Lets just say I do not like maintaining a yard, pond, plot of land... whatever.. I got over dirty hands and sticky fingers when I was around 9 years old. Now I don't even like the smell of a hamburger on my fingers any longer than necessary.
Not caring to do yard work at all leads me to having a double lot on which my house sits. Why? Because it had a huge side yard to drive balloon trailers and vehicles into easily. Over 22ft on one side and 14ft on the other. Huge. Sadly hugely full of weeds most times. Then the back may be shallow but not that shallow and also weedy.. with the in ground pond in there and a 22 by 24 foot zen garden it still takes a long time to deal with when I don't want to deal with it at all.
Don't get me wrong. I love the distance I have from my back and side neighbors... its very nice and they cant even see into my backyard now that the silly person behind me's tall wood eyesore fort he built so his kids could look right into my yard has fallen down... its back to being nice and private back there.... if not for the weeds, tree sprouts from my neighbors stupid tree and the damn mint the last owner of my house decided to let run free. That is three very ignorant people... and I have to deal with the fallout of that all.
Plans are in the works to have the East side yard and North back yard graded flat with a nice slope towards the back away from the house then covered in breathable matting and some nice Santa Fe rose rock spread everywhere. Then my above ground pond I made out of an 8 ft watering trough will be re positioned where the in ground pond was and then some of the huge boulders that surround the existing in ground pond will be reused to set along the outside and then plants and seating areas will be set in place. Easy to maintain...NO WEEDS! Nice water feature without the back pain and crap!.
Here is what it looks like now....
All those tree sprouts are from my neighbors tree. He should be responsible for cleaning it up. Massive amount of cutting and slicing. Cant pull these things. I cut them down to their base but the stumpy things are still there. Once we level the area they will be pulled up.
After the cutting and hacking and swearing and pain and chopping and digging and slipping its nice again. Had to unclog the waterfall spout as the mint climbs up it and clogs the output even though I put an extension on to stop that. Removed the rock that used to hide it nicely as it would be used as a launch spot for the mint. Also had to pull the 100 pound filter box out without falling in and replace the filter and wash off the filtering balls. Its running fine now and will be crystal clear by tomorrow.
The water trough pond. 8 foot by 2 1/2 deep. Replanted Lilly's are doing well but no flowers yet. Two water spouts to oxygenate the water have adjustable valves so I can lessen the flow or make it splash everywhere...
Good cover for the transplanted fish... they are hiding...
My single barrel cactus has decided it was lonely... has to be taken out and put in a pot before the yard gets flattened.
WEED! Neat colors though.
Cool reflections from the water fall feature. The cost of buying a molded water fall feature was completely ridiculous so I used PVC piping and cut slash ports and it works as nicely. When covered with rocks after its moved into place, will look very nice.
My fish are hiding...
Not well as they are stacked up together.
A good patina is emerging on the bottom of the pond. I might think to put some black plastic down to cut the reflectivity.
Favorite picture so far today.
Besides that there was a fun party I went to... Baked potato's and desserts.. great conversations but left early as I had planned on flying the next morning....
Chili poppers....
Very funny people...
More funny people!
Before all of that I was digging through stuff from my Dads that had to be cleared out and ran across this wonderfully preserved movie camera that was my Mothers Fathers.... What a find...
A camera and projector!
I was thinking to look it up and see what year it was made. It was my Grandfathers so it has much personal meaning to me and fits my collection of old cameras nicely.
Basic lighting settings...
Winder on the side...
I believe this is the fpm setting.
So very good condition... but very very heavy.
Bulb and film cartridges.
Completely intact. I need to find someone who can tell me if there is anything on the film... There was FILM IN IT!
Basic hoop viewfinder... Even the leather strap is in good condition. What a find!
Found this link: http://www.pathefilm.uk/95gear/95gearcampro.htm
So all around it was a good week if not a week I flew. It would have been an excellent week if that had happened.
Looking forward to this next weekend to Not Not fly... shhhhh...... Need to get Highperactive out and check her temp sensor seating as I just sewed her in to keep it from flopping out into the hot hot away from the fabric of the envelope.
Where its supposed to sit.. but it slides too easily out or in.. so a loose knot in the cable about two inches back....
With a bit of high temperature thread looped into the knot to stop it from moving. Its perfectly secure and only moves about a quarter inch if at all. I need to make sure its not binding or tugging. It shouldn't be as there is a lot of cable on this sensor. But its best to check. We tried to used that velcro but it didn't work either.
I was going to do a whole blog on Hot air balloon instruments and sensors but not being able to get pictures of everything in time stopped that.. so maybe in the future.
If you want a good read.. go find these books.. they are basic sci fi and I have read them over and over...
Great author. Fun and fresh storyline.... All of these are quick reads.
Another great Author and a wild story-line. Plus learn some Navajo and a bit on sand paintings.
This silly story beats the heck out of Star Wars, or pretty much any space battle type movie... Hilarious and fun. There ends up being five books to this story-line. Its a novel novel by Lee McKeone.
Guess what.. you cant find any of these in digital form.
Oh I have more stuff but it has to wait till next weekend!
Have a fun remainder of your Sunday and a quick week.
