Lawnmowers Can Be A Headache

When we moved here to Kentucky I brought along an old push type lawnmower that had been left with the house we bought in late 1999.  It was several years old then and we used it regularly until moving here.  I mowed the large lawn that went with the old mobile home we rented in town all summer long in 2004.  By the time I started mowing here around the house it was finally beginning to fall apart.  I purchased the least expensive mower Wal-Mart had in the store.  After 5 summers it was also having problems.  The metal was breaking out where the wheels mounted causing the wheels to flop over and there wasn’t much one could do to repair this.  The engine was not running right either.  I replaced a diaphragm in the carburetor (I hope this spelling meets your approval as there are 4 different possibilities in the dictionary!) but it still wasn’t running as it should.

Danny had an old mower that someone had given him that had the recoil starter messed up.  He said I could have it so I worked with it and got the starter fixed but I could not get it to run.  With some starter fluid sprayed into the carburetor it would fire and burn out the fluid but wouldn’t keep running.  I discovered that the intake manifold, which was made of plastic, was broken on the end that attached to the carb.  I bought a new one and I still couldn’t get it to run until I took the carb off and cleaned it.  I did some mowing with it but the engine wouldn’t stay at the RPMs I needed.  A throttle cable should fix that, I thought.  So, I purchased a universal throttle cable.  I soon discovered that I needed a small cable clamp to hold the cable.  I checked with the largest mower dealer in our nearby “big” town.  They didn’t have such an animal.  They referred me to another business which also didn’t have such a clamp.  I decided I could make my own.

Now that everything was back together I should have been back in business.  But, again the engine didn’t want to start.  While pulling and pulling the starter rope snapped.  Now, that shouldn’t be a big problem.  I’ve rewound many recoil starter springs BUT this one was different.  I couldn’t seem to figure out how it had to be done.  Searching the internet I could find parts manuals, operator manuals but no info on how to rewind the spring in the recoil starter.  I found where I could purchase a repair manual for $20.00 or so.

Needless to say, about this time I was tired of working with old worn out mowers.  So, yesterday morning I went mower shopping.  I was hoping that maybe some of the stores would be putting mowers on clearance this late in the summer.  Lowes had a good selection but no clearance sale.  TSC has only ONE push type in stock but they weren’t discounting it.  They told me that they had purchased fewer mowers this year and had planned to sell all inventory.  Wal-Mart was putting their mowers on clearance but I didn’t find what I really liked.  So, I went back to Lowes and was able to buy one that seemed to meet my needs.  Hopefully it will last as long as I will need a lawnmower.

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My Little Girls Are Gone

If you have ever had goats you know how hard it is to let go of any of them.  My little goat kids are now over 6 months old.  I should have gotten rid of some of them before now but I kept wrestling with myself, trying to talk myself into keeping Annie’s daughter (A.G.).  Brownie’s little girl (B.G.) was a beautiful little goat as well but A.G. was just a gorgeous little doeling.  However, I finally made the decision to sell the girls and ran an ad on Craigslist. 

A lady called and wanted both of them, so they will still have each other.  They also will have other goats to make friends with.  The lady could tell that I was having a hard time parting with them and she sent me an e-mail to let me know that they are doing fine.

This is what she had to say, in part.   “Anyway, the one you liked so much....I haven't named them yet......she got a ride on the 4-wheeler sitting in my lap.  I think she enjoyed it as she was in no hurry to get up.  The other one was running along behind us calling her head off!!  Anyway, thought you'd like to know how they were doing :)”  I got quite a chuckle picturing this in my mind.  I feel sure they will get good care.

Here are a couple of pictures taken just before they left here.

This is A.G.  Isn’t she a beauty?

B.G. is spotted much like her dad.

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The Front Porch-Part Two

I mentioned in my last post, The Front Porch, that I would keep everyone updated on the completion of the project of screening in the porch. Well, I’m happy to report that the carpet is down and the new door is up. I also redid the sidewalk. It is a “board walk” and the old one was put down hurriedly nearly 5 years ago. It was sagging in some areas, boards were warped and a few were beginning to develop some rot. Here are some photos.

The carpet is blue, Connie’s favorite color.

The cedar screen door and carpeted front steps. The bottom section of the screen door is expanded metal, which should take the beating given it by a dog and grandkids.

The walk extends from the front steps to the parking area. It runs at an angle of about 24 degrees.

We have been enjoying eating on the porch without being bothered by insects. Last evening Ramiah ate with us and this evening we were joined by Malchiah. In the photo above we were preparing to eat our lunch today. This evening as we were eating there was a light rain falling. Without any wind blowing it was very pleasant. In case you can’t tell, we are enjoying having a screened porch.

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The Front Porch

A friend told us that every home in Kentucky needed a front porch, that it was actually additional living space. Before we had finished the addition to our house I built a front porch. It is the length of the house, 3o feet, and 8 feet wide.

The picture above was taken shortly after the porch was built.

One item that Connie had wanted for the porch was a porch swing. I kept thinking that I could build her one, even located plans on the internet, but just never got around to getting one built. We had sat in a patio swing with the canopy at my cousin’s home and discussed getting one of those. We looked at a nice one at Wally World (Wal-Mart) but decided that it was just too big for our porch. I asked the associate if they carried porch swings. She said that they didn’t but that her husband built them. She cautioned me to be quiet but she gave me his phone number.

After talking to him on the phone Connie and I went over to his shop and looked at one he had built. He said he would build whatever we wanted. The only thing different we asked for was a little additional depth, it was a bit short for my long legs. He built it for us with that additional depth and also a bit taller. It was built out of native cedar, although not from here on the ridge.

While we were at Wally World looking at the patio swing we noticed that they had marked down the price on “porch rockers.” Connie had expressed many times that one would be nice. So, we went back and bought two!

