Tree Planting

 

A couple of big skeeter looking bugs and a tree frog on the service door of the garage.

Frog close up. I was in and out of the garage but I used one of the big doors rather than bothering the frog. We get all kinds of wild things around here - animal, vegetable and mineral.

My trees showed up yesterday. The magnolia is a Japanese type - not sure what that means, but it should be pretty when it blooms. The outfit I ordered it from had a few other Japanese trees but the yellow one was sold out. That would make for an interesting addition to the other magnolias I've got in the yard. 

I got the magnolia and the cherry tree in the ground and cut the back yard. Sprayed some weeds and diddled around with some other yard work.

I went to the small engine place uptown the other day to get some fuel line for the trials bike but all they had was the black rubber rather than the clear. There's another place that should have it not too far from me. I'm going over that way this week, so I'll check while I'm in the neighborhood. 

Looks like it's going to be nice all weekend - yesterday was a pip. Going walking with my "tribe" today, and I've got some help lined up for a bit of heavy lifting. Feeling pretty good these days but I still don't have much stamina. It's taking me longer to get back in shape than I thought it would, but other than all the aches and pains from my self inflicted injuries, I'm not doing too bad for a guy my age and I'm real thankful for that.  

Shotgun

 

Getting back into a rhythm finally - meaning I'm once again tackling things with my normal shotgun approach.  I ordered a cherry tree and a magnolia while they were 50% off. It'll be a while before I have cherries but that's another reason to take care of myself. I also ordered some racoon & rodent repellent that should be here today. Even though I think I figured out how the racoons are getting in, I'll spray the repellent around for the mice and in the attic next spring for the 'coons.

I pulled the cover off the trials bike to get it back into the rotation. I did a bit on the wiring and installed a filter on the crankcase breather opening. I need to get some fuel line and a small inline filter, finish welding the mounting tabs on the gas tank and then have my buddy come by and see about getting this thing running.

And moving to another project as is my way, I need to figure out what I want to do about the muffler on the Jitney project. I bought an auger type insert for the tail pipe, but I want to dress up the end of the pipe. I'm thinking a fishtail might be cool, but since the tailpipe is 3" diameter the fish tail might be a little overbearing. I've been thinking about another design as well - I'll have to draw up a decent sketch and see how I like it.

Cuzzin Ricky and I are doing the annual Dead Relative's Tour today - planting flowers on the graves of all of our relatives and a few others up north. 

Sugar Magnolias

 

Magnolia blossoms that flower a bit later than the others. When looking at the photos both of the blossoms appear to be about the same size. However, the one in the top photo is actually about twice the size of the lower one. The lower one is much more fragrant, though.

While doing my yard work the last few days, I decided I need a pollinator for the cherry tree. The tree is one I planted from seed from cherries I bought while on my bicycle trip pedaling through Washington State. The Magnolias and a few other things I had purchased from Oikos, so I went online to see what was available from them as well as a couple of replacement persimmon trees . It seems they no longer sell trees though, only seeds. Looks like I'll have to look elsewhere. 

The garden is all in and the flowers are planted, so I'll just have to stay up with the watering and weed control. It rained really hard this morning, with more forecast for tomorrow, so I won't have to worry about watering for a couple of days, but it'll definitely make the weeds grow.

It looks like it's going to be a bad year for bug bites. I've already been bit several times by mosquitoes and chiggers, and I've pulled a couple of ticks off as well. Last year there was hardly a mosquito to be found. I hate spraying myself with bug spray. I don't like the idea of anointing myself with chemicals on a daily basis - just doesn't seem all that healthy. I have a screen door for the shop I made a few years back, time to get it out of the big barn and installed again.

I think I finally found how the racoons are getting in the shop, which is a good thing because they've done quite a bit of damage to the ceiling. I ordered some repellent that is supposed to work on 'coons as well as mice, so I'll spray up topside as well as down below. It has a peppermint smell that should be much more pleasant than the stuff the racoons have been blessing me with.

I've still have more outdoor stuff that needs work, but I'll be back inside working on projects as well. I've been back on the bicycle a bit and have started the fitness plan. Long way to go on getting back into shape where I want to be, but as my old pal Joey used to say, steady by jerks. 

 

The American Dream

 

The American Dream is a pretty hard sell these days. Going along with that is the following video from the Patriot Nurse:

I watch her posts occasionally and she always has something to say that's worth listening to. This one's about 16 minutes long but she puts some things in perspective that might be helpful.

