Good morning!!!!

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! The low was 49°, going up to 83°. Clear and sunny, but another slight chance of a T-storm. Didn't get a drop yesterday, but one could "smell" the moisture, so it was close.

Ken, nice turtle pic. My guess is that it was as surprised as you were to meet.

Drew, sorry to hear that there was a slight scramble at the start of the breakfast, but sounds like it all worked out.

Doug, I hope Leslie gets some relief with CPAP use. It's strange hearing you mention "cold" and "snow"......

Thomas, take it nice and slow. Don't push your limit until you get fixed up! You don't want to have Mrs T coming down on you again....

Paul, that is one HD mailbox! Did it have a door on the front?

The wifey took off outside already to get started on the ongoing landscaping project.... I better get in gear....

Hopefully I will get some pics will be posted later today.....

Everyone have a great day!

 

[Alan46]

Gallon gas went up 9 cent and diesel 5 cents over night here.

That’s a bargain compared to this!

 

[rswyan]

71F and sunny @ 11:30, heading up to a high of around 78F today. Into a 3 day shot of nice weather before our next rain is due in.

Mr. Mallard was out noodling underneath the feeders this morning. A crow kept trying to sneak up on him and he would turn around and chase him off.

Found out yesterday The Mallards will actually come over when you call or talk to them ... but they don't get too close. They also like cracked corn.

Need to put out an orange half on the feeder this morning before I forget to do it.

Also need to bait the chipmunk traps (the sunflower only seem to float for around 24 hours or less)

Noticed a little digging yesterday in the mulched area of the lily bed under the kitchen window, will apply some blood meal today to see if that will work as a repellent.

Noticed that the weeds I sprayed along the electric fence are starting to yellow ...

Other items on agenda for today, in no particular order:

Check indoor seedlings and water if needed.

Start mulching flower bed on the east side of the frog pond that The Woman has been weeding.

Work on getting some more of the seedlings transplanted out of peat pots.

Finish fertilizing dahlias (4 to go) and add more soil around the ones that need it. The ones that have not been fertilized are easy to see ... they aren't as deep green as the ones that were.

Fill 4 of the new grow bags with soil and get some of the gladiolus bulbs planted. I have 120 bulbs ... not sure if I can fit 30 bulbs per bag, but will give it a shot. Probably have to make up another load of potting mix to do that.

Add screened compost around peach tree on east side that Woman weeded the other day and get white muscari bulbs planted.

Front lawn needs mowed again. May raise the deck height another 1/4" to 3.5".

Finish up frame for Water Buffalo.

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

 

[daugen]

I wish I had a picture of this but if you remember the cheap Cub Cadet rider I gave to a friend in Washington NC, she used to mow her beach grass with it, and talk about blade wear.
When I took the blades off at the end of the first year, there was almost nothing left at end of the blade, long thin piece of twisted metal. All eaten away by getting constantly sandblasted by a super sandy lawn. So there's one case you sure don't want super sharp blades. She didn't want to weedeat that part, wanted to ride, ok, well there went the blades.
The next year I sharpened the horribly worn out blades mid year and she got new blades the next year.
Sooner or later that deck will call it quits too...

I had to sharpen my blades three times a year in sandy NC. Twice here.
Need to get a friend to crawl under deck using my Makita impact gun. My neck just won't let me do that angle any more.

Sun is out now, heating up. The lawn mower is calling, all this rain, it keeps jumping up.

Alan, at 9.50 a gallon, wow, that's 63 cents in fuel per mile for a 15mpg truck.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I was listening to Pink Floyd, Shine on you Crazy Diamond on my headphones last evening and thought for sure that one of the fans in my computer tower had gone bad...

Remember when you were young
You shown like the sun
Shine on you crazy diamond


Great song. Good luck this summer.

 

[rswyan]

On engine speeds while mowing, when we were using the MMM on the Kubota I typically would it at 1800 - 2000 rpm ... which is a good bit less than the PTO-rated speed which was around 2600 rpm IIRC.

Delivered a decent cut if the blades were sharp and the grass wasn't too thick and heavy (which it generally wasn't ... because we weren't fertilizing ... )

Now that we are fertilizing, the grass is thicker so I try a little harder not to let it get too long and thick.

With the Cub, I've found out that I can get away with similar, running the engine a little less than WOT ... provided I slow up a little when I run through thicker grass (you can hear the load on the engine when it hits the thicker stuff) so the engine can keep up.

One thing that kind of threw me off initially was the noise the blades make: apparently those Marbain blades are so hard that they "ring" when cutting. It was very disconcerting when we initially started mowing with the Cub - I actually thought there was something wrong with the mower.

But nope ... just how it is.

I have been extremely impressed with how well the blades are wearing: I'm just now sharpening the original set that came with the mower and the second set which I put on later last year are still cutting pretty well.

I am taking some pains to avoid heating the blades when I sharpen them so as not to anneal them.

As always: YMMV ...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Where’s PJ?????

Buppies, hope all is well with kidneys.

 

[Alan46]

I wish I had a picture of this but if you remember the cheap Cub Cadet rider I gave to a friend in Washington NC, she used to mow her beach grass with it, and talk about blade wear.
When I took the blades off at the end of the first year, there was almost nothing left at end of the blade, long thin piece of twisted metal. All eaten away by getting constantly sandblasted by a super sandy lawn. So there's one case you sure don't want super sharp blades. She didn't want to weedeat that part, wanted to ride, ok, well there went the blades.
The next year I sharpened the horribly worn out blades mid year and she got new blades the next year.
Sooner or later that deck will call it quits too...

I had to sharpen my blades three times a year in sandy NC. Twice here.
Need to get a friend to crawl under deck using my Makita impact gun. My neck just won't let me do that angle any more.

Sun is out now, heating up. The lawn mower is calling, all this rain, it keeps jumping up.

Alan, at 9.50 a gallon, wow, that's 63 cents in fuel per mile for a 15mpg truck.

I don’t know where that is, I saw that photo online and took a screenshot!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Where’s PJ?????

Buppies, hope all is well with kidneys.

 

[sodamo]

67°F and .27 inches rain.

Guys lost at H&F yesterday but it was a fun game.

Not sure what sort of mischief to get into today, rich environment, but lacking motivation.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day