7.5.2026

This will be a nature post today!  Last night, this buck was in the yard and then we spotted it just being kind of chill in the triangle.  We looked later and he was still lying down but on the other side of the triangle.  We don't see bucks as often here, so it's always a fun sighting.

Our wildflower patch is looking pretty next to the auto bay.  We're just letting nature do its thing!

Then it was time to tame Mother Nature.  Jim had to do some grass cutting along the driveway.  He also did a little back dragging of the driveway once he put the bucket on the Bobcat.  Then we loaded up some trimming supplies and headed down to do some work at the end of the driveway.  Trimming around the drop box and rock wall...

Looks so much better!  He did both sides of the driveway and it makes a big difference.  

I pulled weeds from both sides of the middle rock walls and then Jim did the trimming...

Working on the other side...

High 83.1/Low 62.5

7.4.2026

Happy 4th of July!!  Hopefully everyone had a safe and wonderful day celebrating 250 years of our country!

Jim is working on the power washer.  The screws holding on this muffler heat shield were completely rusted and he had to use some special tools to get them out.  It was all rusty - he did just a little bit of clean up in his blasting cabinet to see how it would work - it cleans it all up quickly!

He hasn't had to do any work on the power washer in all these years, so he's investigating replacing some parts - this is a spark arrester that is all rusty and he's going to see if he can find a replacement.

Jim ordered a couple more polishing agents to use in the blasting cabinet - walnut shells!  This is the coarse grit...

And the fine grit.  He can use these for more delicate applications - he wants to try and clean up the old planes we got from my printer.  Stay tuned!

Off to get ready for church.

High 80.8/Low 72

 

 

7.3.2026

 

We left for Goshen, Connecticut this morning.  Kyle designed and did all the cabinetry for a new home build there.  They held an open house/art show today and wanted us to attend.  We took the MINI and it was a really nice trip.  The route took us through the outskirts of the Berkshires, so it was an area we hadn't seen before.

We're proud of Kyle and his accomplishments.  You can check out the house detail at the link below if interested - and if you have an extra $2.5M you aren't sure what to do with.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/205-E-Hyerdale-Dr-Goshen-CT-06756/462915537_zpid/ 

We had just come in from outside and saw a bear right at the edge of the woods!  This is in a big development so it was a quite a surprise!

Building is in the blood - like father, like son!

High 90.5/Low 73

7.2.2026

 

Hopefully everyone is staying safe and cool in the heat wave.  While it's warmer here today, the humidity is down so it doesn't feel as bad.

Jim investigated new power washers, but wanted to get this one working no matter.  So he brought it down from the upper lawn hydrant down to the lower one.  He used the air compressor to blow out the connections...

Success - he got it working again!

He washed off both cars - drying off the MINI...

High 92.5/Low 69.8

7.1.2026

Jim's still been doing some clean up work, as well as lots of computer work and phone calls in the mornings.  

He had ordered more degreaser and it came today, so he wanted to go over the 4Runner's engine again.  He did have issues with the power sprayer - it's probably over 30 years old and Jim's done a lot of hard work with it.  I told him maybe it was time for a new one.

But he was outside for just a bit and came in looking like he had run a marathon.  We don't typically get high humidity here, but like most of the eastern part of the country, we're in the midst of some very hot and humid weather.  I had to run to Staples, and when I backed my car out of the auto bay, the windows instantly completely fogged up from the humidity.  

6.30 - High75.9/Low 58.4
7.1 - High 89.9/Low 66.9

6.29.2026

 Jim is contemplating work on the 4Runner - it would be a massive engine rebuild, so he's still not 100% ready to pull the trigger.  But he decided to take it up near the outdoor faucet and clean the engine compartment a bit.  He sprayed his magical cleaner on...

It's back in the auto bay and it looks pretty amazing!

He used the rest of the day to do some lawn mowing and trimming.

High 84.3/Low 56.5

6.28.2026

Jim had clean up to do from the big Bobcat job, putting all the tools away and getting everything back in place.

This afternoon, he started another project -  the tachometer for the chipper stopped working.  Jim contacted the company and they were great.  They sent Jim a new one in the mail.  This is the old one, not registering anything...

He had to take things apart a bit to get at it.  For now, we used some of our very heavy duty double sided tape to attach the tach to the machine and then Jim did the connecting...

He got it all put back together and started it up - it's working!

High 82.5/Low 59.7