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First Mow of the Season
Today was the big day — the beginning of the annual mowing routine. Of course, if it stays this dry, I’m not sure how much mowing I’m going to need to do this year. Today was fairly typical as far as the first mow of the season goes — serving mainly to whack down the…
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Garage Door Opener
Well… first off, I’m back from my most excellent trip to Philly to watch first and second round action from the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. This year’s games were great, and it’s always nice to get away from the grind for a few days. It always butts up against UMBC’s Spring Break, so I get…
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Two-Speed pool pump motor: Worth it?
With electricity prices set to skyrocket in the Baltimore area this summer, I’m once again looking at ways to cut down on our consumption. And in the summer, one of our biggest consumers is the pool pump. I’ve read that a two-speed pool pump motor can cut down quite a bit on energy usage. A…
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Tractor deck…
I put the deck back on the tractor yesterday, and I’ve got the skinned knuckles to prove it. Every fall, I take the deck off the tractor. The sole purpose of this is so I can take the blades off to sharpen them. Now, it’s really, really easy to take the deck off the tractor,…
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Onion Grass: The Harbinger of Mowing Season
Welp, the onion grass has started coming up in my front yard. That means that it won’t be too long before I have to mow. I’ve learned after a few years on my property that onion grass pops up in late winter/early spring, mostly goes away during prime growing season, then pops up again in…
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Life with a tempermental snowblower
Well, we finally got some real snow here on the east coast, so that meant some rare action for the snowblower. This is our fourth winter with the snowblower, and it’s getting more and more tempermental with each passing year. It’s getting harder and harder to start, and it’s developed this habit of quitting on…
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Upgrading the security system
Four years ago, I installed a full-perimeter hardwired security system in our house. This probably ranks as the single largest DIY project I’ve ever undertaken. All told, it took me about four months, working alone, and splitting the time with my day job as well as household chores and other projects. Would I do it…
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Stupid hard-starting generator
We have this generator, that we bought a few years back to use during power outages. It spends 99.9% of its time sitting in the garage gathering dust (much like the snowblower). Every few months, I start the thing up and run it for 20 minutes or so, just to make sure it will work…
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Chores Chores Chores, and a Broken Timer Switch
Today was a “get stuff done around the house” kind of day, where I basically knocked as many items off my to-do list as possible. Among the fun stuff accomplished: I finished winterizing my chipper/shredder, pressure washer and trimmer. The chipper/shredder takes the most time, because I like to break it down, clean debris out…
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Leaf Patrol
Yesterday, I finally finished up this year’s round of fall leaf removal. After 5 go-arounds with leaf removal on this property, I’m getting better at it, but the process could still stand some improvement. The bulk of the leaves fall in back of the house, with the Tulip Poplars starting earliest, and the Oaks finishing…