This month has really flown by. But not a lot of new stuff happening on this end. 

Did make a few gallons of Fig wine. Then decided to add peanut butter extract to a couple bottles. A different extract than the last time and even putting a bit on yur finger , didn't taste the P'nut butter. So added more and after it set a few days.  WOW! Too much flavor. Oh well, live and learn. 

For sure not going to do that with this batch of grape wine I'm doing now. Check it yesterday and it's at about 12.2 ABV and still bubbling when the temperature gets to about 70F in the shop. 

Then , decided to redo the wind blockers for the house for the winter winds and temperatures. Had a stack of old roofing metal. So let's see what we can come up with.  Made a couple cuts and drilled holes for the rods to hold them in place. 

Next was pressure washing  them and painting. 

The rods came from the little frames you see holding flowers at the graveyard. They just get thrown away by the maintenance crews so I gathered, cut and bent them. 

And, all the metal sheets painted and ready to install. Before the 1st cold front for sure. 

Oh, did take a ride be the new Drilling Rig being rebuilt since the hurricanes took out the old one.  Really coming along nice. 

All this located at the I 10 Park. 

So, onwards with this month of October and see what life brings and smile with it. 

 

 And the 21st day of August arrives and so great that I'm here to greet it , or, it greet me. ;)  And looks like  we are getting into the afternoon thunderstorm patterns. And the grass just loves that causing me to get the weed eater, Craftsman walk behind and the ZTR Hustler out about every 5 days, And do Sis in Law's yard also. 

Two things got redone this month. The old BB Gun and the old Work Table. Built the table in about '84 or so from a discarded drilling rig mud pump water recirculation container. The BB gun probably about the same age or older. Did have the table all blue but the paint I  used,  house paint, let the old rust bleed though so a can of green enamel stopped that. 

And Rice harvest going full blast with most done now and some fields already showing growth of the 2nd crop.  Did pass several fields in the past month with much work of the harvest happening. 

These pictures are from Sunday a week ago on LA 14 West of Lake Arthur. 

Did run into a little problem with the Hustler Dash ZTR a few weeks ago. A clicking in the front wheels. So , pulled the wheels and wow, bearings on the outside of both front wheels bad. So, changed them. And quit getting in tight places putting a lot of stress on them in the future. ;-) 

The outside right front come apart when getting it out. Sigh!  

The Hustler Dast and the trailer that hauls it to Dee's for grass cutting about every 5 days lately. 

Loaded and ready to go do Dee's yard about 6 blocks away. 

And the old wooden derrick at the I 10 Gas / Oil / Gator park being rebuilt after it went down from the hurricanes 2 years ago. But, much more solid this time. Lot's more metal support. 

Of course , the new Jennings Elementary School opened up last week. Was gonna go see the inside but way too many people there for my liking so just drove by. 

 

 Wow! Just had a friend remind me " Blog Time"! Over a month since last post! Yikes. 

But, been a pretty chilled month for sure. 

For one thing. July usually means the figs are ripe. I  probably did about 10 gallon bags before they quit. 

I generally just picked a gallon at a time as that was enuff to clean and package at a time. ha ha h a

Also, the Dew berries finally played out but had about 6 gallons of those picked , Plus the amount friends picked. Had a problem with the first batch of wine I was gonna may. Not sure what I did but for sure did something different like hurring the chemicals I use which cause a big froth . So , that went to the trash and I started over paying attention this time. LOL 

And besides that , really getting use from the new Hustler Dash 34" lawnmower. Cutting my and sis in law Dee's yard. 

The Dew Berry in the 3 gallon bucket just bubbling away. For about 4 days was doing a set of bubbles every 3 seconds and after a couple weeks down to a set about every 30 seconds to time to  transfer it  to the 3 gal jug. 

And a week later in 1.5 liter bottles for a week then .75 liter bottles. Came out really well according to my taste test friends. 

Well all know I  walk the graveyard lots and the city has been doing lots of work out there to clean the gully that serves as drainage for the area.  I even use it as a new walkway at times. 

Looking East

Looking West. 

And now ,  Rice harvest is the happing things with thee farmers. Been seeing golden fields of grain for a few weeks now and last week saw the 1st cutting happening around here.  Much more sites later during the week. 

This field was off the service road between Roanoke and Welch. 

This cutting was happening West or Roanoke last week, 1st I saw in my roaming's. 

A cropped image to see all the great herons getting their food. 

Then moving to what's happening with the gardening.  

After production stopped,  cleared all the dead vines and kept the new ones for next season. 

The watermelon seeds I planted a few months ago and still not the 1st sign of a little melon so cleared this  out a few days ago. 

Then there is the new school being built and open house the 6th of next month I've been advised. Passing by  last week they were painting the guide lines for traffic . 

That about catches me up for the last month on happenings. Of course with a final message of life! ;

 Oh yes, an old friend reminds me to get this blog caught up. I then see it's been over a month since updating it. And, it's been a fun and constructive month at that. 

Still learning the M50 Canon camera and playing in the full Manual mode  as per auto mode. But, when taking pictures on the fly in the Wagon, the setting need to  be right. We getting there though. And I still take less than 1 % of my pics with my cell phone. 

The main project for the last month was the shop. Built it in 1980's from metal that was being discarded from the Fred Wilson Drilling company days. We built 7 new rigs here in the Jennings Yard and Refurbed the older 7. 

So at about 50 years old I decided to clean house in it. Was pretty hard just throwing stuff away , cept what I gave to my hot rod neighbor. Stuff for building and maintaining motorcycles and cars in my go fast days. 

A couple pictures of the before starting the project. Oh the Dryer in the picture. Belt went out and the work cost to change belt was not advised by peeps that do this  work on this 11 year old drier. So bought a new one and decided to see just how hard it was to change the belt. Sheesh! Gotta take the whole front off and some of the back to get to it. But I  did just for the heck of it myself and sucess. 

So first part was done after removing everything from the East wall , pressure washing, painting and rearranging my stuff. 

Then came the center and back wall . 

Ready for pressure washing and painting. And below, done deal with things back in place. 

Then came the heavy stuff to be moved without scratching my new floor.  

And the series of the finale West wall. And everything back in place minus what I got rid of. 

Next even of the month was Brenda and I's 55 wedding anniversary. Kept it  low key and we took a trip to Loggerheads and had fun with my friends that work there. Great afternoon for sure. 

Then decided to re do the clothesline posts in the back yard that are about as old as the shop as I built them in the 70's for sure. 

Now , both post painted and back in use. 

And that about wraps up the main things done since last post.