Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Hot, hot, hot. At quitting time, 5 PM, the front porch thermometer read 91º. I know, 91º isn't really all that hot. But with the high humidity it's pretty sweaty. At least there's not enough moisture in the air yet to gum up the salt in the shaker. I mixed up another ten gallons of weed killer today, intending to do more spraying along the south road. But I took along the chain saw to get some branches out of the road, and spent so much time cutting up branches that I didn't get to the spraying. Tomrrow for that.
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Thursday, July 2, 2020
Well, no. I didn't get to the spraying today either. I spent the time on other road work. Specifically, cutting little trees with the clippers and dosing the stumps with Tordon, and trimming branches with the chain saw. I also drove the truck to the south brush pile and emptied it. That was the first time I've driven there since April last year. In fact, the wettest part of the road has dried out enough that I was able to get past it and drive all the way to the Y at the start of the south loop. I expect I will have the entire south road ready for driving before August. The morning was unexpectedly cool today. When I got up a little before 7 AM it was about 80º, but a storm brought a brief sprinkle and a cool-down to the low seventies. By noon it was sunny again, and at quitting time we were back up to 91º, just like yesterday. The forecast predicts a couple of 100º+ days but that will be in town. Out here it will probably reach the high nineties. |
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Friday, July 3, 2020
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Saturday, July 4, 2020
Back to the Y, and beyond. I finished taking down low-hanging branches there, then proceded south along the west branch of the loop. I don't object to wild rose. I generally leave it alone unless its in a troublesome location. When it occupies a spot where the thorns are likely to grab me, it has to go. Smilax is a different story. I like to kill it wherever I find it, because of the way it spreads. I removed some of both today, and sawed down some bothersome hedge branches.
Sunday, July 5, 2020
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Monday, July 6, 2020
While the front lawn was still in shade, I spent the first hour with the clippers, cutting off little trees that were coming up and poisoning the stumps. The rest of the day I worked on that south road. I got most of the low-hanging branches out of the way, but not as well as I wanted. My chain saw died, so I couldn't cut big branches. I had to settle for the ones that were small enough to cut with the clippers. But at least the road is clear enough to drive. I ended by going around the whole loop with the mowing tractor. There are still a couple of trees I want to remove, but that will have to wait until the chain saw is fixed. I added some pictures of today's work to the Facebook album here.
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
This morning I took the chain saw to Wichita for repairs at the nearest Husqvarna shop. In the afternoon I mowed the north loop of the south road and did more trimming of small branches with the clippers. I added some photos at yesterday's link.
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Well, I'm impressed. This morning I receved a phone call letting me know that my saw was fixed. I don't recall ever having anything repaired in just one day. I spent the afternoon going to fetch the saw, then doing the grocery shopping. I also stopped at the State Farm office to pay a bill. Instead of waiting three months until renewal time, they sent me a bill for $1. I wonder how much of that dollar they spent collecting it.
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Rain! And plenty of it. When I got up all the puddles in the front driveway were filled and running together. In the afternoon when it was over the gauge had 1.3" in it. I worked in my office, filing receipts that have been piling up since early June and paying some bills.
Friday, July 10, 2020
But wait, there's more! Again I awoke to the sound of rain, and by the time the morning storm was over the gauge had another 1.5" in it. Most of the morning I wrote checks to pay some bills, paid some online, and prepared an order for a couple of Model T head gaskets. In the afternoon I drove up to the county seat to renew vehicle registrations, and stopped at the pharmacy to renew a prescription and check my BP, which was good.
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Third rainy morning in a row, but not as much as Thursday and Friday. Only .38" in the gauge. This morning's project was taking glass and plastic to the recycling center at Strother Field. It's open 8 AM to noon, only on Friday and Saturday. I had six boxes of bottles, jars, and other stuff that's been piling up since early April. After a stop at the pharmacy to pick up my pills, I came home and got busy. One job was cutting half a dozen little branches from the American sweet gum trees east of the house and planting them in wet potting mix. I'm going to see if I can start new trees from cuttings. I drove the Camry out to the barn and unloaded four bags of blasting sand I bought the other day, then got busy with the clippers. I trimmed inconvenient branches off a couple of trees, then attacked a pile of previous trimmings, cutting off small twigs and little branches to go to the brush pile and saving the large branches to cut up for firewood.
