Billhook

A bit more trawling shows that there is always another side........ [ame] [/ame]

I think I could easily become enthusiastic about bee keeping and have a few of these around if they do the job and are not too expensive. Beekeepers in Australia invent 'revolutionary' hive - Telegraph

You missed out seeing a farmer on a bike!

I think I do. Land ownership is really only a set of rights. We all dream of having our own plot with our own little castle and woodland. However ultimately it belongs to the Crown and there are all sorts of schemes that over rule those rights. Compulsory purchase for a railway/ motorway/ airport perhaps oil or mineral extraction, military needs and much more. This is apart from the whole host of regulations that come with land and home ownership. Back in the 1970s I could do nearly anything I wanted here to the house, land and woodland. Could have cut the trees and hedges down and taken the old house down and built a bungalow.(but I chose not to) Now we have been cleverly forced into an unwelcome farm benefit system purely to let the general public have cheap food so that they can become enormously fat and put a lot of pressure and cost on the NHS, but also to control the farming community. It has been very successful in both departments. The result is that I now have so many rules about everything that I think I have less rights than I would have as a tenant. I cannot cut down a branch from a tree bigger than my arm without permission due to preservation orders being slapped on in spite of the fact that it was my ancestors and myself who planted and cared for these trees. I cannot replace a bit of glass on a window in the old house without consulting the council glazing officer (really!) due to somebody listing the property. I cannot use a chainsaw myself without full safety gear and certificate on the farm, even though I do not employ anyone due to H & S laws and yet I could legally operate the same saw in the nude in my garden if I wanted to as it is not part of the business. There is an army of bureaucrats thinking up ways to stop me doing things (read "Parkinson's Law" by Cyril Northcote Parkinson about how bureaucracy multiplies itself. I cannot stop anyone from walking anywhere on the farm in practice and insurance and liabilties become more of a headache every year. The legal sword of Damocles hangs over all land owners. Shortly will not be able to have a pee behind a hedge without filling in a waste control form in triplicate! Then I hear quite correctly "Well Billhook what are you complaining about it is worth so much money" but in practice I could not sell as it is my life and living. What would I do with the money? Buy a yacht, fast car holidays? Fun for a short while but not very fulfilling in the long term or healthy or rewarding. Probably lose all the money with dodgy investments. No I would probably buy a farm and woodland with the money which brings me back to square one, just soldiering along trying to make ends meet in my own happy way.

Just thought I would exercise our old classic Land Rover today. Sandringham Sidney is a V8 petrol stage 1 six wheel drive made by Hotspur Cars of Sandringham. It was converted by a local to have a hydraulic tipping body and a basic but effective blacksmith built crane which I tested out today with a fairly hefty log. Sidney is quite good at carrying more than a couple of tons of logs out of the woods but leaving far less damage than the tractors/ forklifts. Also much narrower for sneaking in between trees. I love the sound of the V8 and all that power but I am conscious that every outing requires more fuel than my chainsaw would need for five years!

A bit of chat about lightning struck oaks not being good firewood because of hard timber and cracks allowing dirt in. http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/cutting-lightning-struck-trees-myths-and-facts.240597/ http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/cutting-lightning-struck-trees-myths-and-facts.240597/page-2

[ame] [/ame] Donovan from 1967 but the video doesn't look much like any Magpie I have seen. Perhaps it is a cousin from America.

One for sorrow, Two for luck; (or mirth) Three for a wedding, Four for death; (or birth) Five for silver, Six for gold; Seven for a secret, Not to be told; Eight for heaven, Nine for [hell] And ten for the d[evi]l's own sell![3] (Better be careful in dem der woods Mendiplogs!) In the New Scientist magazine some years ago they did an article on Caledonian Crows and they did the bucket test on two different birds. This time they were in a cage and the small length of straight wire was introduced. The first crow looked at the problem, found that its beak was not long enough for the bucket, thought about it and picked the wire up and then bent it into shape using its foot. The second one did the same thinking but bent it in the bars of the cage. This process amazed the scientists as they did not think that birds were capable of abstract thought. Chimpanzees for instance seem to be intelligent by doing something similar using a twig to insert into a termite mound to bring out a mouthful of termites. But as I recall, I do not think the chimps thought "I have a problem here, what I need is a tool to stick in there etc" They were much more likely to learn the process by playfully messing about with a twig, and then find to their joy that they had a good result and the whole colony quickly learns the process. The point being that they did not imagine the tool they needed with abstract thought. In the scientists eyes this put the crows in a higher category of intelligence than chimps. (but that may only be in one area of intelligence) Further stories came in from readers. One reader witnessed crows sitting on traffic lights with nuts in their beaks. They waited till the lights turned red and swooped down in front of the now static cars and deposited the nuts. Went back to their perches and when the lights turned green they were rewarded with a load of cracked nuts. But the best story came from a guy in Canada who had been observing a deer carcass from a hide. A crow landed by the carcass and they are incredibly wary and know all about traps and poison. It circled the carcass observing everything before pecking in darting movements at it by leaning away as much as it could to try and set off any traps. When it was completely satisfied that there was no trap it then took a sample of the meat and wandered around for a bit to see if it had any detrimental effect. It was eventually happy and started to tuck in. All of a sudden to the observers astonishment it keeled over. The observer thought " Well it was not such a clever bird after all" A moment later a small flock of about half a dozen crows came over and on seeing the dead crow they realised it was not a good idea to feed there, so they went away. Just as they were out of sight the "dead" crow suddenly came to life and continued tucking in without competition. Now that is what I call intelligent!

