Well, the snakes are fine, but there are also vipers, I haven’t seen a hedgehog since I did my military service in Örebro.
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I understand both of you, after seing close up a slug eating the buds on one of my flower plants, i declared a war against them.
But, i find it a little “macabre” to see them twist in agony and salt, but, after my experiments with a more humane way- i tested some drops of concentrated hydrocloric acid (i tell you, they screamed- or more like the squeking a log on fire sometimes sounds)
Salt is the way to go…
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In Europe, you can get beneficial nematodes, Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita. They kill slugs. They aren’t available in the US because they are afraid they will attack native snails and get into the wild and will harm the environment.
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I never thought about there being snakes in Sweden. Especially vipers. We have only one semi-poisonous rattle snake here in my area but I’ve never heard of anyone seeing one in person. Otherwise some garter snakes which are good for the garden as long as I don’t inadvertently cross paths with one and shit myself. I’m not a fan of even little snakes, but they do eat slugs and bugs.
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My thoughts too Tom. I know there are vipers, even more north then us but I never saw one. Never ever saw a snake in our country, viper is very rare overhere. Didnt see one in Croatia either (good for me, they are very poisonous overthere). Found a Natrix almost on top of a dry mountain, that surprised me too.
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Won’t be long now before the trees are bare. Luckily half of them are evergreens, so winter isn’t too dreary.
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Leffe 
, thats a pretty cool name.
I guess i have to take a trip to Dalarna and visit you JO, now we have met 2 times, and i haven’t checked out your car/cars enough yet.
It’s probably Johans fault. I need to visit him too.
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You’re welcome any time Göran 
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I’ll take the fall for that. 
You are welcome here anytime as well Göran
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Oh Inquiring minds want to know dates!! 
I swear I hear faint whispers of a lonely tracked machine calling my name, but also warning me about a legendary man living in the forest, that wields two shiny long chainsaws and can run like the wind (or at least faster then I). lol
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Hey Guys when a fellow gets old often times it is wise to trade $$$'s for shorter work times.
I cleared out this corner of two years growth; 8 foot tall of Himalayan blackberry canes in 45 minutes.
And used only one set of cut string lines doing it.
How?
$$$'s to buy the power to get it done.
A commercial grade Stihl gasoline 2-stroke FS240 brush whacker.
Using Oregon brand Magnum Gator line in .170" (4.30mm) double strung with a cut length of more common .130 (3.30) line. Four ends cutting then.
Lessons learned back when I had to fence lines, and weeds maintain 67 mixed acres.
Getting old now I can still do 4 hours a day sweat-working. With the price of decades accumulated wear, and healed old injuries of a corresponding 4-6 hours of dealing with pains.
Gotta’ make the work achieved be worth it.
Yeah. Yeah. I tried 4-stroke rentals. I borrowed, and tried battery electrics.
The same, later hours of pain. With less than half the work accomplished.
Screw that over-promoted idealistic noise.
Work for results says I.
Steve Unruh (sweating, drinking a brown bottle of personal coolant)
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Had to go to town for supplies yesterday. Despite it being only about two weeks till winter, the sunny day made it feel like a mid spring day. I even had to open the window to cool down a bit. Have to enjoy it while I can because it will be back to cold and soggy soon.
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The blades instead of the string are nice for stuff up to about a 3/8" of soft woody. The string is nice for stuff you don’t want to damage. Then they make a sawblade that fits on it an can go through brush. You put that thing on and mow down small trees, right to the ground but you need to wear steel toed boots at the minimum for safety gear.
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Yeah, tried the many blades too.
You need to either stop and hand clear the cut-offs. Or have a second puller-stacker person.
And a VERY nasty job to do on thorny grabby blackberry canes!!
Then what? Stack them to dry and then burn?? Done than in my younger years before powerful effective hand held forestry bush’ers. Back when I was cheap young labor at $1.15 an hour. And you could debris burn without restrictions.
Nope heavy string lines macerate them up in-place. Go back after dried and reduce them down some more.
A gallon of gasoline mix will clear quite a trail length; or over grown fence line in just 2-3 hours. And be done in one work step.
Steve Unruh
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Depending on how thick the thicket is, and the purpose and time for knocking it down. my objective is to get the mower over it. if I knock it down with a hand trimmer, I knock the whole thing down as far as I can, then mow as close as I can to shred as much as I can up, then come back, and hit it again. I don’t care if it takes multiple years.
The fast way is to borrow or rent a Dr walk behind brushhog, They go through heavy grass and sapling up to 2". then come back over it with a mower. If you do it early in the spring, then it doesn’t have leaves, and when it tries to come back up just mow over again. The debris that is left is partially shredded, and most of it is on the ground, with soil contact, and can pick up bacteria and moisture, and start to decompose while it is still has the spring rains.
then it starts to grow again, but just run over it with the mower again before it gets too tall. if it is, then take the tractor tire and run over it, and just do a 6" swath so it can get under the deck for a trim.
Worse then blackberry is Hawthorne/thornapple. The 3" thorns go through tires, and don’t decompose very quickly.
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modified diesel runs on propane ))
now i have to assemble that tractor and fabricate a gasifier.
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interesting project, andris! keep us informed…maybee a own topic would be very nice?!
ciao giorgio
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andris, have you modyfied compression ratio of the motor?
maybee your project would also fit good in topic “tractor with gas” …
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yes, the engine has combustion chambers in pistons, i machined them from 65 to 90 cubic centimeters, trying to maintain their original shape - they are wider at the bottom.
some motor data:
displacement 4.94 liter
original compression ratio 17.3 : 1
cylinder diameter 110mm
piston travel 130mm
nominal RPM 1750
and indeed, this project maybe deserves a separate topic. ))
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