peds

What's a De Veg operative? I'm intrigued, why's the job specifically to be done on Christmas and Boxing Day? Not interested obviously, I'll be busy and drunk. But intrigued.

Righto skip, will do.

Oh yeah, Christmas. Best start thinking about shopping. What do you want for Christmas, team?

Good morning everyone. Drizzle here...

After seeing him wrestle a stepcut unsuccessfully before giving it another few slices with the hand saw, I find his content remarkably relatable.

I'm googling, and now I'm disappointed. I find myself wondering if parapent BASE jumpers (that is, a tandem flight of parapenters/paragliders, and the passenger bails in midair, to open their own wing on the way down...), or even slackline or hot air balloon BASE jumpers, etc., have any fancy name-brand technology available to them, like the Plummet or Freefall... or if they just rely on slipknots or fiddlesticks or even regular old unclipping. I remember seeing a video of one BASE jumper deliberately rappelling off the end of a rope. Pretty wild.

I thought you already did? Should we take a brief census by way of a poll...? Good morning everyone, I'm going to pull on my filthy clothes from yesterday and continue scrubbing the rat shit out of the corners of my folks' outbuildings. Have a productive day, all!

Luigi Mangione's brief manifesto:

What distance are you covering these days? My tib-fib post-op father can make it down the single step to the outside bog all by himself now! Very impressive. I'm sorting my folks shed and summer house today, trying to put them back into a functional space instead of mishmash storage in both. Pretty rock and roll. Nice to have a week off work, anyway.

Nice one, I'll give it a go.

I have a block of home-grown beeswax waiting for an application. Anyone want to suggest the ideal oil and the ratio in which to mix it? Neatsfoot does sound like a strong contender... being cows, and all...

Are you supposed to use an offcut of your climbing line like that?

You're being mean to your fat groundies. Probably hurts their feelings more than you realise. 💔

Like that nice chunky piece at 07:30? Great watch, thanks for sharing.

That doesn't rhyme.

If you like the Petzl Eject, you'll love the Beal Escaper... Beal Escaper Abseil System WWW.CLIMBERS-SHOP.COM The Beal Escaper Abseil System is a retrievable rope anchor designed to let you travel a full rope length without...

Went walking up behind our fence on Saturday, while the winds were still slightly raging... this old ash, biggest stem of three rotten at the base, was facing away from the wind and as such got peeled down. The other two, leaning into it, were flexing a bit, but coping well. Perfect place to sit and have a (very quick) snack while learning about calculated risk...

For anyone who can't recite it from the top of their head: * The Firewood Poem Beechwood fires are bright and clear If the logs are kept a year, Chestnut's only good they say, If for logs 'tis laid away. Make a fire of Elder tree, Death within your house will be; But ash new or ash old, Is fit for a queen with crown of gold Birch and fir logs burn too fast Blaze up bright and do not last, it is by the Irish said Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread. Elm wood burns like churchyard mould, E'en the very flames are cold But ash green or ash brown Is fit for a queen with golden crown Poplar gives a bitter smoke, Fills your eyes and makes you choke, Apple wood will scent your room Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom Oaken logs, if dry and old keep away the winter's cold But ash wet or ash dry a king shall warm his slippers by. * Now open to suggestions for a stanza extolling the virtues of leylandii firewood.

Get rid of anything vertical, thin them out a bit (so you can throw your hat through the tree, as they say) mulch out to dripline, feed it.

I knocked over a stand of escaped leylandii for someone a couple of years ago (previously topped, multiple new leaders, a windy mess). I offered to process it for him, said wait for four years and it'll be some of the best firewood you'll ever have. He just left them there on the ground. Drove by a few months ago, the site had been digger cleared... I saw him, asked what became of the wood. He said the digger driver told him it was pure garbage, he dug a big hole, smashed it all in, leveled the top, walked away. Pity. He was buying in double-height pallet crates of kiln-dried from eastern Europe.

I know what you mean, I really do. I think any kind of leylandii or cypress out in the middle of a field, on its own, like you get as specimen trees on big estates, are absolutely stunning. I hate a leylandii hedge, but a big tree can be beautiful. As soon as you go snipping into it though... you'll be starting a cycle of problems for the tree that you'll find it difficult to keep on top of, especially with that big wound low down. My advice would be to either keep the tree or don't, but don't go creating new problems by doing half a job.

I have a brand new collie, but I think it might be defective, or part sloth at least. He's so happy to be left asleep in the van.

Having never had my finger on the trigger, I'd be inclined to say the same thing. But the man in the Stihl shop the other day told me it could...

Well, I mean... no... unless you want to do this? That'll reduce the height without taking the top off.

Taking the top off a leylandii will only make it angry, and instead of one top, in fewer years than you think you'll have half a dozen replacement tops wanting to snap off in a storm. You won't keep on top of the maintenance (be honest with yourself here), it'll escape. Get rid, plant six more (appropriate) trees around your property, sit back and watch them grow.