Early Risers.

[DDolfelin]

There is another attachment to a strimmer I quite like.

It's called a gardener.

We have some steep banks to the stream which are a b*gg*r to cut.

[trisonic]

Did you know dept.

 

Maersk    -  the shipping company is Denmark's largest private company. They use more fuel (of various types) per annum than the entire country of Denmark.

 

Mike, Yes I use a weed-wacker with the same sort of "head" - much easier to use. I also have a Gerber Machette as a back up (very satisfying, which probably means that they are "banned" in the UK)!

 

Best, Pete.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, back to work blues.  Piles of files on my desk...see you later!  Much later......

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Somewhat overcast here, which is probably the most exciting news from here at present.

 

Tony

[Shedman5]

Morning, glad to see it was a short "off the air" situation this morning, need to catch up on the posts from the weekend. Weather sunny with showers probably a good time to put the autumn feed on the lawns, did this last year for the first time and it did make a difference.

 

Knowing my luck it will not rain during the prescribed 2 days after application!

 

Some clot scratched my wife's car yesterday whilst parked at a supermarket presumably with a trolley. Managed to polish them all out bar one which is to deep so that will need a professional rather than my efforts.

 

 

Have a good day

[AndyB]

Morning all from Hampshire where the sun is a tad shy today. 

 

Ian, I'll see your strimming and raise you two fellings! We have a garden about 60' long, 20' wide, with a large Yew and Ash tree at the end. The Ash was rotten and between them there was no sun or rain getting to the ground over about half the garden. Pollarding the Ash a couple of years ago had made both come back even more vigorously. So, in my simple mind I invested several hundred pounds in pruning and got a bigger problem back in return. Hence the decision to "double or quit"!! So, £800 later we have a fine view of sky. Very strange. Both trees were on a raised bank. So the combination of stump grinding and the earth mound means there's a lot of soil/chippings to remove before we can plant anything. I'm going to ask some exercise physiologist mates at Natick how many calories get expended digging out about 9 yrds of soil. Who's betting the answer will be less than one teaspoon of sugar. Grrrr.  

 

Anyone else been to Hawkstone Follies near Wem in Shropshire? Very interesting history to the place. From the monument you can see DD's house?    

 

 

 

 

All I can tell you is that when your 9 y/o's asthma chooses the long slog back to the start of the follies trail, it is hard work carrying here up those hilly paths. 

 

Been doing some work with a mate up in the Midlands and listening to a great folk group from the Kidderminster area called Whalebone. They are a 3 piece group with guitar and fiddle. Some nice covers and a lot of interesting material of their own. If you're interested, here's some clips.... 

http://www.whalebone-music.com/music_listen/

 

Bought the first point for my latest attempt at N gauge - wondering if that might have been a bit ambitious bearing in mind the 9 yrds of soil that needs shifting! 

 

All the best to one and all, Andy 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

. So the combination of stump grinding and the earth mound means there's a lot of soil/chippings to remove before we can plant anything. I'm going to ask some exercise physiologist mates at Natick how many calories get expended digging out about 9 yrds of soil. Who's betting the answer will be less than one teaspoon of sugar. Grrrr.  

 

 

It is all explained here, I think    (1 cubic yard of dry soil weighs 1ton - although the weight obviously varies according to soil density etc)

 

http://www.wou.edu/las/physci/GS361/EnergyBasics/EnergyBasics.htm

 

 

Simple answer is to hire a mini-digger - great fun and much easier on your back.

Edited September 9, 2013 by The Stationmaster

[Tony_S]

I think the heavy yellowish clay round here is a lot denser!

[edcayton]

Did you know dept.

 

Maersk    -  the shipping company is Denmark's largest private company. They use more fuel (of various types) per annum than the entire country of Denmark.

 

Mike, Yes I use a weed-wacker with the same sort of "head" - much easier to use. I also have a Gerber Machette as a back up (very satisfying, which probably means that they are "banned" in the UK)!

 

Best, Pete.

 

I take it you were listening to the programme on Radio 4 at 9.45 our time Pete?  For our shipmates on here  it's a record of a journalist aboard a Maersk ship and is on every morning this week. I found it extremely interesting, but it would probably frustrate those who know about the subject.

It'll be on the iPlayer anyway and is worth a listen

 

Ed

[DDolfelin]

"From the monument you can see DD's house? "

 

Unlikely - especially from the bottom of it.

[trisonic]

I take it you were listening to the programme on Radio 4 at 9.45 our time Pete? For our shipmates on here it's a record of a journalist aboard a Maersk ship and is on every morning this week. I found it extremely interesting, but it would probably frustrate those who know about the subject.

