Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[jvls1942]

our picnic after the storm.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hi

 

[Callender Girl]

That's quite a spread for your picnic, Jim. Maybe a little candlelight next time?

My sister arrived yesterday, and I was banking on her to get the riding mower going.

Unfortunately, we eliminated all the things we thought might be the problem (it has gas, plenty of oil that doesn't need to be changed, the air filter isn't unduly dirty, removed all the grass clinging to the housing, charged up the battery) and still no working mower.

I left a phone message for the guy with the small engine shop. And, I mowed with the electric mower until its battery ran down.

We went to town yesterday, and I restocked the fridge after tossing out all the food that spent too many hours above 40 degrees. Pricey, but worth it not to get food poisoning, I'm sure.

I had power back in time to make coffee yesterday morning (Hallelujah!), but more than 7,000 folks in Des Moines did not. All told, there were 23 tornados reported in Iowa. One leveled most of the town of Greenfield.

Today, we will tackle outdoor projects, for tomorrow it will rain AGAIN.

Second planting of radishes is coming along nicely. I have mounded more dirt over the emerging Russian Banana fingerling potatoes. And, the first kohlrabis leaves are peeking out of the soil.

 

[jvls1942]

Barb, I wish I could be there. I think I could get the mower going,
make sure you have the choke fully closed.
on mine the throttle control goes up to a point and stops. BUT, I have to push it hard to get it into choke. Annie hasn't quite mastered this step.
Another possibility is water in the gas tank.
get a can of starter fluid. take the air cleaner off.
give i little squirt directly into where the air cleaner was. if it fires up and runs for a second or three. water is likely the problem.

 

[jvls1942]

j JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING ELSE.
iS THERE A SHUT OFF BALVE IN THE GAS LINE ?
KEEP US POSTED.
THERE IS ANOTHER TRUCJ TI DI AFTER TIY DRAUB TGE TABJM=,
.IF YOU HAVE TO, AND HAVE FRESH GAS IN IT.
ON MY ROTOTILLER i SHUT OFF THE VALVE AND LET THE TILLER RUN OUT OF GAS TO SHUT IT OFF.

 

[jvls1942]

Lisa, not good weather for making hay.
today I went to dr. for my annual check up.
all the numbers were better than the last time and that time was not so bad. i even lost 15 pounds. even after eating two rhubarb pies ..
bought a head light for my head, not the car.
shopped for hand knobs for the drill press table.
called menards. they have some. not cheap, but now day what is ?
Barb, did you get the lawn mower going ?
what make is your mower ? Briggs engine ?
I stupidly blew up the tecumseh enging on my tiller.
I was lucky and found a briggs engine with identical mounting bolt holes.
had trouble with it. tried to fix it. couldn't figure it out.
took it to a fixit guy. he fiddled with the carburetor.
didn't help. finally I decided to dig into it deeper.
cruised y outube. came to the conclusion it might be the valves. took a chance and found the one valve had loosened up. reset the valves to what I figured it should be.
now I can start it without even choking it..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We got another 1/2 inch this morning. I was trapped out by the barn because it was raining so hard. When it broke for a bit I ran to my shed and was trapped out there for a while as the rain picked back up. The hay is getting tall, and soon will be tough. We wanted quality not quantity this year. Hope it stops soon.

We pulled the waterwalls off the tomatoes that were growing out of the top. They are big, and I see one was blossoming already. My lettuce is slow, but we got a good crop of radishes. I see the strawberries are developing too. Nice to see some plants survived. Needed knee boot to wade around my garden boxes today. Getting ridiculous.

I enjoyed a good laugh when the noon time weather guy said tomorrow is a good day to mow the lawn. Ours is partially submerged. Do they make underwater mowers?

Jim, my husband bought another tractor. A John Deere 401C with a loader. Now we need to fix this and fix that. Guess it keeps him busy.

 

[jvls1942]

I had to look up that tractor.
I like those industrial loaders.
tough tractors.
my wife's cousin has one similar.
only I don't think it runs. at least he never drives it.
he will enjoy driving it.
Barb must be busy making her slave sister work

 

[Callender Girl]

While I have been taking advantage of my sister's free help, the real reason I was off BYC is that I thought I was having computer issues. Turned out, it was a just locked keyboard. We thought Ozzie, who had been walking on the desk, hit a lock key. Carolyn used her much-better-than-mine phone to look up possible ways to unlock the keyboard. We tried a dizzying array of possible ways. Sometimes, the simplest solution works. Changed the keyboard batteries. Success!

Yes, the mower is working. Gave up and took it to mower repair place after Carolyn and I got it trailered. Wayne, bless him, fixed it in less than a day. Replaced old battery and said the carburetor was "messed up." I immediately ran it over the thigh-high grass and weeds by the barn.

 

[jvls1942]

good to hear you got both problems fixed.
a few weeks back I could not get my sound to work on the computer. I tried everything I could think of
finally got DD Brenda go come out.
she fixed it in ten seconds.. I had accidently hit the sound button in the tool bar at the bottom of the screen.. it is right next to the weather button.
today I am going to drill a hole through the gear bar on the drill press. put a bolt through it and clamp it in place with a hose clamp. I will not thread the hole. that would mean buying a tap.
this won't cost me anything because I have everything I need.

the sun came up fifteen minutes earlier than it did a week ago.

give carolyn a bread once in a while.

Lisa, maybe you will have better luck with second crop hay.. I don't see anybody around here cutting hay yet.