what are you doing while under lockdown?

[maki2]

heading out on errands...first stop is my workshop mates, he has to pickup some metal he needs.

Second stop since we are out already is to the wholesale grocery store, I will run out of coffee beans in a couple of days and want to get a watermelon and their 5lb package of hamburger meat. There prices are good and buying in larger sizes for coffee and hamburger is fine as I have a freezer at the workshop space. I can get just one melon at a time.

 

[travelaround]

Yesterday I sent my son a photo of the lawn mower that was in the shed when I bought this place. They left me a lot of cool stuff. Anyhow, I wanted his help to get the mower started.

He came by today and showed me how to start the lawnmower and mowed half the yard and I did the other half (this doesn't include the extremely large backyard that is still waiting for attention) ... but the grass right around the mobile home looks great now and he also put the hammock up in the yard - another gift left by the former owners.

Looks so much better! The grass was getting ridiculously tall. This place has NO END of yard work for me to do. Also home renovation work.

 

[Cammalu]

Maki cool little turrets in that. I’m amazed at the tiny buildings you make.

Tx2sturgis WTF? Get out of there! There is always my place.

 

[Stargazer]

Yesterday was a pretty day and Little Guy was bored so I decided it is time to start his agility training.  After searching through the garage for a way to set up the pole jump, which need be only a few inches high, I spied a nice small firewood log, placed it on the ground and we went to work

Now, he is a shih tzu, folks, sweet loving dogs but not the smartest breed around.  I was surprized at how well he did, about a 60% success rate.  I can tell he hasn't figured out this is a game to play but today he did better.  His attention span is about a minute, maybe four jumps.  We go out five plus times a day.  He loves to play and run and he is fast and makes me laugh.

A week for this jump, then I will add the sit/stay platform.

This is fun for both of us!

 

[DannyB1954]

I am at my home, I worked on an RV vent cover, then noticed water on the floor in my house bathroom next to the toilet. I though OK wax ring No Big Deal. When I lifted the commode, the metal flange was rusted out, OK, new flange, again NBD. I started looking at the floor tile and decided I didn't like it as well as something different. OK now it is a big deal. I am jack hammering the old tile out and replacing it with nicer tile.
My One hour jobs have a way of turning out to be a week long. I don't know that the Home Depot still being open is a good thing.

 

[SLB_SA]

@DannyB1954  I am impressed by your one hour project. I am still trying to avoid stores like Home Depot and even grocery stores except as absolutely necessary because I think social distancing will soon break down and the fatality rate will increase again. The state I live in still has fewer than 100 covid-19 deaths so far and has had a fairly mild lockdown policy but people seem to be respecting social distance guidelines so far. I am worried about all the small businesses that are going to have difficulty surviving and reopening.  I am also worried that when state wide shelter in place orders are removed, lots of people will pat themselves on the back for doing a good job and go right back to their old habits.

I have been listening to music, walking outside, doing ordinary chores, reading, using the computer, etc.  I just had something accepted for publication (on which I will make no money) and I will probably finally agree to co-author a book because I have been bugged about this project for some time; what else can I do with my time?  I need to get back to writing my novel but watching the stock market (and my retirement account, which provides 100% of my income for now) go up and down is an extremely unproductive but addictive activity; it eats up lots of my time.  How soon will I go broke? :huh:

 

[Cammalu]

The current project at my place is to put in a cement pad for the RV but it has to be put on a hill so it’s tricky... I’m not involved. I’ve been mowing here and there and will mow at one of the rental houses down the road today. Weather has been gloomy and wet for the most part. We have been car shopping for a toad to pull behind the RV but haven’t had much luck. There are very few vehicles you can tow with all four wheels down.

Down at the pond the fish are coming for food daily but the snapping turtles haven’t come for food at all this year. I wonder where they are? I still have too many bass but am reluctant to do anything about it as I look at all the fish as my pets and the pond as a rather large aquarium. It’s under an acre I’m sure but I’ve fed down there for years.

