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Sunday, May 23, 2010

SBL flower pic post




Polemonium "Jacobs Ladder" (click for larger picture).

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8 comments:

pansypoo said...

there is toooo much purple in the yard. and our pink primrose patch is not doing well.

pjk said...

1 minor victory and 1 ongoing disappointment in the weekend's lawn tractor wars.

The MOL John Deere needed a little wiring repair (a re-repair on what she paid to have done a few years back). The dumbasses used Scothlocks instead of solderless connectors, presumably because it was a little too difficult to get in there with a stripper and crimping tool.

Now it runs, and the battery light no longer stays on.

But our 10-or-so year old JD Sabre is behaving like it wants a starter and a battery, along with the muffler, blades and deck belt it certainly requires. And charging it every other day (battery or not) and hoping it will start is getting old.

Any opinion on the "less expensive" Cub Cadets, farmer? Our local Farm&Barn has a few in the $1650- $1799 range. Both hydrostatic trans, one with a 19hp Kohler and the other with a Briggs 2-cylinder 23hp.

Amazingly enough, the latter is the one with an oil pump & filter.

With 3 acres, it might be nice to have another usable riding mower. I don't think the payments could put me in a worse mood than the one I sunk into on Saturday.

Sunday was better, except for the little bout of dehydration. Like being wasted, but no upside to that impairment, except maybe catching it before things got ugly.

the farmer said...

And charging it every other day (battery or not) and hoping it will start is getting old.

I have a Husqvarna that is about 15 years old and it did the same thing for a while. Started to drive me nuts. It got to the point i was recharching the battery every other day. I thought it was the battery or starter but no... so I replaced the condenser (this was a couple summers ago) in it and haven't had a problem since. I dunno anything about Cub Cadets except that its another MTD machine and MTD makes crap like Yard Machine (which I wouldn't go near). But apparently Cub Cadets are better than that - supposedly - kind of MTDs premium line. Still, I dunno. If I were you I'd look aroud for a Kubota (they make lawn tractors too). Not sure about the price though. They are probably on the higher side of what you are looking at i suspect. But if their lawn tractors are anything like their compact tractors and so on thats what i'd at least take a look at. Also too, The Kubota lawn tractors have Kohler engines.

I don't think the payments could put me in a worse mood than the one I sunk into on Saturday.

Take out a loan and buy yourself a $15K Kubota with backhoe and front end loader and hire yourself out for $40-60 per hour doing small and midsize landscaping and construction jobs. Everthing from digging french drains to lanscaping/excavating to removing snow from small parking lots. Seriously.

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pjk said...

Thanks farmer.

But if we stick our necks out for a loan, it's probably going to be for our current abode.

A nice shiny tractor (and trailer, and tow vehicle) isn't going to take care of the roof, windows, etc.

I'm not sure if the Sabre has a condensor. I'll look into it.

pansypoo said...

we have a push mower. new ones work very well.

i guess there was a record land speed for a lawn mower-88mph.

the farmer said...

A nice shiny tractor (and trailer, and tow vehicle) isn't going to take care of the roof, windows, etc.

Sure nuff, although i was thinking if you thought could make some money with it... and yeah, you'd need a trailer too but pretty much any vehicle could tow a compact tractor (anything that can pull a camper or a boat can pull a compact tractor). I noticed on the John Deere website the current entry level lawn tractors are pretty pricey (3K and up). Thats probably comparable to Kubota too. But the Husqvarna website had several to choose from in the 1,599 range. So, could look at those too (they offered the same Briggs Stratten or Kohler choices). Plus Husqvarna makes Sears Craftsman stuff so i assume thats a similar price range. The John Deere page listed older "non-current" equiptment too (including the Sabre). Apparently you might be able to buy discontinued equiptment from JD? Might ask about that at the local John Deere dealer, maybe could buy something good from a discontinued line at a good price.

I can't really complain about the Husqvarna I have since its been doing its thing for over a decade - has a 1995 Kohler engine made in Wisconsin.

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pjk said...

Maybe they just did a good job hiding the oil filter on the Kohler version. And the sales rep/ and anything else we tell you to do employee may just not have known of its location.

Because, yeah, Kohler's made a good engine for a lot longer than Briggs, without pumps and filters- if B&S makes one yet.

Cast Iron Sleeve! Industrial/Commercial product line selling point, along with a logo.

Pressurized, filtered lubrication?

No? Really.

Are people doing things with your motors as a Hobby? Because that ain't I/C in my book. Unless Tony Soprano tells you to go buy equiptment for the jobs you ain't gonna do.

Trowe 'em in da back of da comp'ny dually toibo diesel like eye Friggin' Told Ya!

MTD in bed with Cub, Craftsman and JD all hookin' up with any company that finds them FINANCIALLY attractive, if even for that short-term NYSE profit that could be culled through insider merger deals, well HELL...

I just can't decide on which foreign-made and assembed in-country tractor I want, but dammit this is America, and you gotta keep up with the Farmers other than Bob around here, you know.

pansy- I'm not fit enough to attempt the walk-behind 3 Acre mow job. And we like to collect the stuff for goat feeding purposes.

I wouldn't even take a bet on how long the grass at the start point would be, by the time I got done emptying the bag every 400 square ft or so. Or chances of surviving that on a nice hot weekend.

Not me; I love the internal combustion engine!

Best labor-saving device since Marrying Into Wealth showed up.

the farmer said...

Not me; I love the internal combustion engine!

Me too.

I also like electricity.

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