peds

As long as your hens all wear a mask and have their booster, they can be allowed outside during bird flu outbreaks no bother. Ignore Moose and Monkey, that's boring. Get chickens, it's great fun, especially if you've got kids. I'm building an incubator this spring to start hatching eggs. Mine free range, but they have an enclosed run and a shed to hang out in on bad weather days. The dog has kept the fox away so far, and the cats keep away the rats. If you don't have these things available, you definitely need to be a bit more mindful of other countermeasures. Keeping chickens in is easy if you keep their wings clipped, my fence is a few 6ft lengths of rebar driven into the ground with chicken wire threaded over it, you can move it around easily to add or remove bits to the run. Even a more permanent solution doesn't have to be Fort Knox, they are chickens, not goats. I try to see my girls at least once a day to gather eggs and muck out the coop (the nitrogen harvest is a huge part of the appeal for me), but with their hanging feeders and waterers, I've left them on their own for 4 days before with no input, going away for the weekend in the campervan. Depending on your local fox population, you might invest in an automatic door opener, I'll be getting one once the 2022 paychecks start again.

Hmm. Bedtime on day 2 was... less straightforward.

They were on it from 0800 to 1600 yesterday, short break for dinner, passed out by 1830. Their energy reserves can now be exhausted even when it's raining outside. Straight back on it at dawn this morning, didn't hear a peep out if them until we got up ourselves. Worthwhile time investment, for sure.

The kids were fairly pleased with their climbing frame beds. I definitely shouldn't have assumed the floor would be flat or the ceiling level in this old cottage, but a bit of jiggery-pokery got it in. A lot of the timber is reclaimed from big pallets, all the steel bars are scrap from work.

Yeah, and what if he tripped on a kerb and got mashed by an artic... what if he had a heart attack following a particularly violent sneeze... how many more scenarios can we list where the helmet doesn't matter? Loads, I bet. But an object falling from height onto a visibly, obviously damaged helmet... questions will be asked. PPE is there to do two things, protect the wearer and tick a box. Even if this particular helmet still worked at 99% for protection, the chip in it means it no longer ticks the box. As suggested, I'd be happy to wear this lid while trimming or strimming in my own garden, but I absolutely would not wear this professionally.

Until the inquest and inspection of all PPE concerned, resulting in a cheque for naff all from the insurance.

Sorry if that upsets you Triggered Mandy, but how were we supposed to know that the pub, which had only been there for 300 years, was going to be so noisy? Anyway, there are still other pubs nearby.

I moved into an apartment right next door to a pub a few years ago. The noise was terrible, every night at closing time there'd be shouting, singing, etc. We complained about it all the time and eventually we got the pub closed down, and we could finally live in peace, surrounded by people who hated us.

My chickens used to eat slugs but, annoyingly, eventually went off them raw. They'll only eat them if "cured" in beer, brine, or vinegar. I've never had them, but I believe ducks are far more reliable and less fussy.

I hadn't thought of it like that. We're saved!

...and frogs... and blackbirds... and hedgehogs... Go organic, save the planet (or die trying).

I'd love a bit of heras fence for my peas, beans, and raspberries. Also December raspberries here, November isn't unheard of, but Mid-December is taking the piss a little. I was shown a picture of someone's apple tree in blossom last month. Oh well.

Can you get 1/4 pico in a 42"?

Is it possible to fit one to an MSA200?

We have an open fire to heat our old, poorly renovated, uninsulated cottage. I resent the speed at which it chews through firewood, and as soon as it's out, the room is cold again. We are renting, hopefully only here for another year or so whilst we build our house. I am weighing up the cost and hassle of converting the fireplace to a stove, which we'd bring with us to the new house anyway, compared to the time, energy, and timber it would take to chop 5 times as much firewood to keep the place from freezing. Open fireplaces look great and are fun to play with, but they suck at heating anything further than a few metres away, and eat much more wood to do a bad job of it.

An outboard cut will fall flat (possibly), an inboard cut will fall tips first (maybe), which can be a useful tool depending on where your targets are, or provide an amusing game of Whoops Bouncy Branch.

I have three thermos flasks available, so on a busy morning I can be super efficient and lose all three.

Need both threads linking to your video, yeah?

I was looking for reviews on the 86, great to see so much positive feedback on them. Probably be one of my Christmas presents to myself this year... Anyone in this thread found any problems with theirs in the last 5 years?

I mean, this is just perfect. As a work of satire, I can't see any way that this could be improved on. Bravo, sir, for such penmanship. Feel free to enjoy this similarly satirical broadcast:

Updated Dutch flag, seen at the recent climate demonstrations in Amsterdam.

I totally agree. Luckily, the planet feels the same way, and will be taking measures accordingly. It's just a shame that mankind couldn't cop on and try to help out before it became inevitable.

Well, there's a very simple solution to that. Violent and thorough redistribution of wealth. Anyone with a yacht big enough to fit one of their smaller yachts inside it should have neither.

Great idea, but I would suggest actually moving more people into the areas destined to be uninhabitable, starting with anyone still actively rowing in the wrong direction. I could start drawing up a list if you want, comrade. With regards to absolute barriers preventing the movement of people, those will be standard national policy by the early 2030s, with horrific results. Starvation camps that dwarf the likes of Auschwitz will be commonplace, and instead of being viewed with disgust as they would be by any civilised human being today, they will be seen as absolutely essential to survival. This is a change of my own opinion that I'm not looking forward to.