Good morning!!!!

[wngsprd]

58 earlier, sunny and going to 80.

Randy, sorry the Stude wasn't up to snuff. If you really want it, could you make a lower offer and sub out the work needed?

RNG, you're gonna need another container! But lucky fine. It is fun to watch pro's removing trees/limbs...so much easier looking than how I do it. Lightning struck a huge tree in the front yard about 15 years ago...removed by an outfit owned by a guy my son hunted with...big crane and bucket and huge saws. Was such a pretty tree...I was sad each time I fed the stove with it.

Did a little gobbler hunting yesterday...opening day, but no luck in the thick fog...my son got one at a different farm.

Apples are in full bloom and smell like heaven.

 

[Bird]

good morning all. No snow here but plenty of rain, light rain out now, continuing all day, mid sixties

dishwasher failed yesterday while I was out gardening. Dumped entire load of water on kitchen floor which then went into
basement, which thankfully was concrete floor so no damage. Old dishwasher, landlord agreed, she ordered a new one which will be in next week.
Next will be replacing the stove and fridge which are also old and beat up.

good idea to think about what is directly below your dishwasher if this happens to you...

I've never seen a dishwasher that I would take home even if it was free; would prefer not even having one in the house. Of course my wife disagrees. Our first new house (1972) had a Gaffers & Sattler dishwasher in it. Apparently that brand was very popular, at least with the home builders back then. I replaced leaking motor seals in ours twice in 5 years, replaced seals and motors in my sister's, and a neighbor's. Now my wife thinks the old KitchenAid we now have, which was in this house when we bought it about 15 years ago is great, and I'll have to admit I've never seen one that does as good a job cleaning the dishes as this one does.

 

[RoyJackson]

2021-04-11, 0954

58 right now...high in the mid-60's today...

Got the EGO chainsaw's trigger functioning better, but not 100%. There was some crap in there, but the real problem is a sticking switch. The trigger pushes a spring loaded plunger and that plunger isn't always returning to the full extension which results with the sticking trigger.
The switch is hardwired, so I'll take the saw to Home Depot (an EGO repair facility) for a repair...
But, it did work well enough yesterday for trimming some branches. I used the chainsaw and the pole saw. Didn't drop any trees though...might not have to after trimming but we'll see after the leaves appear.
As I was hooking up the chipper's PTO driveshaft, I found it's a little too long...maybe an inch or so. The driveshaft fit the 4520 OK, so it appears the 4052's draft links are a little shorter. I could probably get it on, but that would be pretty risky since the distance between the tractor's stub and the chipper's stub is a little shorter as the chipper is raised. If you have a PTO driven implement, you know what I mean.
SO, I'll take the drive shaft to my local dealer to shorten it by about 2 inches. One reason I want the dealer to do the job is I want both yokes replaced as well. These yokes are the type take require me to retract them so they'll slide on the stub. I despise this type of set up...a real PITA to retract the ring while pushing the yoke on to the splines. Making things worse is I just don't have much strength in my right hand (result of the stroke many years ago...). I use more foul language when hooking the chipper up then any other implement...and as an ex-Navy guy, I sure know how to use foul language!!
If the dealer can get them, I want the old push-pin type of yokes, but I'll settle for the type the has a ring you rotate. Either would be better then what I have now.

So, a semi-successful day...
One nice thing...although it was in the mid-70's, the tractor's cab got pretty warm with all that glass. So, tried the AC and that was quite nice. Since the only implements I use during the warmer weather are the chipper and flail mower, I don't think the power drain (when using the AC) will will be too bad. Obviously, I won't need AC when chipping but will when mowing the field

My stepdaughter want to rake the flower bed out front....asked me where the rake was (in the garage, dear). After she asked, I thought the only rake in the garage was an ancient fire rake that my father had when he worked for the Maryland Dept. of Forests and Parks. Thing's got to be at least 60-70 years old. Anyway, I went to the smaller shed to grab a regular springy type rake I knew I'd put in there last fall (after raking leaves). I found another one in there left by the previous owners of our house. This one has a curved handle so one doesn't have to lean forward as much when using it...never saw one like this before, but it sure is comfortable to use

I watched "Hacksaw Ridge" last night....for those of you not aware, this is a biographical movie about Desmond Doss...the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor

Desmond Doss - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Good flick and I'll watch it again sometime, but my favorite WW II movie is still "12 O'clock High" (made just after WW II)

As far as today, I think I'll get the zero-turn out of the garage...probably have to give the battery a charge first though...then tow the lawn roller and aerator both out of the larger shed

I guess that's enough typing today...

