Mike's Photographs : I've had better weekends.

Sunday, November 13, 2022

I've had better weekends.

Thursday I was out chopping the leaves up with the tractor. I hit a rock which didn't do the blades any good at all. No worries, quick trip to the John Deere dealer and a new set of blades in hand. Drive JD up my ramps and groveled on the driveway to change the blades as I've done many times over the years. Fuck me. Either I'm getting old and decrepit (don't answer that) or the nut's were seized. I sprayed WD40 and left it a while and tried again. Fuck this for a game of tin soldiers. No way was I going to shift those nuts without doing serious damage to mine. OK then, I have a cunning plan. I called up Ron the tractor guy who services my tractors and arranged to drive the few miles up the road Friday morning and wait while he fits them for me. (He has impact tools). I hitched up my trailer, loaded JD ready for Friday morning. Friday morning arrived and it was pissing it down, no worries, no mowing today. I got to Ron's and unloaded JD and noticed one of my trailer tires almost off the rim. Damn! Ron fixed it as well as fitting my blades and I picked up JD and trailer Saturday afternoon. So that's leaf removal delay #1.

Friday was quite wet, very wet. Early Saturday morning the temperature was 64F according to the heating thermostat outside temperature sensor. When it got light I popped out to feed the birds and came in and washed my hands at the kitchen sink overlooking the backyard. It was a real "Oh Fuck" moment. Sometime in the night a dead Ash tree had fallen. More work I didn't need. Leaf removal delay #2

All the Ash trees in the yard have succumbed to the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle which arrived in a packing case from Asia in 2002 in Ohio I believe. I've had several near the house felled over the the last few years but the ones down the bottom away from the house I've left for the woodpeckers. It was one of these that came down Friday night Saturday morning. I slept through it. So looks like I'm firing up the chain saw in the next day or two, then rent a log splitter, then I have to stack it, all this before I can get to the leaves which are still falling. Oh well, more firewood. I now have enough firewood to see me through the next ice age.

The light this morning was pretty good and there was lots of activity at the bird feeders. I got setup to take a few pictures and a Coopers Hawk made sure that the birds stayed well away from the feeders for at least half and hour before he decided to piss off when they slowly returned.