With nice porch furniture we decided that it would be nice to have the porch screened in, which we had discussed in times past. Although not quite finished, we are getting the porch screened in. I had to do some additional framing, as shown here.

Since we had never put a ceiling in the porch that was also needed. I considered several ways of doing it but finally settled on using OSB (orient strand board).

I caulked the seams before painting. After painting I also installed two ceiling fans with lights.

This week I have put up the screen and put wood strips over the seams. These I put on with screws so they can easily be removed if I should need to replace a screen.

We have yet to put up a screen door. The man who built our porch swing is making us a cedar screen door. I’ll post a picture once we get it put up. We also plan to put indoor/outdoor carpeting on the floor since there are cracks between the boards and creepy crawly critters can come up from under the porch. We’ll keep you updated.

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A New Front Door

For quite some time (like since we first put it in) we have wanted a different front door. The door we had was a solid door without any glass. We really wanted a door with glass in it to let in a bit more light. But, perhaps the biggest frustration was that the door couldn’t be opened all of the way back.

The door had been purchased for another application and just wasn’t right for the location we chose to use it in. The door was designed for a standard 4” wall (one using 2” X 4” studs) and our wall is a 6” wall. With the brick moulding on the outside of the house, as it is supposed to be, the door lacks 2” from reaching the inside wall. I was able to cut material to fill in the gap from the trim to the door jam but it was not possible to open the door beyond straight into the room.

In this photo, taken at Thanksgiving, of our daughter, Anna, and her husband, Jeff, you can see the old door sticking out into the room. We generally keep a chair back in the corner and anyone sitting in it had to look around the door.

We picked out a door we liked but it also was made for a 4” wall. We inquired and found that we could order one for a 6” wall BUT it was $100.00 more! The salesman suggested that I remove the brick moulding, set the door to the inside wall, attach the brick moulding to the outside, and then fill in with material. I had considered that but the problem was, as I saw it, the door had a 4” sill and that was a problem. He informed me they could order a 6” sill, which was less than $25.00. Needless to say, that is what we did.

In the above pictures you can see the door opened back and also with it closed. A feature with this door, that you can’t see, is a built-in mini-blind. The blind can be raised, as in these pictures, and is hidden at the top. It can be lowered part way, or all the way, and can be adjusted with the blinds opened or closed. We probably won’t use the blind all that often but it gives us the option if we choose to use it.

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Opry Mills Shopping Mall

Before returning home on Monday afternoon, July 20th,  Connie and I spent 2-3 hours at the Opry Mills Shopping Mall.  This mall is right next door to the Opryland Resort and the Grand Ole Opry House and sits on the former site of the Opryland USA theme park.  It was constructed in 1999, a joint venture of Mills Corporation and Gaylord Entertainment.  It is now owned by Simon Property Group.  There are over 200 stores and services within this 1,200,000 square foot facility.  I calculated that out to be 27 and 1/2 acres.  You can check out the Opry Mills website.

 

One of the couples that sat at our table on the General Jackson had visited Opry Mills the previous day and mentioned several interesting things to us.  One was the Aquarium Restaurant.  They advertize this as “an underwater dining adventure.”  They were not open for business when we walked by but we could look into the dining area.  Huge fish could be seen swimming right by the tables.  As you walk into the facility you will have fish swimming on both sides and above you.

We also enjoyed the aquarium within the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World.  (That facility takes up approximately 3 acres!)  Their aquarium if filled with fresh water fish, one of which is this gigantic catfish pictured below.

It was almost impossible to keep from getting reflections.

One store we particularly enjoyed spending some time in was Black Lion (or maybe Blacklion)

.  This large facility is filled with numerous smaller booths with items from individual vendors.  Some would liken it to an antique mall perhaps but the items are new and range from framed pictures, craft items, to ???  I think Connie did buy a couple of small items in this store.

If you can keep your cash and credit card close to you this mall is a fun place to visit.

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Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center

After checking into our room, following our cruise on the General Jackson Showboat, we walked across the street to the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. This hotel is the largest non-casino hotel in the continental U.S. with 2881 guestrooms, 200 of them suites. In fact, it is the largest hotel in the U.S. outside of Las Vegas. The room rates were a bit more than we cared to spend. Even the parking is a bit much, $18.00 per day for self-parking and $25.00 per day for valet parking. Our interest was to visit and walk through the 9 acres of tropical gardens, all under glass and steel. And, the admission to do that was in our price range, FREE.

The three gardens, The Conservatory, The Cascades, and The Delta, contain over 10,000 tropical plants. There are numerous small streams, many waterfalls and several fountains. The Delta even has a 1/4 mile long river upon which one can, for a fee, take a guided boat tour.

This is a view of the glass and steel roof in one of the gardens. Being climate controlled the plants are very “happy” and lush. In some of the following photos you will see some of the many flowers that were in bloom.

Connie told me that this was a variety of African violet—much larger plant and blooms than what Connie has at home. There were many different colors of blooms.


I was quite impressed by all of the different types and colors of orchids. Consequently I took several photos of them.






Here is a view of one of the many waterfalls and streams throughout the gardens.





It maybe difficult for you to see, but Connie is standing directly behind this waterfall. It was rather “neat” to be able to walk behind and be able to see through a waterfall.




We enjoyed the many fish in the streams, most being Koi or goldfish, as I call them. Over time there has been a lot of coins thrown into the streams, as can be seen here.

We spent 2-3 hours walking through the 9 acres of gardens, taking pictures and enjoying the many plants. Our only complaint was that there were no signs or labels to tell us what they were. Some we knew but many left us wondering. We would recommend anyone visiting Nashville to visit the gardens at the Opryland Hotel (or resort as it is now known.)

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