Robert Pogson

The little woman and I built a fine home 22 years ago and now are in the process of selling it. It needs quite a bit of maintenance, some of which we did today. I had the fun of taking the old mower which has sat unused for 10 years and making it work, wobbly wheels and all. I had forgotten how the choke worked and there were no labels visible. Trial and error worked, lots of error. The thing still has lots of power but uses oil. I doubt I will have to change the oil because it uses so much…

It’s amazing to see how the fine lawn we made has deteriorated in a decade. The occupant was mowing but not fertilizing and he was removing the clippings… The patch where he had a dog’s kennel was the only thriving part. I mowed today and will fertilize tomorrow.

A hedge of juniper we started from pruned branches 20 years ago needed pruning again and I planted the results in our new yard. I will do more of that tomorrow. The apple and apricot trees need some work, too.

A swing I welded for the kids has rusted a bit and needs to come down. I will have steel to salvage, including some chain. One of the wooden seats has rotted away but I was able to swing on the other. The design for the swing was good but I overlooked one detail. Some perforations in the T-bars that I used were lined up and the uprights have cracked near the holes. The structure was two poles with a cross-bar between. The poles had a cross-section made by welding three T-bars together at 120 degree spacing. Without the cracking at the perforations and the rusting it would have been near-perfect. Still, it lasted ~20 years and my whole family enjoyed it. I might build another for my grand daughter.

I walked about three miles today pushing that old mower. The hardest part was where the kennel was. The grass was knee-deep so I had to take 2 inch cuts to keep from plugging the mower. I may fix the wobbly wheels and use the mower at the new place for the ditches and other places difficult for the riding mower.