Billhook

Asking a big favour of you all. My wife has just finished writing a book called the Invisible Army and is trying to create some publicity so that she can gain the interest of a publisher who will crowd fund the printing. I think it is a great story, but then I am biased! It is about an elderly woman who has had her life ruined by an evil owner of a huge department store. It is about her realisation that she has become invisible with age. No more big hair, make up and fashion clothes and shoes to make her stand out in a crowd. But she uses this "invisibility" to advantage by finding a whole raft of other elderly women who have had their lives ruined by the same man. The book then gives a very plausible description of how she manages to assemble this group and give them the incentive to bring this man down by robbing the store. These are women who would not normally go 32 mph in a 30 mph limit! Need a few likes on the video please!

I am not sure if this topic has been raised already, if so apologies. My wife and I had to go to Exeter last weekend from here in Lincolnshire, five and a half hours mainly A46. (The hedges and trees are no further forward than ours and they should be a fortnight ahead normally) We stopped at Gloucester Services for a break and were mightily impressed. Everything from the car park, the peaceful quiet setting with a pond and wildlife to the building itself. So much quality timber work and a great feeling to the place. Two long tree trunks had been hung above the food area with spotlights let in to great effect. The tables were set out with great thought and the farm shop was of a very high quality. Both male and female loos were the best we had seen with many cubicles, which as my wife pointed out is vital considering the time she has had to queue in similar places when a bus load turns up. She also noticed some family cubicles for some poor mother who is trying to deal with a couple of toddlers as well as a baby at the same time Food was excellent, even Lincolnshire style sausages, and a full breakfast for two at £20. I gather that there are a couple more of these so I was wondering if any of you had anything to do with the timber construction, or the planning of these masterpieces?

I will go back to the Lidl store with a lump of wood and keep cutting until I find a good one or until the store manager comes along looking bigger and fitter than me!

Lincolnshire East Coast

This was taken on Friday April 13th showing the max temp at 34.3 degrees C On that day I did my morning bike ride in shorts and T shirt Today we are back to 5 degrees and I have put my heavy pullover plus wax jacket and gloves on for the bike ride That old saying is true!

34.5 degrees C here, just Whatsapped some friends in Oman and they have exactly the same temperature

Used to have all kinds of pets when I grew up in the 50s and 60s. Probably not legal now. However "Johnny Magpie" was rescued as a chick and was part of the family for about two years. He took a bath in a washing up bowl and used to sit on my head on my school cap before school and I was terrified of him pooping down my neck but he never did. He was allowed to fly around and gradually he went further and further away until he stayed away. We never did manage to tame rook chicks. they seemed to be too wild but Jackdaws made good pets. Once had a beautiful leveret called Chuchundra, after the Jungle Book, saved from the power harrow. He used to stand up on his hind legs and beg for Cadbury's chocolate fingers and lie flat out in front of the fire with the dog. When he grew up we had a very large pen which used to house turkeys and he had a great time bounding around, but one terrible morning mother heard these screams from the pen and the poor thing has leapt around with joie de vivre and had broken his back by twisting around as they do. So the vet was called and he was put to sleep. I am not sure what the answer is with the magpies. I think three will just be an untamable noisy rabble but you cannot just let them die now you have taken pity on them. Then there is the legal question

Well done Teed! Everything there in exactly a minute which works well with Youtubers short attention span. You show us the whole process from dragging out timber in difficult conditions, to advanced wood working machinery, to the finished product and its sale at country shows. A raft of great skills and a great example of what many of us dream of!

I will try and find my micrometer screw gauge and check both blades for taper. The Florabest sticks like the proverbial in green wood!

We seem to have gone from Winter to almost Mid Summer in a couple of days, missing out Spring altogether. Sunglasses and aircon on today! Everyone is out on the land desperately drilling. Up to a few days ago there was not a potato, a bean, a sugarbeet seed, a spring barley/wheat seed, and as for the poor old vining pea boys, they are going to have problems later on with everything happening together.

That may well be part of the problem but an old man of the woods came round today and observed that the teeth had not been "set" or whatever the term is for introducing a little splay to widen the cut enough for the main blade to pass through easily. The wood grabbed the Florabest making it nearly impossible to saw. I expect that the steel is good enough to maybe take to a saw master to correct, and the handle and fold out mechanism are sturdy enough. "Spoiling the barrel for a ha'pence worth of tar" comes to mind.

All of you lot are watching too much telly when you should be out there chopping logs!

The Hawthorn may not be in leaf yet but the Blackthorn is starting to flower "Beware the Blackthorn Winter" Next week you will all be searching for your pullovers and gloves!

April 16th here in Lincolnshire, it has warmed up a bit today and it has been really pleasant in the sunshine but the hedges still look dormant

Very apt given the current situation.

Yes, it must have been something very subtle in the angle of the teeth or perhaps the way they may be splayed slightly to give the main blade enough clearance to move freely. It certainly grabbed a lot. But also the quality of the steel and although you could not see it on the video the blade did bend quite a bit more than the Stihl one when it grabbed. I am very ignorant on the finer qualities of a saw blade so perhaps one of you lot will enlighten me. Firstly there is the steel quality, then the length of the teeth, the number of teeth per inch, the angle of the teeth in all directions, the angle of the sharp edge, the angle of the blade triangle, the depth of the whole blade, the curve of the blade, the taper of the blade and many more things that I have not thought of since I have been celebrating my wife's win on the National with Tiger Roll!

Sad to see she has abandoned her nest. Maybe there are so few insects/snails around at the moment or maybe there was not enough greenery in the hedge to protect her from the magpies, jays, jackdaws, carrions or maybe the sparrow hawk finally cleaned her up. Maybe it was just too cold and wet and miserable. Dicey business being a songbird these days

The Stihl had been used a bit but the "Florabest" Lidl was straight out of the sealed packet!

I bought a Stihl folding hand saw from Amazon for £27.50 and it performed well. Yesterday I was amazed to see a very similar looking saw at Lidl for £3.50 Here is the test!

"Spring is Here" I think that we can conclude was a "Premature Especulation"!

Both a bit prickly?

Blackthorn has not flowered yet. "Beware the Blackthorn Winter"

Brimstone last week, but no hawthorn leaves.