It was a pretty productive morning yesterday (forgot to post this!).

I got out really early with the machete and laid waste to much of the ragweed forest. I have three good-sized piles to get rid of and there’s still more to go.

I started in the front yard and it really opened up the area. I really wanted to take care of the weeds around two dead trees I have to take down. I cleared the area around one of them so it’s ready for the chainsaw. I’ll work on clearing around the other one next but I may go ahead and take the bigger one down as it’s a widow maker – a real safety hazard.

My plan is to drop them right on the same spot I burned a brush pile on earlier this year. The trees that need to come down may be diseased or have a parasite problem. I have seen some shelf fungus on some of the trees so I may be taking more out and I’ll have to burn all of it to keep the problem from spreading.

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A week or two ago my starter rope broke, leaving my $25 Mower a giant paperweight. I did some YouTube research and found that fixing the mower was simpler than I thought (when I saw rivets in the cover I figured it was a throwaway design since that’s how everything is made these days). I also found out how to increase the RPMs to make it run faster and cut better in thicker areas.

I found the throttle linkage and made the adjustment but couldn’t check it until I got the rope fixed.

I pulled the top of the engine cover off then removed the starter mechanism. Basically all that broke off was about an inch of rope and the rest of it was fine. No need to buy a new rope!

I got it all put back together and fired it up. Success! It started and is running with more power. I figured I oughta try it out with the new change and got it in the thick grass. Working like a champ!

All together, it was about 20 minutes to fix both things and it cost me zip. Zilch. Nada. You gotta love that.

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Fall is definitely on its way – the nights are getting cooler, the days are getting shorter and, most importantly, it’s less busy since school has started. September is when the empty-nesters come out of hibernation. That makes it a great time to go for me to avoid the crowds for the maiden voyage.

Plus with the weather getting more tolerable that means less air conditioning needed. With my solar capacity on the trailer I can get by camping cheaper since I don’t really need any utility hookups.

Right now I’m focusing on getting work done outside around the house but I’m planning on getting the generator set up to use in the next few weeks.

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That’s all for now.

Shawn