Category: Family

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Mowtown USA, getting the mower ready.

It’s that time of the year again.  Time to break the mower out of storage and get ready to mow some grass.

This post serves two purposes. 

  1. It gives me an online place to put all the stuff I need to remember about our mower so this time next year I don’t have to go hunting for make/model numbers.

    We have a 61″ BobCat (Ransom) Zero Turn Commercial Mower.  This isn’t your mamma’s mower.   It’s now 7 years old and still cuts like the day we bought it new for nearly $8k.  Of course it’s gone through a number of sets of blades, etc.  It looks a little rougher than it used too, the seat could use some work, but it still runs great.

    For historical purposes here’s the info I wish to save:

    2. Engine: 23HP Kawasaki FH680V Twin
    Engine Spec# BS08
    Oil Filter: (21334-1) 49065-2078
    Oil Capacity 1.9L (4.0 pt)
    Spark Plug: BPR5ES
    Pre Cleaner 11013-7009 // Air Filter 11013-7010

  2. Now that that’s out of the way.  Each year I change the oil, put in new plugs and treat her to a new set of blades.   I purchase all of this stuff from MowTownUSA.com Back when I was cutting commercially and went through 3 sets of blades a year I’d buy them here.  I do sharpen them myself, but for $8 a blade for standard blades you can’t hardly beat that.  It takes me a good hour or so to sharpen and balance a set.  If one’s bent your kind of hosed.   So replacing them is the easy choice.

So if you need parts, I highly recommend them.  They’d beat the locals (with shipping) by $5 a blade or more on Gator Blades.   This year I’m going out on a limb and trying the new Super Hard, Gator Brand Mulcher Fusion Lawnmower Blade.  It’s supposed to last 200% longer, etc.   We wear them out, we hit rocks, sticks and toys so we’ll see.

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Their back!

Claudine is back from her trip to Vermont.  The primary purpose was to visit family and attend the funeral of her cousin Sue who lost her battle with Cancer.  May she rest in peace.

While on the trip Claudine decided she had to have her own camera, and so she purchased this:

5986-CanonSX100ISfront

A Cannon SX100IS.  It met all the criteria.  AA’s, SD card, and easy to use.  She took a boat load of photos.  Some good, some not so good.  But if you knew the affect Claudine had on most cameras, that makes most of these photos outstanding.  🙂

It looks like they had a great time, and I’m glad their home.   Matthew had his first taste of ice cream.  Ben & Jerry’s no less.

 

All of the photos are in the gallery here.

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It’s not over till it’s over…

Molly started the season in Level 5 again, but then after 2 meets we (and her) decided it wasn’t working. It was a tad too stressful for her.

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She had met her personal goals for the season and there wasn’t any reason to continue the 4 day regimen and all the expenses that go with it so we let her ‘retire’.

At this level gymnastics isn’t the kind of thing you can take a considerable time off of and then go back to it, so we wanted to keep her in it, albeit at a less stressful level, a while longer just to be sure.

The Coaches agreed we needed to keep her in it. So she moved form the Level 5 Competition team to the Preparatory Optional Team. She can’t compete prep-opt this year because she already competed level 5, but she could still work out with the team two days a week.

Levels 3-6 all do the same routines, the same skills at the competitions. It’s very repetitive and somewhat boring but I understand it. It lays the foundation for future skills.

Molly was clearly bored to death of doing the same thing she did last year. With pre-opt she’s learning new skills and doing things she *thought* she’d be afraid to do when she was in level 5.

She’s now somewhat sad she retired, but understands she wouldn’t be doing the things she’s doing now if she hadn’t. She wants a floor routine, which involves us hiring a choreographer, and she thinks she wants to compete in the optionals next year.

This is good, I think. 🙂

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Mom’s birthday @ the Iron Chef

For mom’s 62nd birthday my sister and I took her and all her grand kids out to dinner at the Iron Chef.

Nothing like a good Japanese steak house. Services was a bit slow, but it was the night of the ice storm and they were a little understaffed.

The meal was delicious as expected. Of course none of us were smart enough to bring a camera though. At least the folks at Iron Chef had a Polaroid.

jane_bday

A good time and a good meal was had by all.

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Kids and the Nikon D3

I’m very fortunate to have a boss who’s a photo fanatic. He’s also much quicker to drop the coin on new gear than I. He shoots some sport photography (hockey) and some nature stuff too. He’s gotten pretty good. The sports stuff can be fairly demanding. Getting good action shots in low light conditions usually means big fast lenses and cranking up the ISO. Something that always adds to the grain and noise in digital photos.

When the new Nikons came out, it didn’t surprise me that he’s be right there with a new rig. I was fortunate enough to borrow his D3 this weekend to do some last minute candid shooting at a worship service and teaching seminar at my in-laws church. This was a perfect place to show off this camera’s low-light, high-iso, with little noise capabilities.

I went into this a little blind. Nobody knew what was going on, and I had exactly ZERO experience with this camera. I have no doubt with a little practice the D3 could have been used better.

Note all of these photos were handheld, no flash, and the church was less than ideal light wise.

While I had the camera for the above assignment, I took the opportunity to shoot some portraits of the kids. Natural lighting, in our living room which leaves much to be desired, it’s not the ideal place to do it but it was far too cold outside. A little fill flash added as needed.

The rest of the photos can be found here: Picasa Web Album

This camera is pretty sweet, and I have a birthday coming up (hint-hint).

🙂