4/14/13

I accomplished several tasks today, yet still didn't feel incredibly productive.

I began the day by getting the tractor out and hooking to the boom pole. As I was hooking it up I remembered that it required a longer top link pin. I had the pin, but hadn't yet installed the hairpin cotter, which is a surprisingly difficult task, if, like me, you don't really know what you're doing. I finally managed to get it installed, though.

With the boom pole attached to the tractor I used it to unload the landscape rake from the truck. I ran into a couple of small snags with this, primarily due to the size and shape of the rake, but it still went much better than the last time I used the boom pole to unload an implement.

I was expecting my dad to come by, and he arrived shortly after I finished unloading the landscape rake. I had asked him to bring a reciprocating saw with him, which we used to cut some pieces of metal for a future project. I'll be going into the details of that project once I make more progress on it.

After my dad left I decided to mow the front yard. While I was doing this Andrea took an inventory of the bushes and shrubs that we have in pots which will eventually be transplanted along the edge of the yard. She also discovered that some trees we had received from the Arbor Day Foundation some time ago were still alive, so she planted those into buckets until we can find a home for them.

After finishing mowing I decided to take the tractor across the road for the first time. I was worried about the steepness of the incline from the road, but it wasn't really a problem. While over there I moved a few large rocks that were in the way, and cleared a couple of overgrown areas that I hadn't been able to get with the mower.

By this point I wasn't feeling well, so decided to call it a day. I could have probably gotten in another couple of hours of work if I had felt like it, but I suppose I was productive enough.