peds

Yeah, all these toys do sound useful. It's just the cost really isn't it, but as you suggest, I could always just nick them. Also, you know full well I'm not Irish. I'm Belgian and proud.

So what you're saying is... he could reasonably fit another one in, between the first tree and the house?

^^ fair point, that. (Edit: is greese what we cook roast potatoes in at Christmas?)

I'm just in awe at the knowledge on display on this forum sometimes. Like, have a picture of some bricks... "Yeah, here's a Googlemaps pin for the brickworks they came from, I can narrow it down to a period of about 3 years when this batch was made, and it looks like they were an AM bake not a PM because of some of the lines, which means they were definitely fired by this one specific guy. Here's a list of his favourite foods, and he had a phobia of ants. Sorry I can't be more helpful than that, have you got another photo from a slightly different angle?"

This is the kind of content that both sides of the aisle can enjoy.

I'm all for cleaning as you go, but is the fella with the blower not jumping the gun just a little bit?

Yeah, I found that it's at Teahupo'o in Tahiti! So while everyone in Paris is getting set on fire by the communists and getting the trots from swimming in the Seine, the surfers have to cope with being stranded out in the middle of the Pacific. The sacrifices these Olympians make!

I had 4 digger drivers in over the build of my house, 2 doing the laneway and drainage ditches, 1 to knock the old cottage and to level and stone the site, and 1 to dig trenches for water in and out, and to bury the septic tank. I would only happily be in the hole with 1 out of the 4. He was a surgeon.

Diggers do seem like a useful tool, a bit outside of my budget and skillset for now unfortunately. Never driven one, I'd love to learn.

Yeah, I see what you are saying with all of the above, especially the big chipper. I'd love to invest in a big tracked fella, I'm hoping to get the finances together enough next year for one. And yeah, I'm a total smelly hippy, I'd tiedye my chainsaw trousers with mushroom pigments and run the chipper on upcycled chip fat if I had the luxury of time, glyphosates are far from my usual toolbox, but I'm willing to concede that this might be a problem where the nuclear option is probably the only realistic one, when someone else would be paying the bill.

Yeah, there really doesn't seem to be a one size fits all solution. I wonder about processing everything above ground as part A, then coming back with a digger and grubbing all the stumps out as part B in the future... but that might just piss off what little is left in the ground and encourage it to bounce back stronger! They are a bastard, rhododendrons.

Ah, just saw this after writing my last post. When you say bonfire, do you mean on the stump to kill it, or just to clear the brash? I reckon a tracked chipper trundling through the woods is the simplest and, here in Ireland, the most legal solution... but it's killing the stumps, en masse, that has me stumped! Regarding the wee seedlings, I'd imagine a walkaround at least once a year per site pulling them up would be a fairly nice day out! I already do that when I'm out with the dogs anyway, it gets the job done easy enough.

How expensive per unit? As I say I've never used them, I'm ignorant of the economics of it. I know the pump you mean, I use one for mite control in the henhouse. Handy wee yoke. I've seen vertical plunge cuts made with picco bars (or similar) into bigger rhody stems and filled with chemical too... but that's not really my style, and something I'd rather avoid! Burning is not generally allowed for disposal of arisings here in Ireland, but people often tend to look the other way for agricultural purposes... I wonder if a prolonged and controlled burn directly on top of the rhody stump would encourage the ****************er to stop growing back, but again, it's not really a practical approach for hundreds of individual stumps throughout a forest. Tricky question really.

The bricks and mortar side of things I can't offer any advice, but personally I'd be taking that little sycamore out yesterday. Definitely in the wrong place.

Yeah, just looks like old leaves being shaded out in my opinion, but I'm as interested as you in hearing a second opinion 🙂 Great looking privacy screen you've got going there anyway.

Quite right, what a scum bag. Sadly needed in a lot of cases, it'd be a shame to get rid of a lot of historic housing, but it makes far more sense in the long run. Our original plan was to keep the tiny cottage on the site we've built on and just put a big extension out the back, but there would be absolutely no hope to bring it up to standard in our budget. Tear it down and start again. The digger driver who knocked it down said it was probably around 200 years old, it still had the original turf roof on it underneath the slightly more recent corrugated metal one. I've kept a few of the old beams, studded with square nails as they are, and stashed them away somewhere. Hopefully they'll get a final resting place one day.

Yeah, sliding scale would definitely be the key here. Of course, insulating everyone's home, free of charge if they can't afford it, subsidised if appropriate, and mandated if necessary, should be given a huge priority before just shoving bundles of cash up everyone's chimney.

