What did you do today non-detailing related?

Push mowed the lawns, I should of did it last Thursday as that was the 7 day cut, It was more work this time, bloody 40km/h Gusts and 10c

Started to shower so I will finish of with the ride on maybe tomorrow.....

High winds all next week with showers only to get a one day break and you have to pack sooooo much in and keep everyone happy
 
Repairs on the clothesline, the original line lasted 4 years, the replacement not even 1. Luckily I didn't cut it to fit exactly, I left some spare line at each end, but I've had to secure the middle with some cable ties. I've since read I may have tensioned it a little too much, a little slack might be a good thing.
 
Just look at this stunner that I found poking out from behind one of my Camellias.



Freesia's are supposed to be highly scented, but this one sadly isn't. Robbed!
 
Butterfly house done

CT9Ib2v.jpg
 
My twin brother and his wife came up and stayed, we watched the AFL grand final yesterday nothing real special about the game.

Today we went for a walk, saw some people trying to find a lost drone in the low tide river mud YUK, then on the way back a random tree fall over it was rotten at the bottom but a little odd.

Then off to the Berry Patch at Turners beach to get wood fired pizza and chips!

I paid for everything and bloody $84 dollars later + 30-40 min wait drinks and two pizzas,chips I had a lemon & lime bitter drink with a pepperoni olives, capsicum, mushroom etc.

They only had one chef working and school holidays hence the long wait, finished off with a larg mixed berry ice cream 🍦

Tomorrow mow the lawns and the neighbours, plus clean the interior of the Amarok wipe the face of the wheels clean the windscreen etc,

Then high winds and showers for the rest of the week hence no wash plus, There is only one of me and I have to keep on top of things with only one day to do it.
 
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My twin brother and his wife came up and stayed, we watched the AFL grand final yesterday nothing real special about the game.

Today we went for a walk, saw some people trying to find a lost drone in the low tide river mud YUK, then on the way back a random tree fall over it was rotten at the bottom but a little odd.

Then off to the Berry Patch at Turners beach to get wood fired pizza and chips!

I paid for everything and bloody $84 dollars later + 30-40 min wait drinks and two pizzas,chips I had a lemon & lime bitter with pepperoni olives, capsicum, mushroom etc.

They only had one chef working and school holidays hence the long wait, finished off with a larg mixed berry ice cream 🍦

Tomorrow mow the lawns and the neighbours, plus clean the interior of the Amarok wipe the face of the wheels clean the windscreen etc,

Then high winds and showers for the rest of the week hence no wash plus, There is only one of me and I have to keep on top of things with only one day to do it
Take-away lunch for two on Friday, almost $40. Glad I didn't go anywhere fancy.
 
The first rose bloom of the season, this being a climbing form of "Gold Bunny". Sadly, this is a non-scented floribunda rose, however it is a healthy repeat flowerer. With so much fresh growth, what you can't see is the massive infestation of green aphids, which was swiftly given a dose of systemic insecticide. Actually, if you look closely at the foliage, it has a shiny appearance, that is the secretions from the aphids, which will often attract ants as well.



This particular garden has a large quantity of roses in bush, climbing, standard forms. Each year, I stagger the pruning over a couple of weeks, usually early to mid-August. This is something I would stress to customers, avoid pruning roses at the very start of winter. I even have an ex-colleague who starts her rose pruning services at the same time. For many, the calendar will tick past June 1st and therefore assume it MUST be winter, well, it's just far too early for rose pruning.

There are a few key reasons why you should delay rose pruning -

- Being in a frost prone area, often into spring, pruning too early risks damage to fresh shoots, in turn setting the plant back.

- Quite often, roses will still be in full leaf and even flower well into June and July. That means the plant is NOT dormant. "Oh, but the rose plants in the store don't have leaves on them"...............that's because they are sprayed with a defoliant to shock them into an early dormancy. This is also why you don't buy roses from Home Depot or Bunning's.

