67 going up to 86 today in fair weather. Worked outside most of yesterday afternoon, sprayed all the trees in the orchard and most of the azalea bushes in the front of the house, which had been covered in some grunge. I had sprayed those bushes about two weeks ago and found my custom orchard mix did just fine on the bushes; most of the grunge is gone and new growth is coming out without it. Whatever is in the orchard spray is clearly multipurpose, and is likely on the weak side I think of alternative chemicals to use. Everything I've sprayed with it looks better. Fruit trees have been heavily munched by some bug, lots of leaf loss. I really soaked those trees in spray this time, eat that bugs and go choke on it. Bugs ate 99% of the leaves off a beautiful pin oak tree I had planted last Fall. Healthy, great leaf growth, then chomped, like a deer going through your garden.
Good news is I got my orchard sprayer back yesterday, with a new carb put on under warranty. Pretty sad when you have to replace the carb on a brand new Honda...what is the proverbial world coming to?.... I also went to the JD dealer and got my Yanmar air filters. 20 bucks apiece for the inners and outers. Luckily I have confirmed the Donaldson style filter here is generic and I don't have to buy JD replacements. The inner filter after 122 hours looked brand new; didn't need replacing at all. Outer filter pretty gray, time for it, but that thin tubular inner filter looks/feels almost opaque; how air gets through it eluded me, but then many things do...
My biggest challenge is lifting full five gallon tanks over my shoulders and up on top of the Kubota hood. I can still do it, but it's really hard on me holding it there while I'm fueling. Every time I put diesel in there I dream of a nice nozzle and pump...couple thousand dollars cost in buying the tank, the pump, the fuel filters, and then for sure filling the darned thing. Since I use a lot more fuel in the diesel garden tractor and that's of course easy to fuel, I've been procrastinating. Maybe since I'm not building a big garage back there I'll treat myself to a fuel tank. have a place to call, will ask about zoning/permits/pollution requirements. Whatever I install, if I install, will be to code since I don't want any issues when I go to sell this place someday. this isn't Kalifornia, so I'm not sure about double tanks, retention tanks, etc. If I buy a brand new single wall tank, it sure had better not leak in my lifetime...
I've seen a lot of those diesel tanks with pumps sitting out in the elements uncovered. I might try to put a little roof over it, or if I do build a concrete pad and shed roof back there, which the contractor is coming late today to talk to me about, I might set the tank in the corner on the proposed concrete and where I can get to it from several directions. I spent some time maneuvering the tractor with loader and mower back behind the barn making sure my stakes allowed enough turning room. About sixty feet behind the barn is the main six foot deep ditch. Need to stay off that a bit but want to hide this new building behind the existing barn. Just not attractive versus my looking out the back door at towering pines and the woods.
lots of errands to run, not an outside day for me. Back at it tomorrow. Going to start fairly early tomorrow with the chain saw cutting up lots of small trees removed from the woods for the path to the pond. The unfinished path...so much to do. The area where my woodsplitting operation is/was is exactly where I want the new building to go so time to get all that wood split, and cleared out of there. I don't mind running a chain saw in the 70's; much hotter than that and I don't last long.
have heard nothing back on the boat I'm looking at from the listing broker. Maybe my questions have bothered the seller.
