Daydream fund challenge part 4

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

How exciting for DD2 - must be like another world opening up...

It is, and the amazing thing is that we get pictures, videos and live chat every day via WhatsApp.....all free.

They went into the interior forest area today and DD found me a nice clear river full of fish to look at....just winding me up! Normally, the Indian rivers on documentaries are brown and yukky looking, but this was idyllic.

Had a visit from my old boss this a.m. who always drops in when his bowls team comes to Devon in December. Every year he says it'll be his last trip, so that's 9 'last' years now! He's 83.

Went down to the willows in the afternoon and started tidying them up a bit. Each year, some of the trunks lean out a little further, and eventually they fall. I try to get them first. When I started cutting the willows four or five years ago, I thought the wood was rubbish for the stove, but once dried-out they're OK.



Look after the ankle; there aren't many spare ones about.

tori.k

Boundaries always seem to end up an issue, we've been putting off the discussion with a neighbour that kinda trying to claim the ransom strip behind our garage I need to get in there to clear the brambles hes removed his boundary fence and opened up the area so I better speak to him before he gets the fright of a mad woman in wellies at the bottom of his garden brandishing hedge clippers. Problem is im walking into a battle that he's had with our other neighbour that owns the garage conjoined with us that caught him taking down the fence so that part of the fence is still up they no longer talk because of this. Its a small annoyance as so far i've managed to stay on the good side of all our neighbours and would really like to keep it that way.

Christmas is in full swing so far we've managed to sell 280 christmas trees with 220 left to go, we should clear them all as we are up on last year and im already shattered with lugging trees about, DH decided our Christmas gift to each other will be a short break to Malta in January just to break the winter up a bit, which is a beggar as I already raided the piggy bank and got him some Dewalt tools but they were a bit of a selfish gift as he said he need some bits for building my workshop shed, and every girl needs a shed

choille

Willow is fine once dry as you say Dave - we have many here - they do well because of the wet. I can't seem to kill it as it just springs back if I cut them down - the littler ones that are crowding out 'better' trees.

The sky looked dark this afternoon once the furniture chaps had gone so we went out & it snowed, had been snowing further on the road for a bit. Don't know why I was surprised but I was. Lovely red sunset though.
Collie wobble disgraced himself by being all aggressive at two labradors who he thought were obviously out to get him. I had to drag him away growling - saying - 'how odd he never does that..' & then remembered he had to one of them only a few weeks back. Funny how they dislike some dogs on sight.
Clients coming tomorrow morning so had a bit of tidy up as the place is a disgrace with all the plaster dust & clutter everywhere - I doubt I'll ever be all tidy & organised.
The van man's mate may want our dingy thing & trailer which is festering away & an eyesore but it cost quite a bit but it is quite jiggered. So that would be good in a way - tidy up that bit of ground I suppose.

greenbee

Davesnave wrote: »

Went down to the willows in the afternoon and started tidying them up a bit. Each year, some of the trunks lean out a little further, and eventually they fall. I try to get them first. When I started cutting the willows four or five years ago, I thought the wood was rubbish for the stove, but once dried-out they're OK.

Glad to hear this as I have VAST amounts of willow split and seasoning. How long do you let them dry out for? (Some of it is still so wet I can't split it... so I'm guessing that will take a while, but other bits were fine).

alfie_1

funny , but everytime I read of anything to do with sawing trees, logging,splitting and stacking I remember my darling dad...
he was THE king of wood ...
his stacking was legendary and he could light a bonfire in a gale ,,,:rotfl:

Davesnave

The willow I'm burning has been cut for 2 years. Trouble is, there's a variety of different willows. One of ours seems to be Goat Willow, but no idea about the others.

Just to add that we have no boundary problems. I just realised that the neighbour farmer ws probably wrong in his interpretation of the title plans. On his plan, Mr Dog's plan and the barn complex communal areas plan, the stream isn't the place where the red boundary line is drawn. Mr Dog's plan, being on a larger scale, shows it best, and there's definitely a deliberate gap beyond the stream included in favour of the property on the stream side.

I'd guess that few metres of land is there for a practical reason. In the old days, the landowners would need unopposed access to cut their side of a hedge bounded by a stream. Nowadays, of course, some bloke on a tractor just does it with a flail arm.

Anyway, it means the farmer was wrong when he asked me to 'sort out' our hedge encroaching on his field in 2010. Yes, the trees were over the boundary, but it was actually his responsibility to trim them; something he's had done (he doesn't do 'hands on' ) ever since I sorted them. At a rough guess, I think the encroachment had largely happened before his time, which began in 2002.

I realise none of this is very clear, but the upshot is that I have control of both banks in our stream garden, which is all I care about!

greenbee

Thanks Dave. The one that died of honey fungus and is currently drying out was a weeping willow of some description. I have a goat willow that will need to come down at some point, but I need to grow some more shrubs to provide screening, and get some fruit/ornamental trees going before I remove the vast trunk! That's assuming it doesn't succumb to honey fungus anytime soon.

Good news on your boundaries. I control both banks of the stream on one side, but the other side I have a neglected plot. Apparently the owners still hold out hope of getting planning permission for it but a. there is no access by land (it's effectively and island) and b. it is frequently underwater as it is part of the water meadows.

Davesnave

greenbee wrote: »

Apparently the owners still hold out hope of getting planning permission for it but a. there is no access by land (it's effectively and island) and b. it is frequently underwater as it is part of the water meadows.

We once had the opportunity of a plot like that and the solution proposed was to put the house on a raised bank. This was done, but in addition, the purchasers built out over more of the land on piers. Must've been expensive, but it looked good. :cool:

The plot had a number of other shortcomings which put us off, including TPO'd trees that stole all the sunshine and power lines. Not having any access comes above those, though!:rotfl:


Horrible day here, so after some early barrowing of willow to the yard, I headed off to do some food shopping....only to find they had closed the road 200m short of a reasonable alternative route. Took a less reasonable one and ended up stuck in mud when I met a big 4x4. Got out eventually, but decided it's definitely a 4x4 for us next. These Deb'n roads aren't going to get any better!

choille

Bright & bitterly cold here - the beach was frozen as the top which sits in shadow. Lost the sun really here now.
Supposed to be orrible windy & wet tomorrow.

My energy levels are ziltch at the moment. I'm sure it's the lack of daylight hours.

potplant

Horrible wearher here too all morning. The garden is a sea of mud, but at least it is now properly fenced and relatively weed-free mud, and soon it will have more plants again.
I always used to wonder if boot scrapers were actually useful. Now I see the point of them.