Driven by the list
The to do list I created for my first of two consecutive three day weekends was substantial, once again crossing into double digit territory. There were a couple uncompleted items from the prior list that got added to this one. List items are only removed once accomplished never any other way. On Friday I tried to get some normal Saturday items out of the way like weeding the property. I took Sadie and Elsa for a long errand run mid-morning which probably totaled more than 50 miles of driving. They both just love hanging out in the back of the Tacoma since the rear seat is covered in two dog beds.
During the afternoon, despite it being the absolutely hottest and most miserable part of the day, I grabbed my weed whacker and trimmed up the property. I no longer have the luxury of pushing off grass chores a week without a major penalty. During this part of the year the grass grows like weeds, requiring weekly attention, at a minimum. After weed whacking I was a sweaty mess. I jumped in the pool to cool off. I also gave Sadie her first of several “splashy splash” sessions of the weekend.
The way splashy splash has worked up until the last few months of Sadie’s life is I jump in the pool and go side to side as Sadie would run back and forth. When she got to me I would splash her with huge amounts of water and then I would go to the other side where we repeat the process. She used to run around the pool endlessly as she finds this ritual fun. Well during the strictest 2-3 months of quarantine lock down Sadie put on a considerable amount of weight and started having some serious struggles with her mobility. During a vet visit they said Sadie has the beginnings of hip dysplasia which is a pretty common ailment in older dogs which causes weakness and pain in the rear legs. So anyway, the end result was when we did splashy splash this weekend Sadie walked slowly from side to side. She still liked getting splashed but it made me a bit sad to see how much she has slowed down.
So even though I had worked all day I wanted to get some formal cardio in. I had been wanting to try Cindy’s new Echelon cycle for awhile so I grabbed my bike shoes and had at it. I only did a 20 minute class but that was enough to get me panting. My biggest issue was I didn’t have a good frame of reference as far as what resistance level I should be using. As a result I think I had it cranked higher than would be ideal for someone starting out. It’s a low impact but high exertion cardio workout that will help me keep my endurance up now that I have sworn off of running due to my f’d left knee.
Saturday I wasted little time before I dug into more of the list. I needed to mow the property but before doing so there were two things I needed to get done with the new tractor, change the oil and install a sun shade. I have about 10 hours on the mower which is actually a couple hours more than they recommend waiting to do the initial oil change. The first oil change always occurs early due to new engine break in. The process for changing the oil on the Husqvrana was very similar to what I used to do on my Craftsman mower, I just had to remove one face panel first to access the oil fill and drain locations. Of course I did not waste the opportunity to make a how to video on it.
I immediately followed up with installing the universal sun shade. It turns out it wasn’t quite universal enough as I had to drill two holes into the seat base of the mower to get the brackets to fit. It all worked out well. I like the design of this shade more than what was on the Craftsman. It can be removed in 10 seconds if need be and if you inadvertently hit something with the shade the frame will fold backwards on it’s hinge instead of bending the frame. You can see the process here.
Cindy helped me with some indoor list items as I continued outside mowing the property which took a couple hours. It turned out my timing was fortunate as later in the day we got smashed with rain which left the property a soggy mess. I also got to spend some time in between chores hanging out with DJ as Katie brought him over which is always a fun time. I spent some time in the hobby room getting one of my Prusa printers going again which was another list item.
Sunday after tending to the chickens, paying my bills, and going on a DD run with the dogs I wanted to get out briefly on my MSX. Last week I had someone suggest that I “race” my Skydio 2 drone which has a rated top speed of 36mph. The only EUC I have that can eclipse that is my Gotway MSX which some people ride as fast as 45mph. Despite the temps already well into the 90s I donned my upper body armor for the ride to up my safety level, just in case. Luckily I didn’t need it.
I did 5 or 6 high speed runs in the mostly abandoned streets across Immokalee Road. The roads are straight as an arrow which was good but they aren’t necessarily very flat. There are small undulations that become very large if you hit them when going 30+ mph. The best speed I got to was 36-37MPH which was plenty fast for me. I feel very comfortable rolling at 25MPH on my wheels, that level of comfort vanishes going 35MPH.
Later in the afternoon I knocked out a couple more list items but there were two things that did not get completed. I will be trying to either knock them out after work during the week or they will get tacked on to next weekends list. The list is a silent taskmaster that keeps me moving.