Man Stuff

[Recrewt]

HaHa!  An excellant tale of Man v Nature Simeon. 

It's always a right bugger getting a tree stump out and this is why you see so many of them in other folks' gardens - cut it to about ground level and that will do.   I suspect a good iron bar would have helped make the job easier but hey, its done now. 

I am a bit concerned about this pipe though - what diameter and material was it?  I am hoping you won't say 6 inches and clay or you might have damaged your sewage outlet - not nice when that starts bubbling to the surface!

[Simon Beigh]

I did consider giving the thing "a damn good thrashing" a la Fawlty Towers, so an iron bar would definitely have been useful for that

The pipe was green plastic and came out in two lumps . Thing was, when I had a poke about I couldn't see any other bit of pipe it might have connected to. Another thought occurred to me this morning is that it was builders waste. My house was built in 2002 and in my experience of "new builds", the odd bit of waste ends up buried in gardens. I also only dug down about 2 foot maximum, probably more like 18 inches. I can't believe any service would be buried that shallow...

I like the idea of burning it, gurnard. I might set light to it on the lawn and dance round it - possibly hitting it with an iron bar...

[Simon Beigh]

I don't muck about with electrics...

..and here's why. Back in the day when any man-jack could do their own electrics I was asked by my Mother-in-Law to remove an electric heater from her kitchen. So I went to the mains box and found the switch labelled "Storage Heaters" and turned it off. I then went back to the kitchen and proceeded to unscrew the plastic cover from the mains socket the heater was attached to. The moment I touched the cable to pull it out I shot several feet backwards across the kitchen slamming into the kitchen cupboard. My right arm had gone numb and the room was slowly spinning. Mrs B and the Mother-in-Law hurried to the kitchen, made sure I was still breathing, helped me to a chair and put the kettle on.

After a bit of a sit down, the feeling in my arm returning and a nice hot cup of tea further inspection revealed the heater was wired into the "Kitchen" switch. It wasn't a storage heater, you see, just an ordinary electric heater... Bloody stupid of me and could have been really dangerous...

I know my limits - I don't muck about with electrics...

[Recrewt]

Well, if it was a plastic pipe then that shouldn't be a problem.  My last house was on a new estate so I know what you mean about the 10ft of builders waste covered in 1 inch of top soil that they call a garden!

You were lucky with that electric heater - for a second there I thought you meant it was wired to the cooker switch - they are 30amp minimum and would give quite a shock.  I tend to let the professionals do any electric/plumbing work in my house. 

[SKD]

 Hi SimonB, Is the 'Bertha' you spoke of a mattock? It sounds like one, great tool for digging roots out, I've used them a few times when removing old Hawthorn hedges. Better than a stump grinder.
I worked for about a year as the County Councils 'Shredder Man', a job which sadley no longer exists due to government cuts. I'd drive around Worcestershire in a modified Mercedes Sprinter (with a Greenmech 'Chipmaster 220' fitted to it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeaOXfxzbJI A beast of a machine) I'd go to private houses and chip all their green waste (trees, branches, hedges etc.) Leaving them with bags of chippings. It was bloody hard work, but I loved that job.

Stew.     

[Spikes]

for about a year as the County Councils 'Shredder Man', a job which sadley no longer exists due to government cuts. I'd drive around Worcestershire in a modified Mercedes Sprinter (with a Greenmech 'Chipmaster 220' fitted to it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeaOXfxzbJI A beast of a machine) I'd go to private houses and chip all their green waste (trees, branches, hedges etc.) Leaving them with bags of chippings. It was bloody hard work, but I loved that job.

Stew.   

Ive spent time on summat similar, when i was helping out working with our tree gang.
Good fun.

[SKD]

Ive spent time on summat similar, when i was helping out working with our tree gang.
Good fun.

 

Stew

[Spikes]

Well if were all showing off our tools - http://www.timberwolf-uk.com/images/img-09.jpg

That's the chipper we used. The best job i had on it, was when we was working in the next street from where i lived, so got to go home for Dinner, for a few days. Nice.

[Simon Beigh]

More "gardening" today... Mrs B informs me that the large pile of branches in the back garden from the 10 foot conifer 'won't get rid of themselves'. Frankly livid about this...

So I have to dig around in the shed (which is the modern equivalent of Mary Poppins' carpet bag the amount of rubbish that is in there) to find the garden shredder. Oh yes, this is a beast. It has a hopper at the top and a big spinny blade thing that mangles up branches and leaves to fine shreddings.

Spent two hours feeding the thing branches, unclogging it when it got stuck, giving it a bit of kicking when Mrs B wasn't watching. Got through about half the pile of branches. Thank Grud I filled the recycling bin up as this meant I was allowed to finish for the day. Am not thinking about the rest of the pile - hopefully they will 'get rid of themselves'...

[Simon Beigh]

Hi SimonB, Is the 'Bertha' you spoke of a mattock? It sounds like one, great tool for digging roots out..   

Yeah - that's the one, Stew. I had to Google a mattock, but yep that's Bertha alright. I managed to scrape my leg on her getting the garden shredder out today. She's a vicious cow...

[SKD]

More "gardening" today...

So I have to dig around in the shed (which is the modern equivalent of Mary Poppins' carpet bag the amount of rubbish that is in there) to find the garden shredder. Oh yes, this is a beast. It has a hopper at the top and a big spinny blade thing that mangles up branches and leaves to fine shreddings...

"Conifer shreddings are ideal for rough paths because of their slow decomposition rate, also because of their acidity they make a fine mulch for Rhododendrones. When composting though, it's best to layer them with other materials."    That was one of my 'speeches' from when I was doing the Shredder Man job, one of the few gardening tips I can remember.

Today I foolishly told my wife that I had to book a week off work before the end of September, otherwise I'd loose the holiday. Before I had completed the sentance, she had a 'list' of jobs ready for me. How do they do it?

Stew.  

[I, Cosh]

Dear Matt, what is mulching?

[Daveycandlish]

Dunno, but it sounds positively vulgar!

[Spikes]

Dear Matt, what is mulching?

Isnt he the PR Droid?

[The Doctor Alt 8]

More "gardening" today...

So I have to dig around in the shed (which is the modern equivalent of Mary Poppins' carpet bag the amount of rubbish that is in there) to find the garden shredder. Oh yes, this is a beast. It has a hopper at the top and a big spinny blade thing that mangles up branches and leaves to fine shreddings...

"Conifer shreddings are ideal for rough paths because of their slow decomposition rate, also because of their acidity they make a fine mulch for Rhododendrones. When composting though, it's best to layer them with other materials."    That was one of my 'speeches' from when I was doing the Shredder Man job, one of the few gardening tips I can remember.

Today I foolishly told my wife that I had to book a week off work before the end of September, otherwise I'd loose the holiday. Before I had completed the sentance, she had a 'list' of jobs ready for me. How do they do it?

Stew.

Because unlike men we keep an eye on what needs to be done & remember it....

Honestly men have minds like lasers while we women have minds like torches... Guess whose is most useful in a majority of situations?