In honor of Arbor Day last week, I got a new tree (actually two, more on the other one in another post).
I know, I know, ANOTHER tree? Hey, it's for the future and we only wish we had planted one of these a few years ago, but hey, here we are, ha!
In honor of Arbor Day last week, I got a new tree (actually two, more on the other one in another post).
I know, I know, ANOTHER tree? Hey, it's for the future and we only wish we had planted one of these a few years ago, but hey, here we are, ha!
It was a good, but interesting, day on the Zen Machine.
I got out there and first thing I did was start mowing...
It has been two weeks so it was ready to be mowed and with rain yesterday and a couple more days of rain chances, I needed to get as much done as possible. You can see above it was getting a bit tall. Yes, I cut it short, it's fine as I always do it like this, it helps between mows to keep it more manageable.
But I did encounter an issue.
I stopped about halfway through to take a break and then add fuel because the gauge showed it was at about a quarter of a tank. I did that and hopped back on and it started right up but as soon as I turned on the mower blade deck (PTO), it died. Just great.
I tried several times, same thing. I drove it around and then would turn on the PTO and it still died. So I got off in and left it in the shade to cool down and I did the edging around the fruit tree beds. I got back on an hour later and same thing, it would die.
I got out my phone and checked some websites and they said to check the belts and see if the pulleys turned. They didn't. Something was wedged underneath. I felt around and found the culprit: a clump of damp grass that had created a wedge between one blade and the edge of the deck.
Here it is!
Pulled it out a little at a time until I could wiggle the blade and then it moved just enough to let me pull this out. 2nd Man said "that little thing caused all that?" Yep, it was just in the right spot and created a substantial wedge.
It was time to be back on the Zen Machine and after another 45 minutes or so, I finished.
Looking nice and neat...for another week anyway, ha.
I paused the mower app so it would not record extra time or mileage so this is about normal.
On the plus side, I had eyes on me the whole time...or maybe they were just grazing, ha. But regardless, it was a great view and so relaxing.
Hope you all had a great weekend! We had a very good meeting yesterday that is getting us closer to an announcement. Stay tuned!
We are off to a farm related appointment today and hoping we beat the rains that are coming later this afternoon. Time for some good food and some Hobart!
2nd Man use to regularly make this, a Mexican dish called picadillo which is ground beef and potatoes in a tomato based sauce (with good seasonings of course). With our new way of eating he decided to change it up a bit. He used ground turkey and mushrooms with yellow squash and zucchini. It's very good!
Hobart will be sleeping while we're gone and of course, we will have to make a warm nest for him to sleep in before we leave. Because....
#notspoiled
First time in two weeks (too wet last weekend). I'm sure I will also need to edge around the fruit trees and then use the electric mower around them all. Should be a full day of Zen Machine fun.
With more rest breaks in between of course!
Regular readers know that I have a favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area! Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock where people can put the things they don't want. I've found quite a few cool items over the last few years.
It's time for our usual Sunday posting of some food and some Hobart.
Nothing like a good breakfast (well, brunch) of homemade corn tortillas, scrambled egg whites and some great toppings for a Tex-Mex taco.
We dropped a dishtowel on the floor and it didn't take Hobart long to find it...we spread it out flat and it didn't take him long to pass out. Of course, we allowed it. Because...
#notspoiled
You may remember that one of our blueberry bushes died last Summer.
Recently I went to the garden center to look for a replacement. We have two "Austin" bushes and of course the two, now one, "Tiff" bushes. We were thinking of getting another Tiff but figured we could try something else, there is not rule that says we have to only have two varieties. The store had Tiff and Austin and some others. I did a quick Google search for good varieties for our area and in addition to Tiff and Austin, they mentioned "Brightwell". I looked around and they had that variety that I was just reading about!
It's been a good weekend. Lots of little projects done and some resting. Oh, and good food with Hobart doing his share of resting too.
First, the good food:
2nd Man pan seared salmon (you know we're all into fish now, ha). This was so good. He seared it and then served it over these wonderful "harvest grains" mix that we enjoy (a heart healthy blend of couscous, split baby garbanzo beans and red quinoa). We drizzled it with coconut aminos (our new favorite substitute for soy sauce) and some broccoli microgreens.
DELICIOUS!
Hobart had no projects to do but he did a lot of resting for sure. This is one of his favorite spots...in front of the refrigerator (warm air blowing out from it) and he rests his head on the mat in front of the stove. Is he in the path of activity in the kitchen? Yes. Do we let him and step over and around him? Of course! Because...
Saturday was a perfect day for mowing. I thought about skipping, but with heavy rain in the forecast, I figured if I waited, it would be even worse this weekend and maybe too wet to mow then.
So, it was a great day of mowing, cool breeze and just perfect weather. I was having a great time until a glitch happened that hadn't ever happened before.
I was mowing a trail and I went through an area where the branches were hanging across the path. I did as I always do, ducked down and drove slowly through them. However, on one of the branches (mesquite), a thorn caught my hat and pulled it off. I stopped the mower and got off and looked around to see where it landed and thought, "why are things so blurry?"
My glasses were gone as well. Oops!
I looked around, but let's be honest, if you need glasses to see clearly, looking for your glasses without said glasses, well, it just doesn't work, ha. I went over to 2nd Family (she was out mowing as well) and asked her to come help me look.
On the ground? No.
Under the mower? No.
In the brush? No.
Not sure if you can see in the photo above but they are there. In plain site.
Here is a closeup:
They were hanging in the branch!
Ha! I think we both spotted them about the same time. Hey, I kept my heart rate under control so that was good, LOL! I thanked her and we each went about the rest of our mowing adventures.