Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Decided to give the mower one more wack. New carb already but I later figured out I've been dealing with bad gas. Old, orange and my 5 gallon can had water in it. Last thing I had done to the mower was dump the tank and put fresh gas in it but the bowl still had bad gas and water which I took care of a this afternoon. Also put a new spark plug in.
It lives! Runs like day one and I brought it down and mowed everything I could in the grass/weed overgrown tunnel areas. I'll have to start moving things out of the tunnel, including square hay cards 3" that I mulched with. Then I can mow again, then lower the mower which is on it's highest setting and mow again. Then I can tarp it.
Stihl chain saw, I didn't get to. Will try dumping the tank and putting fresh gas in first since it will start. It's older than the trimmer so it probably needs filters, fuel lines, primer bulb, carb kit and new Bosch spark plug. I'll look into OEM stuff for that because I don't think the saws are made in China. Paid $280 for the saw but hate to spend $100 on a tune up so it may get China stuff too. We'll see.
All my old Ryobi 18V stuff still work as expected. Batteries took some charge but are weak. Good enough to make everything spin under no load. Looks the old Ryobi tools are getting a lithium upgrade soon.
Now that I have a running push mower, the cordless string trimmer is no longer a priority. That means the impact gun at 41% off is the priority before that deal is no longer. Comes with 4.0 batt/charger. Normally $269, on sale for $159. All the other items will come later and a pole saw is the only thing close to a priority.
Will be interesting to see how the old tools work with lithium. I suppose 18V is 18V but they won't have that gradual slow down since lithium stays near full strength the whole time but then dies suddenly.
Pulled two of four tomato plants that were over shadowing the habanero plants and were on the East side of them. Hoping that will help the peppers ripen sooner and the two tomato plants weren't doing great. Small fruits and all fuzzy, blotchy ripening etc. Still have two plants left but haven't seen a flower in a while so those will be coming out soon too.
That will leave the two habanero, a shisito that's petering out and the lone sugar baby watermelon that I'm growing impatient with since it's in a row by itself and preventing me from tarping most of the tunnel. I can live without a 6" watermelon. I do want to at least get a couple of ripe habenero peppers though but also need to tarp while it's still hot.
Gonna get out there in the morning and pull everything I can out of the tunnel. Two pallets with hay on them, patio table, portable tank sprayer, tools, small pieces of very heavy black plastic, black rubber mats, tools, row marker stakes - I can measure it again.
I’ve noticed that my tomato plants sometimes pause flowering for several days, and then resume. I’ve tried to tie it to weather conditions, but, while really hot weather is definitely a factor, often causing flower fall-off, sometimes the plants pause in moderate temps too, not flowering to begin with.
A shot of Bloom Booster or Super Phosphate usually encourages flowering if the weather is good, but, sometimes (less often?) plants I didn’t treat “come back” later with flowers, too. I’ve had tomato plants “resume” in early fall, other times even indeterminate types just quit entirely or even die for no apparent reason. (I suspect root diseases.)
I didn’t have the energy to try out the Ninja juicer after work yesterday. Maybe tonight.
Saving the pulp for later use is a good idea. I generally can it rather than freezing it due to freezer space being at a premium. I’ve got two deep freezers and three refrigerator freezers but there never is enough empty space when harvest time rolls around. I suppose I should use some of the stuff that’s in there rather than just hoarding more. lol
I am very close to emptying out our 8 cu foot freezer. Been working at it almost a year. I think I have enough room inside to bring the rest in and unplug it. Just not going to need it at least right now. The pulp that is leftover from a champion is so dry and not a whole lot. For the three gallons of V8 we made last year I had two quart freezer bags of pulp left over. It was so dry I had to press the air out of the bags. That being said, I did not save any of the tomato pulp. It is just seeds and skins. Just the leftover pulp from the veggies, beets, onions, celery, carrots, peppers. Great to thicken a soup or stew. Sometime I would just break off a chunk to add to a pot of soup.
I went over the estimates with roofer guy. It’s a $7k premium to go with metal vs. Class IV architectural shingles.
The existing roof is 18 years old and while it isn’t leaking it definitely needs to be replaced before it starts to leak. Mrs. Augie and I are both 62yo so chances are good that whatever we put on will outlast us. Mrs. Augie is less than 60 days from retirement. I intend to retire within the next two years.
All of that considered, I’m going to put asphalt shingles back on and keep the $7k in my pocket.
I’d go with the architectural shingles, too ... $7k is nothing to sneeze at!
I’m having a tough time being patient LOL! The roofer was just here Tuesday & every time I look at that nasty old slate roof (lichens, all sorts of growth on it, slipped shingles, etc.), I can hardly wait for the new roof! I’m watching the weather for rain because our leak will leak again so I’d like to put a plastic bin down. The water on the floor last Friday didn’t mess anything up. I am hoping a guy from church can fix the drywall ceiling & repaint if we decide to stick with what we have on that ceiling.
Our new roof will outlast mom & me both, for sure!
Speaking of green beans, house brand canned green beans just jumped up 20 cents at our local Wally World and Aldi. Ditto for corn. Anybody have a clue what’s up with that?
Pork steaks and chicken are up too. Fish is almost as expensive now as shrimp, and beef is totally out of sight, except for an occasional closeout deal on frozen patties or the like. Often those patties are not that great...
Maybe I need to go fishing more...
I eat a lot of plain ol’ canned green beans. They go well, unseasoned except what’s in the can, with a lot of dishes my wife cooks. I’ve tried planting a couple varieties of beans, but without much success, and prep time is an issue too. :-(
If I could sustain my 1st year’s success with Opo, that would be a potential substitute “filler” (or “fill me up”) veggie. It’s neutral, and when successful, the fruits are huge, and will sometimes keep a few months, at the expense of needing to remove the skin and seeds. Young fruits — one can basically just chop up or slice the whole thing, sort of like cucumbers.
I’ll keep bloom booster in mind for next year and beyond but I’m actually itching to pull every plant out of the tunnel, all six of them, and prep the soil like I should have done before a plant or seed ever went in there.
Hah, I just took a look at my “took months to germinate” Opo plant, and it’s really going to town. It grew about 6” yesterday! Time to move it out of the 5” starter pot and into the garden proper - MAYBE there’s enough time B4 frost to get something out of it.
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