Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #173,141  
66F cloudy mid 80's for high t storms later this evening.

Outside chores done E muffin time.
Try to walk front field better than 2/3 soggy be month or so before thinking about mowing :(,second well head side field least quarter pipe over flowing :( good thing we not facing drought like last year.

Plans for today...3 stops in town,Kubota needs bath and much needed puttering time.

Enjoy your day all
 
   / Good morning!!!! #173,142  
Trimming and mowing 95% done just need to get the hilly parts trimmed but was still too wet and slippery, also working on a slope with the trimmer does nothing for my knees and other body parts!
Trimming banks under those conditions one can look like toss salad with muddy face,but the insects and snails don't taste good at all. :(
 
   / Good morning!!!! #173,143  
Good morning! 78˚F heading to 103˚.

Today is lawn watering day the one day per week now that we are in stage 2 restrictions. In stage 3 there is no lawn watering and everything dies. The cantelope garden has a private well and continues to get water every day, everything would be dead in three days with no water. The new town water treatment plant won't come on-line till the Fall. Lake level is 2' down from this day last year and 11' down from this day 2 years ago.

Drew I guess I missed it, what was wrong with your AC?
 
   / Good morning!!!! #173,144  
Morning all, 75 going to 93. hazy.
Brother's operation no moved to after July 25th,
he is stressed and upset, but Dr. says steps must be taken first :-(

Clutch replacement on Simplicity did not go well, spare clutch came off just fine, just needed to clean up a bit, but in good shape.
Clutch from running machine was burned up and it looks like it's due to a bearing shattering. Part of the collar is stuck to the drive shaft. Soaking and will try to remove or dremel off tonight. So much for a quick fix.

Buppies-glad infection is gone- try to enjoy what you can.

PopGadget - hope the transit works out smoothly, sometimes that happens :)

Rip - glad the operations went well, always stressful with a sick child, glad your back online and hope she can get off the meds and enjoy some clear time.

Be well,

Before cleanup, spare clutch in decent shape, now clean and ready to go on.

20230712_173741.jpg

Old clutch came out in pieces with the top collar stuck to the drive shaft.
Found one crushed/broken ball bearing. lots of damage.
ClutchBroke.jpg
 
   / Good morning!!!! #173,145  
Good Morning!!!! 72F @ 5:45AM. Sunny. Hot. High 99F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Gotta love a neighbor that would do something like that, eh Frits? Mine like to throw fence wire all over the place, which plays havoc with the flail mower. And shoot their guns at night, apparently in protest of me enjoying quiet music on my back porch. And let's not forget them calling the sheriff last year when a friend and I celebrated Independence Day with a little target practice...

Glad your health has turned the corner, Buppies, hope it stays that way.

Hope you have a smooth transaction on the Transit, Paul. If you know it needs repair, it might be a good idea to talk to the dealer and make sure the parts are available. Both Ford and RAM are still supply chain limited for some parts.

Made another call to the Crutchfield tech I spoke with earlier, and came away with a list of parts that I think will work. I'll first try the new speakers without the amps, but have the adapters on the order if the sound isn't good enough. The biggest challenge will be getting the speaker wires out of the door and back into the van body, and might require making some additional holes in the sheet metal.

Another home with a three car garage came on the market yesterday, but it's a two story on a smaller lot, and priced accordingly. It might be attractive to the other buyer, though, and represents a lower priced comp for the house I've been eyeing. Zoom tour for that one is this morning.

Hang in there, gang, Friday's comin'!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #173,146  
Good Morning Guys,
Looks like a warm and quite humid day here in the Green Mountains ! Afternoon thunder storms are predicted later this afternoon ! It doesnt look like a good day to take Kathleen out on our pontoon boat on Lake St. Catherine !

Riptides, glad your daughters surgery went well, our prayers to her and your family !

Thomas, we are hoping for a nice fall foliage season, but Im really not in a rush to get there, because we all know what happens after that ! :)

TxDon, hoping some rain for your garden, too bad we couldnt give you some of ours !

kenmbz, prayers for your brother, and successful surgery !

Redneckgeek, hopefully no more fence wire to be found by your flail mower ! That has to be frustrating !

