Uh Oh! And More Saplings

 Felt a hair move on my wrist.  Black spot.  Then it jumped away.  Danm, a flea!  Not after me, but it means it is time to change the 8-month flea collars again.  I thought they were good for another month, but I suppose their effectiveness diminishes toward the end.  

Brought a trailerload of cut saplings to the Mulch Center, but there are many more to go.  I cut down a dozen but haven't dragged them to the trailer yet.  My neighbors are probably tired of seeing the trailer full of them.  So I'll leave them in the back yard until I have a full load.

Need to get the brush-mower fixed.  I left gas in it 2 years ago and I can't start it.  Thought I had drained the gas then but I didn't.  I tried to clean the gas lines, but gas engines aren't my best skill.  On a scale of 10; maybe a 2.

My eyeglasses went weird lately.  One lens keeps dropping out.  I keep screwing the tiny screw tight, but it won't stay tight.  I need to dab it with a toothpick drop of cement.  But to see it well enough enough I need the funny on-head magnifier and I can't seem to find it right now.   

And the frame suddenly didn't sit on my ears properly.  I had do to twist the nose rests, bend the ear holders, even twist the frame a bit.  Why it changed, I haven't a clue.  It's not like I sat on them or something.

Well, I need new ones anyway.  A weird thing (to me) is that my vision is actually getting more normal.  I've lived most of my life far-sighted.  Could see a hummingbird 150' away but couldn't focus on a book without reading glasses.  

Now I actually need less close up help.  I can still see the hummers but can't see the colors well enough to tell males from females.  A few more years and I will probably see the car dashboard better!  

Maybe I'll die with 20/20 vision, LOL!

A Hard Day

 We didn't have a great day here yesterday.

Laz fell 12' off the deck rolling over inattentively.

I tried to move a tall wheeled plant stand and the wheels stuck so it fell apart.  Took an hour to get it reassembled.  It holds together by friction of poles in holes.  I improved on that in the re-assembly and I have one more idea drilling 2 holes and attaching a bungee cord, but not today.

I tried to pay a hospital bill online.  What idiot developed that website?  There were options for identifying yourself for paying.  Account number on bill, last 4 digits of Social Security Number, date of birth, date of visit.  Yes, I could establish a user name and password, but I doubt I will need one soon again (they expire) and I have way too many one-shot sign-ups as it is.

Everything I tried used a Captcha test.  I got through that, but it didn't matter.  No method of identification worked.  They just wanted a new Captcha test every step.  And the steps led nowhere.

It was circular.  Add whatever identifier info they wanted, get a Capcha Test, succeed, and repeat.  Back to Square One.    Why is it that non-commercial websites never seem to work?  

I went through the same nonsense with getting a new sticker for my trailer license plate.  The website said I didn't own the trailer.  I received a renewal form in the mail and replied to that.  It worked in 5 days!

Speaking of the trailer, I noticed the supporting pipe fell off the cinder block I use to keep it off the ground.  So it was in the ground.  In fact, it is stuck in the ground.  I can't lift things like I used to.  I'll have to drag out the car's jack.

Lately, all my neighbors have decided it is great to mow their lawns at 9 am.  Im trying to sleep then.  Not their problem, but the noise is "sleeplessness".  And 2 neighbors have bought motorcycles they drive up and down the street at the same general time.  What is it with loving "noise"?

Just ranting mildly...

Garden Equipment

I bought a John Deere riding mower in May.  It was highly recommended by Consumer Reports magazine and it had high ratings at a couple other sites.  Well, my previous riding mower was approaching 20 years old and more expensive to keep repaired every year.

I bought the previous one (and a cheap riding mower-that-came-before that lasted only 5 years) because I had been mowing lawns with the push kind since I was 12 and was damn sick and tired of it.  I mowed our lawn with a push mower and several local lawns with one for spending money.

I was the eldest son and so responsible for mowing the lawn.  The year I went to college, Dad bought a riding mower because my younger brother simply refused to mow the lawn. 

The immediately previous mower was good.  20 years is impressive.  But it was time for a new one.  I researched everywhere.  It's good, but the tires could be better.  They slip in damp grass a bit.  There are better treaded tires available, and chains.  I might consider that.

But this post is about ball and coupler towing.

My car has a trailer ball.  My 5'x8' utility trailer has a ball coupler.  My 2.5x4' yard cart has a pin attachment.  My new mower has a pin attachment.  I bought a trailer dolly that has a ball so that I could move the empty trailer back and forth to keep the grass growing under it and mow where it was previously.

I decided that was altogether too awkward!  So I found a ball receiver (the coupler the trailer ball goes into) that fit over my small yard cart.  I haven't installed it yet because I haven't needed to use it yet, but I made sure it fit.  I wil have to drill a second hole in the yard card handle, but I know it will work.  So I put a trailer ball in the back onf the riding mower to move the larger utility trailer. 

The trailer wouldn't go that low!  So I went online looking at ball mounting kits.  There are so many kinds.  Interestingly, none were returnable.  Well, I suppose buyers beat them up a lot and then want refunds.  Whatever.

There is a metal plate on the back of my new mower.  There are even some pre-drilled holes for various company attachments.  The farthest apart were 10". 

I found one I thought very stable.  It attached to the lower pin hole and raised about 10" with 2 arms near the top to attach to the rear metal plate (pictures lower down will help).  $70.  OK, fine, but seemed high for simple metal braces.  I ordered it.

I recieved it a couple of days ago.  Assembled it per instructions.  Remeber I said the predrilled holes were 10" apart?  These braces were designed for 14".  Not that they specified that...

I was about to try to pound the braces into shape, when it occurred to me I might get better leverage using my very strong metal bench vise.  I was actually able to bend the metal braces rather easily .  How far each time was a problem though.  I went too far at first and not enough back the second.  And each time, I had to clamp the braces to the hitch and measure the distance between the holes.

I eventually got them to 10".  Took a good 30 minutes.  But I went out to install it with various wrenches and vice-grips. 

That was tricky.  The gas tank is nearly against the back metal plate and it seems the purpose of the metal plate is just to protect the gas tank.  I wasn't try to put metal bolts in where the gas tnk would rub, and access to the back of the metal plate was very limited.

The bottom was open, but the holes were 8" up and I couldn't get my hand up that far holding a bolt.  There was a 1" hole in the side but neither my finger nor tools could reach.  Time to stop and think...

Well, I collect weird tools.  I have a funny flexible grabber.  You press the top and 4 small stiff wires open at the bottom.  I tried that holding the bolt in the grabber part and bending the flexible spring around.  It took 10 minutes of frustration, but I finally got the screw-on part of the bolt through the hole in the mower plate.

The nut has a nylon inside that holds it on.  Which made it nearly impossible to screw on because of the resistance.  I had to use a weird very long-necked plier to finally grab the hex head bolt  while I used a ratcheting wrench to tighten it.  The plier kept slipping off.  It took 20 minutes to tighten that bolt!

So, I went to the right side.  It was worse!  first, the brace hole didn't match the mower plate hole by 1/2".  But I did a "Hulk" and just squeezed until it matched.  And I paid for it later with a muscle cramp.  But you have to do what you have to do sometimes.  There wasn't even a hole in the side.  But, I discovered I could get my head under the metal plate if I held my ears flat.  I did plan that approach.  All my tools were laid out in a line next to me. 

I'm far-sighted.  So my close-up vision is not good.  I had to remove my reading glasses to get my head under the mower and then get the glasses back on.  And it was dim light under there.  But once under there, it was actually easier to get the bolt in (facing outwards) and clamp the hex head bolt with the vice-grips.

The difficulty was that I had get a washer on the outside part and tighten the nylon coated nut with the ratchet wrench by touch.  It kept slipping off, which drove me nuts at first.  Then I realized that I was thinking of the direction to turn it backwards.  Yeah "lefty loosey, righty tighty", but I was looking at it in reverse. 

When I figured that out, things went a bit better.  Got every tightened and scraped my head out from under the mower.  The slight scar on the ear is healing well, thank you...

After that, all I had to do was attach the trailer ball.  Naturally, I had taken the big wrenches back into the house thinking that I wouldn't need them any more.  Fortunately, there was enough friction on the ball attachment so that mere hand twisting tightened it beyond any natural loosening.

The entire assembly is as solid as a rock.

The ball is at a good height for attaching to the utility trailer and the assembly comes with a pin hole attachment at the bottom.  But I probably won't need it (I also bought a ball receiver for my small yard cart as I mentioned above). 

So now I can haul anything around with trailer hitches.

I mowed the lawn today and tried out hauling the utility trailer around.  It worked great!

Yardwork

I'm still doing some yardwork.  I wanted a trailerful (about 2 cubic yards) of compost, but getting replacement tires for the trailer in December really set me off schedule.  But it was scheduled to reach 55 degrees today, so I decided it is never too late to put compost around..

The trip was a comedy of errors!

First, I carefully placed the trailer hitch on the back of the car.  I put the tarp to cover the trailer in the back, a rake to level out the dumped compost in the trailer, and lots of bungee cords to hold the tarp down.  Off I went.  Do you notice something I missed? I had to return for something I forgot. 

The trailer...  Yes, I actually forgot the trailer.  Backed the car out of the driveway and drove away... 

Back home, attached the trailer, got to the nursery.  Set my tarp to be held down in the front of the trailer by weight of the compost and ready to fold over the top  to keep stuff from blowing out.

