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What Pleased You Today!


James2

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I had looked at my trees earlier today and sometimes wished that I had planted fewer trees. Not only do they take up space, and provide shade, they also drop LOTS of leaves in the fall which I have to remove. Bummer!

Save yourself some work. I know everybody still seems to think they HAVE to rake the leaves, but years back I just started to leave 'em, and run over the whole mess with the mulching mower. The result? My next-year's lawn looked at least as good as the guys who broke their backs raking and bagging and burning, and their wallets spraying, feeding and fertilizing.

https://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/skip-rake-and-leave-leaves-healthier-greener-yard.html

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In reality the best way to care for your lawn is to mulch every time you mow. Also best to get the correct mulching blade to get the maximum benefits. The clippings break down and become nutrients for the lawn. I try to keep the grass at a 3" to 4" to help keep the lawn weeds at bay. A funny store on myself last fall. We have several larger trees in the yard, Maple, Oaks, Sycamore, a Purple Ash, and a Crab Tree. The Cedars drop just a little and it all stays around their base. The leaves were several inches deep and I just kept going back and forth in the yard with the rider mower. Leaves were building up between the mower deck and the chassis and engine. I stopped for a drink of water when I started smelling something like a leaf fire. I was able to grab the garden hose and putout the flames before they destroyed the mower. Melted the air cleaner on the front of the engine and the plastic engine cover has a couple of  "caricature " dips on the top from the heat. I would suggest keeping the mower deck clear at all times.  

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I lived in the country my entire life and moved into town October of last year. Knowing the move was coming I ordered a complete mulch kit, snow chains, snow blade, and extra weights for my Cub Cadet. The primary reason for the mulch kit was to mulch leaves, but I decided to mulch full time, all year. It was working just OK, until I bought a set of "Gator Blades". Made all the difference in the world. The only thing you have to be a little careful of is stopping and backing up. The "Gators" really keep a lot of cut grass sucked up into the deck and when reversing directions the deck leaves some mulched grass. The one thing I noticed is that even though my "yard" is a real mess of grasses and weeds, it stayed greener than the neighbors yards that don't mulch during a dry spell we had. I figure it's going to take me 4 or 5 years to get something close to a real "lawn" as opposed to a nasty "yard". I did manage to reduce the crabgrass by about 75% this year over last. Now it's time to concentrate on other weeds and do some over winter seeding of new grass.

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Everyone can be a bit of a car/truck snob, and a lot of them laugh at the cars I've owned, but two in particular stand out. 

The one that the girls at work would laugh at, but then asked for rides in was my Camaro. 1995 Z28 convertible. In purple. That one went over big time.

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And the guys at work ALWAYS mocked my station wagon. 1993 Volkswagen Passat. However, it had the VR6, a 5-speed manual, and some mods. I removed the AC, added a big turbo and some other engine bits, reprogrammed it, loud exahust, coilovers, Porsche brakes and wheels. People mocked, until they rode in it. Still the fastest car I've ever owned. Had I kept it, I would have reverted it back to a slightly more stock look, try for a bit more of a sleeper vibe.

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Edited by iamsuperdan
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Everyone can be a bit of a car/truck snob,... a lot of them laugh at the cars I've owned, ...and the guys at work ALWAYS mocked my station wagon. 1993 Volkswagen Passat. However, it had the VR6, a 5-speed manual, and some mods. I removed the AC, added a big turbo and some other engine bits, reprogrammed it, loud exahust, coilovers, Porsche brakes and wheels. People mocked, until they rode in it. Still the fastest car I've ever owned. Had I kept it, I would have reverted it back to a slightly more stock look, try for a bit more of a sleeper vibe.

I LIKE that wagon.

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Yesterday I got offered a job that has great potential for me and the pay isn't an insult to my skills and experience... so I accepted.   :)

This is noteworthy for me since my last employer had to lay everyone off and cease all operations due to funding running out at the end of August and I have been hunting jobs in earnest since then as opposed to just scanning for better opportunities while still employed.

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Good news, and work news. My contractor finally got everything done in the master bath for us to start priming and painting. We've been a LONG time getting to this point. So I'm going to be busy, busy, busy, for a while. The wife has been pretty good throughout this ordeal, but I think her patience is growing pretty thin. Tomorrow I'll start doing all the cleanup in preparation for the Kilz primer. Everything gets a coat, walls, ceiling, and cabinets. Then there are 3 different paints to finish up.

We've been in this house one year and one week. In case you haven't read before, the first contractor really put the screws to us. Some of the most shoddy work I've ever seen. The guy came with some pretty impressive recommendations so we're not sure what happened. We had them completely and totally gut the master bath, then put in a low threshold, walk in tile shower, new tile floor, new cabinets, counter top, sink, stool, etc, etc. Literally everything. And literally everything in that new bathroom has now been removed and all new done all over again. The expense has reached a point I'm considering having a TV put in there with a cot so I can just live in that room.

But, the good news is that we've gotten past that and we're ready to paint. Not sure how long I'll be able to work each day and how many days it will actually take me to get it done, but sooner or later I'll have the contractor back in to put the molding and baseboard on and it will be finished once and for all. Which leaves nothing major inside the house to do except prep and paint the kitchen cabinets. The wife saw a kitchen remodel job on the TV that she kinda fell in love with so it's paint instead of stain and/or varnish (polyurethane). I do have to admit, the remodel on the TV did look pretty danged good and so far all the work and painting done in the kitchen looks darned good.

I told her just the other day that I'm going to get this house remodeled for her just in time for me to die and leave it to her, but she'll be happy anyway. :rolleyes:

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Good news, and work news. My contractor finally got everything done in the master bath for us to start priming and painting. We've been a LONG time getting to this point. So I'm going to be busy, busy, busy, for a while. The wife has been pretty good throughout this ordeal, but I think her patience is growing pretty thin. Tomorrow I'll start doing all the cleanup in preparation for the Kilz primer. Everything gets a coat, walls, ceiling, and cabinets. Then there are 3 different paints to finish up.

We've been in this house one year and one week. In case you haven't read before, the first contractor really put the screws to us. Some of the most shoddy work I've ever seen. The guy came with some pretty impressive recommendations so we're not sure what happened. We had them completely and totally gut the master bath, then put in a low threshold, walk in tile shower, new tile floor, new cabinets, counter top, sink, stool, etc, etc. Literally everything. And literally everything in that new bathroom has now been removed and all new done all over again. The expense has reached a point I'm considering having a TV put in there with a cot so I can just live in that room.

But, the good news is that we've gotten past that and we're ready to paint. Not sure how long I'll be able to work each day and how many days it will actually take me to get it done, but sooner or later I'll have the contractor back in to put the molding and baseboard on and it will be finished once and for all. Which leaves nothing major inside the house to do except prep and paint the kitchen cabinets. The wife saw a kitchen remodel job on the TV that she kinda fell in love with so it's paint instead of stain and/or varnish (polyurethane). I do have to admit, the remodel on the TV did look pretty danged good and so far all the work and painting done in the kitchen looks darned good.

I told her just the other day that I'm going to get this house remodeled for her just in time for me to die and leave it to her, but she'll be happy anyway. :rolleyes:

A couple of years ago we had the Master Bath redone and new Hard Wood floors thru out the main level., and a new Kitchen back Splash.  We were fortunate that we had a good contractor do the work but living in a construction site for a couple of months makes you think it might almost be easier to just buy a new hose next time.  

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