Good morning!!!!

[Thomas]

40F mostly cloudy day mid 50's for high.

Outside chores done E muffin time.
Might start washing outside of house...might,other than that putter day and set game cam in new location.

Enjoy your day all.

 

[wngsprd]

63 going to 90...hard to believe I was hiking in snow a few days ago.

Prayers said, Buppies.

Toppop, sounds like you had a nice day.

Worked out in the yard and garden yesterday with my wife...finally tilled the garden, but we just had 29F 4 days ago, so not really running late. Female hummingbirds arrived late yesterday...hope sugar prices haven't gone up too much.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I got one of those, too. I don't remember anything about greasing a valve, I'll have to look at the manual.

Not in the manual. But on YouTube.
It’s when one of the valves sticks, and it won’t unload the built up pressure, so it won’t spray. The solution is to take the valve apart and use some lithium grease on it.

 

[Popgadget]

Good morning.
It’s 50 outside now, with a high of 65 forecast. Clear skies that never materialized yesterday.

Yesterday started with patrolling the hedge rows and cutting them back to where they should be, fighting off their encroachment. The tools of choice were the little pistol grip Stihl saw and Makita hedge trimmers, the Makita chainsaw was on standby. It was all light cutting, a result of regular maintenance.
I got a call from a neighbor wanting to borrow a multimeter to trouble shoot his zero turn, the blades wouldn’t engage. He is a really nice guy, but him with a multimeter would have been like a pig looking at a watch, so I went over to look at it. Turned out that the clutch was engaging, but a belt was off due to a failed tensioner pulley. I took the pulley off and matched up with a generic one from the local mower shop. We finished up in time to grill us some late lunch. Finished the day down at my son’s with a batch of his friends for a pizza diner.

Today I hope to get to the airport, and take care of a few chores on the little plane. But I’m not sure what I’ll actually end up doing.

Regarding pressure washer selection, think of cleaning with water like chipping a rock with a hammer. Pressure is analogous to the speed that you swing the hammer, while volume is the weight of the hammer. So in most cases GPM is more important than PSI, even though it’s the pressure numbers that are usually flaunted, largely because you can get a high pressure with a low volume with less horsepower than a higher volume. In my opinion, about 1500 psi and 4-5 GPM is the sweet spot, but will still require over 10 hp. Also look for pumps with brass bodies and stainless internals. Aluminum bodied pumps are very susceptible to corrosion.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 59F @ 5:00 AM. Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 81F. Winds light and variable.
Looks like a beautiful spring day on the way.

Seems a shame to have to cut down such a wonderful tree, Doug. Said he that's cut down maybe a hundred in the past couple months. Wonder if you couldn't just limb it up and thin it out so production wasn't so prodigious, then maybe put a bit of fence around it to keep the dog safe?

I bought a Generac PW many years ago, with a Honda engine, and despite the abuse it's seen at my hands, Ted, it still works well. The Chinese pneumatic tires are always flat when I go to use it, but it's light enough I can drag it over to the compressor and fill 'em up. My neighbor has a fancy hot water PW that runs off electricity, that he got at auction, and had I to do again I'd be looking to go that direction. But you'd be a very lucky man to find one in the $500 range.

I tried some of those fly strips, Kyle, but the wind just blew them so that they stuck to the windows. Never saw a single fly on one. You've got the picture right on the solar system, too. Wherever the energy comes from, the grid (AC), the generator (AC), or solar panels (DC), it goes first to keep the batteries charged. Any left over gets sold back to the electric utility. Then coming back out of the battery bank, it's converted back to AC to feed the household loads. It was set up that way so there would always be power available for the well pumps in case of fire. At least until the propane tank runs out, the sun stops shining, or the battery bank is exhausted. All that back and forth conversion stuff happens on the south wall of the garage. I don't think the inverters are fast enough to prevent the voltage sags, and one of the fixes proposed by the company that made them is to keep them both in active mode instead of letting one of them go to sleep when demand is low. Been too busy to try that, but it's on my list. The generator is set to automatically come on for five minutes every Friday, and you should see the lights flicker when the loads transfer to it, then back to the solar panels. Not the seamless transition I was promised, at all.

