April 4th - Next Best Thing to an RV Trip is the Lake

Last year we were thinking of selling our camping lot at Lake Perry because we haven't used it for several years. All we do is go out and cut the grass. Well, Covid19 has made our failure to make a decision on selling a good one because it may be the only place we can take the RV this summer.

Yesterday was a beautiful day so we went out to do some spring lot maintenance. There has been a branch hanging down over the lot driveway which has been low enough to hit the top of either RV when we backed into our spot. At home I strapped my extension ladder in the truck, packed the chain saw, lawn mower fuel, some beer and water, and we headed out to the lot. I wasn't sure if my fourteen foot extension ladder would reach the offending branch. Upon arriving I put the ladder up in a fork in the tree and was delighted that I could reach the branch with the chain saw. It was about six inches in diameter at the trunk. I cut it down and proceeded to cut it up. I was just about finished cutting everything up when the chain got caught and came off. The chain coming off apparently did a number on the chain because I could not get it completely back into the slot in the bar to get back to work. No more wood cutting until I got it home and fixed it. With a brand new chain saw and brand new blade I shouldn't have these problems. But sometimes that is my luck.

I then turned to my next chore, cutting the grass, which was about a foot tall. I filled the lawn mower tank with gas, primed it, and pulled and pulled but the mower wouldn't start. I had run it dry at the end of last season and suspected I flooded it trying to start it. I pulled off the air filter and sure enough I had flooded it. I didn't have a spark plug wrench so I couldn't pull it out and dry it off to get it started. I let the mower sit and tried later but it still wouldn't start. I have also been having trouble with the pull rope so I decided to give up on cutting the grass and take the mower home to work on it.

While I was fooling with the mower Kelly drug all the small branches to the firepit.  We always bring two beers each out to the lot when we cut the grass. We popped open a beer and sat around the firepit as we cut up the branches with a pruning shears and burned them.  Here is a picture.

It was a nice diversion. You can see the offending lawn mower in the background. This is the first time ever it refused to start. Not bad for a lawn mower I got for free over ten years ago because the handle needed welding.

While sitting around the campfire we noticed a bunch of turtles out on the tree branch in the lake behind us. Here is a picture of them.  I thought sure I would scare them off trying to get a picture but they all sat tight.  There had to be a dozen of them out there. Pretty cool but they obviously weren't practicing "social distancing".

We drank another beer and when the fire was down to ashes we loaded everything up and headed home. I will work on the two issues with the mower and go back another day to cut the grass. A good isolation activity.