Productive Weekend, big post.

I had a fairly productive weekend despite all the other things going on.  I started with getting the Cub Cadet ready to mow.  My grass is growing at this point, though it will be a couple weeks before I need to mow.  After bumbling around with the spring for a while since I couldn't find where to hook it, I finally took a picture underneath the pulley guard to see if the post was under there, and found a surprise.  

Turns out I didn't lose the spring, I just couldn't see it.  So I got it hooked back up.  Doh!

I also attached the discharge chute.  

I noticed that the alignment I did is already toast.  I might not care until the fall.  

When I went to fill up the tires (I will probably get a tube put in the right rear tire) apparently my air chuck somehow doesn't work right anymore (fortunately I have two). But it gives me a reason to buy a really nice one.  

I took the tractor out and mowed a round with it.  It mowed good.  

Next up was the Craftsman.  I noticed when I was doing its oil change that the oil looked like it was straight out of the bottle.  You could still see through it.  I know it didn't get a lot of hours last year, and apparently the oil was fine; last year I used a synthetic oil since it was all I could find, so it shouldn't have been breaking down.  Oh well.  Changing it won't hurt it.  The air cleaner was dirty, but it was mouse dirty not old/use dirty, so I didn't bother doing anything about it.  The mice moved in when it was sitting last year.

I got the deck put back on.  Despite the 6 clips, this one goes on a whole lot easier, even considering it was more obnoxious than usual since I might have (aka did) bent the front frame where the arms attach so they were misaligned.  I also got the battery yanked so I could pick up a new one.  

I tried to spray everything with WD-40, but their new cans apparently leak.  This can was still ~3/4 full and wouldn't spray.  Grrrr.

All my summer equipment is now good to go, or so I thought.  

A couple of observations I noticed on Saturday: the new garbage can I snagged on my last trip is really light and doesn't stay put.  I will probably have to put a brick in it.

I have a bunch of (or just one noobish) birds trying to nest in my carport.  Normally I wouldn't particularly care if they nest there. 

But if they keep this up we will have problems.  There was noticeable amounts of bird crap in the rafter supports, and I saw some on the generator as well.  They will be eliminated if necessary.

While I don't think it would convince them to move out (just convince more birds to move in), I have enough wood in my burn barrel to make several bird houses.  Maybe I will try that and see if it helps.  

I noticed the bird crap when I was rearranging the carport.  I can get to everything in there again, but it isn't easy to move around in.  The mowers are all accessible again, though it would be a chore to pull out the push mower.  

I used some of that spare board to cover the chop saw, it is in a spot where it can get wet now, at least until I finish the repairs on the carport.

I also did a couple of other odds and ends.  I put in another hook in the carport for the tractor chains, and I sprayed them down again since they were dry.  They had been temporarily living in the tractor bucket, but I will begin using the tractor soon.  I took it out with intent to see if it would push the stump for the maple over, but the yard was still soft enough that I didn't try.

I also went and took a look at my mirror.  Someone in a black pickup hit my mirror going around a blind corner in the very middle of the road last week (and didn't stop after doing so).  Everything worked as it was supposed to, the mirror folded in.  I stopped and made sure that the mirror wasn't damaged, folded it back out, and decided it was not worth pursuing since I wouldn't have put in a claim anyways.  

I noticed several days later though it started whistling at highway speeds though.  There is a tiny piece of broken plastic on it (which I didn't see when it happened), so I put some gorilla tape on it.  We shall see if that fixes the whistle.

I also finished painting the coupler.  The green is a bit brighter than I expected, but it still looks snazzy.  

The only other thing I did Saturday was go off on a parts hunt.  

So that was all Saturday.  Sunday got off to a slower start with some cooking.  The garlic cheese roll came out really good.  The breakfast pizza tasted really good, but looks like a mess.  My stuffed crust leaked everywhere.

After that it was back to work.  I started by installing the coupler.  The spring that Reese included was a lot larger than I normally see, and was obnoxious to install.  I ended up just ziptie-ing the spring compressed so I could get the rest of the pieces in, and just cutting off the zip-ties afterwards.  

It seemed to work really well.  The coupler repair kit is installed.  I realized after I installed it though that I have no way to make sure it is properly adjusted; I don't have a 1 7/8 ball.

I also installed the new battery in the Craftsman.  

It fired right up, but it looks like I need to replace a spindle (shocker, I know).  This time though it isn't because the housing broke, it is because the bearing is whacked.  The spindles are non-greasable, and while one of them felt a little stiff when I put the blades back on, that is pretty common.  The first time you use it normally they break loose.  This time it didn't.  So I ordered a new pair of spindles.  Ugh.  

It wasn't supposed to rain on Sunday, so against my better judgement (and the radar and the clouds), I went ahead and started working on the smaller trailer.  

I got a large part of it primed before I felt sky dribbles.

Since the primer was still wet, I ended up shoving the trailer in the carport.  I accidentally dropped it on the Craftsman.  It'll get over it.  So much for being able to move around the carport.  That only lasted about 16 hours.

In between the off and on showers, I did get a couple of other things done.  I was intending to put up a shelf in the carport down by the sawhorses.  I might have made an oops though.  I have a couple of the larger shelf boards still in the shed though.  I will use the smaller ones doubled when I put more shelving in the shed.

I got my bug zapper set up.  The black flies are just starting to come out, but I have already had to kill several moths, so it was time to get my Christmas toys all hooked up.  This stand looks like it has at most one year left in it before it kicks the bucket (it lives outside and isn't PT), but I will worry about that next spring.  

Since my last bug zapper died a horrible death by getting blown around, I finally put that other drum to use.  I was hoping it would sit nicely on the base, but it is about a half inch too small for that.  Oh well.  This time the stand won't go anywhere.

I also found out that the ticks are apparently out already, which is annoying.  As usual, they seem to love my slab even though ticks are supposed to be in the grass.  

After that the rain convinced me to call it quits for the weekend.  I was working on the camper electrical design when I had a scare with my Drobo (my file server).  Its power supply died.  Fortunately I had a spare set of cables for when I take it places.  None of the drives got damaged.  Most of the media I could re-acquire, but there is a lot of other stuff on there that could not be recovered.  If the Drobo itself fails, I am not sure if I could just buy another Drobo put the disks in and recover the data.  Something worth looking into.

I also "finished" the electrical design, and then promptly changed the components I intend to use.  I don't think it is worth the 50 bucks to cob job the supplemental power, which is all I would save over a monster battery charger.  I have read that faking out a solar panel with a DC power supply can work, but it isn't the right tool for the job and only saves me about 50 bucks on a $2,700 project.  I will be building this obnoxiously heavy (like the generator cart) because the batteries are 127lbs apiece (initially I will have three of them).  

Unfortunately because of the spindle, the equipment task can't be checked off, but it is otherwise complete.  The smaller trailer is moving along quite well.

2021 Projects:

• Prepare summer equipment
• Carport repair
• Windows in shed
• Shed supports
• Table
• South wall siding
• Bridge over creek
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Trailer hub
• Rebuild smaller trailer
• Level back yard
• Level side yard
• Level front yard
• Clear trees to creek
• Remove dead/dying beech trees
• Retaining walls?
• Eliminate pile of crap in back
• Camper Electrical extension (portable AC power source and generator)
• Clean up/level area down by second parking spot
• Driveway round three
• Fix shed door.