quarter it I could do the rest of the process on the Palax. The only problem is that it is all theory at the moment unless anyone has done something similar in practice?

That sounds more like a catheter!

What, half inch garden hose????!!

Probably worth fixing a plastic jerrycan under the bonnet somewhere with a (largish!) hose just poking throught the front grill at the right level. Bend over the engine with a couple of spanners in hand Then when the lady appears with the cup of tea unexpectedly you can mutter something about could they just leave it somewhere nearby as you are in the middle of a very fiddly job in the engine compartment!

[ame] [/ame] After seeing the boot video I am taking no chances!

[ame] [/ame] Something for y'all to sing whilst doin' whatcha do!

Quad bikes Quad bikes are required to be registered with DVLA before they can be used on public roads. They can only be used for short distances on public roads and must have a number plate, be fitted with lamps and reflectors if they are to be used on public roads before sunrise or after sunset. They should also be fitted with indicators and a hazard warning light if they are capable of travelling above 15 miles per hour. If they are capable of travelling above 20 miles per hour a horn and a speedometer should also be fitted. If they are capable of travelling above 25 miles per hour a fog light should also be fitted. The rider should make hand signals when changing direction or slowing down if the quad bike is not fitted with indicators and brake lights. It is not permitted to carry passengers on a quad bike. Red diesel The use of red diesel (also known as “rebated fuel”) is only permitted in certain circumstances. These include the following circumstances: where the vehicle is not used on a public road and does not have a licence; where the vehicle is a tractor and it is designed and constructed primarily for off-road use and its use on a public road is for agricultural purposes; where the vehicle is a “light agricultural vehicle” (which includes quad bikes) and its use on a public road is for agricultural purposes; where the vehicle qualifies as an “agricultural material handler” and its use on a public road is for agricultural purposes; where the vehicle is classed as an “agricultural engine” (which includes combine harvesters and crop sprayers) and it is travelling to or from the place where the vehicle is or has been used; where the vehicle is classed as an “agricultural processing vehicle” (which includes mobile feed milling machines) and it is travelling to or from the place where the vehicle is or has been used; where a vehicle is used only for agricultural purposes and it is travelling to or from different pieces of land occupied by the same person and the pieces of land are not more than 1.5 kilometres apart; where the vehicle is a mowing machine; where the vehicle is being used to clear snow from public roads or when it is travelling to and from the place at which it is used to clear snow. There are stiff penalties for using red diesel illegally. I still think that there are lots of grey areas. For instance if you were to use a 4x4 pickup just in the woodland which was less than 1.5 km on a public road from the next bit of woodland which you occupy and you decided to tax the vehicle for agricultural use, what are its speed limitations on the road? One of the key requirements it seems is that the journey on the road must be between land that you occupy.

When my wife lived in a remote area in Washington State in the next door log cabin were three beautiful single girls and they desperately needed a man with a chainsaw before Winter came. I am not sure if they drew straws but one came back with the ugliest little sod you ever saw...... but it didn't matter because he had a chainsaw and a pick-up truck!

I used to think that PSA stood for just Prostate Specific Antigen but soon discovered it also meant "Pinky Slipped up Anus" A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do! As Gensetsteve said, it is probably as unpleasant for the doctor but if the result is ok then it brings a great peace of mind. Have it checked!

I don't like Arbtalk, oh no, I love eeet!

Vee vill never surrender!

Good man Tommer! For those of you misguided ones who hate wasps you will be pleased to know that hornets will often build right next to a wasp's nest and eat the grubs. Badgers also do a good job when the nests are in the ground

I used to declare war against them until I heard a documentary on them on the radio. A gentleman was singing their praises for all the good work they do through out the year, nailing flies, cleaning up debris and detritus around the garden and much more. All they want is a little sweetness at the end of the year to reward themselves for all they have done. Hence the times you really notice the in the Autumn when they mob you for a sip of beer or a bit of jam. Hornets are much more benign. They look very intimidating but it takes a lot to make them angry. Their sting is much the same as a wasp but they do make a physical slash with their ovipositor to make the wound look worse.

Was it anything like this Sean? [ame] [/ame] A bit more practice and you'll be keeping up with this guy! [ame] [/ame]

Hope that you are soon settled in so that you can start to put together that book of your photographs, the one I shall buy when it comes out!

Or should it be "Rate my Minge!" I think that I lost count of the number of safety issues!

Does not look like this Paulownia at least. Paulownia Tomentosa si Paulownia Elongata - Seminte Paulownia Tomentosa Elongata Mimosa Pudica Goji

All these machines with high speed cutting blades are wonderful when they are working well. But they do give me the heebiegeebies when I remember stories about them 1. A straw chopper on the back of a tractor lost a blade and it came out through the casing just like the Jensen but still had enough energy to go into the tractor rear tyre and puncture it. 2. A blade on the big old Cooksley planer/thicknesser broke up and a piece went up like a bullet through a striplight on the workshop ceiling. 3. A lad was killed near here when using something as mundane as a Bosch angle grinder. On his own in the workshop in the evening and the blade broke up and a piece went into his neck and jugular artery. 4. The Lucas Saw always worries me when the blade is in the horizontal position .I know that it has substantial plate to try and shield but seeing the velocities involved it is worrying especially as it is spinning at the same height as my balls! It is a dangerous world, working with high speed tools and even with all the precautions and protective clothing there is still an element of bad luck. We take all the safety precautions.........and then we drive on the roads!!!

Seems to be a lot of manual work to cut into rings and load onto the machine. Would it not be better to split the large trunk with either a screw splitter or a hydraulic grab splitter into long more manageable diameters and then feed through a conventional Palax processor or similar?

Very much aware of this. It comes with a seemingly endless list of rules starting with the words "YOU MUST" or "YOU MUST NOT" the penalty for an average farm may be to withhold the farm subsidy. The people who decide are not judges and there is no court or jury. This penalty is in many cases a hundred times more than you would be fined for stabbing your ex girlfriend. Man fined after stabbing ex over 'love trap' - The Scotsman He was fined £650