Good morning!!!!

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I will try and post a couple of links.

New Deere 6155M drive by - YouTube

1936 Model B John Deere - YouTube

 

[rswyan]

Long day ... pretty much all of it spent outside on a very beautiful day. Beat the predicted high by 2F with an actual high of 78F.

I've set the pics to display at less than full-size, so if you want a closer look click 'em.

Started working on this area yesterday cutting down the weeds which were knee high and using the shrub bucket to take out about six gnarly multiflora rose:

Got the cuttings and the leaves from last fall raked up and carted up to the compost pile today. Hauled about six or so loads up there from various places, then did a little rough grading.

Plan to hit it with the tiller and get some more stuff planted then hit it with mulch.

Before I do that, I need to transplant this little red rhododendron, which is next to the big purple one in the previous picture. It isn't doing well ... probably not enough sun and the other rhody and the maple tree next tot it, it may be getting out-competed for water:

Fortunately, I have no shortage of places to put stuff.

 

[txdon]

Nice +80- Deere tubes Kyle.

If nothing else Pfister has a good warranty. New faucet on the way. Since it has a lifetime warranty I'm looking to get a new one every 6 years. Well, I think one is on the way the accent was a little hard to understand, I'll find out in about a week. . . .

 

[rswyan]

This is the other side of the same area, closer to the garage:

Both areas had topsoil piled up a couple of feet deep on the perimeter that was removed from where the new driveway/turn around was/is going to be. Got it (the piled up topsoil) all removed from this side last year, still working on removing it from the other side.

Same deal here: cut down weeds, rake and haul off debris, which I did today.

We decided that this (the foreground) would be a good area to plant some more dahlias, since it gets a good bit of mid-day sun. The unplanted dahlias are continuing to sprout ... despite being sealed up in a RubberMaid container in the garage.

First though, I need to move The Woman's lilies elsewhere, so the area can be graded and smoothed.

In the image above, one clump has already been removed.

It's kind of amazing that the lilies even survived ... they were planted before I piled the 1 1/2' of excavated topsoil on top of them and they still managed to come up and thrive.

 

[rswyan]

This is where the first clump of lilies would up after they were divided:

It's basically the spot where there was a rhododendron (medium size, 4' tall) was planted, that I dug up moved to the west side of the house.

I supplied several shrub bucket loads of composted soil for the lilies that The Crazy Lady spent almost two hours picking through to remove small roots. (There is some kind of thing that grows in our compost piles after they have fully decomposed and been sifted ... very fine roots ... and The Crazy Lady thinks they all need to be removed prior to use, otherwise vast amounts of weeds will appear)

The blue-green hostas in the background that I planted last year seem to be doing pretty well ... basically these were a couple of plants (2 or 3 ?) that I think I picked up on sale and I split before I stuck them in the ground. The above ground growth that you see on those has all occurred in the last couple of weeks.

Looks like they are about ready to be split again, along with the other (variegated) hostas.

 

[rswyan]

This where I moved that purple rhododendron to, that was where the lilies were just transplanted to:

In front of it, and to it's left, is that composted soil that I deposited a couple of weeks ago. The relatively clear area is where she disturbed the soil to plant about a half dozen dahlias.

Hmmm ... The Woman may have a point about those roots and the weeds.

 

[rswyan]

Another area that I mowed the weeds down in and raked/cleared out today:

The white azalea in the background probably should moved ... as it's not thriving. I suspect not enough light. May replace it with a rhododendron or two.

The white azalea on the right side of the frame is over twice as large/tall. Originally same size plants, planted at the same time.

 

[rswyan]

Still a little left to do in that general area:

 

[rswyan]

Including pulling this out:

That's the second juniper that's died within this past year over on that side of the house. Both were in pretty heavily shaded areas.

All the rest of them - all of which get more sunlight - seem to be doing well.

 

[rswyan]

Plenty more oaks that could be transplanted:

Those might be a little easier than the big ones.

 

[rswyan]

And The Squeak looks as tired as I feel:

 

[sodamo]

Think I may have gotten lucky with my off grid battery bank. Was feeling a bit bummer that my 10 year old was failing and having to consider replacement. I had hoped that I'd get a few more years and in that time technology and prices might improve. Mine were pretty much top of the flooded lead acid line when I got them. A 10 year warranty wasn't too shabby at the time, but I did cringe a bit at over $800 each and I needed 12 for a 48 volt bank.
One of the newer hot technologies is Lithium (Tesla is one). We had the opportunity to check out a neighbor who just got some very recently. A very nice system put out by Sony, but near as I good figure a minimal system for me would be in the neighborhood of $40k, definitely not in my budget. So this week has been quite busy looking at alternatives while also discussing on the Outback Power forum. With a lot of help, we were able to determine that I really had 1 bad cell in 1 battery and hopefully I could recover the bank. Rule of thumb, batteries are not readily substitutable piecemeal as they perform best at a state of equilibrium. The installer that I was talking with about new batteries thought they may have some just like mine from a previous job, about 8 years old and kept on a maintainer. They did and this morning I picked one up at there shop. $200 vs $1600 for a new one.
Had it installed by 1230. Muscling a 315 lb battery in the middle of a bank was a challenge. Old one came out readily, new one took more finesse getting placed, but did it.
As soon as it was hooked up and system restarted I saw improvement

Here is battery on my truck




Plan was to use my tractor with forks to unload. Tractor wouldn't start. Luckily I have a hydraulic lift table.

