Visiting Weekend

I didn't do much during the week.  The PTO for the lawn tractor is ready to reinstall.  I finally found a bolt for it.  

 

I went out to Aunt's and Uncle's last weekend.  Uncle wanted some help getting a few things squared away with his camper.  I fixed the water heater, and also brought home some of the stuff that he no longer needs since he is selling it at the end of the season.  I got the storage compartment back (I gave it to him many years ago).  It will fit nicely on the deck I haven't built yet.  

 

I also got a ladder.  This will be handy with whichever I choose,  be it box truck or building my own trailer.  I don't have a way to get on the roof of either.

 

And lastly an air compressor.  Mine is the old Porter Cable I bought when I graduated college.  It's best days are in the rear view mirror.  Far away in the rear view mirror.  It has lived outside for far too long, the gauges in it are all broken, and so on.  This one actually works nice.  It came with a really nice hose and inflator too.

We had a visitor while working on the camper.

Pippin was not amused with some hooman coming and taking his bed.

 

I saw something rather interesting on the drive home.  Someone turned a truck into a boot, presumably camper.   

 

It said LL Bean on the side. 

 

My woodchuck is back again.

 

One benefit of the cooler drier air since we have been as dry as out west the last few days: excellent visibility, and it has been cooler out, so yesterday I finally got out to visit the fire tower.  It was rather peaceful, I was literally the only person there.  A little surprising given how nice it was outside.

Part of the trail was washed out.  

 

The fire tower construction is completed, but the door is locked.

 

The scenery was amazing though.  Visibility was at least 30 miles, I would guess around 50.  Mount Monadnock is at least 30 miles from here though and you can see details on the mountain clearly. The rest of the scenery.  I kind of wish I had brought the big camera with me.

 

Other than that, it has been pretty quiet, which is nice.  It looks like some of the grass I planted is starting to sprout, but I am not sure it is going to win the race against the weeds.  We shall see.

I'll probably upload the fire tower pictures to Photobucket at some point later today, so check back for the link if you want to see them at full resolution, but I am already a couple days late for this post.

UPDATE - here is the link: https://photobucket.com/invite/6702059e-de71-4b1f-ba12-224c353c1a88 https://photobucket.com/share/533b4391-3ea5-4ca8-9121-4ea42dedba39https://photobucket.com/invite/6702059e-de71-4b1f-ba12-224c353c1a88https://photobucket.com/invite/6702059e-de71-4b1f-ba12-224c353c1a88https://photobucket.com/invite/6702059e-de71-4b1f-ba12-224c353c1a88https://photobucket.com/invite/6702059e-de71-4b1f-ba12-224c353c1a88https://photobucket.com/invite/6702059e-de71-4b1f-ba12-224c353c1a88

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.