Monday, May 13, 2024

Getting ready for spring.

I went out Friday and picked up some stuff, like the oil changes for the mowers and all that.  The weekend was supposed to be chilly, wet, and drizzly, but it actually wasn't too bad.  Being chilly was kind of nice because it allowed me to wear pants so I didn't get consumed by black flies, though they weren't too bad over the weekend anyways, likely because we were in a frost watch.  

I started the weekend off by putting out dunks.  It was good to get out and walk the property again.  It is a bit late for them to take out the black flies, but hopefully it keeps the mosquito population down.


I listed the big pine logs on Craigslist.  Hopefully someone comes and takes them away.  I have no use for a bunch of pine logs, and there is enough there that I don't particularly want to burn them up in the burn barrel, it will take a week.  


It wasn't really warm enough according to the can, and is perhaps why I had some problems with it not sticking, but I installed the spray foam anyways.


The other big thing I needed to get done over the weekend was get the other sheet of plywood cut up.  That is now all done.  


I put the plywood on blocks to raise it up off the sawhorses to cut it.  Apparently I didn't raise it up enough.  Oops.


Then I turned my attention towards my equipment.  I got the new battery installed in the riding mower.  


I did the pushmower oil change first, since it is a lot easier.  I needed a ratchet torque increaser to get the blade off though to sharpen it.


It didn't particularly want to start, but it lives.  Because it is one of those automatic everything (meaning it has no throttle, no primer bulb, no choke, etc) they always start rough the first time for the year.


Sunday was not quite as nice as Saturday, but I still got some stuff done before the weather turned sour.  I started with getting the wheeler out since it was blocking the riding mower.  Surprisingly it started immediately despite having not been used since January-ish.  

I was intending to run it up and down the hill to try to empty out the carport, but with it being a FWD only right now, it struggled to go up the hill.  The first time it didn't make it since I didn't have a running start and wasn't leaning far enough forward.  


I put it in the truck, I intend to drop it off today to see if I can get the 4WD fixed and hope it isn't something like the transmission.


After that it was time to start working on the riding mower, since I could actually get to it.  It turns out that it has the same stupid plastic drain thingy that the cub did.  Only I didn't get a hose with it, so it was extra annoying.  And also really slow; it took literally over an hour to drain all the oil out.  


Part of that might be my fault though.  Apparently I didn't change the oil in it last year?


While that drained, I also got the foam cut and smoothed, and I attached the 2x6 boards on the sides.  I think I am going to stick with a 2x3 for the front.  


As I was working on the cap though, the rain came back.  


So I went and did a couple of things inside.  I got the torn fake linoleum tacked back down.  


I went to do some sanding on the boards for the armoire, and then realized that the sandpaper pack I bought doesn't fit my sanding block.  Sigh.  So I ended up doing it by hand.  I mostly just want to remove the writing that is printed on the sides of the boards.  I miss the days when they used stickers for labeling wood.


The oil in the riding mower did eventually drain though, so I got that all finished up and fired up.  It didn't want to start either, but it did.  


I didn't get the blades on lawn tractor pulled off and sharpened, but oh well.  To be honest, I don't know how to drop the deck on this machine.  All the spring stuff that I have left is to drop the snowblower off the tractor, and paint the snowblower and bucket on the tractor to try to keep the rust to a minimum.  Most of this isn't on the checklist though.  The cap is starting to get pretty close though.  It is far enough along at this point I could put it back on the truck if I absolutely had to, like if I end up moving.

 Current To-do:
  • Design deck
  • Build deck
  • Build armoire.
  • Install whole house filter.
  • Refurb cap
  • Access panel upgrades in master closet
  • Back yard drainage.
  • Insulate the water lines
  • Take scrap metal to Buffum
  • Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
  • Storm doors

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