Billhook

Sad to report that my efforts to move the Hornets have failed and they rejected their new very superior property and presumably flew back to their original nest site a mile away as there were no casualties in the log on inspection. Yesterday my wife went down to the now Hornet free log cabin and started to take some wood for the wood burner out of a half ton box full of wood that had been sitting outside the cabin for some time. A veritable cloud of Hornets came out of the box and she beat a hasty unstrung retreat. I sealed up the cab of the Matbro Teleporter and went down in the daytime so I could see what I was doing, gently lifted the box with no bumps but to no avail as a huge cloud of Hornets came out and buzzed about the box very angry. However they made no attempt to come near the cab so I again gently manoeuvred the box to a small wood not far away. This time I was more confident as I had not actually touched the nest inside the box. But alas the Hornets did not follow and remained buzzing around the cabin. Later they had started work under the cabin on a new nest and I had to work out some form of deterrent as we have children coming this week. We have some ant powder which I see contains 0.5% pyrethrum as opposed to the 35% dose in wasp killing formulas. On the Wikepedia it says that low doses are a deterrent so last night I sprinkled a little around where they were going in. This morning I hope I have achieved a good result as there were no Hornets at all and not one dead one. So a good experiment for Hornet lovers like me, that they can be deterred without killing them.w I looked to see if they had found the box in the wood but no. I hope they have now understood the message that I have no war with them but please not just around the cabin.

It is not always the old folk who frighten me!

I have always thought that a less Hitler like approach to birth control would be to put an infertility drug into all types of artificial sugar. This would cure the obesity problem as well. You would advertise the fact so it would be a question of choice.

Under the bee suit I had a thick pair of jeans and heavy shirt and pullover, on top of that I wore my wool track suit and then the bee suit! Rigger boots and heavy leather gloves all duct taped to the suit. It was a bit warm in there but I did not like the look of predator's photos! Father always told me that it was the slash the Hornet made with its sting that was as painful as the poison. He was fascinated to see this damage when the wife of a friend of mine was stung on the head. She was sitting on a large log which I had chainsawed into a seat, and her terrier started to dig into the rotten centre which was the Hornets home. They did not take too kindly to this and flew around squirting venom. The dog was stung several times and she only once which was surprising considering the damage the dog was doing. Both she and the dog were not badly hurt.

Billhook survived and lives to tell the tale! Not. Nearly as bad as I thought. Dressed up in beekeeping clothes and tackled the Hornets nest first with about fifty Hornets inside. Put a strong clear plastic bag over it and gently pulled the nest from the beam and put it into a waiting cool box. Not one Hornet even tried to sting or even buzz me as there were one or two still outside the bag. Took them to their new home and they were a little more agitated when I tipped them out of the bag but still none actually came for me. Gas nailed a board over the hole in the stump leaving them with a mouse hole at the other end. Will report on developments. The wasps nest just fell apart and the wasps were particularly dopey. I feel that the nest had been nailed by the Hornets. I put the remains in another tree but they looked very slow and lacking in energy and I do not think they will survive.

Yes they still have a few minor bumps and are a bit slow causing some frustration, but statistically it is the young 17-25 year old men who are the serious problem, ask any insurance company. There is a lot of difference between having a 5 mph parking bump than the sort of accidents caused by a 130 mph chipped hot hatch driven by hothead. I love this Jay Leno interview with a feisty 100 year old. Inspirational!

If they had built anywhere else I would just have left both wasps and Hornets alone but unfortunately we have a bunch of kids coming to use the cabin this weekend so I shall attempt to move the nests. I have selected two hollow stumps in the yard about a mile from where they are. I see on the web that Hornets do attck wasp nests and use the grubs for their own so I presume that the building of the nest next to a wasp nest was deliberate as an easy food source. Has anyone seen this before? So tonight is the night! If you do not see anymore posts from Billhook you will know he has ended up like the photos in the previous post! By the was Hornets seem to be more active and have better night vision than wasps. Is this true?

Tentsile tree tents

The Slow worm is a lizard, the Grass snake a snake.

Just reminded me of a letter from raw South Africa dated April 4th 1846 from Swellendam. It was written to my Gt Gt Grandma from her brother William Atmore who went out there as a land surveyor. He was a bit full of himself but I think that you had to be like that to survive out there in those days. "What does that old humbug Pooley say about my success in this country? I daresay if the truth be known it gives him the gripes and I hope the colic Jack is a better man than his master now and he a clodhopper. I know you will laugh to hear me vent my spite on the old reptile. I should like to see him here with a fair deal and no favour and then see who is the best man! I recall how afraid the old fellow is of a snake, I should laugh to see him blinder over a Yellow Snake ten feet long, one of the devils that will stand up and bid you do battle and if you run away they will run after you by Jove and he would have to wash his breeches. Some days I kill five or six of these vermin in a day but when I first came I would soon had seen the Devil-- a Yellow Snake laid in the path the other day and started up before me and I kicked it to death....." And we only have a few Adders to worry about! He was building the Buffelsjag Bridge at Swellendam on the subject of timber. Presumably hand sawn but still standing 160 years later until 2007 when sections were washed away by massive floods. Now a national monument. The old 'Sugar Bridge' at Buffeljags, Western Cape – Blog – South African Tourism

Peatff, had a strange hobby Climbing trees Up pines, zip lines They suit him fine!

