Here in Maine, most of the things that might need to be done around the house have to be done in the summer or early fall because it's too cold to do much outdoors in the winter and it's too sloppy in the spring. Last winter, the things that I intended to do during the summer and fall included... A new compost pile, with a concrete base and sturdier sides than the last one I made. A shed for the snowblower, which doesn't work, and the lawn mower, which does. We paid someone to build one the summer before last but he did a pretty poor job of it. Get the snowblower fixed. I can't do that myself because I'm stupid with that kind of thing, but I had wanted to have it serviced before the snow came. A small enclosure for the generator, since the one we have is too close to the house, where it is under four feet of snow all winter when we're most likely to need it. Put a new roof on the storage shed in the back of the yard before the tarp wears out. Build some new raised garden beds to replace the one we have that doesn't allow us to reach anything in the center. Finish the interior of the camp. Unfortunately, due to a combination of things, prominent among them being my own laziness, I never got any of that stuff done. Our plow guy broke the hell out of our raised garden this year so I have an extra incentive to replace it this coming summer. Instead of building something for the generator, I think I'll just clear a place to put it in the library, by the back door, and move it onto the back porch if we need to use it. Personally, I think it would be safe to run it in the library because there is an exterior wall and door separating the library from the rest of the house but I don't want to take any chances. I don't own anything big enough to haul the snowblower anywhere. I had intended to buy a small trailer for my Tracker since I would need one to haul stuff to the camp with anyhow. I did get a hitch installed, but we didn't have the money for the trailer I wanted. My wife wanted me to buy a larger used one, that would have been cheaper, but I don't want to haul a big trailer with my tiny Tracker. We didn't have the money to do the camp anyhow, so that wasn't my fault. The lack of a trailer ties into some of the other things too, because the lumber yard across the street closed, and I don't think the next closest one delivers. The compost pile, I could have done, though. Everything that I needed for that could have been carried in my Tracker and it's not so expensive that I couldn't afford it, so that was just a matter of putting it off too long. Concrete sets so much better in the fall, you know, and it's cooler to work on that kind of thing in the fall. Unfortunately, fall didn't last long enough. I could have probably fixed the roof on the storage shed, and that wouldn't have even been difficult to do, except that I can't carry plywood in my Tracker. I suppose I could have done it with boards but that's more expensive.
I still have the two compost piles. I haven't added anything new to the one that I was taking pictures of since the snow melted last year so that it can compost completely, and I can bolster up the sides of it. Instead, I began adding to the older one, but I'll discontinue that one once I build a new compost pile. It's not in a good place, anyhow.
@Ken Anderson you're funny but I can relate. The thing that I wanted to do was set up at the outdoor flea market this past summer but there was always something that took priority at home or it was just too hot or rained or rained the night before with the threat of rain the following day. The sad thing about it is I was always hyped and ready to do it. Every time I go to the basement I see all the packed boxes and shake my head thinking "Next summer." We'll see.
Things I didn’t get done that I should have. Everything. Hosa, a friend of mine came to me last December about this same time and asked me to help him renovate a house he just bought. “It’ll take a month, “he said. I took one look at the place and told him that the condition of the place was such that winter, spring and summer are going to be blown because that house was going to take at least 6 months to finish off. It took the majority of 8 months and the house finally sold and closed yesterday. Needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot of personal things done but I might have an out on that. You see, I’m a non-denominational Christian. If I look around and find a sect that truly believes that Jesus is coming back in the next few months, I can join their denomination and coast right through till next autumn. No catching up to do, no hurry, no frustration and an even better excuse for not getting anything done.
Due heat, humidity, tides, our vacation and my eye surgeries, our boat didn't hit the water this year. It is now winterized and we will be looking to hire someone, from online, to take our boat to Colorado. Have done some sorting and packing, but not enough. Have really got to get things going in January to get out of here by June.
For the snow blower if it has a starter you might want to try a few simple tests. Take out the spark plug make sure it isn't fouled out. Check the gap beteen tip & electrode, common distance is about the thickness of a regular pack of paper matches. Next would be to turn the plug sideways to ground it against the cylinder head. If the spark jumps you should see a blue arc, could be orange but usually a good ignition system will produce a blue spark. If you get that spake that rules out the ignition system. Next would be to check your fuel. Sometimes old fuel will not fire in a low horse power air cooled engine. Check for a waxey build up in the filter bowl if it has one. Fuel that sits for awhile can break down and cause the float in the carburator to stick. You could look at the blowers model then search the manufacturers web site for trouble shooting tips. Even youtube might help with some tips. If nothing helps at least you will have some clue about cost to repair.
They just found a guy who raped and murdered a girl her in 1992. He was hiding in Maine.... They found him using those DNA websites.
Reminder to self: If you ever rape and murder someone, sending your DNA into Ancestry.com is probably not a good idea.
A cartoonist finally finished his tribute to George H.W. Bush — by working with the paper that fired him (12/04/18)