Saturday's Business

Saturdays always seem busy, and yesterday was typical. Soon, Saturdays will be filled with baseball doubleheaders, but this Saturday allowed us to do some work around the house and enjoy the Home and Garden Show.

The day began cold, with temperatures in the 30's, but it made it to 40 by 1000. No matter the weather, the remaining ornamental grasses around the pool needed to be trimmed and Chris and I were done with the task at the landfill dropping them off by about 1030. Then it was a stop at the farm store for peanuts to continue feeding the bluejays. I think the peanuts remain in the bed of the truck this morning. Oops.

Tractor Part with Damage Highlighted
March 8, 2020

Then it was time to repair the tractor. Fortunately, I had a pretty good idea what had happened and I had the spare part already in hand. It was a fairly straight forward replacement and I was done in about an hour. The damaged part was, in my estimation, the result of a poor design. A spring attaches in the hole and over time had worn through the metal. This part activates the mower blades and so there is a great deal of pressure on the point. It seems to me they could have done a better job designing this part to minimize the potential stress so that it would last longer. I guess it is all part of planned obsolescence. 

Gobbler at the Home Show
March 7, 2020

After lunch we headed off to the annual Home and Garden Show in Baltimore. We enjoy walking around and seeing dreaming of remodeling, although for this year our budget is going to resurface the pool. It seems that always find something interesting and it turns out that we found bees wax and pine tar infused cloths to replace plastic wrap! They are reusable and cleanable. Very cool since we are trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to reduce our plastic footprint. 

We also managed to come home from the show with 8 bottles of wine. It is amazing how that happened. We go to a home show and find wineries! Imagine that! And there was this magnificent gobbler at the home show as well. I had to take an image of him. He was much better looking than the red kangaroo that was also on display. 

After returning home we enjoyed dinner and settled in for the evening and enjoying the last night of Standard Time until November, or maybe ever if Congress decides to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, which I wish they would. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD