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.

Cleaning Garden Tools, Part 3

The rules say to sharpen the cutting edges of shovels and such with a file.  But I have a grinding wheel which is just as good and faster, LOL!  We're not talking about fine cutlery here.

So, being careful to generally match the grinding angle to the original  beveled angles, I set about the crude sharpening.  You are only making an edge on one side (chisel, not knife).  LOOK at those sparks, LOL!  I had the handle of the spade resting on the floor, so the grinding angle stayed very consistent.  A light pass back and forth did a wonderful job.

I gave the scuffle-hoes special attention.  They work with back-and-forth cutting strokes just below ground level (sort of like using a mop).  The front edge cuts under weeds on the push stroke, the back edge cuts on the pull stroke.

Then it was time to oil all the metal.  I've read about that bucket of sand with a quart of motor oil poured in, but I'm not going to mess with that.  It feels like pouring oil into the flowerbeds.  The oil on the tools has to get worn off somewhere, right?

So I took another piece of an old undershirt and simply wiped the tools with it dipped in motor oil.  Then I wiped the surfaces of excess oil with a another cloth.

The post-hole digger at the top of the picture WILL get file work.  The curves are tricky for the grinder.

Fish Loyalty

Fresh water tropical aquarium fish are generally small and only live a couple/few years.   I have a 30 gallon tank, so there are about 2 dozen small fish in it (mostly tiger barbs, cherry barbs, and serpa tetra).  So it is no great surprise to me to see a dead one every so often.  Yesterday, I noticed that the male dwarf gourami of my pair had died and was lying in a corner of the aquarium.  I knew I would have to get it out soon but I was a bit busy.

What surprised me was that the female was within a couple of inches of the dead male each time I passed by.  I glanced at the spot each time I passed for a couple of hours and she was always right there!  So I just watched her.

It's not like I always saw them swimming around together, and I certainly never noticed them trying to build a nest or mate.  I'm also not inclined to ascribe complex emotions to a fish.  But she was staying between him and the other fish in the tank.  I think she sensed something was wrong with him and may have even been guarding him.

Pretty impressive for a "just a fish".

Cleaning Garden Tools, Part 2

Part 2 of the garden tool maintenance was to protect the wood handles.  Most of my garden tools are old enough that the cheap wood finish is long since gone.  So I was dealing with bare wood.  I had thought I needed to paint them with wood sealant, but I have read that boiled linseed oil is a better choice.  No, you don't have to go boiling linseed oil yourself; you can buy it that way at the hardware store.  It will say "boiled" on the can. 

The directions said you could dilute it with up to 50% paint thinner for better penetration, so I did that.  I'll repeat the process using undiluted boiled linseed oil tomorrow after the diluted application dries.

I found that a piece of old cotton undershirt was a good applicator.  And, though I wasn't worried about the linseed oil (its made from flax seed), the paint thinner can be a skin irritant so I wore latex gloves.

Since the gloves were immediately wet and I didn't feel like taking them on and off, I don't have pictures of the actual application.  Fortunately, rubbing a wood pole with a wet cloth is a reasonably obvious process.  ;)

So I'll show a couple of "after" pictures.  Give the linseed oil 24 hours to dry.  The wet rag can self-combust if wadded up and thrown away, so I spread it out outside on a cinder block.  Same with the latex gloves, "just in case".

Note that the wood on some of the tools is much darker than on others.  The more old unfinished wood, the more of the linseed oil was absorbed, so the darker it is.   I assume that if you see the tools of an old gardener and they are deep brown smooth wood, they have been lovingly-maintained.  Mine will never look like that, but I'll try to do this each year from now on.

These ones were all purchased about the same time, so the degree of darkness probably shows which ones I've used the most (wearing off the original finish).  Well, it could also reflect the quality of the original factory finish...

Since the undiluted 2nd application has nothing new involved, just consider that done tomorrow.  Friday, sharpening and oiling...

Cleaning Garden Tools, Part 1

Because we were forecast to have several days of drizzly rain, I thought of what I could usefully do in the house.  One thought was to move the stereo cabinet over to the TV and use the speakers to improve the TV sound quality (a cheap home theater).  The second was to do maintenance on my garden tools.  The garden tools seemed more timely.  Mainly, because I've never really done that before.

So I piled all the shovels, hoes, rakes, etc into the wheelbarrow and brought them all into the basement.  I brought everything that had unfinished wood handles, a blade, caked dirt, or rust (and that doesn't leave much - an aluminum soil rake, a plastic and aluminum leaf rake, and a big breaker bar).  Also, I'm leaving all the pruners for real sharpening "later".

There are 3 main things to do.  First clean all the tools of dirt and rust.  I know, we ALL clean the dirt off each time we are putting them away.  Right...  Second protect all the bare wood handles.  Third, sharpen all cutting edges and oil the metal.

So, today I cleaned all the tools.  I laid a few at a time on the workbench.

I was surprised to discover that a wire brush does not remove caked dirt very well.   A narrow metal putty knife works much better and is flexible enough to follow curves.  Below, I'm removing dirt from my poacher's shovel.

After all the dirt was scraped off, I took the wire brush to all the metal surfaces and then washed them with a wet rag.  And of course, dried them with another rag.

Tomorrow, protecting the bare wood...

A Small Dinner Party

"Ding-Dong"  Oh hello, thank you so much for coming!  For everyone's convenience, I have set the Einstein time-converter to 5:30 pm local time whenever you arrive and I think the Heisenberg stabilizer is on (but you can never really be sure about that).  It is so nice to meet you; please come in.  You are JUST on time.

The appetizer table is there on the right.  There are stuffed celeries, marinated mushrooms, several cheeses and crackers, and some lemony-dill cucumber slices. 

On the left, there are small glasses of various liqueurs (Pomegranate, Razzleberry, and Triple Sec), a pitcher of Bloody (well, V8) Marys, a pitcher of old-fashions, and bottled water (note the lime and lemon twists in the bowl there).  There is also green tea on the warmer and I have plenty steeping in the kitchen.  Choose a glass that suits your fancy.  It is seldom I get to put out all those odd glasses, so feel free to experiment.  Have some tea in a martini glass or liqueur in a teacup.  It's a relaxed event.

Dinner will start in about 30 minutes, so feel free to mingle, talk, toss cat treats or toys, etc.  It's OK to wander through the kitchen too.  I already have the herbed saffron rice and sauce and salad prepared, so I only have to saute the shrimp and asparagus.  I can even talk while doing that.

Please let me know if the music is too quiet.  I didn't want it to be too loud for talk or too quiet to enjoy.

Dear friends, dinner is SERVED... Now, who would like some wine?  And with THIS dish, it can be anything.  I have zinfandel and riesling, and Megan has brought an Australian wine!

For dessert, we have an assortment of Lindor chocolates and some Van Otis Swiss Fudge.  Plus Tina has brought a smoked Salmon Cheesecake!

There are also bowls of cat treats and toys for tossing to any of the Mews who venture out among us, and Iza is showing off her tummy and rolling skills...

[Oops, the smoked salmon cheesecake has been moved the the appetizer table]