The farmer showed up on Thursday and ran the disc over the front fields. That's a shot looking west from the mailbox. The grassy strips have gotten narrower since I moved in years ago. The previous owner wanted a wide green space on both sides of the lane. She also didn't want corn on both sides at the same time because it gave her the "willies" or something when it got up high. She and the farmer did shares on the rent, meaning the farmer would have to harvest the soybeans and take it to the elevator, then swap out the bean head for the corn head on the combine and do it again. We agreed to a cash rent and the same crop on both sides of the lane every year doesn't bother me at all. Made his life a lot easier and as long as I don't have to mow it, my life too.

Looking east from the deck yesterday morning. I didn't talk to the farmer, but I'm thinking it's about time for soybeans this year. From what I've been seeing, fertilizer is hard to come by this spring. It would make sense to plant beans, since they're a legume and legumes add nitrogen back into the soil the corn removes.

I planted the garden yesterday and some flowers, along with mowing the back yard. I've still got a little more flower planting to do but it's supposed to rain the next few days. Since those are from seed, I'll try and get them in as soon as I can so the rain will get them to sprout. I've got quite a few tomato plants planted. I might have to get the Missus to give me a few lessons on canning. Food preservation is going to be important in the future, I'm thinking, and going hungry is definitely not part of the American Dream.

Sportster Adventure

 

I got an email from Low Brow Customs about the Sportster off-road adventure ride coming up in June. If you click on the link you'll get the details and see photos from a past run. It looks like a lot of fun but I think my time for that sort of thing has come and gone. However, it'd be a lot of fun building an "Adventure Sportster". There's plenty of old Sportsters on Marketplace - buy one cheap, go through it and then go play in the dirt. I've done a few self-contained long distance bicycle rides, so I know how to pack light and what equipment to bring. Things like changing tires is a lot tougher with a motorcycle than a bicycle, and wrestling a 500 pound bike is a whole bunch harder than with a 25 pounder, especially for an old dude.

Surly needed a replacement pulley for a sander and couldn't find one that was going to be here in a timely fashion, but since he's a machinist, he made his own. Like a lot of things these days, you'd play hell trying to find someone to machine one, and if they had the capability, it would be cost prohibitive. Planned obsolescence might not have been the intention when designing or spec'ing out the original pulley, but there's a whole bunch of stuff out there you just have to toss out if it breaks. And if you're going to throw it out, no need for people with the skills and the equipment to repair it. However, I came across a place than can restore your project, whether that's machine work or making new replacement parts. I'm sure it's not the place I would go to for the old junk I work on, but if you had a high dollar project, they might be just the ticket. 

Hitch in My Get Along

 

I hooked up the pull behind sprayer yesterday to kill some weeds. Things were going quite well until I went to park the mower and sprayer in the barn. I looked back when driving through the door and there was no sprayer behind me. The hitch broke about 50 yards from the barn and that was that. It broke once before when I jackknifed the sprayer when backing up. I didn't do that yesterday, but it broke in the same spot again.

I welded the broken piece back in and then welded a piece of 1/4" steel to reinforce it. I can make the hitch strong enough it'll never break again but I don't want to make it so stout it'll twist the tongue. Hopefully, this will do the trick. 

The forecast called for chilly temps last night so I held off planting anything in the garden. I think I should be safe now to get the veggies and flowers outside. I've been reading a lot about the havoc the Iranian situation is liable to cause this year. In addition to the oil shortage, fertilizer is also going to be in short supply. And even if the ships started sailing through the pinch point today, it'll take quite a while for things to get back to normal - if they ever do. Good time to get your preps in order. No telling how this is all going to shake out.

Let There Be Light.

 

Not the best photo but the bright sunlight outside the window made getting a decent exposure difficult. The phone might have a way to adjust the exposure but I'm more of a point and shoot guy with a cell phone. I did turn on the flash which filled in the shadows a bit, but it would never make National Geographic. Regardless, the point of the photo is the fact I painted the windows on the north end of the shop and washed them. They would look better with a second coat, but this was the first time they've been repainted since I installed them years ago. Definitely brightened up the place.

In the top left of the photo you can see a hole in the ceiling. I cut the insulating board yesterday to replace a 4' square that has suffered some racoon damage. I'm planning on making a scuttle where the existing hole is so I can set traps for both coons and squirrels. Unfortunately, that's going to require a road trip since the lumber yard in town closed down.

The corollary to that of course is if all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. 

The school where I started my teaching career is having a 50-year class reunion around my birthday - meet and greet the first day, reunion the second, and on the third day a picnic at the city park that is only a few blocks from where the high school was. I might go to the picnic just for the heck of it. It was a good job during some interesting times. If you've ever watched the movie Cooley High that'll give you a pretty good idea of what my school was like. Very fortunate to have worked there for my first four years.