25 June 2024

Got some mowing to do today, I’ve been told my sister the dutchess is coming to visit this weekend and I’d like for the lawns to be about even and walkable if anyone wanted to walk around. When I lived on two acres, no one but me ever walked it, now I have the buggie though and can at least give people a driving tour. Last time I mowed I remember one of my new screws on the mower fell out, I still have some of the old ones that I’ll put in, still those screws are a problem I would like permanent fix for. Maybe tightening the screws as much as I can will keep them in place, I only hope they aren’t stuck when I need to remove them. There’s a work bench I’ll be attempting to move to the pole barn as well, we’ll see if I’ll be able to get it in the back of the buggie on my own. Having a table in the barn will be nice, it’ll give an area to do work on too. There is a stand for the dumbbells that needs to be assembled and having a workbench for that will be helpful, maybe I’ll even put the stand together today, I’m not trying to though. The rain from yesterday caused another big branch from my dead tree to fall, thankfully everything is still out of the way. The more that tree loses branches before finally falling the better, depending on where it falls I might let it lay there forever. On the forest side of the property there are places where trees lay, the landscape evolves around it and a big tree like that would be good for inoculating mushrooms. 

24 June 2024

Heavy rains falling this morning, everyone knows watching the rain is one of my favorite pastimes, this morning I had to get the princess to daycare. The roads around us are not great for rain, it seemed like they’d be worn down where car tires go and water gathers there to the point it felt like I was hydroplaning the whole time I was driving in the lines. My queen returned to work today after time off from her surgery, I hope everything goes well for her. The house feels strangely empty since I had gotten used to her being around. We had a good weekend with the family though. The princess continues to learn new words almost everyday, I do the best I can to narrate my life out loud so she can hear more words. Eventually I’ll strike the right word and she’ll repeat it back, then I repeat it a couple time to help solidify it in her memory. She’s been going through phases of shows she likes and I’m interested how she becomes all about one show then it’s almost forgotten, first it was Mickey mouse and I thought it would last forever. Then Cars made an appearance and we watched those movies on repeat, now Curious George is the hit, she’s always asking for the monkey. George is a good show for kids since he acts similar to a kid that gets in to everything and wants to explore. The princess spent less than a minute behind my speakers and now I can’t figure out how to get them working again. She certainly keeps me on my toes and constantly striving to improve.

21 June 2024

Happy first day of Summer everyone, I know it’s starting to feel like Summer where I am today’s high is going to be in the low 90s. This morning I rushed out to the pole barn to take a photo of the heavy bag stand for the customer service rep to show what I received. As I thought might be the case they ship the other parts separating and that’s what they confirmed. Glad to have that resolved. A Youtube short I posted yesterday got some good traction, in the beginning it was getting a thousand views an hour. Of course I’ve got to compete with Kim and Kanye who made a million a minute. I’ve been very pleased with how my new social media has been going and am grateful that I started it up again. When I stopped the podcast last time I was left with the regret that I wouldn’t get to see how it changes me. The change I’m specifically talking about is the change from talking aloud for years, like I’ve been doing these writings since 2018 I think and my ability to write is amazing compared to what I was doing then. The struggle to write is no longer there, I’ve already notice the preshow jitters of recording have gone away. As things grow it will morph into something different and I don’t know what that will be. 

20 June 2024

A lot of weeks I notice myself needing to take off on Wednesday, when I’m tired and doing a lot of rest I don’t have much desire or content to write around that time. There was no mowing or yard work this week, mostly all I’ve done is move heavy stuff to my pole barn like dumbbell weights, a punching bag, and a bag holder made of steel. There was a problem with the bag holder as the one I ordered was meant to hold two bags and they sent me the single. The bags I have planned are a six feet long muay thai bag for kicking and a 200 lbs heavy bag from realistic weight. At my previous house I had a 100 lbs bag and which is normally considered heavy since a lot of people get 88 lbs bags, but I knew I needed something more. The 200 lbs bag has arrived and that got moved back with everything, the UTV I got from the neighbor has been crucial in moving stuff. About five years ago I built a sturdy work bench out of woods, I’ve been hesitant to move it to the barn since it’s so heavy. After moving my 200 lbs bag and steel beams I picked up the workbench to see how it compared and it was feeling light now which makes me very happy, I can move it on my own and I’m stronger than I was. The Bois and I are going to be recording our weekly episode today at noon, usually it’s at 8 PM. Alex had said before that it feels weird recording when there’s day light, late sun during the Summer didn’t feel too weird, but today will definitely feel different. Strange looking fungus in the picture today.

