That time of year

[sixball]

Got the tires on. Heavier than I can handle easily. One fell over when I was unloading it and I had to figure out how to lift it. The other fell when I was trying to line it up but I knew how to lift it by then. We had some heavy rain Tuesday night so I did some road work yesterday. Today I'll switch the Gannon Box for the tiller and knock down weeds in 3 small "fields" around the house. Then it is weed whacking & spraying to get back in control.  There is a limb I have trim as well. Hope not to damage the tiller too much on the rocks. It has one broken tine already. Can't see a maker name on it so I don't know how to look for new ones. The tractor likes its new shoes!

[sammons]

Glad you got your new tires on with out wounding yourself. I hit a 2" plus rock mowing, bent blade and knocked retaining bolt lose, hell of a vibration😁  I suited up with my protective forearm sleeves and wrist braces before pulling deck. Still managed some big bruises😡 

Brother came back from weed wacking before lunch yesterday, killed 2 more rattlers up by the house. One small 18" and a bigger 56-8" long and 15 rattles , he said he was extremely aggressive. Cut heads off and buried them, put big ome in a box to skin and make hat band.  Went out to shop 9hrs later, it was still moving. This morn he checked at 20hrs and still moving. He put it in a ziplock and this afternoon quit moving and he skinned it out.

Tried down loading 12 sec video of snake still movomg in box at 20hrs, but it won't let me🙄

[sixball]

That is a good one. The ones here are mostly around 3' and polite compared to most other rattlers. Haven't seen any yet thus year but any time now. The tiller is doing a very nice job. Making me think planting a pasture and a corn patch. It has pretty good rock tolerance. I am slowly illuminating rocks but will never get them all.

[sixball]

Got the first rattler of the season on Saturday morning just inside the barn near the chicken house door. I was ready for it with the Taurus Judge. I heard it crawling away Friday night but it was near dark and I couldn't see it. It was not quite 3' with 9 rattles & a button. So it begins!  Another reason to clear the weeds.

[Essex_29]

I'm so happy that we don't have rattle snakes here. Worst we have are vipers, but think I've seen two or three of them in all my life.

[sammons]

Sixball, the season is on😏 The Prairie rattlers around here are generally 3', but the Diamond rattlers get up -5' to 6'. Brother sent me a pic from his place. Had another three that got up to the house. He doesn't like killing them, but can't have them around the house with the dogs and grandkids there. Too bad, these look like they had been eating good.

Tom, it sucks to have to be aware of them when you go to reach under or around something near the ground. Haven't seen any close in town since 4yrs ago when the nieghbor lady across the alley had one in her shed. By the time me and my next door nieghbor got there it dissapeared. Was very cautious for several weeks after.

Finally got my edger up and running. Replaced the recoil starter  last year with a NOS complete assy Tom picked up at an auction. Then the starter clutch kept locking up, shearing the crank key🙄  Then i had weak spark, intalled new coil, then clutch locked again, shearung key😡 Ordered new clutch and got it and new key, finally starts/runs smooth again.

Been working on freebee  mower Tom give me for deck for mine couple years back. Replaced fuel tank bung and fitting, all new gasline. It fired up, so i changed the oil and fixed a few other things. In the middle of clean up now. Next progect is my old garden cart to hook up behind it.

[sixball]

I wonder how those snakes found his house without heads? 

I've said it before but the Great Basin rattlers ar very polite & timid compared to the prairie rattlers and Western Diamondbacks I grew up with in Texas. They are very good mousers but snake bite treatments for the dogs is very expensive. My older dog should be immune by now. The vetoer quit giving the pre bite shots because they didn't work. The avoidance classe that we used changed their focus to mostly aiming the program to people walking their dogs. That doesn't help me. My dogs both have a different bark they use when they find a rattler. It is even different than their Gopher snake barks. If the dogs find them I shoot them like the ones I find right around the buildings. Since neither dog likes gun noise I don't think I'm encouraging them to look for snakes.

The weather has been crazy lots of wind and a little snow. It should warm up next week and I can get back to weed killing and garden stuff. My buddy is after me to do some machine work on the Sharps rifles we are building. I need to build a couple of fixtures to hold parts for milling. He has more energy than I do.

[sammons]

Lol, everbody has more energy than i do🤣
Got the little dump cart unloaded of Vette parts and dug out of the ground, it was up to the axle. Tires were bad 15yrs ago and cost way to much at the time. It's been kicking my butt. Give it a quick spray down with muratic acid, amazing how fast it knocks down the surface rust. Those little tires are a pain to dismount these days. Got the wheels repainted first so when the new tires get here friday, they will be ready.
As an old relic from 1987 for my "Ditchweed Country Club" golf course, use to haul sand back when i had sand greens before i got burmuda grass. The "Beer Caddy" is very faint now, might have to paint that back on😁 Trailer fought me getting the under belly out, it has panhead flatblade 5/16" bolts with nuts under. Had to spot weld 4 that kept spinning, of course 2 broke off then but its apart now

[sixball]

Cool little trailer, good to see it coming back to usefulness. Craftsman brad had some great products. The Sears electric tractor from the '60s-'70s ? was far ahead of it's time.
I have an old home made utility trailer I bought many years ago because it had a Dodge/Plymouth tube front axle I thought I might usr for a hot rod. That hasn't happened yet but I've hauled tons of things around the place with it. Thinking of pressing it into service again to haul rocks for some retains walls. 

[TFoch]

Nice work on the trailer Sammons!

[sammons]

Sixball, those mopar "wavy" tube front axles were cool. We had several old hotrods with them.

Tom i got the trailer box repainted, (rattle can 🙄)  and  waiting for it to cure enough to re-letter and stripe.

I made 3 attempts to get the new tires mounted, no way i could do it. Those new 4ply are stiff, and was kicking back at me. Later this weekend my buddy Tom will come over and get'em on for me.

[sammons]

Sixball, those mopar "wavy" tube front axles were cool. We had several old hotrods with them.

Tom i got the trailer box repainted, (rattle can 🙄)  and  waiting for it to cure enough to re-letter and stripe.

I made 3 attempts to get the new tires mounted, no way i could do it. Those new 4ply are stiff, and was kicking back at me. Later this weekend my buddy Tom will come over and get'em on for me.

[sixball]

Those cab be tough especially if you have to chase them around on the floor. I love my cheap Harbor Freight tire changer. The only tires around here that haven't been on it are the rear tractor tires.

Those wheels look new!

[sammons]

Finally got dump trailer done, It's a 20 footer 😁  Rattle can paint sucks. Was a trying time with it cold, rainy and my hands not cooperating. Lets just call it rust treatment. Was going to hand paint beer caddy, that didn't happen. Tried on a peice of cardboard, kept dropping brush. Tom said he had a small chunk of white vinyl and would hand cut for me. Told him 1/2 to 3/4" tall. Lol he couldn't see good enough for that, cut them out at 1"🤣 Oh well, just gonna get scratched up anyway.  All my yard equipment is repaired now👍

[TFoch]

Looks great for a 20 footer!