1. Not rabbit tracks, more like small human shuffling. 2. A birds wings hitting snow would make a much more smudged impression. 3. No signs of struggle or usual carnage Conclusion :- somebody fooling around with a stick

Bloke in the village was interested to see how I fell trees so I asked him up to an old quarry to watch me fell a medium size (18") but fairly tall Ash that had just died. Asked him to stand a safe distance and it is always good to have someone about in case of Friday 13th..... The tree was amongst others and there was a small chance of it being hung up but as it had a considerable lean and the top branches were rotten and I had the teleporter to make sure it fell the right way (and give me a safetycab refuge) I felt sure it was going to be a quick and easy demonstration. The cut went well and the tree went in the right direction, but unfortunately some of the rotten branches still had a hold on life and it became hung up between two trees. Never mind, I thought, just apply a little down force on the boom from the eight ton machine. This had no other effect than to lift the front wheels off the ground and cause much mirth from my companion. Decided the only option was to cut through the hinge using the teleporter as protection, so that I could knock the tree off its trunk with the boom. This I did successfully but it now speared itself into the soft ground with the whole weight of the tree bearing down on it. Much faffing about and shunting of teleporter eventually managed to put a chain around the tree and the teleporter was just strong enough to lift the tree and back slowly until it fell as originally planned. My companion amused but not very impressed while I thanked the good Lord for teleporters.

Having a brain the size of europe has got me... thinking that I am better off out of there!

Certainly did not look sick when it eventually walked around. I thought that perhaps it was a three quarter grown fawn that had been told to sit there and not move by its mother!

It is your eulogies that tipped the balance Jon!

I was very surprised to see it so calm as I am sure it is one of the three that are often in the house garden by the farm about half a mile away. Although they come right up to the window there they are very nervous and the slightest noise sends them skittling for cover. Perhaps this one has been taking some weed!

Surprised to see this Muntjac sitting quietly on some dry leaves while I entered my car only about ten yards away and not far from the house. It stayed there while I started and backed away and was still there on my return. Later it stood up and walked around looking quite healthy. Cute but it could be Deerburger if it nails my fruit trees I have just planted!

Been trawling the web and youtube to find a log peavey/log cant and nearly built one in the workshop but glad that I changed my mind and bought a Woodchuck Dual off F R Jones. Beautifully engineered in thick gauge aluminium, strong and well thought out to combine peavey and log cant. It arrived nearly the next day and I took it down to the snow covered woods for the big test of a slippery 20" diameter 15 foot long piece of Ash. Of course I needed a piece of wood to put under the foot as the ground was sodden, but once I stopped the foot sinking in it worked well keeping it off the ground to chainsaw. It would be fine back in the yard without the bit of wood. Easypeasy or should that be Easypeavey! Should have bought one years ago!

Couple of things as a green student on a dairy farm, First day taken by the boss to meet the head cowman who was out in the field fixing a fence. "Mick I want you to meet Billhook our new student" Held out my hand to shake his and nearly jumped ten feet in the air as his other hand was gripping the electric fence! Later the vet was busy castrating young bull calves and the old stockman was a bloke called Harry who wore a brown coat and had a runny nose and had a habit of sticking his hand in his pocket, bringing out a dirty handkerchief , wiping his nose and putting it back again all in the space of a few seconds. The vet mischievously dropped a couple of testicles in is pocket and Harry duly obliged by wiping his nose with them. Everybody laughed but obviously the young student laughed a bit too loudly. I was living at home at the time and sharing an old Moskvitch car with my mother who complained after a week or so about the smell in the car. We took the car apart trying to find the source and under the back seat my mother found the problem. "Here is the trouble but what on earth is it?" "Bull's Balls mother!" She dropped them like a red hot brick!

I think that I could end up like Bond! [ame] [/ame]

I will give it a go with my two Stihl BR 600s!

It means you dig what he said!

Looks like an Arb trolley is coming his way from Father Christmas at the end of the year!

As the interviewer said ". How can I go home and sit on the couch and say I am too old to do something when I know that Lou is out there, ski racing down a mountain somewhere aged one hundred"!

Here is a bit of inspiration for you all. He is one hundred years old and still competing in downhill ski races, but listening to him being interviewed is educational. Still cycles 17 miles daily and goes off in a high powered motorbike and side car saying anything less than a thousand miles is not worth dressing up for!

You missed out Nigel! I cannot see any real change coming until we regain control of our destiny from the European Parliament. Certainly not wanting to be out of Europe in trading and goodwill, but not wanting to be run by a load of unaccountable bureaucrats, many with old communist agendas. As I understood it initially UKIP wanted to be voted in just to give the country a proper referendum on Europe. After the vote they were going to have another election and you could vote in whatever party, but at least they would have the power to change things. I am not sure where this idea changed into one where UKIP now has to have a full manifesto.