More mowing. What a pain but hopefully not for long.

I spent pretty much all last night and a good chunk of the day mowing.  I had more left than I thought.  In total, I have spent probably 6+ hours and almost three tanks of gas mowing.  And since the mower did a kind of crappy job, I will have to mow again in another week or two.  To be fair though, I did get a bunch of stuff done that I don't do with the tractor as well. 






The back yard was pretty bad on the far side where it hasn't been leveled yet.


I also did some equipment maintenance today.  I never properly offseasoned the snowblower, and wanted to check it after the pole holding up the now deceased bug zapper fell on it.  It turns out that all the gas evaporated out, so I didn't have to worry about stale gas.  I put some fresh stuff in it with ethanol protection and made sure it ran.  The chute looks like hell.  It took a bigger whack than I originally thought, but it is intact, no breaks.


After the mowing fiasco, I also took some time trying to resurrect the deck.  I might have come up with a solution.  I just used flat washers to re-level the right spindle.  I put some washers in when I installed the spindle to flatten out and make it line up right. Add a washer to the pulley to make the belt line up and presto.  The blade didn't really seem to sit any lower, so I hopefully won't end up where the left blade cuts a quarter inch higher than the right. 


It turns out the spindle was most, but not all the problem.  It shattered when I removed it.  Fortunately it sheared off at the same time, so I didn't have to grind it off.


It is ready to be reinstalled on the tractor.  I really hope it works. 


This morning I also got another shelf put up.  I might put additional supports under the ends since it gets pretty flimsy at the edges, though I might build the closet first in case it needs to shift.


Hopefully tomorrow I will actually get something done on the checklist. 

1. Propane
2. Smooth the yard.
3. Install Drainage.
4. Finish driveway repairs.
5. Fix the weed whacker.
6. Fix the push mower.
7. Fix the generator.
8. Refurbish the utility trailer.
9. Extend/insulate the front wall to prevent pipes from freezing.
10. Build a lean to for equipment.
11. Clean the crap out of the shed.
12. Install windows in the shed.
13. Install power and lights in the shed.
14. Put in actual pilings for the shed.
15. Extend the roof on the shed to prevent snow from pushing on the side.
16. Paint the house.
17. Paint the shed.
18. Paint the ceiling of the house.
19. Burn the pile.
20. Get rid of the scrap metal.
21. Bury the power cables.
22. Install outside outlets at the panel.
23. Setup entertainment center
24. Build a real closet so I can hang clothes.
25. Install curtains and shelves.
26. Install trim.
27. Install a table in the house.

Mowing

I started mowing yesterday.  I didn't get out of work as early as I would have like, so I didn't get much done, but I mowed until I couldn't see the grass as I was mowing it. 

This is the new mower.  It looks like a classic 3.5HP Briggs under the cover.


I cranked the deck up to the highest setting and let 'er rip.  It was bad.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but the weeds are taller by the mower by a lot.  Some of the taller weeds were up to my thigh.  Most were at least shin deep.


While it is unfair to judge the mower given the condition of the yard, I am going to do it anyways.  The mower starts first pull every time, which is nice, and it seems to run fine, it doesn't sound like it is running too low an RPM (it has no throttle cable).  It seems like it doesn't spin the blade fast enough though.  Even at a moderately slow walk, it was "missing" grass and yet it wasn't bogging down, so it just simply wasn't cutting.  It is noticeably poorer than my old Troy Bilt that isn't running at the moment.  I might still want to get that one fixed.  The new one also discharges exceptionally poorly, and the blades have nearly 0 lift which might be the bulk of the problem to be honest.  The blade looked in good shape when I bought it, but after I finish the yard, I might see if I can get a real discharge blade for it. 


I got most of the front done, but not the bit to the left of the drain field.  It took over an hour, but a lot of it I had to do twice.  Given the current state, I am looking at probably around 3-4 hours of mowing with this guy.  Hopefully once I am caught back up it will be under two, but with how poorly it mowed that isn't a guarantee.