Went inside and placed my request for 2 cubic yards of compost.  Gave the clerk the coupon I had for $15 off a $75 dollar order.  Now, I knew the 2 cubic yards only cost $35.99 each, so I needed to spend $3 and change to use the coupon.  But there is always something cheap to buy.  Spend $3, get $15 off...

I should have known, when the clerk walked off with the coupon, with a puzzled look, something was wrong.  Something was.  They claimed it wasn't their coupon.

I am sure it WAS.  I clipped it out of the gardening section of the newspaper, and (moreover) I wouldn't have if it wasn't that one nursery I go to.  Anyone else, I wouldn't have bothered!   But I clipped the coupons out so carefully, there is no mention of the company offerring the discount.  

I was annoyed enough to want to check.  But NATURALLY, all the old newspapers  (where the ad the coupons were clipped from) were in the recycling box picked up yesterday!

But, on the other hand, I wanted the compost, would have bought it without any coupon, so I just made a slight joke about uncertainties of ads and paid for the 2 cubic yards of compost.  Then went out back to the trailer.

Where I suddenly realized the the covering tarp was set up sideways!  And the guy was there with a cubic yard to dump.  I had to wave him off for a moment, while I adjusted the tarp to fit the right direction.

So he dumped the first cubic yard.  1/3 of it stuck in the bucket-loader.  It had been raining the day before and everything was wet.  He shook the bucket, but stuff was still sticking.  So I showed him my rake and started loosening wahat was left.  I got most of it.

The next bucket was way overfilled.  He was trying to make up for the sticky compost I didn't get in the 1st.  Nice person.  I think I ended up with 2 cubic yards.

So I started to drive home.  After I reached 50 MPH, I realized the trailer was swaying back and forth.  I pulled over immediately.  Such swaying usually occurs when the trailer tires are mismatched in air pressure or the load in unevenly spread in the traile.

But I had specifically checked the air pressure in the car tires and the trailer tires.  And I had spread the compost evenly inside the trailer.  Since the trailer tires were new, I was worried that one wasn't holding air, or I had failed to tighten some lug nuts.

I checked and everything seemed right.  So I put the hazard lights on and set the cruise control to 35 mph while I drove home.  Moat of the time I could drive on the shoulder of the road.  (And rehearsed what I would say to a policeman if I was pulled over...)

Fortunately, it was all back roads the last 2/3s of the drive and I got home safely.  So then I had to disconnect the trailer from the car so I could put the car in the garage.

BTW, the car is a 2005 Toyota Highlander, 26,000 miles and garage-kept).  I obviously don't drive for the thrill of it, LOL!

But after unlocking and unlatching the trailer, it wouldn't release from the car's trailer ball.  That's happened before.  I just have to kick it a couple of times.  But when I did, it WASN'T usual.  The front of the trailer went right up in the air (and of course the back down to the ground.

Oops, I seem to have spread more weight of compost toward the back of the trailer...  The comedy of errors was continuing.   With less than my full weight on the front of the trailer, I could push the front down.  I'm guessing it took about 125 of my 170 pounds to do that.  BUT doing that, I couldn't also put anything under the back end to hold the trailer more level.  I tried adding a few cinder blocks on the front, but I sure wasn't going to get to 125 pounds.  And I couldn't lift the back of the trailer at all! 

I could have asked a neighbor, but that's not me.  The one I would have asked was gone (no car in the driveway).  Besides, I love a challenge...

The first challenge was to loosen the tarp folded under the back of the trailer (pinned down by the weight of the trailer).  My shovel was enough of a lever, so while I stood on the shovel handle, I removed the bungee cords back there and pulled the tarp edge out. 

That allowed me to fold up the tarp to expose the back.  I use my riding lawn mower to haul a 3'x4' yard cart.  I used to shovel material from the trailer to the yard cart and then haul the yard cart to the back yard and shovel it back out again where I wanted stuff.  I learned it was easier to use the yard cart to hold buckets that I filled up from the trailer and then manually dump them where desired. 

So I shoveled out the back foot of compost into the buckets, set the buckets into the yard cart, and drove them to the back yard where I dumped them to where I expect to plant tomatoes in a new place next year. 

And as I shoveled out the back 1 foot part of the compost, the trailer gently settled forward onto the front support.  That was a relief!  But it also meant that the amount of compost I shoveled out filling the 8 buckets in my yard cart weighed about 125 pounds.  Since the trailer is 8' long the compost weighed 8x125 pounds or 1200 pounds!  I did NOT realize how heavy the compost was. 

With the back foot of compost removed, I was able to remove the back of the trailer for easier shoveling.  It was late in the day, so I only got to fill up the yard cart buckets 2x before sunset. 

I secured the tarp over the compost so that rain wouldn't wash any away and went inside to clean up.  Wile  was dogn that, I considered why the trailer had started swaying while I drove home.  

There are 2 possibilities (at least).  One is that the trailer tires say to be inflted to 45 PSI and the car tires are inflated to 32 PSI.  I don't think that matters so long as they are the same on both sides.  Uneven pressure on one side would make a swaying, but that wasn't the case.