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Up at 6:20 AM, I threw on some clothes and hit the yardwork to get some done in the cool of the morning. I pulled a patch of weeds by the road, which took about an hour and a quarter, and finished just as direct sunshine was starting to reach the spot. After breakfast and a shower and donning fresh clothes, I did laundry. My watch band broke yesterday, so this afternoon I went to town for a replacement. I was faced with a choice: a new band for $8 or a new watch with band for 88¢ more. I went with the watch. On hot summer evenings I usually have a beer after dinner, but not tonight. I tried to buy some this afternoon, but was reminded that the stores are not allowed to sell it on Sundays. Pretty silly.
Monday, July 13, 2020
Drat! Another rainy morning, the fourth in five days, killed my plans for more early yard work. It wasn't heavy, only .18", but it was enough to keep me inside. I spent most of the day doing taxes, a job I detest. I should have taken care of it in February, but I dislike it so much I kept putting it off. Even with software doing the calculations, it's one of my unfavorite activities. I finished a little before three, went to town for beer, then spent the rest of the afternoon printing out the forms. I'll mail them tomorrow, a day before the deadline. No E-file? Nope. I tried that once. I found out after the deadline had passed that it didn't work, and I ended up paying a penalty for being late. So I send it in by mail.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Egad, another rainy morning! It turned out to be just a sprinkle, but it was enough to cancel my planned cool-of-the-morning job of cutting off little trees in the front lawn and poisoning the stumps. Instead I went to the barn and dealt with a bag of blasting sand that had burst open, sifting it into a couple of pails and bringing them over to the shop. I have more blasting to do when there's another rainless morning. Other chores today were writing checks and getting tax returns ready to mail, trimming twigs and small branches off a large walnut limb that fell in the yard, shopping for groceries, filling up the car, and mailing the taxes.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
That's better. A rainless morning let me get out to the front lawn with the clippers to cut lttle trees and poison the stumps. Next I set up the blaster and sand blasted some parts. As usual, there's more to do tomorrow. When I went to shut off the compressor after blasting I found that a pipe on it had sprung a leak, so I went to town for a replacement. It's copper tubing and I don't have a bender, so in forming it to fit I'll have to be careful not to crimp it.
Thursday, July 16, 2020
 I found this little guy in my office this
morning. The prairie ring neck is our most common snake.
If you see one over six inches, that's a big one. |
 Today I managed to get that tubing
bent to fit without crimping it too badly.
I shopped online for a proper tubing bender, but all the ones big enough to handle half inch tubing were too expensive to suit me. With the compressor fixed. I did a bit of blasting. As usual, there's more to do. |
Friday, July 17, 2020
A trip to Winfield today was a waste of time. I went to the iron and metal shop for some 7/32" round stock to make some rivets, and found that they don't carry that size and can't get it. I resorted to online shopping and found some rivets of the right size. Of course the shipping will cost more than the product. This was supposed to be mowing day, and I did get some done until the tractor stalled. It would start and run for a second and quit. I suspect a clogged carburetor passage. I'll blow it out and see what happens.
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Best laid plans... If the carburetor cleaning worked, this was going to be mowing day. I put the carb back on the tractor, which started right up and ran normally. But then I noticed that a clevis pin and clip were missing from the mower, letting it sag, so I had to go to town and get another pin and clip. It was almost eleven when I finally got started on the lawn in front and east of the house. In several places the grass was so thick I had to make a pass with the mower raised and another with it down. About 12:30 I finished there and stopped for a break, and that's when I found that one of the casters had a broken wheel. That put an end to my mowing for the day, but I think I'll be able to fix it sometime tomorrow. Sunday, July 19, 2020 I didn't get around to fixing that wheel today, but I did get some work done. I used the clippers and a bottle of Tordon to destroy little trees along the road in front of the house, then mxed up ten gallons of weed killer and attacked the johnson grass and other invasive stuff in the yard and along the road. There's plenty more of that to do. |
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| Monday, July 20, 2020 This morning I got a late start because I had to go to town for more weed killer. I mixed up another batch of the magic elixir of death and continued where I left off yesterday. I was spraying by the roadside when Phillip came to spray the field. The question I asked myself was whether I should aim for just the johnson grass or go for every invasive species that grows big. I replied to myself that I should kill it all and plant a native species that stays short with minimum mowing. That sounds like buffalo grass. About noon thirty-five I used up the last of the ten gallons I mixed this morning and called it a day for working out in the sunshine. Time for a long break in front of a fan with a cold drink. |
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Tuesday, July 21, 2020
While another rainy morning dumped .7" more moisture in the gauge, I worked in the shop. First I reassembled that caster for the mower, then spent the rest of the morning finding, sorting, and taking pictures of metal valve stems for a fellow Model T aficionado who wants some to use on his car. By the time I went to town for medicine and groceries in the afternoon the sun was out and the temperature was climbing, but it got up only to the high eighties. The string of 100º+ days that was in the forecast recently hasn't happened. The actual highs have been mostly in the low nineties. That's warm enough for me.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
This morning I packed up and mailed those valve stems, and a dental appointment and shopping burned up most of my afternoon.