It is wet and raining right now, so no mowing tonight, it will resume later in the week. 

Some minor appliance updates.

I fixed the leaks for the dishwasher. 


I ran several cycles through it to clean it out.  I ran a vinegar load to get rid of the calcium buildup from back in the apartments, and a bleach run to kill off any mold or mildew that might have built up in it the last few months.  The vinegar load also helped get rid of soap buildup in it too.  Not sure where the soap came from.


This morning I ran the first real load of dishes through it.


I also did the "burn in" for the stove last night.  The high yesterday was 69, so it was chilly in my apartment.  The burn in is basically just run the stove for a half hour to burn off all the manufacturing stuff and bake the paint on.  The stove heats up the house some, but not as bad as I expected.



On the mower front, I am looking at pushmowers.  That seems like the most prudent option at the moment.  The yard isn't in great shape; if I buy a real tractor or another riding mower, they are going to take a pounding. 

It's dead, Jim. Decision time.

Update: I am actually wondering if it is just the spindle that is busted.  A bent spindle housing could potentially cause the same symptoms.  It may not be ready to go on the cart just yet.  And it isn't a terribly expensive test, spindle assemblies are only 20 bucks.


So it turns out the damage to the lawn tractor is more serious than a belt.  In fact, it is a fatality.  This is what I saw when I took the deck off to put the new belt on:


The first thing I noticed was the spring that wasn't attached to anything.  It turns out the brake arm for the right spindle broke off too.


The brake arm isn't needed for operation though. It just stops the blades from spinning when the PTO is off, and there is still one on the other side.  What is fatal though is this:


It is hard to see in the picture, but the whole deck is bent out of shape.  I tried to bend it back and I think all I accomplished was breaking the spindle (you can see in the picture where I at least bent the pulley).  When I looked more closely at the belt, it fits, the belt actually looks cut not broken.  The belt that came off was flawless, not a single crack in it, except where it is broken.

I looked on Craigslist and ebay and to get a new deck for the mower would run me around 300-400 dollars, so it is decision time.  Courtesy of recent tariffs, new lawn tractors have gone up considerably in the last few years, a tractor that was about a grand when I got this one from Tim is now 1600 (Back when I worked at Sears a new LT1000 could be had on sale for 749...).  If I were to buy a new one I would like a blade on it; while I didn't use it much I really liked having the dozer blade the few times I did use it.  I also did plow the slab with it.  A new tractor with a snowblower or plow is going to set me back 3k at least though. 

This brings up an interesting decision though:

• Do I rebuild this given what it will cost to replace it?  
• I don't like this option; the tractor is 20 years old, the steering is busted, and the front end is coming apart, the tires were dryrotted 10 years ago, etc.  The engine still runs good, but I have been saying it is EOL for a while now with good reason.
• Do I bite the bullet and buy a new lawn tractor?
• I don't know if I can afford this option, not right at the moment.  Not without delaying replacing the Nissan, since this would consume everything I have saved up for the down payment.
• Do I just buy a cheap push mower (or get mine fixed)?
• This would require that I just deal with the extra time required for mowing.  Even with the yard a disaster like it is right now, I can mow everything in an hour to an hour and a half with the tractor.  With a push mower, I am looking at well over 2 hours.  I will only have to mow maybe three or four more times this year though.  
• It would allow me to delay this decision until next year.  I still have my tractor for running the dump cart and dozer blade.
• Do I buy a used real tractor?
• Suddenly 6k for a real tractor with a loader doesn't seem so bad given the prices that I am seeing for a new lawn tractors.  This kind of a purchase would likely require stalling other financial objectives though and might have to wait until after I replace the Nissan.

At the present moment, I am leaning towards to just buying a push mower, and evaluate the Nissan's health next spring.  

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!! Fire.

