Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
It looked like it would be a nice day, but then it became overcast and looked like rain. No indications from NWS or my barometer, so maybe it is just something that will blow through. It is windy, versus breezy, this morning and if it continues, it will be good weather for outdoor chores, except for spraying.
My plan was to work on the road, but first I needed to change the oil in the small generator so I could charge the batteries later. Once that was done, I decided to work on the trail mower so it would be ready when I got around to mowing the front 40. After jacking up the deck to gain better access to the underside, I realized what needed to be done, made the necessary adjustment, and reattached the lock nut to the bottom of the adjusting screw.
Because I had to detach the mower from the Argo and the wind had died down, I decided to use the Argo to spray the weeds along the road as far as I could. I have a 30-gallon spray tank in the Argo, but as of right now, I don’t have the irrigation pump hooked up and the water source is shallow, so can’t really use it. I managed to spray all the weeds on the right side of the road as far as the cattle guard, which is the dividing line between the National Forest and BLM land. This too, took me off the road and into the meadow areas to make sure I got all of the weeds. A couple of the Canadian Thistle had already bloomed and gone to seed, which is unfortunate, but nothing I could do about it. The Houndstongue, Musk Thistle and knapweed are just starting to bloom, so I had to search for them. Almost anything that has thorns is a noxious weed and needs to be eliminated.
I almost made it to the cattle guard before running out of spray, so I headed back to the cabin. The wind was picking up again, so I decided to wait for calmer weather to finish spraying. I rested and had another Gator Aid and then hooked the trail mower to the Argo and started mowing. Because of the bumpy terrain, I needed to go slow so it took a lot longer to mow than I thought it would. I mowed from the road in front of my place all of the way to the cabin before the trail mower ran out of gas. I had the portions on either side of the cabin to finish, so I filled the gas tank and continued until it was done. I decided to see how well the mower might work at mowing down the willow brush, so I took it into the creek bed and started mowing.
The engine stalled a couple of times and I had to adjust the blades to a higher level, but other than that, it worked fairly well. I mowed a couple of strips at the bottom of the grade and then took it across the creek to a grassy area that needs to be mowed. The mower stalled again and due to the lateness of the day, I decided to call it quits and left the Argo and trail mower in the creek bottom.
I hiked up to the cabin and a very anxious Zack, who had been waiting patiently to play. He knows that when I am spraying or mowing, he is to stay in the cabin and away from what I am doing. He also does that if I am cutting wood, which is a really good thing, as I can’t always keep an eye on him.
We played for a while and then I fed him and Zoey, took a long cool shower, fixed a drink and sat down to relax before having some dinner.