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Back to work. I mixed up another ten gallons of weed killer and sprayed some more inconvenient vegetation. I got a lot done and there's plenty more to do. About noon twenty I used up the last of my mixture and retreated inside. I spent the afternoon on something more enjoyable, researching Model T wheels and other T features.
Friday, July 24, 2020
First up today was more spraying. I made a little change in how I do the job. I've been putting a coin down on the ground to mark where I left off when I go to refill the sprayer or quit for the day. A big coin like a half dollar or a bright one like a new penny should be easy to spot, right? Wrong. This morning I walked past a half dollar at least half a dozen times before I finally found it. So instead of marking the spot with a coin, now I'm using a brick. That's hard to miss. In the afternoon I was washing oil off the pan from my touring car when the phone rang. It was Mike Bender letting me know that the engine from my runabout is ready to pick up. Monday morning I'll be heading for Tulsa to get it, and will take that pan for Mike to check on the jig and make sure it's straight.
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Never went off the place today. I mixed another ten gallons of spray, intending to kill more invasive plants. But I noticed a large weed patch and an overgrown mulberry tree shading two redbuds that should be getting full sun at least part of the day. So instead of spraying I pulled the weeds and seriously trimmed the tree. I decided to put the spraying on hold and take advantage of dry weather to get in some road work. I began adding a cutoff at the Y of the north loop so when driving there I can make the turn without having to stop and back up. I got it mostly done and will finish tomorrow.
Sunday, July 26, 2020
This morning I finished the cutoff and moved on to clearing the rest of the north loop of a fallen tree and some low-hanging branches. The heat and humidity had me stopping every couple of hours to sit in front of a fan and have a cold drink. It took all day and part of the evening to clear the way so I can drive the whole loop. I made a Facebook album showing the weekend work here.
Monday, July 27, 2020
Engine pick-up day. I drove to Tulsa to get my runabout engine back from Mike Bender, and took along the engine pan from the touring car so Mike could put it on his jig and make sure it's straight. The next month will involve a lot of work reassembling both cars. I expect Shorty will be happy to enjoy some Model T riding again, just as I'll be happy to enjoy driving them again.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
This morning the gauge had 1.1" in it from yesterday's rain. I spent this wet day inside. I spent an hour buying some rivets. It would have been a half hour if my Kodak printer would address envelopes, but it jammed and wrecked four of them before I gave up and printed the address on a sheet of paper, cut it out, and taped it on the envelope. By the time I typed the order, printed it out, wrote the check, etc., the hour was shot. In the afternoon I went to town for groceries and to gas up the car. Actually I go five miles to cross the state line and buy gas for 23¢ a gallon less than it costs in town. That saved me $3.57, which I consider worth the trip.
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Another rainy day kept me inside again. I filed receipts and shopped online for a part I need for the Dixon mower, and did a partial wash. I was out of clean sox, but couldn't use the solar dryer outside on a wet day, so I washed just a load of sox and hung them in the west porch. Pictures are here.
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Another wet morning with 1.8" in the rain gauge kept me inside, but by 10:00 AM the skies were clear and I moved the still-damp sox I washed yesterday out to the yard to get some breeze and sun. My first actual work of the day was using a belt sander on the side and top of the northeast door of my shop so it could close completely. It was swollen and sticking so I needed to take a bit off. I would have used a plane if I could have found where I left it, but the sander eventually got the job done. My next job filled the rest of the day. That was putting the engine I brought home Monday on a stand and getting a start on cleaning up parts to install on it.
Friday, July 31, 2020
The forecast claims we're starting a run of dry days so this morning's first job was using the ten gallons of weed killer I mixed Saturday. I resumed spraying Johnsongrass and other objectionable vegetation. I finished in the lane to the wood lot, went along the road by the west field, and attacked the jungle behind the shop. I'll wait two or three days until today's targets are dying and I can see what I missed, then I'll do some more. In the afternoon I cleaned up parts for the 1915 runabout engine, mostly wire brushing bolts to get them ready for painting. Some are done, some remain to do, and then will come the nuts and washers.