18 June 2024

My princess had her second year doctor’s appointment yesterday. In keeping with my character of being a king, I’m going to start referring to my wife as queen and daughters as princesses. The appointment went well, she’s healthy, they did need to draw blood. The princess did great though, I had to hold her on the examination table while the nurses worked. They had me completely wrap her up with my body, it even reminded me of a jiu jitsu move. In the end she hardly acted out, of course there was crying, but that would have happened regardless due to everyone in the room acting so weird. The princess will start crying if I even pretend to be upset. During the blood draw she didn’t try to get away or fight at all, we had a harder time holding still for the doctor to look in her ears. Yesterday I learned another reason why my right elbow sprained from holding the princess, when she wants to get out of my arms and starts squirming, she’s developed a technique to put her feet on my forearm and push my elbow open. My lone bicep is not as strong as her legs when she’s on the inside. It came as a shock because I was carrying her like normal trying to remember what needs to get done when it felt like she was getting so heavy I couldn’t keep my arm up anymore. It’s a wild ride watching her personality develop and see what interesting ideas she comes up with. 

17 June 2024

We had a whirlwind weekend, my wife went to the hospital from work on Friday, then had an appendectomy on Saturday and we got her home on Sunday. Friday was also my daughters second birthday, we celebrated with mom once she was home. I can’t remember much of what happened this weekend aside from when my body would be at it’s limit. The first time I visited the hospital I parked on the wrong side of the building at walked all the way around carrying a toddler and a suitcase. When my arms felt like giving out I thought up a time during infantry school, it was the last night and filled with activities, the one I thought of was having to carry ammo cans down the road at night for an unknown distance. Ignore the pain and keep moving, it’ll be over eventually. This morning it seems like life is fairly normal with the addition of sore muscles. After I did pull ups on my tree my right elbow was a little sprained, I figured I had been carrying the baby primarily on my right, so I switched to carrying on the left. The was a moment yesterday when I was making eggs on a cast iron pan and my left wrist ran out of energy unable to lift the pan. My hand muscles are also tired and I can feel their weakness when I squeeze, this type of exhaustion excites me. If I’m doing alright when I’m this tired, imagine how strong I’ll be when I’m rested. That thinking I keep on my mind with my five year plan, the babies will keep me at my lowest energy, but in about five years they’ll both be going to school and I’ll be a king.

14 June 2024

The second round of mowing was more eventful than the first. Today I was mowing the front lawn and there is an area where the tree guy mulched up branches from the downed tree dispersing them onto the lawn. While driving around the mulched area I went over a big piece of wood and a mower blade got stuck. When the blades get stuck, usually from too much grass at once, the engine shuts down. My theory is is things stop moving, that floods the engine with fuel and stops movement. At first I didn’t like gas engines because I didn’t understand how they work. The more I know the better I’m seeing the connections in a gas engine, whereas if something breaks with an electric component, the whole tool is likely trash. With my mower stranded in the front yard I assessed the situation, the blade was into the wood deep enough that I couldn’t pull it out and the piece of wood was so big that there wasn’t anywhere for me to attempt to pull it off to. With the blades turned off I started the mower and drove back to my shed where there was shade and tools. The solution came in the form of a hatchet, I began chopping at the wood until it was small enough to move around and I had made room for the blade to wiggle out. That’s when I noticed how much damage my blades have been through, they’re frayed on the ends. I’d like to put some mulching blades on to go through the woods and then get new grass ones. My brother told me how replacing the blades should be easier than I thought, that the mowing deck comes off and then I don’t have to work underneath the mower. The lose I encountered was another screw for the pully covers, at least now I know where to get more.

13 June 2024

Mowing went well yesterday and I’m preparing for more today, nothing eventful happened as I was only cutting grass. There was a time when after I had gone over an area that I noticed a long black snake, the same as I saw on the back end of my property months ago. The species is called black runner I believe and they’re protected in this area, so I didn’t mess with it. When the grass grows long all sorts of wild life begin to inhabit it, it’s hard to believe when we were walking around in the tall grass we could have been a couple feet away from a snake. On a previous mow I saw a tortoise running for cover after I expose it’s resting spot, it was surprising the shell didn’t get hit by the mower. After all mowing there are field mice running around. The check up on the bees also went well, they hadn’t finished the sugar water I gave them that was almost three weeks old now which means they’d rather get their own food from the wild. When dealing with the bees I’m trying to get in and out as quick as possible, so I poured more food and left. Next time I visit I’ll probably removed the container for feeding and let them have more room. They are still building their own combs perpendicular to the manmade ones provided, but have hit the wall and now I’m hoping they’ll make use of my frames. Because the bees are building freely they build onto the roof which I have to rip off everytime I enter and it reveals little amounts of honey they’ve made. There are other frames I can put on top for them to continue growing, they still need to be assembled.