The contractor was working on the dump truck yesterday, and called to ask if I had any carbide drills. Seems he broke an easy out while trying to remove a stud from the rear hub. I do have some, but they'd been dulled from drilling hardened steel in a piece of railroad track. Tried to sharpen them using the diamond wheel in the Drill Doctor, but when I tried them on a file, they just skidded off. I used the milling machine to do that, and when I flipped the switch to start the phase converter, the lights flickered pretty well. So back to the power system, the other day when I was testing using the air conditioner for a load, the lights wouldn't flicker to save my life. So that problem now seems to also be intermittent. Lucky me. I did manage to find a Youtube video that showed how to use a diamond hole saw to remove a broken tap or easy out, and found some in stock at the local Home Depot. I passed that info along to the contractor, so that's probably what he'll be up to today.

Read a post from one of the Subaru gurus yesterday that he's experienced two Engine Management Unit failures, both of them giving symptoms similar to what I'm seeing. The Factory Service Manual cautions not to connect or disconnect the EMU without first disconnecting the battery, and since I haven't been doing that, there's a good chance both of the EMUs I have on hand are damaged. So I ordered another one yesterday, for the princely sum of forty bux, and sent off for a quote to a rebuilder to try to get to a known good condition for the EMU. That won't be much help in the short term, so I called a neighbor to ask if his car trailer could be borrowed over the weekend, and spent the rest of the day installing the bench seat/bed in the back of the van so at least I'll have a comfortable place to sleep. Today I'll put some gas in the little Yamaha motorcycle and get it running again, then put the bumper hitch carrier on the van so I can self rescue should it come to that. Just have to remember to bring my riding gear on what should just be a car camping trip.

I was surprised and pleased a how easy it was to put the rear seat back in the van. I'd removed it several years ago from the parts van, and wasn't sure what it would take to transfer it to the Syncro van. Took the bench over to the parts van to see if there were threaded holes for it to bolt to, but found only grinder marks. In the Syncro, I found brackets with threaded holes had been welded into the perfect spots, so apparently I'd already taken care of that. Took me the better part of an hour digging through boxes to find the baggie full of mounting hardware, and I had to install a pair of rivnuts on the engine deck sheet metal for another pair of brackets, but that's all it took. Then I started looking for a kit that upgrades the seat so it can be positioned to face either forward or to the rear, and that took another hour of digging through boxes. I finally managed to find it; it was in the last place I looked. So that's where I'll start this morning, but besides the Yamaha I'm not sure where the day will go from there.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

 

[gstrom99]

'morinng ya'll. Hit 75 yesterday, mid 50's today. Clear and sunny. Rain/wind came through, but nothing severe as they warned. Guess the bad stuff went around me. Rains washed out the RallyCross the local SCCA chapter had planned for today at the county fairgrounds. Lost a maple tree behind the grain bin, which I'll need to slice up today. Chainsaw and tractor work, and being on the ground makes it alot easier. Need to get it off the field, so the farmer can plant. Need to get off my butt here and get to work...

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

All three came back cancer two basil cell one squamous cell on top of last surgeon this time, not good

Prayers sent... I hope that they can get ahead of it and get it all removed. Take care.

 

[rswyan]

75F and sunny @ 10:30, headed up to a high of 82F for the day. Current soil temp 60F, 24-Hour Average 61.4F.

Finally got the last three strawberry plants potted yesterday.

Also moved all the asparagus and most of the everbearing strawberries around back. Still have to do the June-bearing which are sitting on the kitchen floor.

Repotted The Woman's second hibiscus.

Did some more coring on the front and sides/back down here around the house. Couldn't do all of the front, as it was still way too wet and I was worried about getting stuck. Hopefully will be drier today.

Moved the potted hosta and brunnera back into the shade in the entryway.

Repotted the four largest cucumber plants and set them outside in the sun on the entryway. After about 10 minutes they were drooping badly so I moved them into the shaded area where I put the hosta/brunnera.

Also moved the winter squash into the sun out there, they didn't droop so I left them in the sun.

