I pulled the cover off and cleaned out the mouse nest. There were three dead mice in it. I am guessing they are the ones that nibbled on the poison block I put on the deck.
They also chewed on a few wires. This one was particularly bad. I wrapped it up with tape
I also changed the oil in the tractor. The oil was really sluggish and it took a while to drain. It looked dirtier than I expected considering I changed it in the spring.
When I went to fire it up, it no longer starts. I am not sure what happened, nothing should have changed. I tried to get the spark plug out, but the wire is sealed on. I didn't change it in the spring for the same reason, but it was just running two days ago, so I am not sure what happened. I undid all the seat switch bypasses and whatnot I had done to no avail. I will have to play with it more tomorrow or Tuesday (it is supposed to be cold and wet tomorrow). I reattached the solar battery maintainer up to it since I ran that battery noticeably down cranking on it today.
I also did some work on the plow blade today. I managed to get it to swing, but I think that will continue to be a problem. The cable isn't really strong enough to pull the arm that releases the position lock. Unfortunately, when I manually actuate it, the spring is already too weak to pull it back into lock, so I can't just put a weaker spring in it. I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet. I might put a manual arm that I can reach and actuate.
The lights are fastened. I neatened up the wiring too.
I have also devised a couple of potential solutions to a few of the other winterization items. For the weight in the back, I am going to hang a 2x6 with some loops in it that slide over the rails of the bagger. I can then zip tie the unusable bags of concrete I have in the shed to it. The beefy zip ties are good for 75 lbs, and the bags are 50. That adds 100 lbs behind the rear axle. If that is insufficient I can also just hang a 5 gallon bucket off it as well.
For the power situation, I wanted a way to run the power on the other side of the driveway through the yard so that I can still have power up there to do work during the winter without having to worry about hitting it with a plow or snowblower. I think this will do the trick, albeit with a taller board. There is a tree on the other side opposite this so I can run the cord from the tree branch to a hook on top of the board. It would be tall enough that I don't have to worry about hitting it with the truck, and lets me run it up completely out of the way. I think I have enough spare length in the extension cord to do it too.
I had a casualty today too. Thankfully the panel is still fine it is just the glass that is cracked, but another camera has suffered a near mortal wound at the hands of this project. That said, until it is unusable, I intend to keep using it.
Several of the items on the winterization checklist are now in progress. The lights are complete. I haven't marked the oil change complete since the tractor isn't running.
- Fix ruts in driveway.
Put lights on the plow.- Get the oil changed in the tractor.
- Get the tire chains installed and a weight installed on the back.
- Fix leaky underbelly.
- Get skirting installed.
- Find a way to run power that won't be damaged by snow/plow/snowblower.
- Find a way to prevent the snow pushing on the shed.
- Finish clearing off the slab.
- Run the rough plumbing. (includes gas line for stove)
- Venting and Drainage
- Water supply
- Gas lines
- Install insulation.
- *Install flooring. *10
- Install light fixtures.
- Install ceiling and attic insulation. *17
- *Install paneling *11, 12
- *Install interior wall *12
- *Complete electrical and plumbing. *15, 16
- *Install final flooring (carpet/linoleum). *17, 20
- Install interior fixtures. When I get here, I will likely create a new list for the interior work.
mere fatal wounding of the camera, 'I'm not dead yet!"
ReplyDeleteWell it won't be going for a walk, whether it wants to go on the cart or not.
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