Lawnmowers

Well I finally did it, got Cheryl so mad that she bought me a reel mower to mow my 1.4 acre lot. I wonder how long it will take to mow my grass. She got feed up with the broken mower every three weeks this time the engine had to be replaced. I have had this curse put on me so that I am not able to keep a lawnmower running. When I was a kid I would break the lawnmower every time I touched it. If t did not break when first touch then it would fall apart while mowing. Had one that I was almost done with the yard and the handle broke off, and then rolled back at me. Thank the Lord that it stopped running at the same time. My parents got tired of buying a new mower every week so they also bout a reel mower for me. Did not break that one, it worked up to the time we left the house. Well the yard is too tall for the mower, but I just got off the phone with the repair shop and they will be delivering the riding mower tonight. Hopefully before the sun sets and it rains so I can mow the grass that is knee high

Past 2 years

So for the past two years I have not been feeling all that good, between voices and seeing things. But I have been knitting and crocheting a lot made a blanket and gave it to the vet made a nice flower garden and set up an awning. We got a new manufactured home. I have been depressed for a while now, and I have been getting angry more lately. We have had a lot of our four legged children pass away. It makes me sad and then I can not function. I have also pretty much given up cigarettes . I use e-cig most of the time. I am able to breath a lot better now. It took some time to switch and I started out at 18 mg of nicotine, and now I am down to 6 mg. I am hoping that I can quit this year. Have not been playing magic the gathering all that much lately or been fishing all that much. I sometimes fill like getting out of the house but do not going anywhere. I have also stopped drinking regular coffee and now drink decaf. been feeling a little better since then.

Finally Finished

Finally done mowing the grass, took me 4 days, started mowing on Sunday and today it is done. I had to work on the lawnmower for two of those days.

My troubles

Well I bought a used riding lawnmower last summer for $375, the turning rod broke the second time mowing with it. The guy I bought it from sold me a new one for $5. Then the I mowed with it until January when the blades stopped rotating so I had him pick it up which cost $25 and to drop it off again another $25. He said that the belt was bad and that the bearing was also bad. So he replaced them and told me to change the oil every 6 hours. He also sharpened the blade and charged me $75 for all the work and parts. When he brought it back it did not want to move in any gear so I called him up and he said that it sounds like the problem was the transmission belt was loose. So I went under the lawnmower and tried to get the belt off, but I got hung up on some bolts. So I was wiping it off and checking for wear from underneath it when I put the belt back on it ran just fine. So I start mowing with it again and it started acting up. I looked up the belt online, got the belt number from the company and then went to the web address that he told me to go to and the belt was $15. I did not buy it from the site and called Ace Hardware, they had belts, but could not give me a price unless I new the size. So I took off everything that was in the way and finally got the belt off. Ran up to Ace Hardware and bought a new one for $8. So no more business from me for that guy. If the lawnmower breaks and I can not fix it I will take it a part and sell it for scrap. So I got home and put the new belt on, put the lawnmower back together and tried it out and everything worked. I am much happier now with the $8 then the $125 that I gave that guy for the work he did. 

The front yard

       Well all I have to mow is the front yard and the yard in front of the fence. I went to bed at 2100 and sleeped as well as could be, but I am still tired.

Half the yard

       Well I got half the yard mowed yesterday and now I have to go though and pick up the sticks and pinecones.

Mowing the grass

       Well today I have to mow the grass, and burn up some leaves and branches. However I am watching the news and waiting for it to end before I start. The sun is shining and it is beautiful outside the news is saying that the temp is 60 deg. I have to go the the yard and look for sticks that way I do not ruin the lawn mower. I am charging my ipod and putting more music on it.

New Part

Well we ordered that part I need for the riding mower. That way I can get the yard mowed down to a manageable length. The grass is so high in places that it needs to be mowed twice. I will have to push mow the part that has tree limbs on the ground. I need to pick up the limbs but can't find them in the tall grass. I am working on this project for m-i-l that I will post pictures of it after I give it to her. It's really a neat project to do with different stitches that I have never done.

Had to run to a bunch of stores, it was nice to get out of the house. Although I have to worry about the dog being alone all couped up in her room for the couple of hours that we were away. She has been very good about not using the bathroom in the house so that's good. I hope she keeps it that way. I have to finish that room and I do not want a mess on the unfinished floor. I like to think that she knows better then use the bathroom in the house, but every time I take her out she does not use the bathroom. So that has me worried.

We went to Walgreen's where we rented "Rango" and got some razors for me. I guess that the wife wants me to start shaving again. Then we went to CVS and cot some shampoo. Then it was off to BJ to do some grocery shopping. I watched "Rango" and thought that it was a good movie.