Went up to the shop with the Cub and dump cart and added about a half cart more screened compost to level the bed:

Then went down and got a couple of bags of mulch and started covering the bed. That went about halfway so I went down and got a two more. Ended up taking about 3 1/2 bags to cover it:

Used the half bag that was left to mulch around the ginkgo tree:

While I was there I noticed a bird in Nest Box No. 3 ... didn't get a real good look but it appeared to have a white neck/breast ... possibly a tree swallow ?

On the way down to the house I checked out the peach tree on the west side, which seems like it too is doing pretty decent:

Some of the grape hyacinths we planted around it are just starting to poke through the soil:

Need to give that one some mulch today.

After that I went and got the Stihl blower and blew the leaves off that area out front in the second circle where we planted the coral bells and the grape hyacinths.

That planting are is going to need a little work with the rake, due to all the deer that have tramped through it. Not clear if all the coral bells are still there but I think most of them are.

Got a couple more bags and mulched the hosta bed around a hawthorn tree:

After that I weeded around one of the redbud trees we planted and used the leftover mulch around the outside edge of that:

Plan is to dig up some of the old day lilies we have growing here in various places and plant those around the redbud and then I'll finish mulching it.

Ended up getting up to 80F inside the house (@ 17:00) before I relented and closed the windows and turned on the AC.

Squeak spent most of the day up on her cat tower sleeping ...

Got the PT 2 x 4's moved around back, will try and get those cut to length today.

Mowed the drier parts of the compost/wood lot.

Watered The Woman's dahlias and got a seed order placed before I headed to bed. More winter squash, pumpkins, zinnia and marigold seeds.

All in all, it ended up being a pretty productive day yesterday. Hope today goes as well.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable, productive, and safe Sunday ...

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 33°, going up to the low 60's. No wind this morning! WOOHOO! Supposed to be nice until Friday, when wind returns. No precip in the forecast at all!

Thanks for all the PW suggestions. I'm still undecided if electric or gas would suit my needs better. At most it would be occasional use, but some areas of use would require a fairly long extension cord (at least 50'), so have to consider that too.... I like the simplicity of electric like minimal maintenance. But the power of gas...... Paul, the 'sweet spot' /low pressure/ high volume makes sense.

Why is it when the weather is beautiful, one already has a commitment to do something else? Today is "dog food day", so basically stuck inside for a few hours..... I have been waiting for a morning like today to get an R/C plane out and fly! Maybe this afternoon will still be calm.... fingers crossed...

I am really pondering how I used to do all the things that I did while still working long hours..... now I have at least double the amount of time to do things and can barely get anything done! I need to figure this out.....

RNG, I hope that you found a solution with the ECM information. Seems like everything else has been ruled out.... Chasing gremlins isn't fun.....

Kyle thanks for the link to the realtor. I will look further into their site this evening. You are correct in the crazy increases in land values. I am hoping (but doubtful) that prices may come back down to more reasonable levels over the next year or so.

Drew, thanks for the 2 links for the PW. I didn't know Ryobi made a brushless model.... definitely going to research that one.

Everyone have a great day!

 

[rswyan]

L4N,

Sorry for your guys loss on the D-I-L.

 

[rswyan]

Buppies,

Wishing you the best ... keep after it and don't give up hope.

 

[rswyan]

LS,

Have a Simpson PW which I got from TSC, has a Honda engine.

I used it a bit after I first got it and then it sat parked in the basement for around 8 years. Drained the old gas and stuck some fresh in and it started right up last year.

Have been pretty happy with it.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Kyle thanks for the link to the realtor. I will look further into their site this evening. You are correct in the crazy increases in land values. I am hoping (but doubtful) that prices may come back down to more reasonable levels over the next year or so.

I've been watching long enough now so that I recognize properties when their prices change, and I'm seeing a fair number of price reductions. All those rising prices are pushing people out of the market, so maybe sales will slow until things get back to more realistic levels. That's how it's supposed to work, anyway.

 

[daugen]

RNG, I'm afraid to say it but I think your van is possessed.

 

[sodamo]

68°F and .48 inches rain.