It’s much louder here than in the desert as we are inundated by scads of different species of birds at the feeders and a scurry of squirrels hopping across the grass for seeds and peanuts.

The night crowd is significantly smaller in numbers than last year with only a few raccoons and possums showing up to feed. One big possum must be carrying babies in her pouch as she is extremely rotund around the middle. I’m hoping to be able to see the babies on her back at some point. Maybe I can have a pet possum?

Abnorm and wife are hunkered down with us here and he has been a life savior doing electrical work needed for the platform for the RV and also put an electric line into the shed along with helping on the RV pad.

We have much to do with the remodeling and repair of a rental house we bought a few years ago. It’s slow going as we are old and creaky.

The RV that I had before this one has been in the shop for almost a year now. It’s a great RV but blew a fuse. We had to have it towed FAR to get it to the shop. At the shop, as they were taking out the old fuse thingy the mechanic managed to break the housing and drop it into the engine. Then we were told they aren’t equipped to fix it. We had it towed to a second place where it languished for months and months. Finally we found yet another mechanic and had it towed again. This was the third tow bill at $500 a tow... it set all winter at that shop and finally we got the dreaded call that one of the mechanics (we think the second one) had cranked the engine....

The engine is toast from that and we have to replace the whole thing.... so that’s going to be about $5500. We went yesterday and had to pay $4,000 up front for the purchase of an engine. When it rains it pours.

The foundation for the RV pad is dug:

 

[maki2]

Cammalu, you just manage to make me ever so grateful I did not accept that kindly offer to come visit you this summer. Way too much physical labor going on and I would not be able to resist being a supervisor standing around getting myself in trouble with comments because I had nothing better to do with my time. Then I would for sure be told I had to leave because you were closed to visitors due to foot in mouth disease.

 

[makenmend]

I've been working on a skin on frame kayak through this period, and being one of the folks in the hi  risk category I certainly do not want to be around unknown folks in grocery stores etc.
So I needed a 4x8 sheet hi density foam to add in the bow and stern for flotation, and low and behold Home Depot now do curbside delivery.
So just like my online grocery shop, I arrive on time, text my pickup bay, within minutes they open the rear doors of my Van they load, I thank them, and I'm on my way never having come closer than CDC recommendation.

 

[travelaround]

Cammalu - your RV fuse story shows how easily something small can become a BIG PROBLEM. Reminds me of a tiny C19 virus that can cause such big problems to some people. And there are many other examples I'm sure. Anyhow, so sorry that happened to your RV.

Today I'm going to spend time at my art table. My son was here early because he wanted to do more lawn mowing but I asked him to come back late in the day to do that. Just before sunset is a good time. I was planning to visit some online church services this morning!

I did some lawn mowing yesterday afternoon - through the backyard... I wanted a path out to my compost pile. I figured it is best for me to do only a small section each day. There's still some patches of tall grass for my son to take care of today.

 

[crofter]

80 degrees and sunny here this week. The ant hills are predicting rain, but no sign of it.

I am planning to build a better workout this week, at least three days will include some heavy tasks that I have been dodging.

@cammalu
Looks like you have a pretty place there. But where did the turtles go? And is this a year for the cicadas? I will never forget how loud they are.

-crofter

 

[bullfrog]

No better flat towing vehicle than a Suzuki Samurai. The bigger the motor the faster you can go and you can go most anywhere with a back seat you can even take friends. You won't miss your UTV as much!

 

[JeanInaBox]

Yesterday I sent my son a photo of the lawn mower that was in the shed when I bought this place. They left me a lot of cool stuff. Anyhow, I wanted his help to get the mower started.

He came by today and showed me how to start the lawnmower and mowed half the yard and I did the other half (this doesn't include the extremely large backyard that is still waiting for attention) ... but the grass right around the mobile home looks great now and he also put the hammock up in the yard - another gift left by the former owners.

Looks so much better! The grass was getting ridiculously tall. This place has NO END of yard work for me to do. Also home renovation work.

I just found out yesterday that my lawn guy/good friend of 15 years is in the hospital with the virus. Thankfully he is feeling a little better.

