Whack it, repair, back to nature, back to losing
After getting a three week break from mowing the grass we finally decided to get back to cutting this weekend. Even though it has been several weeks the grass didn’t look terrible. Ali decided to tackle mowing the back of the property first, probably the last time we will have to do that until the new year. I decided I would weed whack the entire fence line, despite my still aching tennis elbow. What fun.
I was out there a solid two hours weed whacking away. Whacking the fence line sucked for several reasons. First I hadn’t done it in a couple months so the grass was high and thick. Second weed whacking fence gobbles up trimmer line like mad, I had to refill the spool three times. Third, I did the majority of it with the reverse grip I normally use which slows down the process. I felt clumsy and imprecise with my hands reversed, slowing down the process further.
I muddled through it. When I was almost done I noticed the mower was parked in front of the shed. Ali had finished the back but still had the front of the house to do. She called me over and said it just stopped mowing. As I was walking over to check things out I looked down and saw a pulley from the mower deck on the ground. I instantly knew what happened. It was the same pulley that was getting red hot a few weeks ago. The center of it blew apart. So the Cub Cadet was out of business until I could get a replacement part. Luckily we were able to borrow the neighbors John Deere to finish. Ali commented when she was done how much nicer it was mowing on the John Deere. It just seems to have a lot more power and does a better job of cutting the grass evenly.
On Saturday morning we also worked on trimming up several more of the cabbage palms, cleaning up another four. Doing this sort of work with temps in the low 70’s is so much more enjoyable than when it is 90/90 out there when you start sweating as soon as you hit the sun. I have another 8 or 9 trees to get cleaned up yet. Our one remaining trench in the back of the property is stuffed full of palm fronds. I’m going to have toss the rest back in the fill pit.
Saturday afternoon I also decided to tackle installing the new rear latch/lock/cable assembly in the party van. It took a lot of trial and error until I got everything installed correctly. At first I was going to just leave the power lock disconnected because it seemed like a PIA to get installed. However I was able to get everything back together and functioning after a hour or so of labor. I was quite proud of myself as I pushed the power lock button and lock worked as it should. I was even more thrilled when I closed the door, pulled on the handle and it opened without a hitch. I raised my hands in celebration although nobody saw it. When I first researched this repair it sounded like a huge PIA involving drilling out pop rivets. However I found none of that was necessary. All I needed to perform the repair was some star shaped screwdriver bits, normal hand tools and some patience. Successfully completing the repair has given me the confidence to replace the side door hardware which is suffering from the same issue.
I’ve watched a couple movies recently, Superbad and What Happens in Vegas. Superbad is funny, plain and simple. Yea there are a lot of dick, masturbation and sex jokes in it so if this sort of stuff offends you stay away. Otherwise you’ll do a lot of laughing. I love the two cops in it. I want to change my name to McLovin. I’d give it a solid B.
WHIV was a pretty typical romantic comedy with Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. It was mostly funny and light hearted. Definitely not something worthy of spending 20 bucks for in a movie theater but a good dvd rental. I’d give it a B as well.
On Sunday we decided to take advantage of having most of the chores done and the Eagles late start time to get back to nature. We went to the Corkscrew Sanctuary that is just a few miles up the road from our house. It is basically a boardwalk that travels right through the heart of a swamp. We had been there a couple times before but it’s been at least several years since our last visit which is crazy.
I fully expected the place to be empty on a Sunday afternoon. It is basically located in the middle of nowhere. Boy was I wrong, the parking lot had a lot of cars in it. Evidently the swamp is heavily published in tourist info as a big attraction. When we viewed the guest log there were tons of visitors from other countries. Surprisingly German visitors FLOCK to this place. So much so that they actually have the visitor guide printed in both english and german. (not spanish)
Ali and I took our time walking the 2.25 mile boardwalk. It was the first time we had visited the swamp when there was still an abundance of water on the ground. Our other two visits were in winter during the dry season. It is pretty amazing as you walk along realizing that you are in the middle of a scene that has more or less been the same for thousands of years. It doesn’t take long until you feel isolated from the modern world and that’s a good thing. We didn’t see as much wildlife as we would have liked. We spotted two gators, some wood peckers, an anighia, egret and some bizarre spiders. They have a dry erase board where visitors can write down what they saw during the day. Supposedly some saw a bobcat, deer, some cool snakes and more. I took some pictures along the way that I’ll post this week. It was a great way to spend a couple hours.
I knew the Eagles were in trouble very early on. The Giants were dominating them offensively. I was very sleepy and only made it to mid 3rd-quarter until I packed it in, right after the Giants got the touchdown on the reversed pass beyond the line of scrimmage call. I read the rest of the recap this morning. The Eagles really had no business being in the game the way they were dominated. In the end their embarrassing inability to convert short yardage plays bit them in the ass once again when they failed on a third and three and fourth and 1 during what could have been a potentially game winning drive. The Giants showed why they are the cream of the NFC. The Eagles just don’t have the guns on defense to hold up to that running attack. The G-men made running the ball look incredibly easy.
The Eagles D is hard to figure out. They can look suffocating and crushing like they did against the Seahawks, Rams and Steelers but they can also look totally inept as they have against the Cowboys, Skins and Giants. Donovan doesn’t help matters with his inconsistency either. Even after a decade in the league he still can be counted on for a half a dozen horrible passes a game at least. I also am disappointed with a game like this against the best team the NFC, Fat Andy couldn’t have had Donovan run a lot more to give the Giants something to think about. Oh well, the game cemented that the Birds may squeeze into the playoffs this year but their hopes of doing anything once they get there are slim to none as soon as they face a team that runs the ball.