The likliest thing is that I pushed the compost around in the trailer wrong.  The trailer tires are in the middle of the trailer.  I'm thinking that if too much weight of the compost was behind the tires, it may have caused the problem.  In past loads, the trailer has never tipped up at the front before.  So if the weight is behind the trailer tires, that may have caused the rather scary swaying. 

In the future, I will make sure to keep most of the weight in front of the trailer tires.  I was good at geometry in school.  I can picture the trailer as a triangle of 2 middle tires and a front trailer hitch.  That seems more stable than having the weight behind the tires.

I've always said I try to learn something new every day.  This wasn't exactly one of the things I wanted to learn, but sometimes negative things are educational too. 

Now I just have to empty the other 90% of the compost, LOL!

Trailer Tires

Some things are just frustrating!  One of my trailer tires went flat 2 weeks ago.  It was just rubber fatigue.  They are 20 years old.  There are cracks on the sidewall.  So...  time to replace both of them.  I called a tire store and they were all snooty about "trailer tires".  They want to sell you high-end all weather tires for cars.  They said they could special order them for $150 per tire.

So I went to a trailer company.  THEY were overwhelmed by putting snowplows on trucks, but did have a combination tire and rim available for $120 each and they had 5 of my size in stock.  I said OK and drove right over.

They didn't have 5 in stock.  In fact, they had none.  The person I had talked to was embarrassed.  Her computer said they had 5 and they didn't. 

I mentioned to her that I had worked for a tire store once and as assistant manager (responsible for tires among other things, we came up one tire short in inventory check and they took that out of my salary.  She was amazed but apparently that doesn't happen these days.

So I had to special order 2 tire/rim combinations for delivery last  friday.  Prepaid with an assurance that I would be called immediately when they were received.  Guess what didn't arrive Friday?

So I asked about the next delivery and that was Monday.   On Tuesday, they were still unloading the truck into the storage area.  Sure to have it complete Thursday.  But certain my tires were on the truck. 

Haven't heard from them yet.  Tomorrow I'm calling again.  Fortunately, my need for the trailer is not urgent.  But I hate unsettled matters.

Getting Busy Again, Part 2

So I had to get the mower to a repair shop.  Home Depot has equipment repair services, but I prefer to support local business when I can.  There is a local place called "Tool Solutions" and I have brought some equipment there in the past.   They got my riding mower running last time, tuned up the engine, sharpened the blades, and just because it bothered their sense of "equipmentness", they scraped all the dried grass clipping from the bottom of the deck.  It is just 3 people, and it is good to support people doing work like that out of a small shop. 

I attached the trailer to the riding lawn mower (it has an attachment on the back for things like trailer hitches and baggers), drove it out to the front yard, and hooked it up to the car.  Got the push mower up onto the trailer, secured it, attached it to the car, and drove the the repair place. 

And since I was going off with the trailer, I put a large tarp and a bunch of bungee cords in the back of the car.  I wanted to get a few bucket-loader loads of 50/50 topsoil and compost from the local nursery.  The soil in my framed beds settled during the year and there is room for 4' more soil (leaving 2' from the top).  And I can always add any extra on other spots. 

2 bucket loads is about 60 cubic feet.  It is sure cheaper than buying "by the bag"!  I have done this before and learned a few things about transporting soil, compost mulch, etc.  The trailer came with boards on the bottom with spaces between.  I used to put a tarp on the bottom to keep stuff falling out through the spaces, and put another on the top to keep stuff from blowing out.  I kept ripping up the bottom tarp shoveling the stuff out.

I got tired of that, and 2 years ago, I fitted pressure-treated plywood on the bottom.  And I figured out a trick for the top tarp.  I set up the top tarp so it was slightly under the front inside of the trailer.  The contents hold the front of the tarp in place, so there is no driving-wind flapping and ripping.  Even the landscaping guys were interested in THAT idea.  Then I just use bungee cords to hold down the sides of the tarp tightly in opposing directions.  Logic is wonderful.

So I left the house with a mower needing repair and returns with 60 cu ft of topsoil/compost.  A good day.

It feels good to get busy again at practical projects...

The New Garden Beds

Pictures at the end...

They are finally all built and filled!  I started last Fall to tear out the old 25 year old ones (and which were not my best work (being unlevel and too shallow).  I bought wood to construct more and larger and taller ones.  I got 5 of 6 finished before the ground froze and it was too cold to work outside.

So the first thing was to build the 6th bed, then move all the remaining good soil from the old ones.  That took some time.  The ground stayed frozen well after the air warmed up in March.  Then I had to wait for the yard to dry enough to bring in more topsoil and compost.

