Popular Post Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Popular Post Share #1 Posted May 31, 2018 On Tuesday I loaded up my mower on the trailer and headed off to my MIL’s at sunrise. The grass was wet with dew so I moved the last of the downed trees that I had cut up in the wet part of the yard and built fires on all the stumps. I mowed most of the day, first without the bagger and then went back over the front and side yards with the bagger. The sun was bright and hot all day. I thought I stayed hydrated enough but by the time I got home I wasn’t feeling well. I unloaded the mower and parked it in the yard and went inside and got an electrolite drink. I drank that while sitting on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water. That’s where I was when my wife got home. She asked if I was alright. I said just feel worn out. I went in and took a shower because I still had grass stuck all over me sticking to the spray on sunblock. Thunderstorms were predicted that night so I went out to move my trailer and put stuff away. I backed the trailer into it’s spot and unhooked it,then I parked the Pilot in it’s spot. I put the zero turn in the garage and then I put the two rototilled and the walk behind string trimmer in behind the mower. I went in the house and went to bed. Wednesday morning I got the tillers back out of the garage and worked in the garden for about four hours planting stuff and removing weeds. Put the tillers away again and went and got a shower so we could go to the granddaughter’s awards ceremony. When we got home I noticed my car had a flat tire. The sidewalk had a cut that looked like it was slashed with a machete, I could stick three fingers into the tire through this cut. Now the question is, how could I have hit something when parking the car and not heard the bang? What could I have hit? There was nothing in the driveway where I parked. How could I have walked past my car so many times yesterday and not noticed the flat? Now for the frustrating part. I get out the tools to lower the compact spare from under the car and I turn the crank and nothing happens. I sprayed penitrating oil down the hole where the jack handle goes and after working on it for a half hour it finally released and lowered the spare. I take off the bad tire and mount the spare. The compact spare requires 60 psi air so I turned on my compressor and brought out the air hose. When I unscrewed the valve cap the valve stem came apart and shot out leaving all the air out of the tire. I examined the part that came out and it’s not threaded. It must have been molded into the valve stem when they made it. I have never seen this happen ever. i pushed it back into the valve stem and aired it up to sixty pounds fully expecting it to blow back out, it didn’t but I’m afraid to drive it now. It’s about eighteen miles to the tire shop. Calling for rain all day or I might just throw the bad tire in the BOB and pedal to the tire shop (busy two lane highway the whole way after I get off my road. I’m glad I’m retired and don’t have to go anywhere. sorry for the long post, just airing my frustration. If you made it this far you deserve a trophy. 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheep_herder ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Share #2 Posted May 31, 2018 Hope you have a better day today. Just out of curiosity, how long do those stumps burn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted May 31, 2018 I burned a couple of them last August when they were dry and they smoldered all week and the next time I mowed they were gone. I just had to fill in the holes with dirt. The ones I have been burning this spring are only about half gone but we have had a lot of rain. They were ash trees that the emerald ash borers killed. My MIL paid someone to cut them down back when I was still working but they left the stumps. I should burn them in dry weather but I had a lot of branches to get rid of so I burned them on the stumps. Trees keep falling from the the woods on the edge of her property and landing in her yard. It’s the power company right of way and full of dead ash trees. I should probably just cut them all and be done with it. There is a very large pin oak I would like to see gone too. It’s not dead but every year I have to cut the lower branches to get under it with the mower. What a stupid tree, the branches grow downward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted May 31, 2018 Share #4 Posted May 31, 2018 I have been told that cattle have been lost in the aftermath of "forest fire". The stumps and root systems of some trees burn for some time after the forest fire is considered burned out. The cattle wander across the landscape and fall through the thin crust of soil that remains into a smoldering root system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share #5 Posted May 31, 2018 I burned a stump from an old maple that was over four feet in diameter. It smoldered for two weeks and I had to make three trips with the front loader to fill in the hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share #6 Posted May 31, 2018 45 minutes ago, donkpow said: I have been told that cattle have been lost in the aftermath of "forest fire". The stumps and root systems of some trees burn for some time after the forest fire is considered burned out. The cattle wander across the landscape and fall through the thin crust of soil that remains into a smoldering root system. My MIL doesn’t have any cattle, maybe I can catch a deer? ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kzoo Posted May 31, 2018 Share #7 Posted May 31, 2018 1 hour ago, Longjohn said: My MIL doesn’t have any cattle, maybe I can catch a deer? ? Or one of the neighbor kids sneaking around. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedalphile Posted May 31, 2018 Share #8 Posted May 31, 2018 2 hours ago, donkpow said: I have been told that cattle have been lost in the aftermath of "forest fire". The stumps and root systems of some trees burn for some time after the forest fire is considered burned out. The cattle wander across the landscape and fall through the thin crust of soil that remains into a smoldering root system. How do you know it'll be cooked just right? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share #9 Posted May 31, 2018 11 minutes ago, pedalphile said: How do you know it'll be cooked just right? You know it’s fresh meat and hasn’t been hanging around in a meat locker for a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Share #10 Posted May 31, 2018 It is a nice story. I enjoyed it but I would have like it more if you would have done a Kirby and told us how each part of your week made you feel. I also want to know about the crazed knife wielding tire slasher who is obviously stalking you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedalphile Posted May 31, 2018 Share #11 Posted May 31, 2018 1 hour ago, jsharr said: It is a nice story. I enjoyed it but I would have like it more if you would have done a Kirby and told us how each part of your week made you feel. I also want to know about the crazed knife wielding tire slasher who is obviously stalking you. Your last point is where I thought it would all be heading, also. The not feeling great with feet hanging in the pool turned out to be a compleat red herring. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Share #12 Posted May 31, 2018 4 minutes ago, pedalphile said: Your last point is where I thought it would all be heading, also. The not feeling great with feet ahnging in the pool turned out to be a compleat red herring. Could you post a recording of your voice so I know how to "read" your posts? I want to make sure my inner voice is right for you. RIght now, I just read your posts in the voice of Sean Connery. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedalphile Posted May 31, 2018 Share #13 Posted May 31, 2018 3 minutes ago, jsharr said: Could you post a recording of your voice so I know how to "read" your posts? I want to make sure my inner voice is right for you. RIght now, I just read your posts in the voice of Sean Connery. I'll settle for sounding like Sean, HaHa. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share #14 Posted May 31, 2018 41 minutes ago, jsharr said: It is a nice story. I enjoyed it but I would have like it more if you would have done a Kirby and told us how each part of your week made you feel. I also want to know about the crazed knife wielding tire slasher who is obviously stalking you. I don’t even want to think about the slasher. I can’t think of an alternative. Maybe when the tire shop sees the tire they will come up with some other solution. I try to be thankful that even though frustrating what better place to have this happen? I have tools, food, and I don’t have to ask someone to take me to work. i should be able to get the replacement tire for maybe $100. It had road hazard coverage that’s prorated based on treadwear. The tires look like new but they will probably say the tread is half gone. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Share #15 Posted May 31, 2018 6 minutes ago, Longjohn said: I don’t even want to think about the slasher. I can’t think of an alternative. Maybe when the tire shop sees the tire they will come up with some other solution. I try to be thankful that even though frustrating what better place to have this happen? I have tools, food, and I don’t have to ask someone to take me to work. i should be able to get the replacement tire for maybe $100. It had road hazard coverage that’s prorated based on treadwear. The tires look like new but they will probably say the tread is half gone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share #16 Posted May 31, 2018 53 minutes ago, jsharr said: That might be the slasher but it would have to be an Amish crab. We don’t seem to have bad Amish around here. They all live in Atlantic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Share #17 Posted May 31, 2018 5 minutes ago, Longjohn said: That might be the slasher but it would have to be an Amish crab. We don’t seem to have bad Amish around here. They all live in Atlantic. rumspringa crab? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share #18 Posted May 31, 2018 3 minutes ago, jsharr said: rumspringa crab? 3 minutes ago, jsharr said: rumspringa crab? I didn’t think of that. They ride by at midnight with their boom boxes blaring in the buggy. That could be just to cover up the sound of the tires exploding. In the morning there is a trail of Light beer cans all the way down the road. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Share #19 Posted May 31, 2018 2 minutes ago, Longjohn said: I didn’t think of that. They ride by at midnight with their boom boxes blaring in the buggy. That could be just to cover up the sound of the tires exploding. In the morning there is a trail of Light beer cans all the way down the road. I think we may have solved this. Even when slashing tires, the Amish would do good work and leave a nice clean cut, just like you described. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share #20 Posted May 31, 2018 Whelp I got my new tire and my new valve stem in the crappy toy spare. They gave me $114.58 credit on the road hazard. They charged me $18 dollars for a new valve stem for the toy spare. If I was president I would ban those worthless things. Now I have to put the wheel back on and hoist the stupid spare back up underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrapr ★ Posted June 1, 2018 Share #21 Posted June 1, 2018 We have had sidewall cuts on our truck tires. What happens is the tire starts getting low. Or you haul a bunch of equipment on a marginal aired up tire. When turning the rim slices the sidewall. It may not got completely through. Ours have not. But the drivers note it on the morning walk around. (You do a safety walk around right???) Hauling your equipment around may have been enough to stress the tire. Then went flat overnight. I would send MIL a bill My new car didn't even come with a spare. A can of air and goo. I had to buy a donut tire. I'm lucky it fit under the back area. And i have never had one of those winch down carriers. That would be horrible out on the road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share #22 Posted June 1, 2018 6 hours ago, Scrapr said: Hauling your equipment around may have been enough to stress the tire. Then went flat overnight. I would send MIL a bill It sounds good but I aired up all six tires in the morning. My air gauge is on my air hose. I keep 40lbs air in the Pilots tires and they read 38 before I topped them off. The gash in the tire I could put three fingers through. Nope, it must have been those Rumspringa Ganster Amish crabs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted June 1, 2018 Share #23 Posted June 1, 2018 I thought this thread was going to be aboot an apartment in England. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Further Posted June 1, 2018 Share #24 Posted June 1, 2018 Bet that never happened with the Element I apologize for being an ass Hee Hee 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted June 1, 2018 Share #25 Posted June 1, 2018 7 minutes ago, Further said: Bet that never happened with the Element I apologize for being an ass Hee Hee LJ has been a little oot of his Element lately. Signed, Ass #2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share #26 Posted June 1, 2018 The Pilot does pull the trailer with the zero turn better than the Element, 60 mph up the three lane hill with power to spare. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Further Posted June 1, 2018 Share #27 Posted June 1, 2018 9 minutes ago, Longjohn said: The Pilot does pull the trailer with the zero turn better than the Element, 60 mph up the three lane hill with power to spare. I don't think the Element is really a tow vehicle. And I've noticed mine struggles a bit on long uphills, it used to hold 80 mph in over drive, now it drops a gear, and I turn the air off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F_in Ray Of Sunshine Posted June 1, 2018 Share #28 Posted June 1, 2018 On 5/31/2018 at 7:17 AM, Longjohn said: every year I have to cut the lower branches to get under it with the mower. I go on an annual rampage with the chain saw, after the first few times I mow the lawn and branches piss me off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share #29 Posted June 1, 2018 50 minutes ago, Further said: I don't think the Element is really a tow vehicle. And I've noticed mine struggles a bit on long uphills, it used to hold 80 mph in over drive, now it drops a gear, and I turn the air off. Mine would still go the speed limit up three lane hill with the loaded trailer but it dropped a gear and was reved up pretty high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dottleshead ★ Posted June 1, 2018 Share #30 Posted June 1, 2018 On 5/31/2018 at 2:27 AM, Longjohn said: On Tuesday I loaded up my mower on the trailer and headed off to my MIL’s at sunrise. The grass was wet with dew so I moved the last of the downed trees that I had cut up in the wet part of the yard and built fires on all the stumps. I mowed most of the day, first without the bagger and then went back over the front and side yards with the bagger. The sun was bright and hot all day. I thought I stayed hydrated enough but by the time I got home I wasn’t feeling well. I unloaded the mower and parked it in the yard and went inside and got an electrolite drink. I drank that while sitting on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water. That’s where I was when my wife got home. She asked if I was alright. I said just feel worn out. I went in and took a shower because I still had grass stuck all over me sticking to the spray on sunblock. Thunderstorms were predicted that night so I went out to move my trailer and put stuff away. I backed the trailer into it’s spot and unhooked it,then I parked the Pilot in it’s spot. I put the zero turn in the garage and then I put the two rototilled and the walk behind string trimmer in behind the mower. I went in the house and went to bed. Wednesday morning I got the tillers back out of the garage and worked in the garden for about four hours planting stuff and removing weeds. Put the tillers away again and went and got a shower so we could go to the granddaughter’s awards ceremony. When we got home I noticed my car had a flat tire. The sidewalk had a cut that looked like it was slashed with a machete, I could stick three fingers into the tire through this cut. Now the question is, how could I have hit something when parking the car and not heard the bang? What could I have hit? There was nothing in the driveway where I parked. How could I have walked past my car so many times yesterday and not noticed the flat? Now for the frustrating part. I get out the tools to lower the compact spare from under the car and I turn the crank and nothing happens. I sprayed penitrating oil down the hole where the jack handle goes and after working on it for a half hour it finally released and lowered the spare. I take off the bad tire and mount the spare. The compact spare requires 60 psi air so I turned on my compressor and brought out the air hose. When I unscrewed the valve cap the valve stem came apart and shot out leaving all the air out of the tire. I examined the part that came out and it’s not threaded. It must have been molded into the valve stem when they made it. I have never seen this happen ever. i pushed it back into the valve stem and aired it up to sixty pounds fully expecting it to blow back out, it didn’t but I’m afraid to drive it now. It’s about eighteen miles to the tire shop. Calling for rain all day or I might just throw the bad tire in the BOB and pedal to the tire shop (busy two lane highway the whole way after I get off my road. I’m glad I’m retired and don’t have to go anywhere. sorry for the long post, just airing my frustration. If you made it this far you deserve a trophy. Pun intended?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share #31 Posted June 1, 2018 2 minutes ago, Dottie said: Pun intended?? Accidental Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dottleshead ★ Posted June 2, 2018 Share #32 Posted June 2, 2018 50 minutes ago, Longjohn said: Accidental I bolded the word in your comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dottleshead ★ Posted June 2, 2018 Share #33 Posted June 2, 2018 So you never figured out who or what slashed your tire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share #34 Posted June 2, 2018 2 minutes ago, Dottie said: So you never figured out who or what slashed your tire? I have no clue. This neighborhood is a very safe place, if it was vandalism there were a lot of other things they could have done but the tire was not driven on after the cut. No scuff marks on the sidewall. While I had the tire off I should have checked to see if I could put a full size wheel up underneath where the stupid spare was. I hate those stupid spares so much I can't express it enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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