The guys came today and set up the propane.  Since the new belt for the tractor just came in last night, I hadn't mowed for them, so I came home a bit early and did some clearing with good ol' manual labor.


Good thing this thing still works.  The teeth on it are pretty chewed up.


They inspected my work, and they said it was all good with one exception.  The bonding of the line is supposed to be at the "first fitting".  I did it from the first fitting from the rough-in, so while it is bonded, it is bonded at the tee under the utility room.  It is supposed to be the first fitting from the tank though, so the bonding should have been on the exterior shut off valve.  The line is bonded though so it is functionally equivalent, but that was the only thing I did that wasn't correct.  On another note, while I understand that they do this for a living, holy crap they can assemble fittings and joints quickly. 

My stove is alive...  They changed out the jets on it so it isn't like Mom's and Dad's stove.


The hot water heater is alive too. 


The water takes longer than I would expect to get hot considering there is only 10 feet of line, but the bathroom sink hot water worked like a charm. 


It turns out I forgot to finish the dishwasher hookups, one of them still leaks, so I don't have the dishwasher hooked up yet.  Grumble. 

They installed two 120 gallon tanks.  They come with 10 gallons in them (that is all they are allowed to transport them with without special permits).  I thought two tanks was overkill, but apparently there is a good reason for it.  In the winter, if it gets below 0 and the tank is down around 10-15 gallons, apparently a single tank can't evaporate enough propane out to run a tankless water heater, because I need 180k BTU minimum.  So it isn't a volume issue, it is a tank flow capability issue.  Good thing I didn't just try to run a couple of 100 lb tanks, if a 120 gallon tank can't produce enough, there is no chance that even two 100lb tanks would generate enough.


This does present a different issue though: I haven't extended the wall yet, and they attached everything to the front wall.  That is something I will have to think about at some point.  Perhaps I will just make a jig that hangs on the front exterior wall or something. 

I didn't get pictures, but I have also gotten all the tires out of the pile in the back, so I am doing ok on that front as well. 

So unless I go home and my home is no longer there or it is filled with gas, the propane is complete. 

1. Propane
2. Smooth the yard.
3. Install Drainage.
4. Finish driveway repairs.
5. Fix the weed whacker.
6. Fix the push mower.
7. Fix the generator.
8. Refurbish the utility trailer.
9. Extend/insulate the front wall to prevent pipes from freezing.
10. Build a lean to for equipment.
11. Clean the crap out of the shed.
12. Install windows in the shed.
13. Install power and lights in the shed.
14. Put in actual pilings for the shed.
15. Extend the roof on the shed to prevent snow from pushing on the side.
16. Paint the house.
17. Paint the shed.
18. Paint the ceiling of the house.
19. Burn the pile.
20. Get rid of the scrap metal.
21. Bury the power cables.
22. Install outside outlets at the panel.
23. Setup entertainment center
24. Build a real closet so I can hang clothes.
25. Install curtains and shelves.
26. Install trim.
27. Install a table in the house.

The mower will have to wait.

Yesterday was not a good day.  Apparently the belt on my mower deck is now a scarce size.  I checked Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware, Jack's True Value, Sears, and Home Depot and nobody had a belt for it.  Tractor supply was the only place that even had a shelf spot for an 88 inch.  So I spent most of the morning looking around for a belt that nobody in Keene stocks.  It was also a lot hotter than it was supposed to be yesterday, so I didn't get as much done in the afternoon as I had hoped.  It is also really tiring heaving tires full of mud over shoulder height to toss into a dumpster.  Turns out there were a lot more tires than I realized too.  The dumpster is almost a quarter full of mostly tires.


The new pile in the back is almost half gone though, and I have more than half the tires out of it.  It is even hotter today, but I still hope to finish it up today.  It will probably be tomorrow though.


We got some pretty awesome storms last night.  It was a surprisingly large band of deep red on the radar, and the thunder and lightning was constant for almost 15 minutes.  I tried to get a video, but alas my phone is incapable of that kind of dynamic range, it was either black or washed out white, which was disappointing.  Still fun to watch though. 