I waited because there were 2 ways to do that.  First (because the lawn was soft from thawing) was I could get the soil and compost from a landscape supply place in the hauling trailer, park it in the front yard at the street, bring the lawn mower with the yard trailer (3x4 feet) to the hauling trailer, shovel it full from the hauling trailer, drive it around back to the garden, and unshovel it into the beds.  I've done that before and its a lot of shoveling!

Second, I could wait for the lawn to dry enough to drive the hauling trailer straight back to the garden and unshovel the load once (and right next to it).  That's an iffy trick of getting between Spring rains and not wanting to wait too long to get it done.

Now, the new beds had some decent soil from the old beds, and I wanted to mix compost (a lovely black and crumbly local leaf compost called "Leaf-Gro") into the existing soil.  I did that 2 weeks ago.  That got most of the beds half-filled.  But the last bed had little good soil and the rest had settled about 4" down.

I went back to the landscaping supply yard expecting to have to get more topsoil on one trip and then more compost on a second.  But Wonder of Wonders, they had something NEW.  A thoroughly mixed 50-50 blend on the Leaf-Gro and topsoil.

I examined each of the 3 carefully, crumbling handfuls, smelling it, and looking at the color.  Their pure topsoil is very good stuff, the Leaf-Gro is very good stuff, and the 50-50 mix seemed to really be 50-50.  To explain how I knew, I found clods in the 50-50 mix and crushed them.  Half were topsoil and half were Leaf-Gro.  And the color of the really sifted parts (99% of the mix) was right between them in color.

Sure beats mixing the individual parts together with a spading fork one forkful at a time over 160 square feet of beds! 

I got two front-loader buckets of the mix (about 2 cubic yards or a bit over 1.5 cubic meters) according to the landscape place.  I think they underestimate the front-loader; I think I got 2 cubic meters (from measuring the volume in the trailer.

But having the trailer right at the garden SURE made things easier.  Sure, shoveling is tedious.  But straight off the back of the trailer into a wheelbarrow once and dumping it only 10' away into the beds was shoveling it once rather than twice.  And I had EXACTLY enough to fill ALL the beds to the top (the soil will settle a bit).

Pictures...

Half-done last Fall.  There is JUST enough space between the beds for my wheelbarrow.

More done last Fall.  BTW, you can see how I attached the lower and upper frames.  The dark wood on the inside is a 1"x6" pressure-treated board that attaches the 2 together.  There is one on each long side of each bed. 

All built by this Spring.

The tarp-covered trailer of 50-50 topsoil and compost mix.   Oops, didn't get a picture with the tarp off...  But you can see it was nearly filled.  5'x8' trailer filled 1.5 feet high = 60 cubic feet = 2+ cubic yards).

Filled all the beds to top (it will settle a bit).   The beds are 4' wide, 3' and 4'.  With 2' between them and allowing 2' on the outsides, it is a perfect 20' square for the framed chicken wire and pipe enclosure!

Did all the emptying/shoveling in 2 hours!  And had to slather muscle-rub on my hands when I went to make dinner later when the muscle cramps started.  OUCH!  Its been a long un-excerising Winter...  But I recover fast.  Oh, and just how did I scrape the trailer so clean, you ask?  Two words.  Snow Shovel!

And I have 2 trash barrels full of leftover pure Leaf-Gro compost  to use on the flowerbeds!

Now I just have to build the PVC pipe and chicken wire enclosure to protect the magnificent new garden from the Evil Squirrels, Evil Rabbits, and Evil Goundhogs.

Well, what is life without the next project?  LOL!  And I have plenty of them on my list...

Trailer Pictures!

Sometimes, it is just best to show the methods and final results...

Obsessive featherboards...

Dado blades...

The tablesaw

Output, LOL!

Sides...

Capped tops and back panel...

Sad part.  I just couldn't get the back corners to match.  After a bad measurement, that was what I have to live with.

But the whole thing is going to be functional for the next 20 years, so...  OK.

Trailer!

Pictures, as promised...

Like in any project, I could do it a bit better a second time, but, "twill serve, twill serve".

Trailer Completus

FINALLY!

Sometimes things that seem so simple are surprisingly complicated.  I sure learned (re-learned?) that this past 2 weeks. 

It seemed simple.  Put plywood sides on a metal framed hauling trailer.  Put tops on the exposed plywood top edges.  Big deal.  Um, not quite.

Yuo remember the Six Million Doolar Man where "they" could make him betteer faster and all that?  Right...  It doesn't go that easy even with simpler things.  All I wanted to do was put sides on the trailer and top the plywood edges on the top so they wouldn't rot so quickly.  And the idea is to make the trailer so that sand won't fall out as I drive home from the landscape supply place.  Not that I buy a lot of sand, but if sand won't fall out, mulch won't and I do buy a lot of mulch.