Pink Anderson and Floyd Council

He's a celebrity sushi chef

Just bitten on stomach last night,and itching like hell. Put Aquafresh toothpaste on it which had an initial effect of soothing which lasted all of five minutes. Tried again with Colegate. No better and wife will not come near me complaining of smell and.sheets and nightie staining! Any particular brand of toothpaste you recommend? This was the sort of bite I am familiar with and aloe Vera seems to work but the other day I was bitten by something very different in the woods I had no feeling at all of being bitten but had four or five big red weals on my legs. I felt a bit stiff a a little dizzy all day . Put some antihistamine cream on but they took a week to go. Should have taken some horror photos for you all! I was wondering if it could have been ants but peculiar not to have felt anything. I suppose when chainsawing you are less aware of such things amongst the nettles and briars.

Total train weight is nearly quarters of three quarters of a ton lighter Braking system is far superior ABS and 4x4 linked in a superior way Tyres are wider and for Tarmac as opposed to off-road Visibility is far superior Wipers work better in heavy rain Ice alerts Driver and passenger and curtain airbags Better headlights and brighter brake and indicators More power for overtaking a slow cyclist up a hill Cruise control for keeping to speed limits Climate control for increasing driver comfort and decreasing fatigue Better seats for the same result Journey would be quicker so again less fatigue Journey would be quieter ditto Lane wandering warning system Better horn Less chance of breaking down and being stranded on the side of the road with all the dangers that entails Far better fuel consumption so probably do it on a tank,no time lost as there would be with Landie constant fill ups I am sure I will think of some more things to post later (Moderator says " Please don't bother Billhook!")

If a trailer is full and being towed by a correctly plated vehicle they still would not know if it was overweight, so that is much the same problem for the police. I am just saying that if it is empty, and the unladen weight is on the plate it should be a special separate case. For instance if I bought an Ebay bargain Ifor Williams 3.5 plant trailer, unladen weight 670kg, from say Cornwall 300 miles away, I would not fancy doing the journey in the old Land Rover, but our trusty Volvo XC70 , 2000kg capacity, would do the job comfortably and economically and more safely.

Hedgesparrow's post in the braked trailer paragraph says " REMEMBER, the law does not care whether the trailer is empty or packed to the roof with bricks, what counts is the plated gross vehicle weight of the trailer." And I believe I have read the same elsewhere, cannot fathom the reasoning behind it

What is the reasoning behind the law that you cannot tow an empty 3500kg plated trailer with a lesser vehicle if say you were just taking it to be repaired, or taking delivery of it?

No antennae, no slim waist, only two wings instead of four, so not Hymenoptera Some sort of drone fly.

Does anybody know the actual cost to the council of erecting each road sign? The approval process, committees, labour, concrete apart from the sign itself. Our main road crossroads has over fifty signs, forty are unnecessary. We have signs for "Bicycles", "Ducks", "Old people" none of which I have ever seen on the road. These are subjects that may appear on any road at any time and particularly on country lanes people should approach corners expecting to see a woman wheeling a pram on the other side. (I have not seen a sign for that yet!) Drachten is the town in Holland where they have successfully removed all signs Controlled Chaos: European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs - SPIEGEL ONLINE My own brush with H&S was when we had an inspection on the farm and the inspector saw a ladder leaning up against one of the 50 ton corn bins. The bin has a semi horizontal ladder on top to reach the centre but I had tied the top of the ladder to this top ladder so that it did not slide from side to side. " Oh no, we can't have that. It is now a fixed ladder and the steps must be of a certain width and angle and there must be handrails." So I went up and untied the rope and came down (with the ladder slipping from side to side) and that was all right with him.

You're fired!

Generally true although those £1 Chinese flexi grabbing thingys for retrieving that little nut/bolt that you have just dropped down the back of a tiny space, and their magnetic cousin at £1.50 are exceptions. I also have one of those cheap automatic wire strippers which work well.

They really are quite peaceful insects unless you are trying to destroy them or their nest. My father was an amateur entomologist and he was always fascinated by them. As has been stated before he insisted that the sting was no worse than a wasp but that the sting spike actually causes a painful slash. If you disturb a nest in the woods an upset them they will fly around squirting venom in the air which makes the whole nest very animated and active, time to beat a hasty retreat! Father had a friend who used to move nests out of people's lofts and reposition them in a hole in a tree. He used to take the nest with his bare hands and if he did not knock it on the way to the tree, he said the hornets were quite all right, and settled well into their new home. Like wasps they actually do a lot of good in cleaning up the flies and debris around the place and unless they are really in the way should be left alone and not persecuted just because they have a defensive sting.