I only have like one photo of a single bird perched on a limb and only because I know it's a baldy that I can tell what it is. My view of them is usually 100-150 yards away. Been meaning to get me a cheap pair of binocs to watch the river with. 3 different species of geese and some mallards to look at this time of year. I was taking my afternoon stroll along the canal yesterday and had a fish jump right off bank that startled me a bit. Also counted 9 painted turtles sunning on logs. That might be a record. I will try to get a picture of the Baldys if they give me a good opportunity. I have no real cameras...just the old $200 phone.
Took a stroll along the canal for my morning break during a pause in the rain and saw the biggest muskrat I've ever laid eyes on. I seriously thought it was a baby beaver until I saw it's tail.
Ugh. Finishing prep for weed and grass chewing. Have managed to not do any so far. That changes this weekend. Bleh.
The twins. The newer one looks older right now. You can pick these up for a Benjamin on classifieds. Highly recommend. 9 lbs, 1.01hp. Will do anything short of saplings/blade work. ONe of these has a solid drive shaft, the other a cable. Never had any issues with either. Have had cable/coupler issues with a 'combi' tool split shaft though.
Mowed and did a bunch of weed eating this morning. Then went and worked on dirt bike trails for a while. Then on a whim decided to look for mushrooms. Traditionally I get skunked and always have on my own property. Not this year. This is the second time in my life finding a Smurf village. First ever real find on my own land. Icing on a great day outside and in the woods. Gonna sleep well tonight.
Bought a picnic table from Lowe's last night for the hilltop pavillion at Ft Kickass. Caught them on last day of sale I was waiting on. $89. They were $75 last year. I can't hardly buy the lumber for $89. Will go fetch it after work today.
No milling at all. Played with idea off cheap band saw a few years back. Perhaps in the future. Yes, this is a convenience buy for sure.
Gettin awful civilized around here. Will be bringing up some shale from the crick to lay under the pavillion. Thinking of 'paving' a lot of this area with stones. A stone wall has also been pondered. Both hinge on me hauling copius amounts of stones up there.
Busy day yesterday. Started off by trimming the hedge. Inaugural use of this Makita four stroke machine. It does a very good job. Felt pretty heavy by the time I was finished. Changed the oil in my truck when I got the trimmings all cleaned up. Then got on the tractor to go fishing. I gotta get this hanger down. It's cut free from stump. Needed to get a couple logs from another tree out of the way so I can pull this down. Net proceeds. Had planned to yank it down but ran into another fallen tree on my skid route out, which is different from the way I went in. Didn't feel like chopping up two tree tops at the time so cleaned this up and pulled the logs up to the yard. My skid road out the crick. Mowed grass for a while after then went and washed my truck. Full day. No pics from today. Kinda lazy. Did haul 15 buckets of shale up top and spread it under the shelter. Not much else...kinda lazy. lol
Looking up more smalls for the 7900's. Rubber grommets, intake flange and associated. Not at all kidding when I say I'm gong to keep them running 'forever'. The biggies to get over are the P&C kit and the coil. Eventually I will have spares of both. For now, collecting all the smalls is what I have funding for.
Had a rain day Saturday so decided to clean up the old grill to prep for refurbishment. Ignitor needs work. Grates and flavor bars need bead blasted. New hose & regulator needed. Manifold appears to be solid along with the SS burners. Valves are not sticky and feel like they are working well. Some of the grease patina just did not want to leave that grill. Had two different industrial degreasers and spent 5 cycles at the carwash before capitulating...it'll be fine. Before After a thourough bath
New tool Tuesday! Pretty similar to the Fiskars. Handle material feels same. Wedge slightly more defined. Will report back once I test it out. Seems to be of high quality manufacture.
Had a nice show while out driving Friday evening. Got a couple of chestnut oak logs sliced up Saturday. Need some fodder for the new splitting tool. Had to take the tractor up to the north piece of ground to get 4 trees off the trails (bush hog prep). Got *all of the weedeating done (worked on a couple nights after work this week) besides the bank of doom. Did some cleanup around the shelter and hauled some more gravel up. Finished up a small loop of new single track trail for the dirt bikes. Got a few main trails groomed/cleaned off. I can get so much stuff done when I have good weather. Big mower got loaded onto trailer and washed. It's off to the shop this week (I fought the law and the law won). Unsure if it's the heat or my age, but I felt pretty tired yesterday evening. I'm going to blame the heat.
So one of my much touted Husky trimmers had an issue. It was my fault. I failed to properly tighten the spark plug. This is the older unit that I got back recently from my sister after it sat for a while. Been using it a little bit after going over it. It was running a little odd, so I had been trying to tune it as I went the other evening. Was going along the edge of one of the sheds at lower RPM and it locked up/siezed. First thought was to pull the plug and have a look see. It was already one thread out of the hole and I could see where there was some blowby. Figuring it was wrecked I went ahead and ordered replacement P&C (I ain't letting these units die). Tore it down in shop at work to find...essentially zero damage? to the piston or cylinder. Old piston is absolutely fine except for the ring I broke. Old cylinder shows no major trauma but does show its hours in the smoothness of the walls. I'm guessing I could have bought a new set of rings and had it running again. Not bothered. I'll put the old parts back as spares. They fit two trimmers I have. Hopig to get it slapped together today when I get a chance. Interesting crank bearing/seal setup here. the bearings are coated with rubber and act as a gasket to seal the case. Do need a little moto seal for the gaps between. Made in Germany?
Put my big boy pants on and glued the cylinder back on. (i get anxious with this type of work) Should be able to get the unit fully assembled tomorrow. These are the times I regret not owning a vac/pressure gun. (not very often) Time to go mow. Possibly in the rain.
Well, it works. Only broke a few. Either that handle is slightly longer, or the head slightly heavier than the Fiskars. Seemed to me that a little more vibration is carried through the handle of the Truper. This is subjective since I wasn't using side by side and it's been a little while since I swung the X27. Wood is chestnut oak, so not real hard to bust generally. Tested out while burning down a little brush pile last night. 3 hits for this round The handle makes a wooshy sound that gives it a bit of Ninja appeal. LOL I have $30 in it and consider it a good buy at this point. Durability will be the deciding factor, over time.
Have a pending repair job on the backhoe. Used the pressure washer two weekends ago to blast away all the gunk. Gotta pull a swing cylinder out to get repacked. Not looking forwards to it. Went to hose it down with penetrating oil and noticed these bastages on Saturday. Two hours of weedeating down by the cottage and along the river yesterday. Noticed a bearing taking a crap in the front gear case when I was respooling. Got one end of the shelter covered between last weekend and Saturday. Big mower is alive again and headed back into service. Any opinions on this blade? Woke up today with a sore spot on my head (bumped on a branch while weedeating) and pain from my left leg like I hit it on something. Don't recall. LOL
