peds

I am sorry for your loss, and I hope you and your family find peace, together or apart. A family friend (wife's mother's colleague) died recently, suspected corona virus but undiagnosed and thus unofficial, and was buried alone, with no wake and no funeral. Here in Ireland, this is a big deal, but it is now par for the course for the next 12 months. In Italy, hundreds of people are dying every day without seeing their family, and being buried without funerals or wakes. Once again... the current projected death toll for the UK is at least half a million people. I'll leave you with that number.

Yo, just wanted to add quickly... it isn't just the coffin dodgers at risk when (not if) the hospitals get overwhelmed. The death rate skyrockets at that point. You are right, age, underlying health conditions, obesity, and a history of smoking won't help you, but neither will a lack of hospital equipment caused by too many large gatherings of people. The science is clear on this one... ignoring the advice to #stayathome causes many more deaths further down the line. It takes the case fatality rate from 1-3% up to around 10-15%, regardless of age bracket. Just to make the situation clear, because some people are still a little hazy on the facts: the virus is already rife in society among asymptomatic carriers, and the point of isolation and social distancing isn't to prevent any individual from contracting it, it is (say it with me here!) to "flatten the curve", and give the health service a better chance of keeping up (which they won't). As it stands, the projected death toll for the UK right now is somewhere around half a million, and all current efforts are intended to stop that number from rising into seven figures. At the moment, with people STILL socialising and coughing all over large groups of people, that isn't looking likely. Good luck, everyone.

Please don't laugh too hard at this question... but has anyone got a favourite electric chipper they can recommend? The options are all fairly small, I know...

I'm in the same boat as everyone else. Can you recommend another stove with similar bells and whistles that doesn't look quite so cool?

Deep pits filled with punji sticks surrounding the log pile. That should significantly limit the number of people trying to climb it.

I spotted that and was about to ask if the pros of removing the gate outweigh the cons, but then I had trouble trying to think of any cons. Might give it a go the next time I'm up.

Outstanding. That looks great. And here I am screwing rounds and cookies together to make shitty looking rabbits. Something to aspire to, at least!

Hi, I recently bought the msa200 as I want to get away from petrol as much as possible. Very happy with it so far, with the fancy charger (cheaper ones are available) it gives a full charge in 45 minutes. I'll be forking out for a second big battery soon enough, then there'll be pretty much zero down time. I've only got a 12" on it because I'm using it as a climbing saw, between that and my Silky it does great. It doesn't really bog down on thicker stuff, but I wouldn't want to be chewing through it all day. I'd be interested to know how it compares with the 220 in that regard. I absolutely love the peace and quiet it gives. edit What's the future for battery saws? Can we expect something that can pull an 18" bar in a few years?

What's the problem, it's got a tire-sève. It'll be grand.

Don't really want to stick my oar in here, but a lot of people here in Ireland would consider it rude to call over the weekend.

Is the Stihl Duroflex worth getting for general wear on your average shitty weather days, with a nice heavy cape or something else to wear on the worst days? Or is it 70 euro wasted? edit How about sizing, too... am I going to be lost in an M, should I just accept that I'm an S for arb gear?

Guys, I bought a cube of firewood the other day but I'm worried it's a bit under. What do you think?

Absolutely, there's pegs and pins all over the walls behind each tree. Some of the other specimens are holding their shape okay, but most of them are sprawling outwards. Good eye, the next one has indeed fallen over, and the one after that. Still going strong though, I love the tenacity of them. And yes, you are right, they were totally neglected for five years until very recently, with a good bit of effort going in before those five years. Looks like some of the replacements put in might be a bit too close to the wall, as well. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

Whoops

Fair point, there's absolutely no rush at all, and it does make sense to follow the established timetable. But I'll be going through each tree (around forty in total) to remove deadwood and damaged branches anyway, as some of them look a bit shabby, and this specific tree was flagged as giving a decent crop of annoyingly-small fruit. I figured if there was anything I could do without being too invasive to change that to a medium crop of good-sized fruit whilst I was doing that tree then I might as well. But as you say it might be simpler just to leave it until next February. Cheers for your thoughts.