August 21 2020 Update

August 21st Update

Garden Update So we've got tomatoes now, boy do we, Mortgage Lifter variety are huge this year.  Going to start making sauce soon. Rose picked probably the last of the Zucchini's, our winter squash are getting big.  Green beans are coming in.

Car troubles... Hyundai Tucson -  The Tucson started having issues last week, it would stall over and over.  I went to Amazon, where else?  I purchased a $22 ODBII code reader to tell me what was wrong...  Low and behold the thing worked, told me the Camshaft Position sensor was bad/misreading. I spent some computer time trying to locate the sensor for my Model/Year vehicle, and I finally found an article that located it for me, spend 30 minutes finding and removing the sensor, ordered the replacement, it'll be here on Thursday the 20th. I'll let you know how all this works out.  I have a boat in the yard I can't tow because of this so I'm anxious to see if this'll work out.  So Thursday came and Amazon showed up with the sensor, my biggest fear was realized when I dropped the 10mm bolt that holds the sensor in place at the back of the engine in a blind spot, I heard a clink as it bounced off something and it was gone.  I climbed under the front and looked on the ground, I looked down from the engine compartment to see if I could see it from there  had nearly given up and decided to look under the car from behind the front wheel, lo and behold there it was! I climbed under and was just able to reach it!  It took a couple more minutes with a mirror, flashlight to line up the sensor hole with the engine block and it was in!

The Spider in the Mist Rosie called me to the back door the other day early in the morning

The spider web hangs 10' or so in the air suspended across a 30' or so space between the Martin house and the Apple tree.

Kitchen Sink Strainer rusted out, Rose found water under the sink, when I put a pipe wrench on the nut holding the strainer the whole strainer basket pretty much fell apart, that made for an easy removal.  Off to Ace to pick up the parts I needed, this was a "two tripper" (a job that takes two trips to the hardware store because either you forgot something or the parts you bought were not quite the right ones in the first place). This was the latter, the strainer I bought was too long to fit in the allotted space. I saw a shorter unit at the store but thought I'd best purchase the exact replacement.  WRONG...lol.  Back to Ace, got the shorter unit installed without too much trouble. Only had to re-tighten one of the couplings shortly thereafter as it was dripping. Fingers crossed...

Strainer to Plastic flex, to Chromed, to Galvanized steel, so it goes in an old house....

 

The pond is way down probably down 5' in height from full, there's probably 8 to 10 feet of bank showing that would normally be under water.  We're on a dug well, a rock lined cylinder (9' in diameter x 19' deep) the water level goes up and down as the water table does. We need to watch the water level closely, the pond water level is the same as my well. We've never run dry in 30 years so we're hoping... especially with the watering of the garden daily.

It was Dragonfly Day was Aug 13th this year, tens of thousands of them were swarming throughout the yard and fields, there's a very small white fly that is coming up out of the grass they seem to love.  The Bard swallows also seemed to love the feast there were a couple dozen catching invisible bugs in the sky, they'd fly front to back yard then back over the field again.  Fun to watch!

Obligatory Deer Pics

Lot's of bad stuff going on right now COVID-19 is still here, the spectacle of what they are calling politics too.  Stay safe out there!

The End of July

The End of July

I hope you're all staying healthy, This Covid-19 thing... we're still staying in for the most part except for the occasional foray to Home depot, food shopping, and occasional take out pickup.   Restaurants are opening here, little league has started there were 3 fields in use when we drove through Goffstown during the week. 

I think we're still having problems with this new Blogger that Google came out with nobody is getting notified of the new Blog posts. ;-(

It's been too hot to do a lot around here, Rose is working on the camper.  I would like to get the boat out on the water, but I'm not looking to go out there in 90+ degree heat though. 

Probably going to the shooting range this weekend, I have some work to do on a Ruger 10/22 rifle and Rose would like to shoot her pistol some more.  Ammunition is in short supply I'm hearing.

