I did some puttering outside the last two nights. Yesterday, I mowed the lawn and hauled in two cartloads of firewood. It’s rotten stuff from ’96, but we need to do something with it. I also checked out the mushroom beds while I was down there: nothing showing. It’s way too soon, of course, but this week’s rain has the wild ‘shrooms starting to pop up hither and yon.
Today I put the new air filter hose on the tractor. It’s clearly an after-market item. It’s the right shape, but too big, and it’s made of a different kind of rubber, wrapped in friction tape. It is the right gauge, though. I forced it on and all seems well.
Unfortunately the fuel leak-off assembly (about four pieces of hose and two machined sub-assemblies) that I replaced last year seems to be leaking again. There’s one real kink in it, and one sharp bend. The kink is leaking and the sharp bend seems to be developing a hole. I see why the previous owner had patched it with electrical tape before I got it. That’s a 28 dollar part, plus shipping. Buying one every year is not my idea of fun. There’s got to be a way to get a diesel-tight replacement hose onto there.
The pond pump was sounding funny, even though there was plenty of water. It seems the water hyacinth roots were blocking the in-take. I pulled them out, and all seems well. I guess I just need to look at the sucker every few days. While I was there, I fed the fish. They’re not as friendly as the last batch, but they know what food is, and will actually eat without me leaving. But it’s a long way from having them follow me around.
I also did the monthly Bio-Lift treatment. I started dumping it in when I installed the new pond pump, and it (or just lots of rain and getting aeration again) did clear up the water pretty well. I’ll get a jar this fall to have on hand for spring.
Finally, I finally(!) finished putting the overflow compost into the old bin. I’ve been wanting a fork for each set of compost bins. We bought a “hay fork” at Agway last week, because they were out of compost (that’s what it said on the label) forks, and I wanted a long handle anyway. It was a mistake. The hay fork just didn’t pick up compost well. I finally walked over to the new bin for the compost fork to finish with. So I’m still looking for a compost fork, and we need a digging fork for the potatoes, too.
While at the compost bin, I noticed that the potatoes I planted in the fall batch of compost are up. (They were just some potatoes from the grocery store that had gotten old and started to sprout.) Considering they were sprouting already, that sure took them awhile. Could it have been this week’s rain? Just in case, I watered them again. They sure are happy looking plants though. Hope we get potatoes off them, not just more compost.