It's nice not having a project.

The weekend was rather peaceful.  I stayed at work a little late on Tuesday and put connectors on the PTO.

 

Not only was my delivery a day late, but they left it outside in a thunderstorm and the box was drenched.  Thanks Fedex.  I do still have one more box coming because I had enough credits on my account from all the botched deliveries, but I cancelled the service.  

 

I had some turkeys listening in on my meetings at home on Friday.  

 

Friday after work I got the PTO reinstalled, but quickly found out that you can install it wrong.  D'oh.  The one that got ripped and I extended reached, but the other which simply came apart did not.  I needed to rotate it before I installed it.  

 

Grumbling I took it off, spun it and reinstalled it.  After that it reached, albeit barely.

 

I went out at lunch and put my charger on it, and tried the battery recondition setting.  I then let it charge most of the evening, I switched it back to charge when I went and replaced the PTO, and it took a few hours to charge. 

 

It actually started without the charger start mode on it, so there is hope to resurrect the battery.  It started and ran great, turned on the PTO , and it ran fine for a couple of seconds, then bad things happened.

Saturday was nice and peaceful.  It is really quite nice not having a big project controlling the weekend.  I got the mower jacked back up and removed the PTO on it.  It was obnoxious.  The PTO started to fall off.  There is some bent stuff underneath.

 

It also ripped more of the wires off the PTO.  That bolt doesn't look good either.

I didn't feel like going into town during the middle of a Saturday, so I went to Otter Brook instead.  It was quite pleasant.  The water level was pretty low though.  The whole Keene area is technically in a drought, though you wouldn't know it looking at my yard. June rained at least 3 days every week.  It hasn't rained much since though.  The water in the creek was almost not flowing.

 

They must have the dam open though, the lake is only a little low.

 

Once the traffic died down I went into town and repaired the PTO wiring again.

 

Sunday morning I went to Ace.  Turns out that they didn't have a bolt long enough, but I at least know exactly what it is now.  Jacks, the only other hardware store in the area, isn't open on Sunday.  The rest of Sunday was mostly going to Brian's baby shower though.  The storms came in shortly after I got home.  

 

This morning was really nice.  Before work I went and pulled rocks out of the back yard.   I took two 5 gallon buckets of rocks out.  

 

Turns out the back yard was already starting to fill in.  So much for the drought, my yard is still growing quickly.

 

I picked up the cheapest bag of grass seed I could find over the weekend, and got it put out.  I only seeded up to the door, since beyond that will be either deck or slab.  Currently I am still leaning deck.

 

It was already really nice today, so I opened up for the first time in a while.  It isn't even humid out.  

 

I took the window unit AC out of the spare bedroom.  I went to put the screen back in and apparently we bent it when we were working on the trench.  Oops.

 

I bent it back and got it put back in anyways though.  

 

It was really nice to not have a project dominating the weekend.  I am pretty sure I won't get the deck or slab put in this year, though I plan to at least get some of the foundation work done, just in case it requires getting more gravel or something.  I can't get deliveries until May because of weight limits, but can often start work on projects in April, sometimes March. 

Rocks. Lots of them.

I got the rocks I needed for the drainage delivered.  Gravel has gotten expensive; crushed stone is now over 25 dollars a ton.  When I built my driveway a couple years ago, it was less than 10.  

 

I also picked up the stuff for the drainage.  Without thinking I took the CR-V since it is my daily driver.  The pipe fit, barely.

 

Some interesting views while I was out picking up the pipe. 

 

I have finally given up on Factor.  I have gotten 6 boxes now, and all 6 have been screwed up.

1. The first Fedex did not honor the “this side up” and put mine on its side, causing things to roll around and sections in the tray to mingle that weren’t supposed to.  This is because they don’t seal the compartments in the trays they use, only the outside.
2. The first shipment had one torn ice pack, the second they all exploded.  Everything inside the box was completely covered in the gel goo.  I had to wash each tray before putting it in the fridge.
3. The third shipment Fedex simply forgot to put it on a truck and thus it arrived a day late and since both days were 90+, most of the food was not salvageable.
4. The fourth shipment also arrived a day late.  Thankfully this one wasn’t spoiled.
5. The fifth shipment arrived on time.  And every meal that had broccoli in it, the broccoli was brown and tasted really bad.
6. The sixth shipment was also a day late.  This time according to the tracking, Fedex never got the package until Wednesday.