The flower gardens are enjoying the heat, I'm still waiting for the first tomato of the year from the Victory garden, we've got to tie up the Tomatoes, a couple of them fell over they have outgrown their four foot cages and the weight did the rest. Rose saw a cherry tomato starting to go red, soon, soon...  Tomato Sandwiches, Yum!

The 5 pointer

The Doe and her Fawns

Stay Safe!

The Rush is Real

The Spring Rush is Real

So much to do, so little time to do it all...



We did get the Cabana up a couple a weeks early for Mothers day, we normally wait 'till a couple weeks after as we've had some wicked winds go through about that time that have taken down cabana's in the past. As it was we had to fold over the cushions and put bricks on them to prevent fly-away cushions and pillows.


Victory Garden 2020
Clearing the unused garden plot was quite the chore Rose did a great job and tore though the vines, roots, etc., We had to use the car to pull some of the rogue plum trees out of the ground. Chainsawed several of the larger trees and some old 6' dead ornamental shrubs, 6+ trailer loads of debris and branches, etc. later we had tillable ground.

Rose's dad's 50+ year old Troybuilt rototiller, we replaced the engine 5 years ago. I filled it up with high test and It started up on the first pull. I think the best thing to happen to small engines is a fuel shutoff valve. That is until you forget to turn it on first...  Once I figured out the tiller controls, the control markings were gone long ago, it moved forward the tines turned and the tilling commenced.  The 20'x75' garden took about 2 hours to finish up.  Several years of leaves and grass clippings were raked over the beds and tilled in.  Lime, peat-moss, and fertilizer went down all tilled into the loose soil. Rose cleaned up a smaller 3'x75' foot bed for flowers along the back edge. Tiller ran great, my understanding of exactly what the various controls and plethora of adjustments is getting better as I go, go figure...  We did finally burn through adrive belt I'll have to replace before we put the tiller away for the summer.

Tilling in the leaves and grass clippings

Rose tilling with her dads 50 year old Troybuilt tiller. (Look how much fun she's having)  "I could do this all day she quipped"!

Rhubarb on the left from the homes original owner, Grassy area on the left are blueberry plants

I hoed, "is that a word" up the raised beds 3' wide and 20' long, Rose will start planting everything tomorrow, and putting in poles for the pole beans, we're only a day late this year from our yearly goal of Memorial day.  We're putting in 3 varieties of Tomatoes, Brandy-wine, Mr Stripey, and a black cherry tomato we love, pole beans, a wax bush bean, peas, potatoes, parsnips, summer and winter squash, kale and Swiss chard.

Garden Fencing went in on Sunday, we've several woodchucks this year, we used all but 3 or 4 of the pig panels we'd accumulated over the years, framed 4'x10' panels of heavy wire, and 3 gates were erected, 6' fence posts were pounded in at each panel junction.  Looks way better than I thought it would.

 

Rose planting flower seed Monday

Funny we thought we were weeks ahead with the yard work earlier this spring... We cleared a couple areas of the yard that were neglected then covid-19 came and priorities changed. During the brush clearing we managed to pull Nana's glider out of the Raspberries, we'll sandblast it, have the broken frame welded, and repaint it, hopefully be good for another 75 years.

The bees seem to be back, I'm amazed at the qty of honeybees and even numerous bumblebees that alight the flowering trees, bushes, and low growing flowers in the yard. I ducked under a Russian Olive tree branch and all I heard was the buzzing above. More bees than I' saw the entire year the last two years.

The yellow-jackets that we ran into last fall don't seem to be back this year, good riddance.

Put in some grass seed, the dogs have made a bloody mess of the yard. $40 worth of grass seed and no rain since the day I put it down.

We went for a drive to the hardware store Saturday and I swear Covid-19 was over, thousands of motorcycles, boats, campers etc. all on the roads going somewhere.
There's always hope I guess.

And the beat goes on.