Mowing

Well I mowed 1/3 of the backyard yesterday and feel good about it. I find that if I do something productive that I do not feel down upon myself, and I have good thoughts and actions. I hope that it does not rain this morning although I have been up since 0415 and I am wanting to go back to bed. I know that I have to stay up to get out early to mow down the backyard. It takes so long because I have to mow a few feet then back up then go forward again for a few more feet. I have to get the grass mowed down to get m-i-l and m-i-lc out to help cut down the dead trees that are in the backyard. When we get them cut down I will have a lot of firewood to burn for awhile. It will be good to have the backyard burn pile mowed down to where I can burn the tree limbs that I have already there.

I did not do a garden this year. My plot is over run by weeds and needs to be redone. I want to grow carrots and lettuce next winter, so I can feed the rabbit fresh food. I stopped making that blanket and socks so I can start on Christmas and birthday presents. The wife found this pattern for something for m-i-l that was supposed to be on the Michael's website, but she found it on the yarns website. When I started it I did not think that it was looking like the patterns picture, so I tried some other way. It still did not look right, so I started to do it like the pattern said to do it and this time I got about 14 rows and it is starting to look like the picture in the pattern. I have been looking up patterns on the Internet for awhile when the wife said to get started on Christmas and birthday presents.

I have found a lot of patterns and been putting them on my flash drive so I can have them all the time and will not have to look them up again. I find that I like the adobe reader to download the pattern that way it looks professional, and I do not have to be on the Internet to see the picture of the project. I have to figure out what I am making for my parents and m-i-lc and s-i-l. I already have a gift for my sister. I still have to send the father's day gift out to dad, so I can find out if those socks fit. That way I can make him more for Christmas and I need to make him some more hats. I don't think he loses his hats. That way he can get enough to wear for each day of the winter, but he says that he lost them in the last 2 moves that they have had. I like to knit hats that way I can try different patterns and put different looks to them. I would like to do a fair isle hat that would fit me.

Then I would know that it would fit him. I need to knit up one that has a two sides to it. I might put a picture in it to make it his. The last one that I tried to do like that I screwed up the way that the words would look. Mom likes booties so i have to make her a few of them and I found this pattern that I like so I might make that for her too. I got a couple of strips done and then it started to rain.

Started the mowing with the sun full on in the spot that I wanted to mow down to have a strip that I can turn the mower around in. When I got too hot to do it anymore for a while. That is when I came in and took a nap on the couch, did not want to but did. Then when I woke up the rain was getting ready to fall, so I put up the lawnmower. When I got it put in the shed the rain came down.

Bugs

Well that spider that lived in between the two grape tomatoes has left and I do not know where it went. The bugs have gone out of the yard and come into the house. I have three potato and two onion plants coming up. I have lots of flowers on my egg plants but still no egg plant. Someone told me that you need a male and female egg plant bush. I never heard it before but now I am wondering if it is not so.

Potato

I think that one of my potatoes that I had planted has come up. It is that or a weed has started in the garden. The plant is at the top of one of the mounds that I had made for the potato. I transplanted the banana pepper last night, and I hope that it starts to do good in the pot. If it does not then I do not know what else to try. If it does do good then I will know that the dirt that is in the garden is not right for banana peppers. Although it could already be dead and still a little green but I think that I saw some new growth on it as I was planting it in the pot. I do not know if it was getting to much water or that the water was draining to fast for the plant.

The hurricane season forecast to be a bad one this year, but I will believe it when and if I see it. They said that it will be especially bad for the east coast. The west coast has already began their hurricane season and had a named storm, it hit Central America. There is nothing out there yet so we will see.

5 cucumbers to eat

This is the longest cucumber at 5 inches.

These 5 cucumbers are 91/2 inches wide.

The begining of havest of the cucumbers.

The garden is coming along good with the pickling cucumbers.

These are a few of the pickle cucumbers.

This is the whole garden plot which is 12'x16' it starts out with the corn in the front with the cucumbers. the third row is from left to right are grape tomatoes, banana peppers, egg plant, bell pepper,and then cherry tomatoes. The 5Th row is grape tomato, blank spot, egg plant, another blank spot, and cherry tomatoes. Then in the open dirt spot it is potatoes and onions, and in that order.

this is a picture of one of the flowers from the egg plant.

this is my banana plant.

Pictures of the garden

Well here are a few of my plants I have growin. The top left is my banana peppers I think are over watered. The top right is my cucumbers. The middle left is my bell pepper plant which is starting to wilt too. The middle right is the cherry tomatoes and to the left of this writing is the grape tomatoes.