It'll be on the iPlayer anyway and is worth a listen

 

Ed

Some great factoids. If the container ship Maersk Kendal unloaded every container in one port it would create a road traffic line 60 miles long.

It's actually based on a book (the program) but I missed the authors name.

Annoyingly iPlayer is only available within the UK..

 

Best, Pete.

Edited September 9, 2013 by trisonic

[AndyB]

It is all explained here, I think    (1 cubic yard of dry soil weighs 1ton - although the weight obviously varies according to soil density etc)

 

http://www.wou.edu/las/physci/GS361/EnergyBasics/EnergyBasics.htm

 

 

Simple answer is to hire a mini-digger - great fun and much easier on your back.

 

 

Hiring a mini digger = pocket money for my 5 year old lad!

 

Andy

[edcayton]

Deep Sea and Foreign Going: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry by journalist Rose George.

 

Ed

[southern42]

Morning all from Hampshire where the sun is a tad shy today. 

 

Ian, I'll see your strimming and raise you two fellings! We have a garden about 60' long, 20' wide, with a large Yew and Ash tree at the end. The Ash was rotten and between them there was no sun or rain getting to the ground over about half the garden. Pollarding the Ash a couple of years ago had made both come back even more vigorously. So, in my simple mind I invested several hundred pounds in pruning and got a bigger problem back in return. Hence the decision to "double or quit"!! So, £800 later we have a fine view of sky. Very strange. Both trees were on a raised bank. So the combination of stump grinding and the earth mound means there's a lot of soil/chippings to remove before we can plant anything. I'm going to ask some exercise physiologist mates at Natick how many calories get expended digging out about 9 yrds of soil. Who's betting the answer will be less than one teaspoon of sugar. Grrrr.  

 

Anyone else been to Hawkstone Follies near Wem in Shropshire? Very interesting history to the place. From the monument you can see DD's house?    

 

016.JPG

 

021.JPG

 

 

All I can tell you is that when your 9 y/o's asthma chooses the long slog back to the start of the follies trail, it is hard work carrying here up those hilly paths. 

 

Been doing some work with a mate up in the Midlands and listening to a great folk group from the Kidderminster area called Whalebone. They are a 3 piece group with guitar and fiddle. Some nice covers and a lot of interesting material of their own. If you're interested, here's some clips.... 

http://www.whalebone-music.com/music_listen/

 

Bought the first point for my latest attempt at N gauge - wondering if that might have been a bit ambitious bearing in mind the 9 yrds of soil that needs shifting! 

 

All the best to one and all, Andy 

 

Oh, you must do a thread.  I've not got a point, but I do have a loco (B17 2863 Everton, LNER)...

I was thinking boxfile, paddle steamer along the back, shared station/dockside platform....that's ambitious....soil shifting?  Nah...that's just 'ard work, mate.

Rather you than me but take it easy....we wouldn't like to see you incapable of posting back on here. 

Take everyone and enjoy the rest of the day.

Polly

 

 

 

to play with operate ...

[The Stationmaster]

Hiring a mini digger = pocket money for my 5 year old lad!

 

Andy

I was going to suggest letting him drive it Andy - then I remembered what can happen when you let a teenager loose with a mini digger   (just as well the shed was rotten in a few places)

 

[NGT6 1315]

The first 30 or 40 puns are ok but 50Hz

 

And I always thought, the greater the frequency, the better. Figure it depends on whether you want to de-fuse a high-tension environment, though.

 

Afternoon all! Busy morning again. Been raining heavily and after a brief interlude of sunshine, it looks like the next rain front is about to arrive...

[AndyB]

Oh, you must do a thread.  I've not got a point, but I do have a loco (B17 2863 Everton, LNER)...

I was thinking boxfile, paddle steamer along the back, shared station/dockside platform....that's ambitious....soil shifting?  Nah...that's just 'ard work, mate.

Rather you than me but take it easy....we wouldn't like to see you incapable of posting back on here. 

Take everyone and enjoy the rest of the day.

Polly

 

 

 

to play with operate ...

 

Thanks, Polly. I'm in danger of becoming a serial model "starter" without finishing any. However the flip-side of that is that I could never be accused of flogging a dead horse! Let me make some progress on the layout and then maybe start one. The layout is an Iain Rice one that he named "Chapel Bank". The challenge from SWMBO was to make a layout that I could easily move. After all this digging that could go either of two ways - "no layout" or "Leamington Spa" in O gauge!! I think she had in mind something about 4'x2'.

