Billhook

And you are now so big that you cannot go out the way you came in!

I can assure everyone on Arbtalk that I have never worked as a waitress in a cocktail bar

Quite a big thread bump and very welcome. Very well done TF, we need a lot more of this around the country What is your main line of work and are you doing anything similar at the moment?

Could have been the Green Chartreuse I suppose!

Looks like Tina Turner after a few cocktails!

Nature has this way of confounding my posts here Having been bleating on about the lack of rabbits, foxes, squirrels, rats etc and not having seen a Song Thrush out in the middle of the lawn listening for worms it all happened in one day! In the morning a young rat dived out under the swing shovel and into a hole under the workshop, right by the bait feeder, then I saw several rabbits around the farm, a squirrel crossed the road in front of me then we last night saw a Vixen with one cub stroll across the lawn and another this morning, and to cap it all a Song Thrush seen on two different lawns. Full zoom on my phone is not too good but you can expand to see it better IMG_1303.MOV IMG_1300.MOV

Sorry to keep oversteering away from the caravan topic but I do have a soft spot for the Allegro. I bought a 1750 model failed MOT, took out the engine and gearbox, welded up a frame, fitted the engine lengthways and sent the driveshafts to a Land Rover front axle at either end to make a four wheel steer, four wheeel drive sprayer/fertiliser spreader. What to call it though? We took the two signs "Allegro" and "LandRover", cut the "Ro" off Allegro and the "Over" off LandRover and ended up with "Allegover" It was registered and I had a call from a young lady in the local licensing office who had obviously been put up to it by her colleagues. "I am ringing about this vehicle, A leg, Alleg oh Christ it's a bloody Legover!" much background laughter.

Found an old photo after it had just been built in 1974 Bought the £260 RS body shell straight from Dagenham and there was a burnt out Gilbert Invader at our local scrapyard with Ford 3 litre V6 and Capri 3 litre gearbox with overdrive ( in every gear as I never fitted the inhibitor! £25 the lot! Ford Cortina Estate rear axle with 3.09 diff The engine was caked with burnt fibreglass and all the seals in the engine, gearbox and overdrive were cooked but the castings were ok With RS brakes and rear flares to accommodate the axle without wheel spacers Went like a bat out of hell but the Dutton it morphed into is at another level

BTW the Escort 3 litre had Piper cams and DFI5 Weber, ported heads and free flow exhausts and from 1975 to 1985 when it was retired, it was never overtaken by anything!

I have two major car selling “out of indifference” regrets First was when we had a farm sale and the old mini pickup was sold for £30 in 1996. It was quite MOT passable with little rust and sound mechanics The Escort shell sat on a trailer for years after I took out the engine and gearbox and put them in a Dutton Phaeton which I still have. Some local stock car racers took it and the trailer for £100 Please do not keep reminding me that £130 then is £70,000 now! All the firewood I have cut since 1996 would not come to half that!

I am sure you could make them into useful trailers and gain a bit of attention to your business reliant+robin+trailer - Recherche Google WWW.GOOGLE.COM

The bump made me read the rest of this thread and I was reminded of the time when I was building my house back in 1983 and in youthful ignorance had loaded a flatbed trailer with too many bricks. I knew it was miles over weight so was going very slowly on the four mile trip home. Everything was fine until there was a slight downhill section which had a sharp left hand bend at the bottom. The tow car was my old Ford Escort that I built. The car was originally built from one of the last Mk1 RS bodyshells they were selling off in grey primer for £260 in 1973. I put a 3 litre V6 engine and gearbox from a Gilbern Invader, and a Cortina Estate rear axle. It started to snake at about 30 mph when I applied a bit of brake on the hill. This quickly turned into a sideways movement violent enough to make the rear tyres screech every time it swung. And they were quite big tyres. I decided on the Kriss option and a quick bit of power to pull it into line followed by very gentle slowing so just made it round the bend, but all this was happening at a relatively low speed and would have been difficult at 40 mph and impossible at 60 mph. AL-KO Trailer Control (ATC) | AL-KO WWW.ALKO-TECH.COM The innovative anti-snaking systemAnyone who has ever encountered critical driving situations with their outfit will...

Just had another look at this excellent thread from April 2020 on the economics of kiln drying firewood

My wife and I had a ride down to the lake and walked around where I had been strimming and sure enough there was a patch of young giant hogweed amongst the nettles which I had not seen. She says that in Denmark they call it the Devil's Claw!

If you buy one you will have to write "Treeman Independent Trading" on the side or TIT for short!

Same here

Good to hear about the plover, not seen one here in Lincolnshire for years Buzzards were the final nail in the coffin I think Are you seeing a lot of foxes, badgers stoats etc. And how is your rabbit population? I see that you are not that far away in Nottinghamshire

Sounds a bit messy, all that melting firstly to put it in a tin then heated again to use it?? I do not think I have enough candles kicking about and if I bought new ones it may come to more than an approved product?

To follow on from my mammal shortage thread, just gone down the main farm track over a mile and a half and passed three pairs of Partridge ( Frenchmen) as usual running along just in front of the car which is their way of guiding you away from their young, but there have been no young anywhere, same with pheasants. I suppose it is not surprising with all the Buzzards, Sparrow Hawks, Red Kites, Kestrels, Carrions, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies around. The lack of mammals should have helped them a bit. Have any of you seen Pheasant and Partridge young?

Sycamore will slightly discolour but also spalt if left on the ground. I leave sycamore for 2 years then slab the lot. Not great for building. Elm can be used for construction but to be honest most of those logs have too many big knots in to be any good for any building. Last picture is firewood, next one up not construction worthy. Next one up looks to have shake and ring shake. Cut into big beams around the faults. Next one up good construction timber. Next one up slab the lot. You can resaw into 4x2 etc once seasoned around faults. 1 Next 3 slabs all the way. Top one I think will give you good construction timber. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for all that good advice James and I would appreciate the figures you have for the lap board adjustment settings.

Would a good layer of factor 50 suncream help perhaps or some other barrier cream before going strimming as it is too much going out in full protective gear in the hot sun. Wait till it is overcast and cool I suppose. Never knew about the sun activating the juices, another feather in the cap for Arbtalk. thanks

I would expect a bit of frothing around the mouth. How about a bite from a stoat, Do they not administer a coup de grace on the neck severing the spinal nerve? Strangely the rabbit was behaving just like this stoat in its death throes

Hello Rabby Rabby, I've a lovely piece of lettuce for you here Rabby, no response. Now that is what I call a dead rabbit!

Not a scaremonger! Why am I lying here shivering with fright! But thank you for that knowledge Fairly sure there was none of the Giant Hogweed, but maybe there were some small plants growing unseen. I see in this Irish article it is called "The Strimmer's Disease" https://invasivespeciesireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/giant_hogweed-DARD-updated.pdf