pipemajor

[quote user="Rabbie"]Why not consider a Japanese flowering cherry. They come in weeping forms and should be OK in your climate[/quote] I've got a weeping Japanese flowering cherry, just about to come into full bloom and it gives a striking display. It's been here in La Creuse for about 6 years now and copes very well with the climate.

I've had an alarm on my UK property for over 20 years and I can't remember it ever going off in error. I deliberately set it off a couple of times a year just to make sure it still works correctly.I've never had an attempted entry to either the house or garage yet (touch wood), but my immediate neighbour, who doesn't have an alarm, has been broken into twice. Also quite a few houses have been broken into in my street, none of whom had alarms, yet I don't know of anyone near bye with an alarm who has been broken into. It could be that there is an alarm bell displayed prominently on the house, so a dummy bell may serve the same purpose. With regard to the alarms frequently going off, I think the main problem is the motion sensors which also react to heat. I don't have any motion sensors on my system and have never had a problem.

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]I don't know about cutting Yew trees but if you end up with any large pieces (2 metes of so in length) Please don't burn them as they are worth a small fortune to bow makers. It's really difficult to find Yew nowadays, a good longbow made from Yew will cost more than £500 !!! [/quote] GRRR!! I just cut down a yew tree a couple of weeks ago and it's now in my woodshed in nice neat 500mm lengths. I'd looked on my list of burning properties of different wood and it said it was very good. Didn't mention it was also expensive. You live and learn.