It’s been a tough couple of years. The last two years have seen below-normal rainfall. While not unusual in the Hill Country, they have been remarkable for the depth and severity of the Texas drought. During the years ending September 2022 and 2023 we measured just 11.75 and 10.65 inches respectively. That compares with an average rainfall of between 30 and 35 inches.
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It’s amazing how time flies. Although it has been about 13 years since I bought the John Deere X304 lawn tractor for the ranch, it seems like yesterday. I still think of it as “the new tractor.” So it’s always a surprise when something needs repair. I use this machine for all kinds of things, from mowing to towing, and recently it developed a screaming sound near the front.
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I have been interested in gardening since I was a child and spent time with my great grandparents who were gardeners. The Square Foot Gardening method was developed in 1976 as a simple alternative to labor intensive and inefficient row gardening. Explore the possibilities . . .
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I’ve been threatening to build a storage shed at the ranch for some time now. After going through everything in the shop and selling, discarding, or giving everything away I could, it was still too crowded to work effectively. I needed more space. A friend had recently mentioned a sale on small buildings at Costco — it was worth a look.
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In a previous post, we selected a site, cleared trees and installed foundations. Now we were ready for framing. There were four 8-inch concrete piers defining the four corners of the array. The plan was to mount two 10-foot 4-by-4 … Continue reading →
For the last ten years, we’ve been farming bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) around the place. It started when I planted a few seeds and gradually, they’ve bloomed and spread. Because I’m impatient, I also helped them along by mowing the plants after they had gone to seed and spreading the clippings to other parts of the ranch.
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A Massey Ferguson 65 is nice to have. Over the years, I’ve learned that a tractor is essential. The point was made in about 2002 when I decided to buy a truckload of decomposed granite to improve the driveway. After spreading 10 yards of material with a wheelbarrow and shovel, I realized there had to be a better way.
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Every piano is different, and although there are recommended measurements for key dip, blow distance, hammer height, etc., changes are sometimes needed to suit a specific action. At this point, Danny Boone’s Regulating Grand Piano Touch and Tone suggested fully regulating … Continue reading →
With casters installed and a rudimentary understanding of action adjustments, I was able to tinker. Hammer alignment went quickly, and as predicted, the sotto voce pedal now worked properly. Since the rockers were not snugged into their final position, they tended to drift, so I touched up the hammer line and let-off, and put the action back into the piano. It was time to play!
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As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, the Weber had been without casters for about 20 years. After we moved to our log home, I was eager to make it more playable, but there was a distinct rattling!
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