Not sure what I’ll get into today, probably clean up of some sort, a rich environment.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[daugen]

spent the last half hour doing an excel spreadsheet of my families plots in church graveyard.
When my Mom died in 1971 my Dad bought 8 plots for the whole family. I think they were 300 bucks apiece back then,
big gift to family. Except I thought it was six and caretaker gave me a copy of original graveyard plot plan showing two more available than I thought.
So I drew the layout on excel and shipped it off to siblings. I'm all set, my monument is in the ground waiting for an end date. It's the remaining siblings who have to
expel or get off the pot. Sign up now for all eternity. Free with perpetual care. A big gift to family. This means there's enough room for brother and SIL plus their son and family.

I'm the only one who really knows what is going on so I had to make sure they were well versed on their options. Now it's their problem.
Kinda nice knowing exactly where I'm going to wind up and it's a quiet spot in a very old Quaker graveyard. Behind my parents and grandparents.
Next to a noisy road. Maybe in a next life I'll get on the township planning board and divert the trucks and motorcycles off that road.

Martha, I have to tell you, a ghost came to me last night and specifically said I had to get the big trucks and loud motorcycles off Durham Road.
Well Bill, if you say it was a real ghost, guess you'd better do just that.

I can't have a lot of noise because of the intercom my old friend Bill H. put in, since we are about thirty feet away from each other. He passed last year, and it was a string and
two Campbell tomato soup cans. No amplification, why we need some peace and quiet.

Let's all live to be 100 and make our doctors rich.

 

[sodamo]

Good explanation on pressure washers, Paul. My Ryobi electrics are only 1.2 gpm I think, but the Simpson I’m looking at 3.5 possibly 4 gpm. I don’t want to have my water pump running constantly when using. As the gpm rises so does the $$. The low gpm is still adequate for surface cleaning my concrete and washing vehicles. I will be using one of those long extension arms with the Simpson rather than a ladder.
The quality pump is a feature of the Simpson.

 

[daugen]

most popular power washer pump suppliers, including Annovi Reverberi (AR), Hawk, General Pump, Cat Pumps, Comet

AR is old line Italian pump maker, they also make low cost powerwashers, General is usually pro grade as is Cat. My 4000 psi unit had a Cat pump.
I don't know much about Comet. Are ceramic seals a plus?
Learned long ago putting antifreeze in them over winter was really important after I wrecked a nice Cat pump. Never again. Always put the unit away with some name brand, I think Briggs,
antifreeze and pump lube in the system to let it overwinter with.

I always dreamed of a heated water/steam pressure washer to get all that grease off instead of just smearing it around.
I also learned that if you aren't careful using it on machinery you can drive the water into the bearings which clearly is not good.

I had a commercial grade power washer wand extension for doing the second floor of my home in NC. Fully charged under higher pressure, it was too heavy for me to handle.
My much larger fireman friend was even tired by it. Just know you need strong arms for these things. And the more you crank up the pressure, as any fireman knows, the more that line
will fight you.

 

[sodamo]

RNG
see page 48 of the Radian manual
“Forcing All Slaves to be Active:
All slave inverters can be made active to defeat the Power Save function. This is strongly recommended when stacking GS4048A inverters.
To force all slaves to be active, set Master Power Save Level to twice the number of slave inverters in the system. For example, if there is one master and one slave, Master Power Save Level should be set to 2. If two slaves are present, Master Power Save Level should be set to 4.
NOTE: Make certain the Slave Power Save Level settings remain lower than this number. The default setting is 1.”

48 900-0160-01-01 Rev B

This is just a setting in the Mate 3. I’m assuming the contractor didn’t lock you out via password.

I have also heard that some batteries don’t respond well to quick surges. Hope this isn’t your case. Might want to check with the battery manufacturer if possible.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Dead battery on ZT. Seems last person to use it forgot to turn key all the way off (usually take it out and hang it up). That would be me.
Ranger is parked in front of it. Got charger on it now. Still haven’t got truck started. Guess I’ll drag extension cord up to it next.

Wood boring bees buzzing me up on my porch swing.