maybelateron

What's the odds the Ranger was stolen too?

When I used to have a grounds maintenance contract I was using a boom sprayer on a calm day to apply lawn weedkiller. One of the renting residents came out and gave me a real hard time about the evil of chemicals. Meanwhile he was smoking a rollie - don't suppose he saw that as a chemical or carcinogen. Or maybe he was worried the weedkiller would kill all the wildlife growing in his false dreadlocks!

That looks really professional work.

Looks to me like it would still be loaded/set correctly, albeit with links in a chain so to speak between it and the bridge.

So true. I sell less logs now than when I set up in tree work in 2001. Much happier to run my two stoves and log burning boiler for our own heating. I have a few longstanding log customers who order well ahead and will wait if need be. New customers asking "how much is a ton of logs?" just don't get the idea when I explain I sell by volume. When they say they can't imagine what a cubic metre of logs looks like, I wonder how they know what a ton of logs looks like. Aha, light bulb moment .... all the new owners of stoves (logburners as they love to call them) have read the Bear Grills manual on heating with logs, and have their own weighbridge built into the drive of their suburban semi. OK, rant over.

Ouch. Having a hernia repair this afternoon, and not looking forward to the enforced rest. Still, I woke up this morning and there are plenty who didn't would happily swap places with me. Hope your tendon mends well.

Agree with you on that - we were taught this on my Chapter 8 course some years ago.

A chain is as weak as its weakest padlock.

Words fail me. Quel grand Plonkeur

Yes, everything else is coping well. Have now done about 60 hours with it, and still amazed at some of the nasty big gnarly bits it will split.

I have a Venom 22 ton and find it excellent. I have not found anything yet that it cannot split. We sometimes take it to site to split rings from large trunks, to make them easier to move. Rock Machinery were honest about the 4 way splitter head when they said they could not yet provide a durable one. They threw in a free one, which soon started to tear itself at the weld. An experienced welding/fabricating friend had a look at it, repaired it and fitted a few shims where it was not fitting snugly over the 2 way head. It is now working well in 2 or 4 way mode and I recommend it highly.

The old saying was "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach". I feel these days it is more appropriate to say "Those who can, do. Those who can't, regulate those who can". On a separate note regarding the two ropes issue, I feel that common sense is overlooked too quickly, and replaced by regulation. For example - always choose an anchor point that is thicker and stronger and healthier than the minimum requirement. If there is not one that has this margin of safety, just don't use it. Greenhouse glass is cheap to replace when you couldn't get a good enough work position to ensure no risk to the glass! As for BT cables, if it looks like it could be iffy about getting far enough out to clear them, when doing the quote, tell the customer you'll do your best but if the cables get broken they will have to share the BT cost with you. If they think that is unreasonable, I don't want their custom. I use one double rope and a short and long strop for all but the most basic of climbs.

ART positioner, with swivel. Excellent, simple, and easy to clean resin off (I use meths - to clean it, not drink). Very, very occasionally in awkward manoevres/positions I have know it catch on other clobber on the harness bridge, or a rope, and allow itself to run some rope through due to the angle being pushed by the item it contacted. Never been bad enough for a change of underwear though.

Looks good. We took the crown off a decent sized Sycamore, heavy rain all day. Made it really slimey. None of us would have climbed it today it was so foul, with a cast iron street lamp in the garden right below it. Only managed to get it down as my mewp fitted in perfectly. Got to go back and get the stems and trunk down on Wednesday - when it will be raining again

Our local hospital dermatology department had one consultant called Dr Byrne and another was Dr Tan. Years before that there was a junior gynaecology doc called Dr Overy, and when I was a young obs/gynae doc when training for GP I had a colleague called Dr Dick!!! Yes these are all true as well.

Heavy frost yesterday and this morning. Chipper ignition barrel frozen yesterday. Last week had to abandon trimming tall conifer hedge - when we got to the top in the mewp (20ft) the hedge was moving all over the place due to the wind!

I am interested that nobody has actually directly named the company, nearest was Khriss's allusion to "a northern supplier" or words to that effect. If what is being quoted in this thread is accurate I cannot see any reason for any comeback from naming the supplier. I have twice now had a similar experience from a southern supplier, and would have quoted their name if I was starting a thread - or is there a reason I should not? First time was for new spikes, paid in full as website did not say out of stock, took > 3 months and I had to upgrade to get similar without waiting longer. This time I am having to wait 2 months for a climbing rope, fully paid for, and then told out of stock and problem with supply.

Busy with lots booked in, should be able to keep to timescales given if weather behaves reasonably. Got some stuff in for next year too. Had to give up on trimming a regular customer's tall conifer hedge today because it was so windy the hedge top was moving too much to get an even finish!

Oops, typo, silly me should be "their"

Ah yes, customers sometimes just won't listen. Did a commercial job back in 2004, previously pollarded Poplars being a small part of the job. I suggested leave them well alone or fell. I even went as far as to say you may end up with three fluffy sticks covered in whiskers. No, we definitely want you to pollard it down to the three main trunks. The time between the first and last photos is one year. To end the day well, we broke down at Newark in our brand new LDV convoy, that was only a few weeks old, 70 miles from base. It turned out to be due to the "free tank of fuel" they threw in (quite literally almost) - it was from the bottom of there oil drum of dregs and had blocked the fuel filter!

I have had this same problem, however, after doing proper reduction work. We did a reduction on a Copper Beech, using my mewp. I had made every effort to impress upon the customer that we would not be "chopping lots off the top", explained the problems that can follow overpruning/removing too much foliage. The tree looked good when we finished, having had as much as we thought was sensible removed. Customer came home, clearly thought we should have taken more off, ie savaged a nice tree.

I have two TPO applications with one of our local councils that are overdue for the decisions notice, one of them by 4 weeks. This is despite chasing it up twice. Bet they would be round in a flash if I started the minor and obviously needed crown raise to the tree! Another of the council Tree Officers I deal with really does deserve praise. I will never moan that he is behind with his paperwork for the simple reason he is so helpful and we talk about our long lost friend Mt Common Sense. I am sure the only reason he gets behind on paper work is because he is always happy to meet tree surgeons and tree owners on site, discuss any proposed work, give a feel for what is likely to be approved/what is not so likely. Makes it so much easier. None of the other 3 main councils I deal with are prepared to meet on site.

Thick leather or welding gauntlets. I have done several Monkey Puzzles over the years. If a spike/leaf punctures your finger you can expect it to get very swollen and stiff by the end of the day, but then mine got a lot better overnight. Also had one of these beast nick a vein on my forearm, wonderful.

That about sums up the reality of climbing in bad rain. I can never justify an expensive jacket for wet climbing - nothing seems to retain its waterproof quality after a few days of friction contact with timber, be it when climbing or just carrying it on the ground.

Think Wonky and I were typing at the same time!