Most of the week wasn't notably productive. The utility trailer is gone. I did get a few notable things though. My new ottoman came in. It is the size I was looking for, but it is a (lot) bit shorter than I expected. Apparently I didn't check that before I bought it. Oops.
Friday I went out shopping I got to catch part of the sunset as I was leaving Hannaford and filling up the truck.
I did get some information though: putting in more windows would not be a problem, nor would extra doors or anything like that. The "garage" windows are actually multi-pane insulated singly hung vinyl windows, and I could pay to upgrade them to double hung if I really cared (which I don't). Their garage guy didn't really sound like he knew what he was talking about, but I should at least be able to get prices and stuff from him, he is supposed to call me back this week with how much it costs to get it set up.
After that I went and smoothed the tire tracks in the driveway. This is the first part of the driveway work for the year. I will have to remove a bunch of material though. In the places where the ruts are the worst I put down several inches of gravel (which makes it feel like driving on marbles since this isn't crushed stone) with anticipation that most of it would get pressed into the mud this spring, at which point the resultant raised sides and center I could just rake into the tire ruts. That never happened though, since apparently my driveway is finally at the point where it isn't soup in the spring. As a result I still have upwards of 4-6" drop offs at the edges. Now that the tire tracks are smooth, I can just go around with a shovel and remove the extra material.
My wild raspberries are coming in.
While I was working on the driveway, I started to formulate a plan for what I am going to do down here. This area has been basically unmaintained since I bought the place; even the push mower can't get through most of it.
While I was taking a break after all the raking, some turkeys decided to come through. I happily watched them go through. Turkeys eat ticks, so I just let them be. Perhaps coincidentally I didn't see any ticks this weekend. This year at least (they have been a lot worse than normal this year) I typically pick a few up over the weekend.
After they passed through, it was mowing time. I hadn't mowed in a couple of weeks. This time of year I am thankful that clover tends to take over the yard, choking out the grass. It doesn't grow tall and still looks nice, so even though it has been two weeks I was still able to mow at full speed. A good thing too, since I was out of gas. Last time I was at Sunoco they were out of the ethanol-free gas. I mowed it a bit differently this time, basically merging a couple of the sections I used to mow separately. It worked out good; I had the place mowed in under two hours. I also know that I can mow it with just under a half tank of fuel, though there was literally nothing left when I pulled it back into the carport.
The back yard is a lot easier to mow. It still needs work and more dirt, but I was able to mow it as a loop for the first time in years.
The floormat on the mower came off. I put down as many of the plastic clips as I could find, but there are still a couple missing now. Not sure I am going to care.
The only other thing I did on Saturday was my typical round of weed killer.
Sunday I decided it was time to hang up the other set of shelves in the carport. The carport has been getting full of stuff (most of which was removed from my truck). I originally hung it over here, but didn't like it. It was in the way of the snow blower, and would likely be in the way of the push mower come winter.
I ended up moving it to the other side. I don't like it here either, but it at least isn't in the way of getting equipment in and out over here unless I am driving the tractor in with the bucket fully raised.
A lot of the stuff is now on the shelving. It is nice to be able to walk around in the carport without tripping over stuff.
I also went out and decided to start on the front corner. I originally thought this was the conduit, but it just turned out to be trash (part of a frisbee) that finally bubbled up to the surface.
Then it was time to take the tractor out and rip out the crap down in the front corner. I originally put three screws in the conduit and then took my tow strap and pulled with the tractor. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous, I half expected the tow strap to break and come whipping back, but it held.
It for the most part worked, though unfortunately one of the screws got ripped out at one point, which almost assuredly means that they will find a tire eventually. Even though I used construction screws, they got bent too.
But the big conduit with the power lines is now out. At this point the tractor was due for some greasing so I did that as well.
I tried to get the other two down there as well, but they were smaller conduit and weren't strong enough to be pulled by the tractor, they just broke. I will probably just dig these down a bit and cut them off. They don't have any visible wires left in them, and there are no more power wires over by the meter, so I think these are empty.
One of them did snap back when the conduit broke. Thankfully the bucket took the brunt of the blow. The yard got a bit more torn up than I was hoping while I was doing it.
Yanking the conduit out revealed a couple of large rocks. They have been remanded to my pile of rocks.
I took a few buckets of dirt over and smoothed it some. This should be smooth enough to mow now, though I still need to finish it. I only got a few more feet turned back into yard; there is still another 10-15 feet that needs to be cleaned up.
The driveway is now in progress, and I got more of the yard leveling done, though neither is complete. If I get motivated, hopefully I can finish the driveway during the week. I was also thinking I might use the spare brown pressboard I have for the shed doors, so I don't have to buy siding for them. It won't hold up to water that well, but it allows me to kick the can down the road for a few years. They are at least painted, which is more than I can say for the current underlay that is on them.
Summer projects:
Prep truck for trade in- Determine house plans (modular vs mobile vs stick)
- Get my power service upgraded
- Shed floor
- Shed doors
- Concrete shed supports
- Anti-mouse the shed (seal it, maybe spray with pepper spray or something)
- Eliminate pile of crap in the back yard.
- Level the yard.
- Investigate retaining wall construction.
- Install windows in the shed.
Fix/sell the utility trailer.- Driveway round 5
- Get building permit
- Determine the future method of travel. Build prototype?
- Come up with garage plans
- Clear walking trails on lot.
- Build a bridge over the creek
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