I briefly looked at alternatives, and I think I might try Clean Eatz.  They freeze everything and don't depend on overnight shipping.  Their website isn't as friendly or polished as Factors, but they are also a lot cheaper (Factor is one of the most expensive ones).  They don't have a lot of the specialty stuff Factor had (no keto menu for example), but they also aren't a subscription which is nice, you buy them as you need them, as opposed to Factor where I have a bunch in the freezer because I am on the 8 meal plan but only need 7, or maybe 5 if I go away for a weekend.  I was intending on using the surplus meals when I traveled, but with Clean Eatz, I just buy a bulk box before I leave and I am good to go.  

That said, my little freezer is full of meals, so I don't need to make a decision right away.  

 

Dad came up for a few days to pick up the excavator and spend a few days up north.  I gave him a toy to play with.  

 

I finally had enough of everything to finish laying the pipe. 

 

With dad on the the tractor now able to help though, filling in the trench was a cake walk though, no 5 gallons at a time, it was a loader bucket at a time, and I could spread while he was fetching the next one.  The drainage came together quickly.  I still need to decide how to deal with the downspout, but that is a problem for future Allen.

 

The catch pan thing I bought was a failure.  That far up, the trench was not deep enough for it.

 

The weed whacker Dad brought up was having some minor carb issues, so I also tried my new el cheapo.  It worked better than expected on the knotweed.  It seems ridiculous to put a circular saw blade on a cheapo weed whacker, but it worked good.

 

Dad didn't like how dirty my windows were, so he decided to wash them.  This was only the second time they have been washed, so they really did need it.  The first time was when I peeled the factory stickers off.

 

We also tried the cheese I smoked.  It was ready.  The mozzarella needed a little more time, but had lots of potential.  The Monterey Jack was my favorite.  The cheddar surprisingly was third, but I think it would have been better with Hickory instead of Applewood.  The pepperoni was a nice tease, it smelled smoky, and the skin had a nice smoky flavor, but none of the meat inside got any smoke, presumably because of the skin.  Next time I will have to put slits in it or something.   

 

Early Saturday my water filter was set to backflush, which was a good test for the drainage.  For those with good memories, one of the main drivers for me to do add it to the laundry drain was because of how badly it flooded the back yard.  It wasn't nearly as wet this time (technically we are in a drought, though my lot is not brown, only the sandy areas in Keene), but outside of some splashing on the pipe, the drain performed admirably.  

 

It took a while for the water to reach the far end of the pipe, so the perf pipe is perf'ing (no, that isn't a word).  

 

Dad also brought up his big saw and went to cut the large chunks of pine in the front up into discs so I can more easily use it for fill.  

 

Strangely, each morning the saw started fine and ran good, but the first time he shut it off for sharpening or fuel or whatever, it wouldn't restart.

 

Dad brought up a lawn tractor for me to play with.  My Troy Bilt is on its last legs and runs like poo, and Jay had a spare one he wanted out of his garage.  It is an antique Craftsman GT (from before they used numbers).  With its large 50" deck and beefiness, it mowed the front in under an hour.  At least until I hit a log and broke a wire for the PTO.  Saturday we jacked it up and pulled off the PTO, and noticed that the wires were no longer attached.  Oops, my bad.  At least it is an easy fix.  

 

Saturday was a bit slower, after running harder the prior couple of days working on the drainage and other stuff.  We loaded up the excavator.  It is off for its next adventure in KY.  I don't have any more projects this year that require it.  

 

Dad took off for KY on Sunday.  I didn't do much after he left.  I took my bike out on the rail trail for the first time in a loooong time.  Then I napped.  The only real progress I did was doing the final grading on the back yard.  I did do a little more planning on my fall trip too.