This is my battery bank




Replacement battery is 3rd from left.

Feeling very good about how this worked.
Now to get my tractor running...

 

[RoyJackson]

2016-05-24, 0328

52 right now...heading up to about 73 today. Looks like a several days of intermittent rain ahead of us, so I took off an hour early yesterday to mow the lawn.

 

[Eric Salop]

{As told by Eric's Dad}

Good morning. For a Tractor Bayonet forum, there aren't that many posts here about bayonets. Lots about people fixing their tractors, this little story is instead what happened one time in 1944 when we fixed bayonets...


Sometime from the frontline positions, you had to go on what is called a fighting patrol. It was named wrongly really as the main reason was to go out and capture a prisoner who we could interrogate. Other times you went into no man's land and take up a listening post. We went usually in fours, one being a radio operator. Idea of it all was to keep a lookout for enemy patrols advancing to our front lines or anything unusual and radio back a warning.

On March 13th, a date I will never forget, our regiment and two others, one off which was the Buffs, the other I can't recall, were ordered to attack a strong German position. Our regiment was in the centre with the others on either side. After a supporting artillery barrage stopped we fixed bayonets and advanced forwards. Our regiment got our objective and prepared to hold it. The other two regiments must have met with more opposition and had to withdraw. A German counter attack took place with astonishing rapidity and a lot of our troops were cut off and taken prisoner. I was lucky not to be taken prisoner, I was raking two Germans out of their slit trench when a German from another trench shot at me and the bullet hit my hand and side, but only slightly, and smashed my rifle butt. In a flash I dived into the German's trench, who I was taking prisoner, I didn't want to be a target again. It did not dawn on me at first that I was now in a trench with the enemy but I soon realized they were more scared than I. When the Germans started to fire shells in a counter attack, the two Germans and I lay down in the trench as far as possible and smoked cigarettes which I provided, one even bandaged my hand up with my field dressing. As soon as the shelling stopped we got out and they were only too glad to go back with me to our original front line position. They really must have had enough of the war and realized that they were now going to lose.

I had to go back to Naples to be treated for the gunshot wounds as septic gangrene can set in quickly following a shell or bullet wound. After 3 weeks I was back at the beach head again with the remainder of our unit. "

 

[wngsprd]

54 and rain day 25 just now tapering off. Should get up to 81 with the big shiny yellow ball appearing in the sky.

Kyle, quite a difference 80 years makes in tractors. Thanks for posting the vids.

RS, things are looking good at your place.

David, I admire what you accomplish to live off the grid...those are heavy batteries.

Eric's Dad, thanks for sharing...I've read some WWII books, and your story is as good as any I've ever read...great segue from bynet to bayonet.

 

[ronjhall]

Need to pour first cup of coffee. 43° with clear skies this morning. Heading to 82° with sunny skies. Need to get started putting the mulch down I purchased a month ago.
Kyle, the 1/2° shows up whenever I edit a post. Must be a forum/Foxfire quirk.
Don, good luck on the faucet.
Eric, hard to imagine what must have gone through your dad's mind in that trench.
Good Morning All.

 

[Thomas]

54F near 70F for high good chance of showers even t storm this afternoon.

Headed to valley soon for 8 hours on the job,maybe after work this evening take weed whacker for walk... maybe.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Good morning all. 56 here this morning going to 77. Already had a few showers this morning although NWS is not calling for any. Got about .03 in of rain.
Starting to look busy around here with appointments every day this week and a huge amount of moving to get done. Every time I think I will get the shop done I end up somewhere else and the shop remains as it was.

Rswyan All that work is a help to me. It helps me remember why we are moving to the city. Looks great but I am liking the idea of city more and more all the time. I feel more like Squeak all the time.

sodamo I always said That I wanted to live off grid but it is looking less appealing all the time. Glad you are enjoying it and the deal you got on the new battery.

Kile Band saw already packed in the trailer for it ride to the storge unit and once things slow down a bit I need to learn how to post pics. Right now my mind id already about to pop from all the things I have to keep account of.
Ed

 

[Buppies]

Rain is over sun is out and 80 degrees for high near 90 by Thursday

For faucets anyone try overstock.com?

 

[daugen]

52 jumping to 81 today, summer has returned.
Going to be a nice week, then heavy rains predicted this weekend.
Lot of mowing to be done between now and then.
RS, looking good!