Doug Tait

Strange phenomenon happening currently. It's definitely not associated with a river or tap in any way, but there appears to be small droplets of fresh water just falling from the sky. Only thing I can think of is the end times are upon us...

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Had some sad news this afternoon when I heard that Mike Barrett (Gloucestershire) has passed away. I worked down south for his business (then run by his nephew) for a while, and although he was "retired" he remained a big part of it. Such a kind man, I was offered the spare bedroom while I was there and he made my arbdog and I extremely welcome in the family home, not to mention filling my belly with a hearty meal each evening. He started his Arb business 50yrs ago after learning sawmanship with the FC. He told me he was asked by a professor who was writing a book about softwood cones to travel the country climbing trees to collect specimen cones for him, and that gave him the bug for climbing. Went on to earn a great reputation in Arb, with many names in our industry (such as Roland Hemming) starting their career as his apprentice. Far too many stories to mention, but a wonderful man who'll be sadly missed by many. Thanks Mike, RIP.

Not much of a night out apparently, the advisory group of experts that gave recommendations for this law decided the typical line of coke contains between 35-100mg. There'll be more than the legal limit for driving left as residue on the fifty note in your wallet when leaving the pub toilets!

So he was found to have been over the legal limit for cocaine, who knew it was legal to drive if you were only buzzing a little bit on ching!

It amuses me every time I see my neighbour out with the gypsy stick, standing well back from his sawhorse doing some logs

Good they're taking site safety so seriously here. Keep that compound gate locked to stop unauthorised passage.

Anyone recognise these? The oh saw them along the riverside...

Agreed, little and often and no need to collect. I do close to 10acre of paddocks and ROW, whichever bit isn't being grazed by the horses, with a zero turn no mulch deck.

Been lovely here recently, today was cooler and cloudier but the silver lining was upside down rainbows.

Sorry to hear that spuddog, that's crap.

Grandad tumbles has already "done a Holly" and released a statement saying Tumbles lied to him about it.

Thanks for that link Paul. Mow and collect at the right time seems like the easiest approach until she sees if it works. I don't think the area will be too fertile as she had work done to shore up the eroding riverbank with boulders and the banking was left with this patch of quite rough, stoney, clay based bare soil.

It's a long strip of ground with a tarmac driveway along one side and a river on the other, closest boundary is with a field 30m away. Is that likely to cause a problem?

Thanks, very helpful.

A friend has sown wildflower seeds on an area of rough ground along the side of their driveway. There's some young straggly grass growing there already that is maybe 10" long but not very established, never been mown before. My feeling from what little I know is to mow before the grass seeds itself to stop the grass dominating but could anyone give some pointers or suggest the bullet points of looking after this area in the best way please.

It's not rusty enough or rattling enough for my taste mate!

To keep it light you could use a small caged trailer with a fitted tarp cover. Not high security but keeps things out of sight. I've an Ifor P8e with a fitted tarp that takes the quad in it with the cover on. (Pic lifted from internet, I haven't swopped the truck for a Chelsea tractor!)

I wouldn't worry too much about time expectations for repairs Ollie, the repair places I know can take weeks to look at something when they're busy and people accept that. As long as you're honest up front when you take something in and give a reasonably accurate timescale. Best of luck to you.

He should never have tried to teach eggs to suck eggs

That's Lichen on the branch. Not causing any harm, it lives on the surface but doesn't take water or nutrients from the tree. It could indicate low levels of air pollution in your area.

I played that once, you shoot the ducks then check if they're dead with the stethoscope/heart rate monitor. If there's sign of life you give them a pill to make them better then try killing them again by hitting them with the skittles...

That must be a contender for the most ridiculous advert of the year. If only I was closer, desperate for 20m of established hedge and all I'd need is a digger!

Nothing worse than coming early!

We use a selection of signs, mainly the floppy tripod ones which are in the trailer kit for day to day stuff because they fit onto a full chip trailer easily, but they do get ragged and bent quickly. Not bad for blowing over if you hang a tub of oil or similar on the hook with a bungy cord. Also have the large folding metal roadside compliant ones which are solid and heavy, they only go out for road works though. We do have composite speed limit signs for TM stuff and I think they'd be a good compromise. Light, handleable and stable if a little bulky for transport, definitely last longer than the tripod ones. Don't think I've ever used the cone ones.