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We spent a few days in Cullman this week. I created a work list which we attacked once we got there on Thursday. I had some appointments this week that kept us from leaving as soon as usual. Two of the biggest jobs I wanted to accomplish were to cut the access hole in the brush hog so we could remove the blades and to reconnect one of the brake cylinders so the 284 would have at least 1 brake. It turned out that the bolt was much bigger than I expected so the 2 inch hole wasn't big enough to allow the socket to reach the nut. Since we had already opened a hole, I had to come up with a plan to enlarge the hole without the help of the pilot hole that you normally drill with the hole saw. It occurred to me that I could use a piece of plywood to cut a 3 inch hole and let that hole control the hole saw. It worked. With a little patience, we cut the 3 inch hole and gained access the the nut. Then we encountered the next problem which wasn't unexpected. The nut had not bee

So Tuesday Dr. Tropeano gave my hip a shot of steroids. They had to put me to sleep to do it. I thought I'd pop up feeling great and ready to over do it. Wrong. That thing hurt like heck. And my throat was irritated and sore. Didn't expect that. It was a very uncomfortable afternoon and evening. With the aid of some Tylenol and some liquid Benadryl to sooth the throat, I got a decent night's rest. That next day the pain was much better. Today is the third day and I'm feeling very mobile. We are about to go up to Cullman to do some work. I'm ready. The hip is feeling good. If only it could be this good from now on. ------------------- Here it is Tuesday. One week later. Hip began to hurt yesterday.  ------------------- Tuesday 8/4: The hip is working better but I am not stressing it a lot.

We arrived Wednesday. I had to replace an ABS sensor on the truck so we got a late start. After lunch I got the extension set and we blew the leaves out of the gutters. We took a ride around the farm and sized up our jobs for this week. The shed had some groundhog holes in it so we released another smoke bomb in there. Thursday started early with spraying all the weeds around the lake and buildings. Diquat really works fast. The grass in the road that I sprayed with Glyphosate was only slightly yellowing by the time we left, but the Diquat sprayed grass was already dead. The suggested Diquat dilution is 7.5 oz per 10 gallon. The suggested dilution rate for Ranger Pro is 2 oz per gallon or 20 oz per 10 gallon. I got started on the big tractor and David relieved me after an hour due to the heat. I rested a bit then fired up the zero turn to get some cutting done that would be hard for the tractor. We tried to take the blades off but couldn't without a pneumatic air wrench.  I had an