Sunday May 19, 2013

Weather

Spring finally made it and we have had a week of good weather with a little rain. Temperatures are moving into the 80s Trees are leafed out and the grass is growing almost faster than I can cut it. This also means the Ticks and Chiggers are out. The garden is still lagging but with preparing to build a house something has to be cut back.

I was told this is an old variety but not the name.


Compare with the pictures below. spring is here.

Kludges

Living here where a trip to a home center is a two hour round trip and hard to find parts are a several day wait for delivery, you have to make do. One of the strut rods for the mower broke and a new one is not available and used ones pretend to be worth more than the mower. I had to make do by cutting off the bent part of the broken rod then running a 1/2-13 die to cut some threads. I had a 1/2-13 splice connector and some redi-bolt. A little later I am mowing again. I also keep a collection of little parts such as spring clips on hand. A two hour trip for a $1 part does not make much sense with gasoline kissing $4. A $5 bin of parts saves many trips.

The strut rod broke just before the adjustment nut.


Bent part cut off and threads cut, barrel nut and redi-bolt ready.


Fixed and clips ready to install.

Building

Things are happening this week with starting to tear down the addition and putting the trailer back the way it was. I have moved the travel trailer around and leveled it so we can live in it while building. All its systems seem to be working but there is not enough power to run the AC. Something I have to look into. I also have to kludge up us a fix for the shower hose, the part does not seem to be available anywhere except in Springfield, 90 miles away.

Our temporary home.


Watch this space. The addition is the first to go.

Projects

I built another mailbox cover for some friends. It needs to be delivered but I have to build another first. It has been cut out and is ready for painting.

A mailbox fits in between the chickens.

Sunday May 12, 2013

Weather

Snow in May followed by 80 degree days. The local saying is "If you do not like the weather, wait a bit, it will change." Spring may be here but the ground is still a little cool for a few things. Looking over pictures of past springs I can see we are at least a week behind.

You can see more leaves coming out.

Garden

After getting the tiller working and when it warmed up a little I tilled the part of the garden that is not in beds. The tiller is working like a new one with its new clutch spring.

Tiller doing short work to the garden.

building

Things are coming together very slowly. We were planning on starting the first of June but that seems to have slipped about two weeks due to some paperwork problems with the trailer. We cannot move it until that is settled. I did move the travel trailer we will be living in around to where I can clean it and do some work. The three point hitch I made works like a charm.

Tractor bucket helps hold the 7000# trailer in position on the slight slope.


We welded a receiver to a badly bent ripper to make this hitch.

Sunday May 5, 2013

Weather

Spring is still hiding from us. The weather warmed up a bit then turned cold again. We even had a little show on the third. Two days of a drizzly rain only brought us three quarters of an inch along with a few snow flakes. Are we going to have a cold summer or will it turn to record breaking heat and drought? The cold has given me ample excuses to not start on the garden.

A little more green but even the trees are reluctant to greet spring.


The Poison Ivy did not hesitate.
NOTE: I was told this is not Poison Ivy.

Activities

The cold has slowed some activities. I ran out of propane for the shop heater and was going to fill it in the fall so the shop is cold. I did a few things but most of the week was spent dealing with the bank and a nasty toothache that happened suddenly. We cleaned out more junk from the garage in preparation for storage while building. Most of the junk went to a local fund raiser.

Pickup loaded with stuff someone else gets to store.

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2. Shadows of Falling Night: A Novel of the Shadowspawn
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3. The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America
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4. The Gun
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5. Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship
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