- Pruning too early does not mean an early return to flowering. There just isn't enough sunlight and warmth for strong regrowth.

Why am I repeating all of this information? Because the above rose was the LAST to be pruned in mid/late-August. And yet, it was the FIRST to flower and the plant that bounced back much, much stronger than all of the others that were pruned earlier in August.
 
Well I got the mowing done push and ride on and I'm glad I did 25% 30mm of rain coming straight from Adelaide!

The car not so much as it's going to Launceston so a lot of road wash potholes etc, My 12 year old niece does dancing of all sorts from cheerleading to ballet.

She made 1st place on Friday.
 
I had a small tidy up in the garage, decided to get rid of the boxes from the last few detailing deliveries, hanging on to empty boxes is a bad habit from my warehouse days. Tipping the packing out I discovered an extra spray head I didn't realise I was missing, probably an NV one from Waxit by the look of it.
 
Well my wife's 2009 MKZ died while driving at 163K miles. There was a knocking noise followed by the engine cutting off. I went to pick her up and get it towed. I checked the oil and there was plenty of water in the oil with some foaming. We know that is bad. It was also leaking oil on ground so engine block likely cracked. The engine was extremely hot. Given the book value, we did not want to put any more money in it.

We got rid of it and had to empty it while raining. The Griots 3 in 1 wax beading like a champ.
 
You think it overheated first, Bunky, causing the block to crack (or something similar) and mix the water with the oil?
 
You think it overheated first, Bunky, causing the block to crack (or something similar) and mix the water with the oil?
I am not sure and was not going to spend any money or more time to figure it out. It could have blown a head gasket, hydro locked, and then stopped. This could crack the block to cause it to leak oil.
 
Noticed this high-quality workmanship while out for my walk this afternoon................................. :rolleyes:



I've always refrained from doing that as I know the distain the general public has for leaf blowers, and I really don't feel like giving people a reason to complain. I've had multiple people over the years accuse me of blowing leaves and grass onto the road or into neighbouring properties. But if that person had bothered to actually observe rather just immediately going into attack mode because they see/hear a leaf blower, they would notice that I'm either not finished yet or that it was the wind and not my leaf blower to blame. Like, of course there is some grass in the gutter, you stopped to harass me before I'd finished what I was doing, sometimes before I've started. I'm normally pretty quiet/reserved person, but I get very worked up when people stop me to complain about my workmanship on SOMEONE ELSES property.
 
Well, I kinda bought a lawn mower shop here.......................



This all came from the lawn mower shop I have spoken about here many times. This shop was my go-to for many years, be that for the purchase of lawn mowers and spare parts, but also for equipment repair. Once it changed hands, I was burnt twice on two repairs with the new owner, which turned into a messy situation and dispute with Victa head office. I have since bought parts and mowers elsewhere, and then fixed stuff myself.

When the business was being sold, the new owners were instructed by an accountant to not include/accept parts more than a year old within the sale. So, boxes and boxes of old parts were taken with the previous owners and have sat in his shed ever since.

Now, a lot of this stuff is going to be completely useless to me. Some of it is suuuuper old, some of it is for larger ride-on engines, some of it I don't even know what it's for. There is everything from replacement valves, thousands of different gaskets, pistons, piston rings, complete carburettors, carburettor kits, governor springs and links, air filters, even two fuel tanks, one of which would have come in handy on a recent project.

















The fun part from here will be going through and sorting out what I want to keep, what is worth selling, what is simply better off going in the bin (old foam filters for example). Some of the vintage Briggs & Stratton packaging is worth having just to look at. 😁

This was the same mower shop that I remember going to with my dad to buy parts for the family's ailing Morrison, which we eventually rebuilt together and subsequently taught me how engines work. Every time I would go into that shop, young or old, I'd be gazing beyond the counter and into the spare parts room thinking, geez, I'd love to have a look in there. Now I have a significant collection of parts that would have sat on those shelves the whole time. Some of them decades old.
 
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