11/16/12

I was able to get out this evening and play with the tractor a bit. I knew I didn't have much time before dark, so decided to just work in the yard instead of over to the garden. I've had a job out front that I've been putting off for months, so thought I'd tackle that this evening. When the septic tank was installed, the installer left some extra dirt on top of it, in anticipation of the ground settling and needing to be filled in. That never happened, however, with the exception of one 12" hole, so I was left with a small mound of dirt in middle of the yard. Today I used the loader to pile up the excess dirt. I then hauled some of the excess down into the lower yard and dumped by the water meter. I had never quite finished covering the water line in that area. It was covered more than enough to prevent freezing, but was still about 6" lower than the rest of the yard. After finishing that I spread the remaining dirt over the septic tank to fill in any low spots.

I still haven't tried out my new gas can yet. I need to run out to town one day and fill up all of the cans. I did recently discover that one of plastic 5 gallon cans isn't working right. The can is a Moeller Scepter ECO, which I haven't had very long. I spent some time earlier today trying to get it to work. The issue is with the mechanism that opens the valve in the spout to allow the fuel to flow. I ended up removing the spout and pouring directly from the opening. It looks like I need to get a funnel to be able to continue using this can. If the metal can works out well, I might eventually get another to replace the bad plastic can.

I also received a package yesterday that I had been expecting. I had been planning to buy an extra hitch for the RTV, so I could keep one on the front and another on the back. After doing some research, though, I decided to pick up the CSI W580 Winch Receiver and Shackle Combo. I haven't tried it out yet, although I did mount it on the RTV. It seems very well built, and I think it is going to work out well. I hope to do a review once I've tried it out.