I have a couple weeks of updates to post, since I like to leave my vacation picture posts at the top of my blog for a while. So this post will be a longer one.
Dad came up shortly after I got back from vacation to pick up the excavator. Since I hadn't run it all year, I assumed the battery was dead, and got the charger on it. I had forgotten how much of a pain it is to get to the battery in the excavator.
I was a bit surprised when I got back that my lot hadn't lost all its leaves yet. It was at the tail end of peak still actually. It was changing when I left, and my trip was over three weeks.
Keene however was still in peak.
While dad was there, we sample some of the goodies I brought back. Turns out muenster makes a surprisingly good taco cheese. Typically it is monterey jack and cheddar blend, sometimes with asadero or other mexican cheeses (like queso quesadilla) mixed in. We also tried some bubble gum fudge, which sure enough tasted like bubble gum.
Dad left late in the week, and the first weekend I went and visited with Tim, who was up visiting. Sunday I managed to get some work done though. Sunday was get the snowblower on the tractor day. I remembered most of the gotchas (it has been two years since it was installed), like I remembered to installed the PTO shaft first because it won't compress enough once the unit is fully attached and stuff like that. It still took a while though. Turns out my pallet storage was not really strong enough, and the snowblower kept crushing the pallets and made the second side really hard to get on. I eventually got it though. I got the chute all oiled up, though I still need to replace the grease fitting and fix my grease gun.
For now the grading blade is over here. Hopefully I will find other space for it before winter though. Worst case, I don't need to clear right here.
Since I got home, I have had a lot of visitors. I don't normally see them in the front though.
This past weekend was more winter prep. This time it was the final mow to mulch the leaves which have nearly all fallen so I could get the carport reorganized and ready for winter. I went to a friendsgiving on Saturday, and slept in really late on Sunday, but still dragged myself out for it on Sunday. It took a lot longer than usual to mow because I was closer to haying it; my yard hasn't been mowed since August, maybe July in parts. But I got the front done.
The back too. I did a better job in the back of blowing the leaves out of the yard in the back. The far back I didn't care as much about the leaves, but it is mowed too; I just didn't grab a picture of it.
I also went and mowed down to the creek. This hasn't been done since May and it showed.
I didn't do the chunk by the house. There is too much stuff here; I need to clean it out, and if I do any of the landscaping (ha) this fall, I will just use the weed whacker to clean it up before I dig it up with the tractor. Looks like I might need to pressure wash the siding next year too.
It was getting dark, but I still got a few other things done. The push mower is all run out of gas and ready for storage.
I noticed when I was backing up the tractor that it looks like one of my back tires might be getting a little bit low. It was starting to wrinkle a little when I lifted the snowblower. Unfortunately it is a filled tire, so I can't just put air in it.
I got my snowshoes pulled out. I might just snowblow a path around the house this year, but if not, I will need these to clear ice dams and whatnot.
My bike is hung up and put away.
I ran the lawn tractor out of gas too.
I noticed when I left it that apparently I lost a headlight tonight though. Oh well.
I am a dummy though and forgot to go out and turn off the ignition after it died. I remembered about it this morning and went and put the battery charger on it, and it didn't even detect that the battery was connected. Looks like I will be replacing that one next year.
While I was cleaning up in the carport, I found these. I forgot I had bought these. I brought them inside. We have had a few frosts, but hopefully they are still good. I had meant to repaint the bucket on the tractor this year, but never got around to it.
I tired to push the craftsman further back, but it seemed stuck. I checked and it was in neutral and the parking brake wasn't on, so I will have to investigate that, or just give it a nudge with the big tractor.
I still need to fit the Kubota, walk behind snowblower, and pushmower in here somehow.
I also finally got my power bill for while I was gone. 69 dollars for the month that I was on vacation. Somehow though I managed to use 190kWh for the month. I was there for less than a week. The only things that should have been running were my fridge, water heater, and heat tapes. Perhaps I should look into getting a tankless water heater.