The storms did present an opportunity to test the drainage system though.  There was standing water all over the back yard where the drainage didn't cover.


I was able to walk the entire path of the pipe and there was no standing water in the back though. 


At some point I will need to come up with a better plan of smoothing things.  Just walking I was able to identify lots of places where the mower would struggle.  The only thing I can come up with though is hitting it with a rototiller to chew everything up and then smoothing it with a bo rake.  That is a lot of time though, and I don't have a rototiller.  Either way though, I think I probably won't do anything with it this year.  Maybe that will be a next year project.

One other bit of news, they come up Wednesday to install the propane.  They are going to hook up the stove as well, so I will need to buy a new kit (normally they won't reuse an existing one) but it saves me the hassle and headache. 

1. Propane
2. Smooth the yard.
3. Install Drainage.
4. Finish driveway repairs.
5. Fix the weed whacker.
6. Fix the push mower.
7. Fix the generator.
8. Refurbish the utility trailer.
9. Extend/insulate the front wall to prevent pipes from freezing.
10. Build a lean to for equipment.
11. Clean the crap out of the shed.
12. Install windows in the shed.
13. Install power and lights in the shed.
14. Put in actual pilings for the shed.
15. Extend the roof on the shed to prevent snow from pushing on the side.
16. Paint the house.
17. Paint the shed.
18. Paint the ceiling of the house.
19. Burn the pile.
20. Get rid of the scrap metal.
21. Bury the power cables.
22. Install outside outlets at the panel.
23. Setup entertainment center
24. Build a real closet so I can hang clothes.
25. Install curtains and shelves.
26. Install trim.
27. Install a table in the house.

Another blow to the mower.

Last night I did manage to get the next bit of shelving installed.  I started with the bit under the window.  I think I am just going to eliminate the night light.  This one was never terribly useful anyways.


I moved some stuff on it too.


I also put up another shelf by the door so I have a place to put my wallet and empty my pockets.


A nice side effect of getting the shelving up is that I am starting to clear off the rack in the corner, which is good since that needs to be cleared out before I build the closet.


I didn't do much today, mostly just chores.  I did go out to mow though since I haven't mowed in three weeks (yeah, my "yard" looks just like you are thinking..) and only got one pass before this happened.  I did at least get up by the shed done. 


I am not sure where the rest of the belt is, since the deck belt is 88 inches long, and that piece is maybe 60.  I guess I will find the rest of it eventually.  It is too late now to run up to tractor supply, so I will head over in the morning.  That said, a bunch of angry storms just rolled through, so we shall see if my "yard" is dry enough to mow tomorrow.  I also discovered a new problem with my tractor, the teeth on the steering are worn out, if you crank it trying to turn left, it skips if there is anything impeding the wheels.  I think the tractor is trying to tell me it is done...

Some motivation left.

Some of my motivation slipped over to yesterday, so after going and getting some beer and wings with coworkers, I got a few things done before bed.  

The first thing I saw when I got home was that my bug zapper appears to have died.  The blue light was no longer blue.  It looked like a fluorescent light with a burned out ballast.  The top of the bulb was a weird orange and the rest wasn't lit.  Sigh...

After grumbling, I got padding up on the part of the bed frame that sits above the couch.  Somebody *cough*Rachel*cough* kept hitting their head when they came to visit, so hopefully this will help in the future.

I also got all the boards for the sill and shelves under the window sill marked.  I didn't get them cut since it started raining.  I will get them cut and complete the assembly tonight.

No real movement on the checklist.  I hope to finish up getting the tires and crap loaded up into the dumpster this weekend though.

Lazy couple of weeks hopefully coming to an end.

I haven't posted much lately because I hadn't really done much.  I have been rather lazy the last couple of weeks.  I finally got back around to getting some work done yesterday though.  I had company last weekend, Rachel came out, so I put up a "door" to the bathroom.  I basically just hung an opaque curtain up, but it sufficed.


