What did you do today?

[Stormin 9,981]

Went over the Border to my mate Dunc's in Scotland this morning. Got some more work done on his ex-military 101 Land Rover.

Tree surgeon arrived at lunch time with three trainees. They did some liming on three of the ash trees that have ash dieback. 

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

8 years ago today… was putting a little drain in across my driveway. No more flooded garage…

[ebinmaine 67,483]

I drove around tossing stuff out the truck......

With the help of a forklift. 

[Handy Don 12,217]

17 hours ago, Horse Newbie said:

putting a little drain in across my driveway

Nice looking work. To where did you route the outflow?

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

2 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Nice looking work. To where did you route the outflow?

The catch basin at the edge of the driveway is the last of 3 catch stains along the upper side of the yard. Water flows towards my drive from the lay of the land and my neighbors yard.

Water mainly came in the garage on that side.

You can see I put a drain channel only on that side of the garage. If I had went all the way across the garage the slope would have made too much of a required dip, being more of a trip hazard.

From the end of the drain channel next to the front corner of the garage I caught the first catch basin that catches the water off the downspout. From there to the second catch basin, and then to the 3rd catch basin before the pipe turns and goes across the front of the concrete drive. The channel across the drive way has drains that come off the bottom of the channel and drops into the drain pipe running underneath. From there across the yard towards the low side of the property. It turns and heads towards the route that yard water follows any ways. I put a “wye” and a clean out at the bend in case I ever need to snake it if it clogs… so far no clogs…

You can see where my tree guy flattened the open end of the drain pipe a little where the water flows into the yard.

I plan to pour a driveway the rest of the way to the street soon, and that is another reason I put the drain channel across the front of the driveway. When I do that I will have a lot of water coming down the driveway from the direction of the street and I did not want that water rushing  in the garage.

[Handy Don 12,217]

6 hours ago, Horse Newbie said:

the water flows into the yard

Ah, so you do have a low spot you can redirect the water toward that isn't going to start a war with a neighbor! Nice.

[Oldskool 6,644]

Today after work I did some more welding on the mobile brush burner.

I've been trying to use scrap that was in the yard to build this. Reuse,repurpose  ya know.

Sometimes it's just easier to bring the fire to the brush pile. We have alot of moss covered ground that we don't want burnt from standard brush pile fires. This is the next best thing.

[Mickwhitt 4,623]

Spent the afternoon sorting a seized brush cutter clutch.

Stihl FS490 machine that was gifted to our community group by our local authority.  It was given as a spare part machine as it hadn't run in three years. 

With a good clean and service it runs just fine. The clutch was stuck solid though so battle commenced and I emerged victorious, if carrying a few more scars.

Well worth doing up this solid machine to help with my community projects. 

 

[Handy Don 12,217]

2 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

sorting a seized brush cutter

I have one of these and was skeptical of the harness and safety bar that came with it that prevent the business end from getting close to the operator. After one use experiencing how it can kick back when it hits a thicker sapling I became a convert. This is a machine that wants to maim a careless operator. Please don't be that! 

[ebinmaine 67,483]

2 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

Stihl FS490

 

37 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

careless operator

 

Ain't that called natural selection?

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

@Handy Don  ,

Here are pics of the drain channel and concrete forms before I poured the concrete on the second half of the driveway…

[8ntruck 6,999]

We provided some EF (entertainment factor) on Half Moon lake today.  My wife and I took our last curse around the lake this afternoon, and pulled up to our dock.  Starched the pontoon trailer to the truck, put my swim suit on and met my wife back at the dock.  Our intention was for her to drive the pontoon to the boat ramp where I would meet her with the trailer - she didn't want to back the trailer down the boat ramp.

 

Meanwhile, my wife's cousin, who lives 2 doors down the shore has one of his radio control model boats out on the water.  I noticed that the boat was farther out on the lake than he usually runs.  I looked at him over on his dock to see him fiddling with his transmitter.Not looking good, I'm thinking.  "Gary, you got the boat?" I holler.  "Nope" he answers back. I watch this 3 1/2' long, 20 pound Miami Vice type boat run 20, maybe 30 mph go all the way across the lake - about a 1/2 mile.  Fortunately, the lake was pretty much deserted, and the family with kids that frequent where the boat came ashore were not home.

 

I waved my wife in to pick me up from our dock, I take over piloting our pontoon, go pick Gary up from his dock, and proceed across the lake to rescue the toy boat.  Gary is 74 years old and not moving as well as he used to, so I hopped off of the pontoon to pick up the toy boat.  It had come to a stop at least 15 feet from the water's edge on the lawn.  The motor was still running when I got to it.  I popped the hatch, and unplugged one of the battery leads.

