Good morning!!!!

[Looking4new]

Ron,nice looking Blue Jay.

Roy, I saw that video right after you posted it, but most likely he will do another one after the NTSB report comes out.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 66F @ 4:30AM. Partly cloudy. High 92F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Looks like the weather will be a little bit cooler moving into the 10-day, but that comes with the threat of thunder and lightning over the weekend. With everything already so dry, that's not something I look forward to.

I wonder how long it'll take the authorities in each state to adopt the new CDC mask guidance. Only about half the people I saw on my shopping run yesterday were still wearing masks, so maybe it doesn't matter. But only about half the US population has had at least the first of two shots, so if the unvaccinated are the ones going without masks (how do you tell who's been vaccinated?), there could be another surge in the disease. From a personal standpoint, though, at least I feel safer out in public, having passed my two week post second shot date last week.

You hit the nail on the head, Rick. I found that out the hard way with Verizon. Dumb as a post at the store, but excellent tech support by calling in. And all by people that spoke English as a first language, which is kind of important when discussing technical details over the phone.

When I got the string trimmer head out for big handlebar trimmer yesterday, I found parts for two different ones. And they're both aftermarket parts. It turns out that Stihl doesn't sell the head with the rest of the trimmer, and as I remember it the local dealer just put a cheap piece of junk on it that was a constant pain to load and make work right. I replaced it with one that uses short lengths of 0.150" heavy duty lines, which lasted longer but were a PITA to change. So yesterday I did some googling and learned about a Shinwada head that lots of folks say works really well and holds a lot of easy to replace line. Mine should be here Sunday. Still gonna have to experiment with the line itself, as the memories of what I have on the shelf aren't that good, either. They're a big reason, along with the string trimmer throwing a pebble that broke a thousand dollar sliding glass door, why the handlebar trimmer wears a hedge shear now. But the shear doesn't work very well in tall grass like I have now, so it's back to the string. Anybody got a favorite brand of heavy duty string they like?

It's been hot enough here that I've started running the A/C unit in the afternoon. Yesterday I used the phone to turn it on as I was leaving town so the place would be cooler when I got home. Half way there I got a call from the new alarm company, which I didn't answer right away because I was driving. By the time I returned the call, they'd already called the police to respond. No big deal because the Sheriff is at least a half hour away, and they were able to call them off. But the system triggered another false alarm a few minutes later, and this time I was able to answer the call and told them to put the system on test mode for the rest of the evening. Turns out that one of the motion sensors was set to maximum sensitivity, and being thermal based, was getting tripped by the air getting moved around by the A/C. Or at least I think that's what is happening; I'll do some testing this afternoon after it warms up to make sure. Then I'm gonna have a little talk with the alarm company so they have some rules to follow before calling law enforcement. Such as verifying that there's been a break in by checking the door and window sensors, or the most obvious: Monitoring the streaming video.

I'm gonna start digging the terrace for the water tank this morning by scraping the area with the box blade to get the perimeter down. Then I'm gonna see how well the new tooth bar does on the FEL for digging. I already know it does pretty well scooping up dirt from a pile, but undisturbed ground is a different animal entirely.

TGIF gang!

 

[toppop52]

39 this morning! Where is spring? 60 now and headed to 71.

Very light wind so I’ll try to spray today. I’ve got to spray some larger areas and put down fabric after I trench a border for the brick edging on two different projects.
I gotta get some fuel or I’ll be doing it the hard way.

It’s funny how much money we spend just to do a bunch of hard work!

 

[wngsprd]

42 earlier, going to 73 in clear blue skies.

Went out at 4:30am after seeing a skunk, RIP. Been doing a few other chores since.

Needed some diesel for the mower yesterday and found a station not too far with diesel and gas, so also filled a 5 gal gas jug and my truck tank, too. Local-most station still had none. Then took a nice long hike.

Made an appointment to get the truck's annual inspection next week...will give me a chance to see what's new over in that part of the county.

 

[RoyJackson]

Ron, nice looking Blue Jay.

