August 17-18, 2013

We had a good rain Tuesday, 3/4" in the gauge, and a nice cool week. The house was 72 in the bedroom and 73 in the living room. Very pleasant for August. The low Sunday morning was 58 and it was mid 80s both days. It was very foggy Sunday morning.

Pella Window

Sally took the broken Pella window in to their store in Springdale. First they thought they might be able to remove the aluminum cladding and replace just the glass. Finally on Friday we found out that they would have to build us a new sash (at their factory in Iowa) and it would take at least 3 weeks. Of course we approved that order, which will run $160+. We have not been impressed by their service so far, and hope this turns out well.

Garden

Sally got one bunch of green beans, a little kale, and no chard. She did also pick one butternut squash which we added to a stir fry. She says they are not ready yet, so we left them all. The squash has just about taken over the entire garden. There were a few red tomatoes, but none of them were good. We've not had any good luck with tomatoes in years.

Apples/Pears

A couple of apples and a pear were on the ground, and many of the apple tree limbs were broken. We decided to go ahead and pick most of them and just make pies with the green fruit. Tender got to share in one we ate right off the tree.

Mow/Weed Eat

The Craftsman wouldn't start. Very strange since it had set for 4 weeks without being used and then started right up. I jumped it from the truck and mowed everything downhill from the house Saturday. Sunday it wouldn't start again. I then noticed one of the batter connections was not tight. We had failed to tighten one post down after putting it all back together following the steering assembly replacement. I finished the mowing, but am noticing an uneven cut that wasn't there earlier. I am certain I have already bent one of the blade shafts running up on some rocks. I am still adjusting to the stick throttle/gear shift. I also slid off the hill out in front of the house and had a heck of a time getting it back up. I need to be much more careful with this machine than I did with the Murry.

I brush whacked around the barn, the spring and some of the area out back. The grass is really growing due to all the rain we have received this month.

Murry

Sally made a couple of phone calls and found someone west of Fayetteville that would take the Murry. I tried parking in the ditch and then piling up a bunch of firewood for a ramp so that I could drive up into the bed of the truck. That didn't work -- I didn't have enough wood and my ramp collapsed when trying to drive up it. I then just accepted the fact that I would need to use the trailer to haul it in. It wasn't too much trouble, and we delivered it before getting home. A bonus was that Bill the Lawnmower Man offered to fix my Poullan for no charge. I actually ended up taking him that and the hedge trimmer that need a fuel line, plus I gave him the old Troy Built weedeater (I never figured out how to replace the pull cord and it was just sitting around).