Would you have a photo from further away, showing the bigger picture? To me it just looks like the old growth towards the middle is being selectively pruned by the tree itself because it isn't getting as much light... because the new growth is blocking it. Trees aren't thick, and they know that they don't have unlimited resources, so if they've got leaves that aren't contributing to the flow of energy, they'll just snip them off after leeching out whatever nutrients they can and distributing them elsewhere - into the new growth. If you are keeping it watered, and the tree itself seems healthy overall, I wouldn't be too concerned. But as always: top up the food, consider mulching, keep it moist. A handful of chicken manure pellets with seaweed followed by a scattering of bark or woodchip can never hurt a newly-planted tree, unless you've already OD'd it with nutrients in the planting hole. I like this kind of thing for top dressing, and usually less is more, little and often... But let's see a zoomed-out picture too, and you should definitely wait for a second opinion.

I'm not well-versed enough with the system, but does it essentially try and weight the scales more towards those with naff all? So my granny and grandma, both long since dead, wouldn't qualify thanks to their relatively-generous RAF pensions? It sucks for anyone losing out on something they were previously entitled to, of course.

Two points, firstly regarding cucumber: I was strolling along just now thinking that this marmite sandwich would be improved by turning into a patty melt (that is, a beef burger served on sliced white bread, instead of in a burger bun), with untoasted bread, marmite, and lettuce as shown, but also with a flattened burger with a strong cheddar melted onto it, and a few slices of quick-pickled cucumber for tang. This is something I would find acceptable. Secondly, regarding contrasts: often, but not always. The first thing that springs to mind is chocolate mousse, which is never improved by any supporting players. No biscuits, no crème fouettée, no macerated cherries, no cinder toffee crunch... just chocolate mousse, in a glass. I'll update with any other examples as I think of them.

What's popping dudes, One avenue I'd like to get into in the near future is eradication or at least control of invasive species in forests and woodlands, specifically rhododendron due to its devastating behaviour, but anything growing in the wrong place, really. Just drive around on a tracked chipper all day shredding them, stacking any worthwhile logs as habitat, and treating the stumps appropriately to prevent regrowth. I've seen people using Ecoplugs for this. Being a smelly hippy, I'm 100% opposed to spraying herbicides of any kind, because of the damage they do at all stages down the line, and because it simply isn't as effective as using sharpened steel followed by the removal or destruction of all material where necessary and denying the opportunity for any regrowth - quicker maybe, and probably cheaper, but definitely not as effective. But... I don't have any experience of using Ecoplugs, and given the enthusiasm for rhododendron to just keep on trucking and the necessity for repeat visits to keep it snipped, I'm prepared to be schooled on why they are the only technique that would be viable in a commercial sense. If anyone can suggest an alternative that would be more in keeping with my own scruples I'd be absolutely thrilled, but I'm also willing to make allowances if needs be, if it's done in pursuit of the greater good. In a garden I'd be covering and tieing the stump with thick plastic sheeting, lorry tarp style, recommending the customer just snip any suckers with secateurs whenever they appear, and to give me another call if it gets out of hand again. Not really a viable option on a woodland scale, though. So yeah, that's my question. Looking forward to any advice or experience you might have. Oak, birch, and chestnut woodland being eaten by rhododendron

Very well spotted.

Marmite really is a divisive ingredient, isn't it. On toast with scrambled eggs: delicious. Stirred through pasta with a spoonful of the cooking water and a handful of grated parmesan: a little weird, but surprisingly good. Tossed over parboiled potatoes before roasting in goose fat for savoury, crispy, roast potatoes: sublime. Stirred into vegetarian chilli or ragu for umami and vitality: highly recommended. But this... soft bread, crispy lettuce, marmite... this does not spark joy. The important thing is that you enjoy it though, and that you aren't eating it under duress, or as the forfeit of a bet you lost or something.

There you go, getting all weird again. Straight to the gutter with you. Rolling around in the fag ends and the pigeon droppings. Look, I know this isn't strictly covid-related, but do you think you could leave any further messages over in the covid thread? Like... for ever? Anyway, here's a cool photo from the Olympics. Gabriel Medina can, apparently, fly, after surfing a near perfect wave. Photo by Jerome Brouillet. Which gets me to wondering, is this on the Atlantic, or is there a wave pool available for the surfing events? How long has surfing been in the Olympics? I'll tell you what is worthy of outrage... I heard discussion on the radio recently about "e-sports" being allowed into the Olympics one day... computer games. I know it's big business these days, with significant international championships held all the time... but at the Olympics? Really?

Crazy isn't it, was the car thermometer lying to me yesterday when it claimed 30°? I start sweating out at anything past 15°. I'm not built for this kind of weather unless I'm installed next to a beach or a swimming pool with a fridge full of rosé.