The sides were easy.  Sort of.  I bought two 4'x8' panels of T1-11 exterior plywood siding.  The stuff is great.  Stable, solid, straight.  I had the lumber store cut the sheets in 20" lengths (there are more details but I won't bore you with those).  And I bought 2"x'4"x8' boards.  Home I went...

The first problem I re-discovered (I probably learned this when I originally did the sides 20 years ago, but forgot) was that the metal frame around the trailer was NOT square in ANY direction.  That means I had to craft the pieces into place.  I made a few errors.  I corrected the errors "pretty" well by hand sawing some cuts to the sides to accommodate the metal welding bumps, but I did a couple of sawings that I shouldn't have done.  At least they were small errors.

After I got the sides to fit, I got at the 2x4 tops.  That was trickier than I thought.  I knew I could cut dadoes (stacked saw blades that make a thick cut -5/8" [20/32"] in this case) on my table saw to fit the 19/32" plywood.  It would have worked great except that the plywood was a bit curvy along the entire length.  Not much to see by eye, but the dado cuts sure could tell.

It took two more days to get the dado cuts to fit over the plywood edge tops.  And THEN I had to adjust all the lengths to fit exactly.  Did I mention I wanted all the corners to join with miter cuts?

And the back panel has to be removable.  There are 2 rectangular welded shapes that are supposed to pit a 2x4 set into them.  They don't, of course.  The inside edges are curved.  So I had to shape 2x4 pieces to fit inside lossely enough to go in and out easily but also fit tightly enough to remove easily. 

That took an hour.  And then I had to attach those pieces to the back sheet squarely enough so they both matched the rectangle metal fittings AND were firmly attached to the back.  That was easy enough except I had to go back into the basement several times for more tools.

If I did this more often than every 20 years, it would be a lot easier.  I almost wish a neighbor would come over now and ask me if I had any experience at doing this.  I sure do now! 

Tomorrow, pictures!

Ah First Things First...

Well, to get the supplies I need for the enclosed garden, I need the hauling trailer renovated.  The old 20 yer-old wood sides rotted out.  I got new T1-11 sides cut to height and length.

I worked on the front and back yesterday. The sides of the trailer aren't exactly square, so I measured the top and bottom of the front side and put a square against the sides to estimate the unsquareness.  Then realized it doesn't matter because there is an inch of metal frame in each corner.

Still, I want to make good joints for personal reasons, and I did.  Even with slight angles, no edge came out more than 1/16' of matching the corners. So they matched that tolerance.  The back hs a strange brace that matched a 2"x4" board IF you sand it down at the corners, and I have the pieces cut to length for that but not yet crafted carefully to size.

But it DOES mean that the trailer will be ready to haul 23 10' pipes  in a couple days and 12 rolls of chicken wire shortly after that.

I looked at rental equipment for making the holes the upright pipes will sit in.  An auger costs $100 for 4 hours; a trencher something like $281 for 4 hours.  Looks like crowbar and post-hole-digging work for my.  Well, I only need 9 holes!  I can manage that.  It would take that long just to drive to the store, rent the machine, drive back, unload it, set it up, use it, etc, and do the reverse.

I'll still hate pounding through rocky gravel...

Trailer Re-Siding

Before I can get the pipes, bulk chicken wire, and then additional compost/soil for the garden enclosure, I have to have the trailer renovated.  I started on that back in last Summer with pressure-treated plywood to cover the sides and base, but the plywood layers separated and warped on the sides, was too high, and too thin for good stability.  All around, a seemingly good choice of material that didn't work. 

Well, "almost" didn't work.  It did fine screwed down onto the boards that make up the bottom of the trailer.  I covered those with plywood because the original individual boards have gaps between them that let sand/dirt/compost fall through unless I covered them with a plastic tarp.  And when you shovel the contents out, you tear up the tarp.  At $10 per tarp, I got tired of that fast (and repairing tears with duct tape isn't free either).

So last week, I decided to go back to what DID work; T1-11 Exterior Plywood Siding.  The previous sides lasted 15 years before starting to rot, and the stuff is very stable and strong.  I should have just stayed with that last Summer.  I guess I figured pressure treated plywood would last even longer.

So last week, I started planning for T1-11 plywood.  I went to Home Depot and they didn't have any of the T1-11 in the thickness I wanted (it comes in basically 3/8" and 5/8" thick) and I wanted the thicker for strength.  Three days later, they also did not have it.  Today I went and I was annoyed enough to find a helpful employee to ask.  He said, that if the plywood wasn't on the shelves, they probably didn't have it in stock. 

I suggested that maybe there was some "in the back" or newly delivered.  But as I said that, I looked WAY UP at the top of the stacks, a good 20 feet up an saw a carboard-covered box that suggested it was the stuff I wanted.  19/32nds thick (seriously, who would make anything 19/32nds?  It must actually be metric).  Then a look from the side showed the other dimensions I wanted.

