Fixin' stuff

The clothes dryer is quiet again. A $12 idler pulley and about 10 minutes to install it (would have been 5 but the belt slipped off the drum and I had to reposition it) did the trick.

Yesterday I'd intended to fix the church's lawn mower and mow their lawn. The guy who mows the lawn said the thing was a piece of junk and we needed to buy a new mower. It did have a dead battery, and that was a little expensive (it has the biggest battery I've ever seen in a small lawn tractor) and the bendix was shot so it wouldn't crank over, and the air filter was plugged solid. But those are all standard maintenance items. Anyway, by the time I figured out the bendix was shot, drove into town twice for new parts (I replaced one part and another part of the bendix broke 20 minutes later) and drove around looking for a new battery, I spent a big chunk of the day on it.

Then I brought it home and lubed everything and power washed it. Then it was raining so no mowing got done.

So anyway, $100 for parts (mainly battery) instead of $4000 for a new mower is a good bonus for the church. I'm sure the lawn mowing guy won't be happy at another few years with the 25-year-old Simplicity instead of a new ZTR mower, but tough luck.

Saturday

Went over this morning and mowed the church's lawn. It was a bit slow going because it really should have been mowed a week ago, and it was wet. Even so the mower cut it down well. That mower, which the custodian says is "junk that needs replacing" is a better mower now than my mower was when it was new. Honestly, he's whining because he's used to the super-nice all-hydraulic mowers at the metropark.

There was a ladies group tea at 10AM, and T was in the puppet show they gave. I went in to watch. They've been doing some cool stuff with muppet-like springy puppets that glow in black light. It was well received. The adult in charge kept messing up the audio tracks, and after the first few attempts at one point, the puppet that was "on stage" (a camel that was a news anchorman) started drumming its fingers and making "get on with it" gestures to the audience, which they thought was hilarious.

Anyway, after getting home, I just got some garden stuff done; I got a couple hundred pounds of rocks out of the field (they just plowed it a few days ago), I spread the load of wood chips I got about a week ago around the pond. I did not get the new rose plants or the bulbs planted, that'll have to be done tomorrow.

I was going to get started on the flower bed on the side of the house, but when I took the recycling and trash to the dump, there was a huge lineup to get in; turns out the county was doing a cleanup day there, so no way am I going to try to get in. I took the recycling down to the dropoff a mile away, and tossed the bag of garbage into the garage to get rid of later.

The flower garden is going to need at least 3 loads of wood chips and probably 4 loads of topsoil/compost to put together. Actually, probably more like 6 to 8 loads.

Audiobook finished

_Thud_ by Pratchett
War between dwarves and trolls threatens to break out due to an ancient grudge and the approaching anniversary of an ancient battle. Vimes uncovers the truth behind the battle and averts the war. The watch hires its first vampire watchman. Nobby dates an exotic dancer with a serious insecurity problem.