 

 

I was going to suggest letting him drive it Andy - then I remembered what can happen when you let a teenager loose with a mini digger   (just as well the shed was rotten in a few places)

 

DSCF0025.jpg

 

Diggers ARE fun. When my Best Man had an extension to his house he hired a digger - you'd be surprised how quickly he could get blokes round after work to help dig foundations etc. There was always a queue waiting to have a go. There was time left over on the digger hire at the end, so we did some landscaping of his lawn, too! Why use a trowel to move a small clod of earth when you can see how dexterous you are with a digger. ))

[iL Dottore]

All this talk of gardening, shifting soil and other hard work in the garden reminds me of something I once read, somewhere*. The author contested that all the great advances in humanity's history has been down to lazy people...

• Can't be a**ed to chisel writing onto a clay tablet? Invent papyrus.
• Can't be bothered to spend an afternoon writing one thank you note using hieroglyphics? Invent script.
• Really don't want to muck out the horses? Invent the motor car.

Unfortunately, much as I enjoy a lovely garden (see below), I have a brown thumb... I spent one summer religiously tending pea, zucchini and tomato plants only to end up with half-a-cup of peas, 4 green tomatoes and 3 slug eaten zucchini.... So until someone invents a no maintenance garden I will have to enjoy my gardens by proxy.

 

My idea of the perfect garden would be a Japanese Zen Garden (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%8Dan-ji for the perfect Zen garden and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kyoto-Ryoan-Ji_MG_4512.jpg for detail) or a kaiyu-shiki (a walking garden [presumably a garden for strolling in] - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rikugien3.jpg), a monastery garden (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monreale_Kreuzgang_neu.jpg) or a smaller version of Kew Gardens. All places for contemplation, whilst the dog enjoys nature (well perhaps Schotti and a Ryoan-Ji Zen garden may not be completely compatible)

 

Oh, and a gardener. No, make that lots of gardeners.

 

iD

 

* the academic version of "wot some bloke told me in the pub"

[DDolfelin]

Mike: I notice the lad is obeying the safety instructions and wearing shorts.

[Tony_S]

 All places for contemplation, whilst the dog enjoys nature (well perhaps Schotti and a Ryoan-Ji Zen garden may not be completely compatible)

 

 

We had Robbie from the age of 8 weeks and he systematically destroyed much of the garden by trying to chew, eat or trample every plant. Possibly a slight exaggeration but it was how Aditi interpreted it. She had removed every shrub that was allegedly harmful to canines though. He did eventually seem to understand about not trampling the flowers and the mad chewing stopped once he got his adult teeth.  

[AndyB]

iD - had the experience of visiting the Ryōan-ji garden about 14 years ago. The Zen like contemplative peace of the place was a little disturbed by 3 rows of tourists (including me) sitting there clicking away with our cameras. I did spend some time later contemplating a rather nice pint in a mock English pub not so far away. Weird sensation - got in a lift at street level and the doors opened onto a olde-worlde English pub 5 stories up. I believe I had a couple of pints of Old Speckled Hen, if memory serves.

 

Sadly my gardening skills would have summoned up bindweed into the centre of the Ryōan-ji garden within minutes. Grrrr. 

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

[DDolfelin]

Just had a Willow Warbler land on the Studio window ledge.

Looking for little spiders and insects I expect.

Only stayed a moment.

Cute bird.

[Oldddudders]

 

Sadly my gardening skills would have summoned up bindweed into the centre of the Ryōan-ji garden within minutes. Grrrr. 

 

 

 

More probably Japanese Knot-weed, apparently listed as one of the planet's most invasive plants.

[iL Dottore]

iD - had the experience of visiting the Ryōan-ji garden about 14 years ago. The Zen like contemplative peace of the place was a little disturbed by 3 rows of tourists (including me) sitting there clicking away with our cameras. ..

I was there about 7 years ago and I managed to snatch some moments of peaceful contemplation. My secret? something I found out when I visited Kom Ombo during a Nile cruise. Such frequently visited sites tend to have busloads (or, in the case of Kom Ombo, shiploads) of visitors all arriving at the same time. Hang back for about 5 - 10 minutes and you should (note should, not will) find you'll have the place pretty much to yourself - for a while at least.

 

I sympathise with your self-confessed lack of gardening skills, I can probably even kill-off bindweed or knot-weed. I am, dare I say it, pretty much a Gardener of Mass Destruction and all by myself!

 

Our garden is pretty much dog-friendly, although Tony_S's tale is a timely reminder to check the garden for toxic-to-canine plants before the arrival of the hairy monster.

[Barry O]

dentistry completed relatively pain free (apart from the cost.... ouch!!)

 

I want a mini digger ...  not sure her indoors would let me use one though...