I won't say the senior lumber guy wasn't exactly upset to have to get that stuff down from the top, but he didn't thank me for the opportunity either.  Well, he got to use a BIG DAMN FORKLIFT and most guys would enjoy that.  Other employees gathered around to watch (they don't get to use that cool stuff).   I don't want to spoil any "guyness" here, but I'm not impressed.  He had only 3 controls:  A steering wheel, the fork up and down, and a slight forward adjustment to the fork.  My mouse is that complicated.  And he screwed it up the first 2 tries!  And he was the senior person...

OK, eventually, he got the pallet of the plywood I wanted down to the sales-level bin.  I told him I wanted 2 sheets and I wanted them cut.  I should explain the cutting.

I wanted the sides of the trailer 18" high.  But that's tricky with T1-11 because it has a tongue and groove edges  (like half-laps depending on your familiarity with terms). 

I had the lumber guy use the coolest saw I ever saw...  Its a circular saw on a pipe grid that works both vertically AND horizontally, with rollers at the bottom so the large plywood panels slide smoothly. 

I ended up with four 8'x18" pieces  and 2 scraps I will find a use for later.  I was initially worried about securing the pieces on the trailer, but then I realized the could fit corner to opposite corner.

Back home, I set the 2 long sides of the 8' plywood strips along the 8" side of the metal frame and drilled holes through the wood to attach them with 1/4" bolt and fender washers on the inside, and lock washers and wing nuts (for easy re-tightening) on the outside.  That took care of the sides.

The front and removable back will take some more exact cuts.  It will be important that the front and back make good contact with the sides so I can't lose material at the corners.  Fotunately, when I put the old back in place, it fit perfectly, so I know what size to cut the new T1-11.  The front part will require so detailed fitting.  Well, the last part always needs details work.

And the forecast is for 2 days of heavy rain, so I brought all the side pieces into the garage.  I'm guessing Tuesday is when I can bring the pieces out to the trailer for correct fitting.

Then I can use the trailer to get the pipes and chicken wire for the enclosed garden.  I always say
something else has to be done first" on any project, and this is proof.  LOL!

Trailer Rebuild, Part 2

So there I was, back to the original framework (except for having some holes drilled through the metal - I tell you those step-bits for drilling metal are great)!

It was time to put on the new stuff.  I had decided to raise the sides from 18" to 24".  Most of the material I want to haul these days is fairly light - mulch and compost and tree debris.  And if its heavy (like sand) I'll just keep the load below the metal framework.

First, I bought all new stainless steel bolts, nuts, washers, split-washers, etc.  And a special purchase I will mention later.

Then I started with a solid floorbed.  No more tarps of the bottom to damage when I shovel material out of the trailer.  The side there is merely clamped down to hold the bottom sheet in place and to see how it would look.

One single 4x8' sheet and then custom fit strips off a 2nd sheet because (surprise!) the trailer is off square by 1/4" and I didn't want any gaps.  I got that strip so accurate I had to stomp it into place!  And then I couldn't push a fingernail in anywhere along the length.  Given a long history of bad circular saw cuts, that may be a personal "best".  It helped that I used a neat clampable straightedge tool (and measured 3 times before cutting).

Here is the clamping straight edge.  It comes in two 4' lengths that can be connected to 8'.  Very nice for cutting plywood!  Mark the cut line and then 1 1/2" more (for MY circular saw - other brands may vary) and it's hard to go wrong.

So, with the bottom in place, I could attach the sides...

Since the sides stick up higher than the metal framework, they need some support.  And the back is designed to be supported by 2x4s sticking into those small frames you can barely see on the back.  They work, but they don't quite fit 2x4s; you have to plane or cut them at th corners.  but I want better support at the top of the back anyway.  And I don't like the exposed edges of the P-T plywood.

So I will show part 3 when I figure out the details.  I know WHAT I want to do, but the measurement tolerances are tight so I may think about it a couple days.  But if what I have in mind works, you'll like it.

Trailer Rebuild, Part 1

I love my 5x8' hauling trailer.  It transports mowers, hauls sand/mulch/compost home, hauls tree debris/recyclables/trash to the county landfill, and I bet it would carry a dozen neighborhood kids on a joy ride for a dollar each (just kidding).

The thing has an open metal frame, so I had to built plywood sides when I bought it.  Ten years+ later, the sides are rotting away.  And the base is boards with spaces between them, so I've always had to put a tarp on the bottom to keep small stuff like sand and compost from falling out (and a tarp above to keep it from blowing away).

So it was time to rebuild!  This time, I wanted rot-resistant (and higher) sides, a solid bottom, and more attached (but still removable) back.  When the trailer is off the car, the front sits on a cinderblock so it tilts back (no worry about rain collecting inside). 

