Same old story...

 Things continue to fail or break on the farm. It seems I can not get ahead for having to put belts on or work on batteries or anything. I don't understand why it goes this way. It is likely due to the fact that I am much more gentle with the equipment and the satellite of people around my MIL are careless and indifferent. And the helpful one apparently can't fix anything.

Tree Surgery

Another work week but this time we moved David to Cullman where he can go to Wallace State. I had a lengthy list of things to do. I got to all the items which included oil changes and other maintenance. Before we could begin those, we had to clear a good bit of fallen debris from a microburst that came through last week. Three trees had big limbs topped out of them. I had to use the tractor to drag the enormous limbs out to the edge of the field. A huge piece came out of the Sycamore in the pond field. The extra work coupled with the high humidity made the work a lot harder. I got the picture of the Pecan tree sent to TyTy nursery. I hope to hear back soon.

 

What will we do?

Another work week in Cullman. We did a run up to Jackie's in Chattanooga to pickup the quilting frame. That was a very tiring run. It went back together pretty well. Next I worked on the tiller tines again. Even after applying red hot heat, it hasn't budged. I am applying incredible force with the puller and it still fails to move. The only further plan would seem to call for a cutting device to relieve the tension. I had an idea to use a pressure washer to see if I could flush out the channels around the tine spindle. It can't hurt. 

Weather in the northern hemisphere has been extra hot this year. Work around the farm around midday is absurdly hot. The spring had no flow. The lake level has dropped and no outflow is present. I found water in the drilled well by the house but I am concerned that it would go dry if we succeeded in pumping it.

While we are spending a lot of time there, it has become difficult to maintain all the equipment. Even working almost every available minute, there are so many things requiring attention, you get impossibly behind on the "to do" list.

 

Cosmetic work on the Evinrude

 I had purchased a less expensive decal for the little Evinrude and had planned on repainting the cowl that came with it. But I wasn't sure how good a job it would be. So I found a distressed cowl and started cleaning it up so I could paint it and apply decals. Year model specific decals would cost $50 to $60 dollars but these were only $14. If the new cowl looked good, I would put the other up for sale. When the cowl came in, the applique on back had the Evinrude logo so I pulled it off to add to the 15 cowl I already had. I still need to figure out how to reattach it with the clips. But the new cowl looks good without these appliques. So now I need to advertise the old one. It was a 79 15 hp cowl in great condition. 

Septic Line Repair

After a rather long wait, we determined to enlist the aid of a professional so Crimson Septic came and looked at our problem. A big problem was having no information about the type of system that had been installed. I looked through our home information packet but found nothing. We had some problems contacting the Health Department about any records they have on file and learned that the lines that were installed in 1994 were of a kind that can't be purchased any more. Also, the system that the record shows would be installed was much shorter than the 227 feet specified. A short 90 foot run of Ezy Lay field line was all we had and that had lasted 28 years. They were replaced with gravel chambers on July 11th 2022. With around 100 feet of field line with around twice the capacity of the former lines, we should be good now for as long as we have the house.

Back to farmwork...

 A busy work time on the farm. We picked up David's car in Decatur and it looks great. Both he and Mawmaw are pleased. When we got back to Cullman, I started with the four wheeler steering tube bushing and continued through the various blades for sharpening. That next morning I got the zero turn blades off and sharpened and we continued to do some mowing at the old house. That evening I finished off the garden with the roto tiller. Before I could do that, I had to replace the drive belt. I got the blue one from Tractor Supply and picked up a replacement battery for the zero turn. It seems those tractor batteries only last 2 years.  Next we did the bush hog work in the pastures. Wednesday morning we did a tour around the farm to see what might be needed next and laid out some fuel for Mawmaw to use easily.

Running at Wide Open Throttle

After a long wait, I got out on the water for a test today. After installing all the new parts to assure it would pump water, make spark, and run as it should, I took it out for a run. The compression tester from Harbor Freight must be crap because it said it had a pressure of 47 on each cylinder. The little engine started so easily, I thought it must not be true. After the Seafoam shock treatment, the exhaust dumped a lot of dissolved oily residue that it appears was just the nature of the treatment on the gunk in the exhaust system. I found some evidence online that this was what happened and it was suggested on a Facebook forum for these engines. The little engine spun up to full power and pushed my Jon boat up to 16 mph. I guess it couldn't be low compression. Now my next move is to clean up and paint the cowling and add the fresh decals. I didn't opt for the authentic set for that model year. I just got some that were a generic Evinrude 9.9.