Roy, I saw that video right after you posted it, but most likely he will do another one after the NTSB report comes out.

I would have loved to have seen that pilot's reaction when he saw the damage!!

 

[rswyan]

Good Morning GM crew ... hope everyone is doing well today.

58F and sunny @ 09:30, heading up to a high of 68F for the day.

Got MMM removed from Kubota yesterday after I got back, need to get it cleaned off before I put it away in the barn.

Put the FEL and box blade on after that, and then swapped out the bucket for the pallet forks.

With that done I headed over to the barn and got the sprayer and moved it around to the back side of the house, in preparation for doing some spraying.

Then I moved the van up to the shop and came back down and got the tractor and took it up.

I spent a good bit of time cleaning and straightening things up inside the shop ... so there was at least room inside for the cart. First order of business on that was to move the blower outside.

At that point I spent some time contemplating my options as to exactly how I was going to get the cart off the van and decided it would probably be a good idea to get some help ... so I put in a call to the friend who went down with me to have a look at the cart initially:

Turned out that he was busy getting a little seat time of his own, doing some grading work over at his place and didn't pick up.

As luck would have it, shortly after that neighbor pulled up in his Gator. He offered to run up to his place and grab his loading ramps which I gladly took him up on, and we rolled the cart off, and avoided having the process turn into some kind of unmitigated disaster:

I then pushed the cart up into the shop with the Kubota while he steered. Is a little tight in there right now, but there's enough room to at least get around the cart. Have quite a bit more work to do though in terms of clean up from past projects before I can really get started on overhauling it. Also need to print out the manual for the cart which is 172 pages.

After we got it inside, we spent probably an hour or so shooting the breeze and catching up on neighborhood goings on. I removed the POS plywood shelf that was well on its way to being rotted while we chatted.

After he left I moved the blower back inside and closed up the shop. The Woman was coming down the driveway just as I finished that up.

Did not get around to finishing the mowing/aerating on the lower front, will likely do that later today as it should be plenty dry by now. Then possibly start to work on some of the tree and shrub trimming that needs done, also weeding if time allows.

First on the the agenda though will be to get the fish/cats/birds all fed, and then probably a trip down to Menards to pick orders up.

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

 

[kenmbz]

Mornin all, sunny and still chilly
Got new tomatoes and sweet peppers in.
Uncle is able to walk now with walker, he is frustrated being stuck in his apartment most of the time, but doing well.

PopG - have fun with the band, my son has been going to practice with a mask and is tryin to start a band.

Son is scheduled for his first shot next week. Then off to Cape may in a few weeks for a seaside break

Chainsaw is prepped for tree removal, still have to decide how to deal with the poison ivy on the biggest one.

Wife kinda gave me ok to buy a mower , was thinking the Betstco 48 heavy duty, this will semi-retire the simplicity to working only in the smaller areas and hauling tools. Can only buy one mower, so hopefully this will cover the still being opened trails and the grass areas too.

Stay safe and be well

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Wife kinda gave me ok to buy a mower , was thinking the Betstco 48 heavy duty, this will semi-retire the simplicity to working only in the smaller areas and hauling tools. Can only buy one mower, so hopefully this will cover the still being opened trails and the grass areas too.

Not sure whether the mower you're looking at is a rotary cutter or a flail, Ken, I have a Betstco 68" flail. I'd be leary of using a flail to clear trails. My experience is even if you put hammer knives in it, they won't stand much abuse from rocks or sticks. And the knives are $$$ expensive to replace.

 

[kenmbz]

This would be one with hammers. Looking at this as getting a rotary back there would require a lot of trail widening, and backing up would not be an options.

 

[daugen]

unmitigated disaster
yup, some days that's me...

RS, nice cart find
Popgadget, you have a perfect day for mowing, and it should be a sea of green when you are done. Have fun tonight. My mulch is supposed to come today, can't wait
Maybe you can practice in the Kubota with an air guitar...
Ken, no tomatoes, you must have ordered sooner than I did months ago.