 

Back onto the pontoon, toy boat safely in hand,  throttle the pontoon up to get back across the lake.  Pontoon comes up on plane, then the engine starts surging, then dies.  Out of gas!  Now the rescue mission needs rescue.  I break the oar out and start paddling - against the wind.

 

Fortunately, one of the two other boats out on the lake is somebody  we know.  They give us a tow back to our dock.  Nice visit with them along the way.

 

Looks like the pontoon will get pulled out of the lake tomorrow.  Could not have been a nicer day for this to happen.  Clear blue skies, temps in the high 60's, autumn colors just starting to pop.

[WHX?? 48,815]

Made 16 bean soup for the Packer game today and absolutely awesome.  Pretty sure this was a ham bone you made at Portage @Pullstart I gnawed at it before it went to the dogs ... sure did have the flavor of your glaze. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by WHX??

[ebinmaine 67,483]

10 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

We provided some EF (entertainment factor)

Trina will tell you "it's not an adventure unless you get turned around at least once."

Sounds like you folks had a good adventure. 

 

[peter lena 8,625]

@Mickwhitt  found a slight fuel filter drip , nothing major , new filter , clamps , did some more aeration towing , really got the worms and birds fighting . more rain coming , pete 

[Handy Don 12,217]

Went shopping across the river in NY and NJ early this morning. I scored a couple of great deals--a very lightly used Craftsman tow/push 8 cu ft poly dump trailer (a rebranded Agri-Fab) and a practically unused 50" Ohio Steel lawn sweeper.

I tried out the sweeper behind the 854. It has a pair of spiral brushes that do a terrific job even scooting along in 3rd gear.

The trailer will stay here (already full of soil I'm moving between planting beds).

The sweeper will go to my son--he has a larger yard, a LOT more leaves, and a garden to receive the compost.

[formariz 11,987]

Strictly flossing

[OldWorkHorse 3,045]

Got probably my last grass mow in for the season on the FreeBeater, nice fall evening. Plenty of fall yard projects coming up. Organized the WHorse yard (WH rollers and spare parts). Fired up the 5hp MTD walk behind leaf blower and set up my tow behind leaf sweeper from storage, battling leaves will be my project soon enough. 

[ebinmaine 67,483]

3 hours ago, Handy Don said:

The sweeper will go to my son--he has a larger yard, a LOT more leaves, and a garden to receive the compost.

That boy needs a leaf shredder.  

We have a Craftsman I'd rehome. 

[ebinmaine 67,483]

Trina used our semi permanent on loan smoker to make us up some turkey legs.  

WOW were they edible.  

 

Note her solution for the missing grease catcher. It can be covered, emptied, reused, it burned in the outdoor fire 🔥 pit as necessary.  

 

 

[davem1111 2,030]

This project came up quickly, and I delivered quickly. We are selling our 2 horses to my wife's sister in Atlanta, and they need some training before they go. Two young ladies who are friends of the family are riders who are happy to take on the training, but they needed an enclosed space to do it, and quickly.

 

I did some quick planning, picked up some posts, fence, and a few other supplies, rented a small post hole auger, and got started Friday evening before dark. Finished up yesterday afternoon. I picked the flattest area near the barn. Mowed down the weeds with my GT-1848, which took about 3 passes. Gate was salvaged from our old barn way in the back of the property. This is only going to be needed for a month or so, but should last quite a bit longer than that. Posts were level before stretching the fence... they look a bit tilted in this picture but I didn't notice that when I was out there just a while ago. It could be some distortion from the camera, but a little tilt won't matter. The ribbon is there just to make sure the horses can clearly see the fence boundary.

 

 

 

This is a 50 foot diameter round pen, so they can walk & trot around it - it's a bit too small for a canter, but maybe not...  Daughter's boyfriend helped for a few hours both Saturday and Sunday, which made it easier on this old dude. Hadn't built any fence for a few years - had fun doing it.

 

Training starts tomorrow.

 

[ebinmaine 67,483]

12 minutes ago, davem1111 said:

had fun doing it

And that right there is the most important part.. old man.  

 

 

 

 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

3 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

And that right there is the most important part.. old man.  

 

Buddy, you're an old man, poor man
Pleading with your eyes, gonna make you some peace someday...

 

Now... I really need to... eh... what Eric said:

 

Don

[Snoopy11 5,714]

19 minutes ago, davem1111 said:

I did some quick planning, picked up some posts, fence, and a few other supplies, rented a small post hole auger

Was that post hole auger gas powered or one of the human powered... thrusting types?

 

Don

[davem1111 2,030]

6 minutes ago, Snoopy11 said:

Was that post hole auger gas powered or one of the human powered... thrusting types?

 

Don

 

Gas powered, darn tootin'.  Still had to break up some hard clay with the shale bar and clean the holes with the human-powered one, but that rental was worth every last penny!