 

I am working remote today, so when I get into the office tomorrow, I will see if I can find a connector for the PTO for the tractor.  Worst case, I will just put spade connectors on it.  Today is shopping day though, so it won't be until tomorrow that I get to work on that.  I want to put that mower to work.  I am going to try to mow the knotweed with it so I don't have to use a weed whacker for it.  Plus there is the far back yard, which has not yet been mowed this year that it should have fun with.  It mows nicer and faster than my Troy Bilt, so I am not expecting any issues.

 

Next up I need to figure out what project is next for the year, though my project time is dwindling.  I am headed to a baby shower this coming weekend, and out to Aunts and Uncles probably the weekend after to help Uncle get his trailer moved out and get the area cleaned up.  Plus my big trip this fall, and I wanted to take the CR-V out before that.  

Finally some good drainage progress

I felt terrible on Friday, and left work early, but mostly just napped.  I slept most of Saturday too, but at least I didn't need Nyquil all day.  All that happened those two days was that my new weed whacker arrived.  It is a cheap POS battery operated one.  I don't expect it to live long, but I was curious how well they worked.  When I pulled it from the box, it felt even cheaper than I had expected.

 

Sunday I finally dragged myself out and put it to work.  I whacked everything in the ditch.

 

The blade looks a little worse for the wear, but it is thin and cheap.  I have to admit, it worked better than I expected. I doubt it lives long given how cheap it feels, but at least until then it seems to work fine.

 

I ended up making a Tractor Supply run for more glyphosate and landscape fabric, since I couldn't find mine.  There was still green in the ditch, albeit very little.  I don't understand how this stuff works for people at the rated strength.  I mix it at 3:1 water:chemical ratio (1/2 gallon chemical, gallon and a half or so of water), when it is supposed to be mixed at 8.5:1, and it still doesn't kill everything.  I understand the knotweed is hard to kill, but this ditch was just run of the mill weeds.  It has doubled in price in the last couple of years too.  Ugh.  

 

When I got back, I pulled out all the ditch stuff.  Annoyingly the sock somehow got wet despite being inside a sealed plastic bag.  This made the cardboard tube it was one useless. I sprayed the ditch down with glyphosate while I waited for it to at least try to dry out.

 

I got the fabric down and got a little bit of gravel in the bottom for the pipe to sit on and hold the fabric in place.

 

The sock didn't dry out, so I had to manually put it on the tube.  It isn't hard to do it this way, but it is a lot slower.  I also knocked a bunch of leaves and stuff out of pipe.

 

After that it is just laying pipe, pull the sock over it, and put gravel down around it and bury it.  

 

I quickly realized that I didn't have nearly enough pipe and stuff.  I bought 100ft of everything, and the house is only 44' long, and you can't fit another house next to mine up there.  I really thought it would be enough.  I don't think I actually got 100ft of pipe though, I think the roll I grabbed was only 75'.

 

I also realized that I never dug the other downspout for the creek side.  Oh well.  Too late now.  I was thinking I might make the back like a raised bed or something anyways since I was planning on leaving most of this drainage as pure gravel all the way to the surface.  This just makes that more important assuming I ever actually put up gutters.  Currently my plans aren't more specific than something over the windows so that rain doesn't come in every time it even as much as dribbles. 

 

I got the pipe laid until I ran out.  I have gravel on it periodically, but I don't currently have enough gravel to finish the job, I will need probably another dump truck worth.  

 

I put a concrete block in it to hold the pipe in place.  I go shopping tonight and will pick up the rest of what I need.  

 

Because I can't get the tractor across yet, I have been moving all the gravel by hand, a 5 gallon bucket at a time.  I will say I have become a major wimp, after about 10-15 buckets, which was a little over a quarter of the pile, I was spent.  This pile is about 2/3 of a dump truck, the last third was used on the driveway last year.  

 

After that I was tired, so I went and ran the sprayer out of juice in the driveway and called it a night. There wasn't a ton left in it after spraying the whole ditch.

 

I am hoping to get another truck of gravel delivered today.  that way I can use the tractor to do the gravel work.  That is what I bought the tractor for to be blunt.