Steven P

These puns are brill, thought you couldn't top the last ones but any fin is possible

They're talking about it here:

The route cause of the wild fires is an unusually dry summer and then a dry winter, to think a small fish causes them I think is polloks

Ahh, so British Eco-Mongs have no bearings on JohnsonD, and it's Californian Eco-Mongs he dislikes? It is so very tricky to keep up.

You sure, apparently 'Eco Mongs' have no bearing on JohnsonD (his words, but even so I didn't believe him when he said that). Fires... even older days the wild fires would burn themselves out, naturally renewing the forests. Pour millions of gallons of water on them, put the fires out and the dead and dried wood underneath builds up leading to a larger problem when larger fires do happen. Trumps issue isn't the fires as such, more he takes every opportunity to knock the California governors, any excuse for political gain... wild fires are a thing, blame the water supplies and link it back to political knocking.

Ahh, you still biggly bigging up The Rapist?

What's this, (domesticated) Lynx in the cairngorms not toxic enough for you?

That was quick, less than an hour between 'released' and 'captured' ! (according to when we posted the links, or lynx as it might be)

Just going back a couple of days. This came on the news this morning Two lynx on the loose in Cairngorms in suspected ‘illegal release’ UK.YAHOO.COM The public have been warned not to approach the lynx if they are seen.

WTF were you searching for Mark to get that news story? 'TheHardTimes.net'? are you sure 'Penis' and TheHardTimes is a safe search for work?

I'm going to upgrade from Aldi.. I went to double fan last year but want to go Stirling engine for extra amusement.

Not every tree surgeon is on the tip sites of course, the local ones might never have looked, they might have been locals with local arrangements or the tree owner might have asked to keep the wood. Note some felled trees might look abandoned but in reality are left for the wildlife. All belong to someone and it is there prerogative as what they do with them. So for the tip site.... If a local tree surgeon is doing the work there is a good chance they will have a local yard or arrangements in place - I have a few contacts locally and with my road being where it is some pass every now and then, if I am low on logs I get more delivered, else they go elsewhere. The tip site is unlikely to produce results from a local. For those working outside the area then they might look - if it saves them an hour or more round trip to their usual tip it is worth the effort, and then you are competing against everyone else in the area. Might be there is someone more local to the tree than you, might be that the local sandwich shop passes another tip site - further away from you but on the way to lunch. Hundreds of reasons. Might also be worth looking at the tip sites to see how many are local to you - what are you competing with? You will get more luck if you are less specific as what you can take, if you have a drive they can reverse onto, the offer of petrol money, cake or beer can help, Third option, after local and other looking at tip sites is to have a quiet word if you notice them working - that is usually a good option and with chainsaws tricky to keep quiet you might hear them. Don't go demanding, but introduce yourself and ask if they have anywhere for the wood. If they are busy then an e-mail or voice mail saying ' I noticed you working just down the road, if you need somewhere to tip....' Last thing - a few trees - might be that they didn't want the hassle of organising several tip sites over the job, easier to just pay for the transport and get them all taken away at the end of the job rather than 'this load goes here, that load goes there' Whatever the reason though some get 'lucky' and several loads, some wait a while for the tip stes to work.

A little bit milder might be the £350 solicitors letter warning them off trespassing.

Find a customer support person at Sky and copy them too - Sky are the customer of Open Reach - and if Sky aren't getting their money they'll take an interest

Wasn't 100% sure, thanks.

However Gareth, you know electric things better than me, the battery saw - brushless DC motors - in the higher specs machines (.. the brand names..) am I right in thinking that the controllers mean the motors stop instantly when the power is off - reverse breaking of some kind? Where mains motors, brushed motors - have some inertia and no braking?

When I got my first saw, a mate, a foresters son, said he'd never run with me again* if I didn't get appropriate PPE. Harsh but fair and his point - the same here - was he'd sleep better at the weekend knowing his pal wouldn't be legless on a Monday. *We're both runners, I needed company on the fells and hills... which was a bigger thing than not buying a pair of trousers, tough love but has to happen.

it's cheaper for them if you take down the bottom half of that last one.

I can feel the draft from the fan a distance from the stove, what I loose in heat (negligible) evens out the heat distribution in the room better. A bit more effective - the stove area is cooler but the seating area is warmer which is where I actually want the heat Temperature gauge is next to useless, a couple of times it has fallen / been knocked off the workings have spun round slightly and is well off now - they all depend on being treated kindly. Far better to read the fire and see how it is burning to gauge if it is hot enough or not

I get the feeling from your post that you aren't best buddies just now. You could ask him for the value of the wood but would that make your relationship with him tricky - you have to live next door - or would it make no difference. As for value, depends on the species. Softwood, dried and split for firewood, delivered commercially £75 a 'tonne' - builders bag full. If you are onto asking him for money then you also want to emphasise the trespass onto your garden. Might be prudent for neighbourly relations though to chat to him, see which branches are offending him and do it yourself in the future - saves trespass and any charging for the wood he has kept. He might go the other way, mega petty and any fallen twig or branch gets shot back over into your garden - as is his right - for you to deal with. If it was me I'd let the branches go but be very clear you will not accept him entering and trespassing in your garden. And yes, photos would be handy to make a judgement!

are they the ones that they made a load in bright orange to try to appeal to the boy racers? Didn't sell well so went cheap and all the pensioners picked up a cheap orange car?

Adding to Gareth - very correct, it is surface water and will dry off and burn easy enough. You'll be fine. Imagine it takes months to years for a log to dry to 18% moisture in the air, it will take that long again to get wet (unless it is sat on wet earth or similar) in the rain. Most rain water will simply run off the log (however I tend to pack my winter logs away under cover at the end of September to make sure they are nice and dry when needed). As for most efficient heat... don't be hung up about flue thermometers, temperatures and so on, look at the fire itself. I can burn some woods, smouldering away on a big bed of fire that will be hot and some woods will be bright flames, a small fire and relatively cool... so look at the fire, you want a bright lively fire most of the time - the flames burn off the soot, smouldering is more smoky, more soot. So flames are a good thing. Personal view, I'll try to get a couple of good hot fires in every now and then to give the chimney a good blast... but be warned... get it wrong, a real hot fire is a danger for chimney fires if there is a soot and creosote up there (so never skip cleaning the chimney in the hope of "I had a good hot fire, it'll be OK"). Far better to burn dried wood and not a smouldering fire.

I did OK with small amounts the other year, £20 a car boot full - unseasoned split wood at about 30cm lengths.... never mentioned fires - was pocket money for me and cleared the drive. Mine was all softwoods though. So you might offer your volunteers the opportunity to take some as a thank you (assuming you get volunteers working), otherwise a donation and a suggested amount might be the way to go. Make sure it is clear of course that it isn't seasoned, perhaps market as 'outdoor fire pit' logs... which I don't think come under the ready to burn scheme. What the customer does afterwards is up to them. Noting that if you cut it and split it too soon, your log pile might shrink 'by magic' over time if the car park is open access.

Do you think he has been smoking something funny over the weekend?

The money is a symbol of his power I suspect when you get that rich - can do anything. More money, more power. Very competitive types, if Zuckerberg has 1 billion more than Musk then Musk will want 1 billion more. As for the man himself and the photos above - I don't believe he has any skeletons in that closet (unusual for Trumps inner circle, a lot of his pals and nominations have links to underage relationships as grown men). Maxwell and Epstein wanted to be photographed with everyone - it offered a certain protection for a while "you can't say anything cause we have photos of us being all buddy-buddy, how would that look?". Think Sime42 has it - money and power.