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good evening all. 65F for the start, clear, light wind. variable clouds today moderate wind and high temp of 81F. Thunderstorms in the area but none here. Had call 911 for wife this morning, not heart attack, will see cardiologist Monday. Did not get anything done, for obvious reasons.
Covid update: Cooke, Montague unchanged, Grayson 11,133 confirmed cases, 48 active cases, local 0 active cases.
Roy hope you can get trigger working better
David good work on comeback
Drew good news on tooth
Thomas good luck with step
Eric sorry about finding groundwater. nice pic
Billy glad wife is happy
Paul you are being too productive
Don the few palm trees here are being pulled out. They are all short so not sure why people keep planting them
RNG nice videos. Good to see the burn pile used with no emergency. nice wild flower pics, may they will come back if no fire this year and more rain.
Ken good to hear progress
Randy doubt it worked that well, don't remember MFGers staying with the feature.
PJ good luck with CFO presentation, on the Coke, hard to get good help.
Danica welcome and good luck with snowblower removal
RS good luck with your to-do list.
Rich glad you got rain, none here and we are dry.
Thomas hope new job will work out
Randy neat truck and rare.
prayers for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle's daughter/sister & family Covid/friend's grand baby/son&wife Covid, David(moss)/remodel/divorce, Ron/hearing/son/aunt, Phil/reflux/wife's eyes, Dennis/older brother/son, Grev/wife's eye, Randy/family, Bill/DIL cancer, Ted/knee recovery, Doug and wife/health issues/nerve and pain/ wife's eyes, Ken/uncle and low blood O2, Drew/tendon, and Country.
stay safe and healthy you all.

Prayers for your wife. Sorry I'm 2 days late to pray.

 

[daugen]

nice report Roy. Does JD offer any retrofit universal adapters for the pto?
there a number of them out in the market and I think JD is promoting an easy coupler advantage
on some models.

about half an inch of rain down so far, another hour or two to go and then it looks like it will clear out for awhile.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG, I thought autothrottle was to keep from stalling out say under too heavy a FEL load.

I think that's another feature called Stall Guard.

If Auto Throttle is turned off, engine RPMs must be raised with the hand throttle before the tractor will move at more than a walking pace. During the failure I experienced, the foot pedal had no effect at all on RPMs, and felt like it wasn't connected to anything. It could be there's a problem with the pedal itself. A stick or something got into the FEL controls earlier and pushed some of the cables out of alignment, making the control lever more difficult to move. The foot pedal isn't far from there...

 

[RoyJackson]

nice report Roy. Does JD offer any retrofit universal adapters for the pto?
there a number of them out in the market and I think JD is promoting an easy coupler advantage
on some models.

Not to my knowledge, as far as the PTO.
Deere does have the Hitch Assist, which I've described in previous posts
They also have some type of auto connect for mid-mount mowers on the sub-compact models. I don't know anything about those tractors and mid-PTO isn't available on the 40xx tractors. The 40xx tractors are pretty big and heavy for a compact tractor. The cab models are right around 2 tons (not including the loader)

There are PTO adapters (also called PTO extenders). I have one which I needed for my old chipper (long gone now). Don't need it now...but I am a pack rat...maybe some day I'll need it

 

[lostcreekranch]

Good morning! A warm day. 68˚F heading to 90˚F, cloudy.

After cutting down 3' freeze burned hedges to 6" I did find a a bit of green on the bottom so I'll let them continue on for the summer and hope the warm weather will spur some new growth.

Rick do you have palm trees. All the palm trees around here are dead and the agave plants froze and have been cut back to look like big pineapples.

Our neighborhood is looking for ways to reduce the deer population. There is no shooting or hunting so it has to be creative. Now they are trapping deer with nets and killing them, then give the processed meat to the food bank. But the cost is over $40,000. a year which is between $250-$450 a deer depending on how many (80 to 180 deer) they trap each year.

Nope .. no palm trees. Never, ever, again. The last big freeze, in 1989 wiped out about a dozen huge Queen Palms around our pool. That was a huge PIA getting them out and gone.

Deer? Has anyone contacted you're local TPWD Biologist? We work year round with ours .. to control our doe over population.

Find a Wildlife Biologist

tpwd.texas.gov

 

[rswyan]

60F and sunny at the moment (supposed to cloud up later), wind occasionally blowing hard enough to hear it in the house with all the windows closed. Apparently 60F will be the high for today ... so the big cool down to more normal temps has arrived. Possibility of more rain.

Frogs have begun singing ... promises to be a banner year ...

Got the sheetcake made last night, had to use JIF instead of Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter for the frosting ... not quite as good, but still acceptable IMO.

Today is fasting day for fish except for the tanks with fry/juveniles in them.

Not sure what all else is on agenda for today.

Applying BLO finish on barn owl box is definitely one item.

Some housecleaning is another.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable, productive, and safe Sunday ...

 

[daugen]

RS, pic of the barn owl box please.
what size will the opening be? do you have internal steps/grasping points?