What is it with me and mowers?

Friday the dumpster arrived.  Unfortunately they didn't put it where I asked them to (this is apparently my back yard...), so it is naturally in the way.  Fortunately it won't interfere too much with where I want to put the carport.


I also greased up the tractor.  it takes a more expensive moly-grease, so I bought a new cheap grease gun.  It worked fine.  The tractor has now had its first servicing.  The loader is supposed to be greased every 10 hours, and it had 9.8 on it. 


I also came across a wasp nest.  This one is interesting because I didn't think they would build on pressure treated wood, given that most pressure treating has arsenic in it. 


I also went and did some more mowing.  Apparently it is my curse to always destroy mowers.  This isn't fatal though.  I haven't touched the oil since I bought it, so I guess when the guy I bought it from serviced it, he didn't tighten the cap down.  The cap came loose and now there is a mess. 


I at least almost finished the front.  I am not going to lie, I used the self-propelled feature a lot more than I expected.  It has enough juice to push the mower up the steeper hills.


Friday evening I went and replaced the batteries in my outdoor thermometer.  Apparently it is wildly inaccurate now.  The two sensors side by side read significantly different.  Oh well.  I will eventually get another one.


Saturday I went and checked on the mineral blocks.  So far they haven't done anything.  We haven't gotten any heavy rains since they were put out though. 


I went out and finished up the overdue mowing.  The back is done.


I also did the chunk over by the well.  The first section I did needs it again already (the left side of the picture).  I had hoped to fix the tractor this weekend, but never got around to it. 


Next up was the beginning of the dumpster work.  I cleaned up the crap over my septic tank so I can keep it mowed.


I also knocked everything down.  The new mower (once I refilled the oil) is much much better at it than the yellow one. 


This morning I was determined to be more productive than yesterday, so I got an early start.  As I was getting dressed, I noticed that I apparently have a woodchuck.  Either that or he lives in the field next to me and got lost. 




I started cleaning stuff off the slab.  Because of the dumpster location, I will need the slab cleared off to get to things.  One thing I noticed when I was clearing is that for some reason all my beech trees are dying.  I have 5 or 6 or them this year that are dying for no reason that I can see.  Odd.  Hopefully Tim needs some firewood.


The first order of business was to get the car out of the way.  I mowed the path up the hill, and parked it up near the shed.  I can't get it out because of the dumpster, but at least here won't be in the way.


I noticed while I was mowing that apparently I had a tree come down. It was mostly rotted though and thankfully didn't break my ramps.


I lit the burn-barrel for the first time in quite a while actually. 


The weather report for today said 20% showers from noon to 4 and then rain.  It was 10:30, so I assumed I would have enough time to crank through a chunk of the pile.  I was wrong.  Within 5 minutes of lighting the burn barrel it started raining. Grrr.  The burn barrel didn't appear to mind too much though, so I continued working. 


Fire. 


I got a couple feet of the edge of the pile in the dumpster.


I worked until the burn barrel had burned enough that there weren't flames above the edge.  The coals will eventually burn themselves out, but I didn't see the need to stick around in the rain for it.  This afternoon I will probably work on getting some of the other big things gone, like the dozer blade for my lawn tractor I don't need anymore.