Bug's

I found a bug in my garden last night, I thought it was a bad bug but c-i-l says that it was a good bug. I squashed it anyway. I planted some colorful elephant ears and they are coming up. I forgot that I had planted a miniature rose bush and it is slowly dieing I did happen to water it last night. The wife told me the other night that she had bought a olive tree for our zone and that we will be planting it on the west side of the house. I had agreed to it but now that I am thinking about it when we get a new house they are going to need to bring the house in on that side. My pink grapefruit tree is doing better now that summer has come. I thought I had lost it due to the freezing weather that we got this last winter. I do not see any fruit yet but am not hopeful that I will get any this year. My kumquat tree is still so small that I am wondering if it is still alive. It has some green and yellow leaves.

Garden update

Went out and looked into the garden this morning and saw that the corn has grown about another inch, so they are coming in nicely. I will try and update the garden everyday until the first frost. This way you all will know what I am up to. Me and the wife are doing fine the animals are good still no kids (thank god). I can see why some of the animals eat their young. As you all should know I work at a school that the kids have no respect for anything or anyone. I really injoy getting out and playing in the garden and it helps to calm and relax me after a hard long day at work. Work seems to be going good the children get out on the 9th of June so it will be running around trying to get things done that need to be done by the begining of the next school year. I hear that the princapal wants us to paint the entire school before the beginning of the new school year classrooms included.

Garden

I went out into the garden this morning and saw my cherry tomatoes laying down on the job. So I staked them. Ha ha ha. The cherry tomatoes are huge almost as big as my palm of my hand and their still green. The first flower that I had gotten on my egg plant fell off. The stem and everything was gone. Found it on the weed control and I picked it up and removed it from the garden so that it would not attract bugs to the other flowers that I saw coming out. I did not take a very close look at the garden but I did see some cucumbers growing. It did not rain today and I did not water the garden. Just planted the potatoes that have not come up yet. the corn is still to small. I am afraid that one of the cats will lay on them and squash them. I did notice that one of them is clawing up my weed control. I have been talking with others that are growing things and the are just as hopeful of their garden as I am about my own. I am hoping to get out in the garden some more this weekend and make it bigger.

Garden

Well here it is summer and I have corn, cucumbers, bell peppers, potatoes, onions, banana peppers, egg plants, grape and cherry tomatoes growing in the garden. The tomatoes are coming in nicely there are a lot of them on the vines. I just planted the potatoes and onions. I planted the corn and them forgot about them in the little pot that I had them in. When I saw the seven of them 2 inches up, I thought it was grass growing in the pot. Then I remembered that they were corn and planted them on Sunday. That's when I planted the potatoes and onions too. The plot that I dug was 16x12 foot plot. 12 foot is covered by that black tarp that lets the air and water in to give the nutrient to the plants but does not let the weeds grow. but 4 feet to the left as you look to the back of the property there is no cover so I will have to get out there and pull the weeds. I really hope that the potatoes come up and that I get a few onions. those are the only thing that I just planted and need to have come up from the ground.

Well the start of the rainy season is soon and then I might have a drowned garden. If this year is like the one we had when Charley and the others blew though here then the back yard will flood and there will be no saving the garden and I will have to build up the garden plot next year if the wife will let me try again. If it is another drought year then I will have to water everyday and then some.

Well the children at school get out on the 9Th of June and then it will be summer hours from then tell August. I will be working from 8 to 430 in June and August, and the first week in July. The other three weeks of July are 10 hour shifts 4 days on and 3 days off. I am trying to get mom to come down for a week in July so that she can have a vacation.

I am reading Terry Brooks Genesis of Shannara "Armageddon's Children". I have had it for about 2 weeks and only 93 pages into it. I think it is a good book but with everything in my life to do I find it hard to read. Yes actually read a book.

Rain

Well there is rain in the forcast once again. If it is not raining then it is cold I might not get to have a garden this year. The wife says that if I can not take care of my yard then I do not need a garden. I think she is right. I hope that it does not get down to the freezing temps again. I finally finished the book "The Center can not Hold" and moved on to "Code Talkers".

Family from Oklahoma

Well this week I found out that my Uncle Andy fom Oklahoma is coming down I have not seen him since 1984 right before I went to Germany with my father. He is coming down due to his wife's grandmother's death. While he is here I am going to go and see him. He is my father's half brother on my grandfather's side. So today is a busy day. Must do something about the roof and mow the grass. I did get the lawn tractor fixes then the drive belt fell off. Thank God that it only fell of and not broke then I would have to wait another month to fix it.The wife thinks that the roof is leaking in the bathroom to so will have to get up there and find out where it is leaking.