Lawn Mower / Birthday Card

               Tried to post for over a day. It seems OD is getting pretty shaky again. Time to do another diary download while I still can. Checking my files I discovered the last download I did was almost a year ago! Anyway…. here is the entry I tried to post earlier:

Friday night I headed to Bucks for an impromptu supper of chili. On the way I stopped at Advance Auto Parts to get a tube of grinding compound, and then to Publix for a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine.

It was such a nice relaxing meal and then sitting on Bucks front porch. The one drawback is the drive back. The down side is I hate driving in the dark and it is some 25 miles. The good side is the road is well marked out with the bulk of the drive being four lanes.

Saturday morning I got to work on the lawnmower. I can’t find anyplace that will sharpen the blades of this ancient machine. It has to be over 25 years ago I last had them professionally done at an old shop back in Lockport, NY.  Researching on Google I discovered the easiest and safest way is to lap the blades against the “knife” edge of the mower using grinding compound. They sell kits for this, but these kits are not for a “Dilly” which is what I learned through the internets my “1906 Dille-McGuire Lawnmower” is affectionately called. Basically these kits have a crank that fits over the shaft of the blade to turn it backwards, a cheap brush, and a small container of grinding compound. Using some left over ½ pipe scraps and fittings I was able to construct a crank and a good sized tube of grinding compound came in at under $5.00.

Cranking down the blades!

It was an effort at first, but I was able to get the edges honed down and sharpened up. What a difference in cutting the grass now!

Tim, Liz and Josh stopped by. They wanted to know if they could park in my driveway and then walk the strip for all the action for homecoming. The parade was at 7:00 a.m. as the kick-off was at 11:20. I normally shy away for the football stuff, but joined in to witness the action firsthand. Alabama was playing a small school out of Georgia. I think we were favored by 50 points. The strip was fairly busy, but the time was so crazy the eating places were not that packed. Steamers opened a new location on the strip where the Crimson Café used to be. We stopped for a drink here and checked over the menu. It was too early to order lunch and to tell the truth I was not that hungry anyway.

The highlight of the walk was a food vendor who yelled out… “Utilikilt” to me then he threw his fist in the air and shouted, “FREEDOM”!!!!! I told that boy he needed to get himself one!!

We walked back to my house: Tim, Liz, and Josh left. I puttered around a bit and took off returning to “the strip” to do a quick shopping at Publix. I took the back way so I could stop by Nancy’s. We had the best visit. I filled her in on last Sunday’s meeting as she ha

d left the rowing club the week before me. She filled me on some more drama I was unaware of in regards to the “racing teams”. I’m so glad to be out of it all now.

Publix was not too crowded and food was still food on the shelves! There were some beautiful chuck eye steaks out. Those steaks went with me along with five pounds of potatoes, cat food, and a ½ gallon of milk. The small stuff went into my backpack and I carried the milk jug. The day was bright, clear, and hot. The people were roasting in the stadium. It was such a lopsided game they were leaving before the end in droves.

It was an overcast Sunday morning that found me planting pansies in my front garden. These do so well over the winter and give much needed color. I went crazy at Browns and bought three flats on Friday! The ground was hard as a rock it has been so dry. Got almost two flats planted when it started to sprinkle. The hurricane that never materialized gave us a late morning/early afternoon of steady rain.

While it was raining I got caught up on my mail and such. It was my sister’s birthday a while back. I sent her a note on line but a paper card really means a lot more. My hoard of cards is pretty much diminished to just XMAS cards now. I improvised as best I could under the circumstances. LOL!!

Soon as I post this I must see if I can do some real weeding.