That being said... I have an acre of land to cut with my little mower as soon as it dries up from the rain. I’m guessing if I start at 10am and can mow for 30 mins at a time with 30 min breaks, I might be able to get it all before dark.

 

[travelaround]

Oh, JeanInaBox, an acre! Wow, that will be a lot of lawn mowing. I hope you're up for this. Do you have a ride-on mower? I have only 1/2 acre and my mobile home sits in the middle. We did the backyard yesterday with 2 gas powered push mowers. I did what felt like quite a bit of work but tired easily. Great exercise - I felt sore all over. I finally went inside and let my son finish. The yard has been transformed into a beautiful lawn!

There's still a lot of trimming to do around the house - grass, bushes, trees... my son trimmed two large lilac bushes and made them look awesome. There's still the front yard to do - right now it looks very natural.. and I like that, but think I'll go ahead and mow it soon. I don't want it to become a breeding ground for ticks.

 

[JeanInaBox]

I used to have two riding mowers. I donated one to a friend in need... the other... practically brand new 50 in one... I traded 2 years worth of lawn service with my friend who has the virus.

I’m going to attempt using my little mower tomorrow. Didn’t have it in me to start today. So many projects, so little time.... virus didn’t change that.

 

[brahmon]

they’re finally easing lockdown. opening back up the parks this saturday!

 

[Cammalu]

Haha Maki2. I don’t put visitors to work. Abnorm likes to do things so he did. I lived to work when I could and it’s really hard not being able to do the things I’d like to do.

 

[travelaround]

JeanInaBox... how did the lawn mowing go? I could not do an acre in a day. I'm doing more like 1/16 of an acre in a day. I don't see any reason to rush through it. Today though, nothing. It rained half the day. I hope to get back at it tomorrow. I'm going to the market tomorrow.

 

[JeanInaBox]

Thanks for askin’ Travelaround.

Well... It was a good lawn mower. It started right up. One pull. Hadn’t been used in I guess 6 years or so. It’s a Toro with front drive which I forgot about it having. It was my mother’s and she had only used it 3x.

I pulled the drive bar and wow... I was almost jogging behind it. I thought to myself ... this is cool but I’m not gonna be able to keep this pace up for an acre. Don’t ya know... about 10 mins later, the drive belt broke. So I had to push it.... when it ran out of gas , I took a 30 minute break before refilling the tank. Determined to get it done, put my gloves back in and gave it a pull. Started right up... moved 2 ft.... it conked out. Started it up again.... it conked out. I played that game for about an hour just to get a 10’x30’ strip done on the one side of my house. 3.5 hours of pushing that thing and still have a little more than a third of the lawn left to do. My neighbor down the road was kind enough to cart it off to get it fixed for me.

I was exhausted at the end of the day but I did feel a sense of accomplishment for what I did get done. Actually, I was pretty proud of myself for surviving the task.

Until the following day that is....
OMG... my legs and back side hurt so bad. I could barely walk. I was walking like I had rode a horse across country and had to sleep with a heating pad on my legs that entire night.

I had walked/pushed that heavy mower close to 2 miles .....I’m guessing. Maybe more than that.

I now am more appreciative of the self propelling feature that will be fixed for next time. Maybe I’ll attach a rope to it... [emoji38]

 

[VanHeads]

Spending time inside is most certainly building up the energy for adventure! Van life will most likely be raging in a few months. I'm spending time with trying to consume van life content! I have been visiting lots of video blogs since there is often a delay in their posting of content anyway, it has still been going for a bit. Also very interesting to see how some people are managing through this quarantine, there have been a few good videos showing ghost towns and I can live vicariously through these folks. Other than some video blogs, definitely trying to learn a bit about how efficient and effective living, just lifestyle stuff while on the road and managing the rig and all that.

Also trying to see what kinds of vans are for sale, as many people are in tough financial times and unfortunately have to sell their rig. Interesting to browse craigslist, or look at email newsletters and websites that have them.

There is an interesting and useful newsletter, vanheads.com, that I read along with some other content via social media.