I also got one of the shelves over the windows installed.  It helped clean up the place a bit.


I also finally got around to putting braces on the bed legs.  They had been starting to twist a little, so they are all shored up now. 


I had another casualty as well.  I am down to just one pair, though I tend to use ear plugs more these days. 


I got some motivation yesterday and I started cleaning up the tires in the back yard.  I got a half dozen or so out of there.  Still a long ways to go though.  I am surprised they haven't said anything to me about the dumpster yet, I have had it almost a month at this point.


When I got tired of heaving tires up at shoulder height that were full of mud, I switched over to the wood pile.  It doesn't look like much, the pile is larger than I thought. 


We haven't had any major storms lately, but the few times it has rained there has been no standing water in the back, so until proven otherwise the drain pipe is considered a success.  It was an expensive project too, even returning the pieces we didn't use, the whole thing cost almost a grand.  400 or so for parts, and 600 to rent the tractor.


We have had some wind the last few days though.  My bug lamp blew over again, and this time it looks fatal.  I need to build a lean-to or something up on the slab.


When it started to get dark, I started doing more interior stuff.  I took my old table and got it sawed in half.  This half got the honor of being turned into a shelf. 


This piece will probably remain as a table once I finish more of the storage stuff inside so I have a place to put it. 


I got the shelf installed right before I went to bed. 


In addition, the propane company was out there yesterday for a site visit.  They have identified where they are putting the tanks and all that, so I should hear from them in the next day or two to get that scheduled.  I will need to mow the yard before then (I haven't mowed in  three weeks, and it looks bad...  Really bad...)

I have got seemingly too many things in progress all at once, but will hopefully start driving them to their conclusions. 

1. Propane
2. Smooth the yard.
3. Install Drainage.
4. Finish driveway repairs.
5. Fix the weed whacker.
6. Fix the push mower.
7. Fix the generator.
8. Refurbish the utility trailer.
9. Extend/insulate the front wall to prevent pipes from freezing.
10. Build a lean to for equipment.
11. Clean the crap out of the shed.
12. Install windows in the shed.
13. Install power and lights in the shed.
14. Put in actual pilings for the shed.
15. Extend the roof on the shed to prevent snow from pushing on the side.
16. Paint the house.
17. Paint the shed.
18. Paint the ceiling of the house.
19. Burn the pile.
20. Get rid of the scrap metal.
21. Bury the power cables.
22. Install outside outlets at the panel.
23. Setup entertainment center
24. Build a real closet so I can hang clothes.
25. Install curtains and shelves.
26. Install trim.
27. Install a table in the house.

New Stove Arrived

The new stove was delivered today.  It is all shiny and clean.


I will probably hook it up tonight after trivia.  Unfortunately the gas company screwed me again, so I decided to change who was in charge of getting me propane.  I am now going with Dead River Company instead of Discount Oil.  I want an office that I can walk into and get results.  The address for Discount Oil it turns out doesn't actually seem to exist.

I still had a dead grill in the metal pile, so I think I might take the regulator out of it and hook up a grill tank to my propane so that I can use it.  The regulator can't provide enough to run the water heater (though I am mildly curious what would happen if I tried) but it should run the stove.

As an amusing anecdote, I also showered at home today since I stayed home for the stove delivery, and forgot to watch the time.  They were done setting up the stove around 9:50, so shortly after they left, I went in for a shower.  My water system backflushes at 10AM though, so I got my hair all lathered up and then had to wait 25 minutes for the backflush to complete, which of course completely emptied the pressure tank several times, so the water when it finished was all 40 degrees, and made the rest of the shower rather frigid.  I had hoped to shower before the water got too cold, since the pressure tank is inside and the water when I first started to shower was well into the 60s and while cold for a shower, wasn't intolerable.  D'oh.