So after sketching out various trailer side and bottom dimensions, I took the trailer to Home Depot (I needed it to haul new plywood home).  I went for 1/2 pressure-treated (P-T) plywood 4x8' sheets.  Home Depot changed a "no-cutting" policy on P-T wood last year or so to allowing it.  They have a great sheet plywood cutting machine, but it's one free cut per sheet.  I had fun figuring out the cuts (no seriously, I had FUN figuring out the cuts - I was good at geometry in school and I do some slight wood-working).  I figured out a satisfactory way to do the whole thing with 3 sheets of plywood and only 1 Home Depot cut on 2 sheets.  I would have had them do a cut on the 3rd sheet, but I needed to custom fit that cut.

Here are the BEFORE pictures...

You can see the sides were falling apart.

So I unloaded the new pieces.

And set about removing the old...

Easier said than done!  Some of those zinc-coated bolts and nuts were locked in place.  Considering that some of them just loosened and fell out over the years, that was a surprise.  (And for those of you in the know, I used lock washers and double nuts on all the bolts)

Thank goodness for Liquid Wrench!

I soaked all the nuts with that.  They still fought, but they DID all come loose with "persuasion".

And eventually, I had all the old sides removed.

Next time, I put on the new bottom and sides...

Trailer Time!

A front loader bucket of Leaf Pro, about 25 cubic feet.  $30 where the same in bags at the local big box store cost about $60.

The before pic for the early tomato bed.  It's close to the house, so it stays warmer.

I started to add the Leaf Pro,  The box was only half full of soil (the falling down raingutters last year dumped tons of water and washed soil out).  The raingutters have been replaced.  So I decided to fill it with half compost. 

I dug the soil deeply, then added the compost and dug that deeply.  Then I added more and dug it deeply again.  It is one of the 2 sunniest spots left in the yard.  The soil has been left alone a few years.  With the bed being half compost, if I can't grow heirloom tomatoes there this year, I will have to give up here and consider a community garden spot.

Doing Useful Stuff, 5

The trees drop branches, I cut down weedy saplings, I trim desirable trees, some shrubs need severe pruning each year.  It adds up to a large brushpile.  

So I finally piled all the debris into the hauling trailer and brought it to the County landfill.  It was 8 feet high in the trailer.  After tying it down tight with ropes, I crushed it down to 6' high.  And delivered it.  Not as trash, but as compostable material.  You see, the County here has a huge composting area.  They pile all the organic debris into rows 20 feet high and a football field long.

In return, County residents can obtain "mulch" (more like halfway between shredded bark and compost) for free).  They will even use a bucketloader to fill trailers or pickup trucks for residents for free on Saturdays.  Its not quite either, but it IS free. 

I usually shovel it out of the trailer into a pile, use a mulch-fork to take out the large parts to use as real mulch, then let the smaller stuff compost (covered by a tarp) to become soil amendment.  Between moisture, time, ants, worms, heat, and microbes, it is really good stuff after a full year.

So it is really a "give raw material this year" and "get back a useful product the next".  And free, did I mention that?  LOL!  Free is good...

Free Mulch Again!

For years, the County collected lawn and tree debris, shredded it, and aged it.  Then gave it back to county residents for free.  On Saturdays, they would even load it in trailers or pickups for free.  It wasn't big pieces like commercial mulch, nor aged enough to be compost.  I used to get 2 trailer loads each Spring.  One to use for mulch and the other to set aside to compost further.

Then they stopped for 2 (3?) years.  I kept checking their website only to see "No Mulch Available".  I figured they were either using it for county maintenance, or lacked the funds to keep processing the raw debris.

So when I had a landfill load of trash, I asked about it.  I was told the mulch had become available again all this year.  I would swear the website said "No Mulch Available" just last month.  But the imporatant thing was that the mulch was available again!

There used to be hour-long lines to get the Saturday free loading, but yesterday, I was the only customer.  I drove up, put a tarp on the bottom of the trailer (it has gaps between the floorboards) and set the edge of a larger tarp in the front so the mulch would hold it in place.  ONE big bucket load later, the trailer was filled to overflowing!  I folded the top tarp back over the pile and attached it down with bungee cords.

I drove it into the back yard, where I will scoop it out onto this beat up old tarp where the last of the compost mulch was used up this Spring.  Unfortunately, the top tarp did not reach all the way to the back end, and with 3" of rain falling on it, the exposed mulch got so heavy it tipped the trailer back.

Now there is too much weight against the removable back  upright, I can't remove it.  So I'll have to shovel a foot or so clear before I can slide the mulch out.

This is how tipped it is.  I removed the top tarp, in hopes that the rain forecast for tonight will even out the weight and let it sit level again so that I can remove the back.

I shot this picture crooked so that it would LOOK level.  LOL!  That's 2.75 cubic yards of free mulch!  I hate to think what it would cost to buy it by the bag!

As soon as I get this unloaded and spread around the flower/garden beds, I'll go back and get more to leave aside to compost, then whatever more I can get, I'll use to cover my daffodil and hosta beds!