Chores and more Chores - Thursday

Yesterday ended up being a mishmash of various tasks. There are always so many things that I could or should be doing that it can be hard to prioritize, especially in the moment. My first task was to get something figured out for handle bars for our big trike. A while ago they broke and the neck on the trike broke. The trike sat in the shed since until I figured I would give a repair a go.

It is nowhere near perfect but it works enough that R can steer it. I cut a piece of 1 1/4" pvc for the handle bar then I broke the rest of the pieces off the neck. There are 2 bolts, one for the neck and one for the handle bar. I have pipe hanger straps and one fit over the pvc pretty well and after drilling out the hole it got attached to the neck.

On the front side I used a piece of plumbers tape and a bolt to connect the strap to the tape then bolted it to the remnants of the neck. It is still a bit loose but it works okay. Today I am going to add some more straps to it and try to get it tighter.

He managed to figure out keeping the handle bar in place as he rode and even hooked up the wagon to town it around the yard.

When I dropped a couple of trees late last year I bucked them up and cut them to rounds. This piece was left and I wasn't able to pull it up by hand. When the tree fell the branch hit the ground perpendicular and buried it. When I cut the tree up this piece was left floating in the air. I finally backed my truck up to it, wrapped it with a chain, and drug it out. No wonder I couldn't pull it out of the ground, it was sunk 18" deep.

With the round pulled I was able to unroll the fence and install it around the pole bean garden. The fence is not very tall but it is enough to generally keep the birds out and most other garden vermin.

I got most of the plastic laid out in the garden save a few pieces. I've found that this will likely be the last year on most of the plastic I have laid down being at least 3 years old for most of it and some up to 6 years old.

It's not perfect, just like everything I do, but it reduces the weeding dramatically over the season. I have a couple irrigation issues that need to be repaired but I need hose crimp clamps to repair it so I need to pick them up in town. One row has a couple cuts to the line and one row in the pole beans has some big issues with wallowed holes around emitters.

I pulled out the weedeater and got it running and greased the head. It started right up and runs perfect and is ready for the season.

With rain coming tomorrow I decided to get all the rest of the ash I have saved and fill a can with it. I had a garbage bag half full that got a hole in the bottom so that can was the best option. I was able to then shovel the rest of the ash from the tray to empty it and fill the can to brim full. I may take some of it up to the upper garden to spread out.

Today I finish the plastic, clean off the deck, flag the wholes in the irrigation lines, finish readying the farm for rain, and try to get the floors cleaned in the house.