Have a great day, and stay safe !(y)
 
   / Good morning!!!! #173,147  
I have always enjoyed dealing with Crutchfield, who I thought of as the LL Bean of electronics.

headed out to pull weeds, realized I really didn't want to barbecue those ribs in today's 94 degree heat and sun, so if I was going to
do most of it inside, better heat up the kitchen in the morning. So on went the garlic, black pepper, and seasoning mix as a dry rub, and dashed Worcestershire
on it all. That will bake for an hour and a half at 350 (per instructions on bag), then take it out and cover it with barbecue sauce for last half hour.
Then..... while cooking some chicken on grill, will put it on outside grill to make outside crispy.
So I'm planning on one very cold beer and some gooey sticky ribs tonight.

I did wonder what doing it at 250 for four hours would be like. Need to keep it moist, cover it.
just might go put some foil on it now.

now I need to get to those weeds. Ribs on for two hours

Scott, I would love to go out on a lake cruise with you, pontoon boat is super comfortable with real seats.

Don, a/c working ok. I changed air handler filter and shut every drape in house.
After awhile, kept house at 74. So I reset it higher and figured it was an issue of heat soak in the house while I was away.
I had a/c set on 82 for the plants. Poorly insulated cottage, is what it is.
Very glad it's not 100 out. Then in past house could not get below 78.
Small unit, but at least it runs plenty to keep moisture out of house.
Rv's say they are only good for 20 degrees below ambient.
When I come to Texas some day, I need to find a tree and shade.

more on that later
boy those ribs are starting to smell good...

but the weeds are calling. They call a lot...
 

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   / Good morning!!!! #173,148  
76F and partly cloudy @ 10:00, heading up to around 83F for the day's high. Has been looking pretty sunny but occasionally see some cloudiness, hoping for more of that.

Possibility of stray shower or thunderstorm, but front moved through quicker than expected and most likely that any rain will be south of us. Rich might see some of that action.

Refilled hopper, 2 tube, and 1 suet feeder yesterday. Checked mealworm feeder later and it was empty so tossed another 24 mealworms in there as well. Probably going to need to make the trip down to Eddie's and pick up more mealworms.

Another 6 bags of mulch placed on the west planting bed.

Rhododendron there, which isn't doing all that well but is still alive, severely pruned.

Pulled Water Buffalo around and The Woman gave all the hosta in that bed a drink (with standard Miracle Gro), also gave that rhododendron a good drink (6 gallons) with the Miracle Gro for acid-loving plants.

Planted the two potted Campanula glomerata 'Superba' in that bed and caged them with chickenwire cages. Need to trim a couple of low branches to give the bed a little more light.

Still trying to locate the spool of monofilament so I can put up a barrier around the entire bed.

Woman also got watering rig hooked up and gave plants in flower bed on east side of frog pond a drink.

Big crop of apples this year on the old apple tree. They are small and probably wormy ... but the deer seem to love them.

Got pretty good kill results in the garden area (back portion of the picture) that was sprayed with the vinegar solution:

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1/2 gallon of 30% acidity vinegar to 3/4 gallon of water, seems to work very fast. Need to mix up another tank of that today.

Some of the recent day lily blooms:

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Swamp milkweed really thriving:

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Have seen a few of the monarch butterflies around but still waiting to see the first caterpillars on it though.

Agenda for today:

Go get Cub Cadet out of barn.

Check live trap in barn and handle anything in it.

Locate 2nd unit for Wi-Fi over power and see if I can't get that hooked up and running to provide some connectivity over on the west side of the house.

Block off entrances to burrow on south side and deploy another Giant Destroyer.

More spraying of weeds in garden.

Get the rest of the weed block fabric cut.

Get posts for cattle panels driven in, maybe get panels mounted.

Hope everyone is having a good Thursday ... (y)
 
   / Good morning!!!! #173,150  
that's a great story.
atta girl
that's her personal mobility device

just finished weeding, that's all, too hot out there.
took ribs out and gave them a shot of slightly diluted barbecue sauce, and back in for
a little bit. Then another shot of sauce, and some dedicated basting on the grill, and it should be
good to go. Had to get the chicken ready to cook, thighs with a Caribbean zippy seasoning

good thing this stuff is "durable". Enough meat for me for two weeks. Ribs were on sale for 2.50 a pound, have no idea if that is a good price because I hardly ever
buy it. I cut off a little fat, not all, and gave it the proverbial good rub. Actually wish I had some papain to soften it up
 

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