Saturday, December 8, 2012

We'll Call This One A Tie

The snow fence install was dictated by me to be a win for me; accomplished pre-frozen ground and before any real snow.  Today's task was to get the mower off, the blade and tire chains on. When we got home early AM, we had just enough snow to make the ground white.

Normally not a gambler, putting some of these 'winter' projects off until the bitter end seems to somehow sit well with me.  Of course these things should be done on a nice warm, autumn weekend and even I know that.  This may just be one of those grand "Do as I say and not as I do's".

One of the first things to do was swap the garden tractor's spot with the walk behind snow blower.  Normally a good starter, the blower wouldn't even fire today and after sitting all, hot summer in our plastic-covered hay shed, I was confident I knew why.  Out with the spark plug, a very dry spark plug which confirmed my thoughts about a resolution.  A thimble-full of gas down the hole, plug back in, wire on and it started and stayed running with one pull of the cord.

No, I didn't run over Percy.  Whenever she sees me moving anywhere outside, she gets in front of me at a safe distance, lies down on her back and wiggles her feet in the air.  One, maybe two times out of ten I pick her up and we discuss the world's problems until I get to my destination.  She really likes world problems.


Hopefully my next tractor will come with a heated seat....


The old Ford, older than even I am....


The trouble with gloves.....recently discussed over here


The "Process".....anyone that's ever diapered a rhino will appreciate this arduous task.....


More help and more world's problems....We do pretty well, at least I'm not doing jobs while lying down or at the very least, kneeling down.  Oil changes can really be a problem.


The sun was working its magic by early afternoon.  The snow on our garage's full length porch was yielding a phase change.


Once again, I had lots of help, some of it feline-ish, additional help from Sarah Jarosz, Johnnyswim and Blossom Dearie.  I'd never have accomplished much of anything without everyone's contributions.

8 comments:

  1. I keep putting off spraying down the scoots with Boeshield. I suspect I'll get caught and have to spray the Symba down with WD40, then wash it off in between the episodes of chemical warfare, and then finally get around to giving her some real protection. Oh well, if it weren't for my ability to procrastinate, I might not be really good at anything.

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  2. It's the road chemicals that normally stop and start my riding season. The cold, sand, etc. don't bother me in the spring but I do my best to hold off until the residue is washed clean.

    Historically, the salt was mixed with sand around here. Now many (our county) areas use a liquid that comes out of pickup mounted sprayer, the spray patterns obvious on dry roads, maybe 10" apart. So, much less sand in many places, especially on bridge decks and nasty corners, intersections and so on.

    I think the Symba's are beautiful machines with impressive build quality...hope you like yours!

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  3. Percy seems to be a bit of a drama cat, lying down on the tire tracks pretending to have been run over.

    But it is true that without cats the world problems would remain unresolved.

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  4. Sonja, she's definitely an opportunist and knows how to play me.

    Just got in from cleaning off 12" outside, fed the cats in the barn before I started and never saw them again after that.

    Opportunists but not stupid.

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  5. I bet your landscape looks a lot different now. Mine does, too. About 3 inches now.

    You really have a nice bit of property. Looks like a lot of work, but I wouldn't mind having it!

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  6. Martha, last night I might have considered swapping with you. I intend to stay rural if at all possible but there are times small town rural looks enticing. We do truly value our privacy.

    We've been here over 20 years, built every stick in the house and Great Gramp on mom's side started it all in '84 when he came from Germany. It does feel like home.

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  7. That would be mighty tough to leave. Tougher to sell to a stranger.

    WI land can be inexpensive, but you have to be able to live out and cope with isolation and major inconveniences. I like about 5 acres and good neighbors. That's perfect.

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  8. You have very well described our "perfect". We sold everything but 20 acres and have neighbors easy to live with. The decision to sell the chunk wasn't an easy one but balanced out practical and emotional at least by our definition. Our daily commute challenges the practical but for now, we think it was the wise choice.

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