


Friday was spent playing catchup. The weather is 50F and sunny which is not normal for February. It’s more like late March early April weather, which is so screwy. I had a friend who had offered me an old dead black walnut tree so Mr Professional and I loaded the Kubota onto the trailer and went over attempted to load the pieces. We had to cut them down to 9’ sections and the last one was so big we could not lift it. We tossed down the ramps and then tossed a piece of OSB flooring down and then used the tractor to roll the log onto the back 1/3 of the trailer. Once it was rolled on we just strapped it all into place so nothing moved and then headed home. We took all the back roads and only had to go about four miles so Mr Professional just drove the tractor back home as the trailer was now full. We took the wood down to the custom cut place and he will call me when its time to cut it. I need the strapping tool to come in the mail so after its cut we can stack it in the chicken coop and strap it all down then ignore it for another couple of years. I think I want to use a small piece to finish the upstairs bathroom countertop next to the toilet. I was thinking about using a live edge piece there.

I went in and picked up the last two parts from our new tractor purchase, the snow blade and the three point bale spear. Unfortunately, the snow blade was not paid for but the bale spear was cheaper than originally quoted so I paid off the snow blade and we brought it home. Now that I have a snow blade I am certain that it will not snow again until next winter. The only things I need for the new tractor now are a quick hitch attachment (under $300) and I want a ballast box ($350). I will have every piece of equipment I need except for a fertilizer thrower. It has taken a while to get here. I also ordered the broken part for the hay baler and more bale netting, they are both on there way. They had the broken sprocket in stock! No waiting for the part to come over from Italy!

Annmarie came up with an idea for bridge lights using some of my old Mason glass jars. I think she saw it on Pinterest. She got $1.20 solar lights then 3D printed an insert that would drop onto the top of the mason jar and allow the light to drop into it. I then used silicone to caulk the two parts together so the rain cannot get down into the mason jar. I spray painted the hose clamps and jar rings and then we mounted them on each end of the bridge. Since the picture I have torn off all other solar lights from the bridge to make it neater. The bridge rails sag outward a little so Mr Professional suggested we build a gazebo like covering to hold the rails together. There are five sections so we could just replace the center section (4 posts) and not have to replace every cedar post (14). I mentioned the idea to Annmarie and she liked it only she wants all 14 posts replaced. I think we need to see how it looks before we do the entire bridge. Luckily, this is not on the list for this year.
I also dry fitted the fuel pump parts and filter together to make sure it would work. I need some teflon tape to complete the assembly but the first store I went to did not have it. I will need to go to the auto parts store to get it. I have a small cheap plastic siphon coming so I can rinse out the tanks with diesel before I get them filled.