Mowers, Rakes, And Wood Fired Pizza

When Scott and Alan Banks were here building our deck last week, I mentioned a couple of other projects we would like them to do for us, and I also mentioned that I have not been able to get the mid-mount mower deck connected to my Kubota tractor. It was on the tractor when I bought it and I took it off because I didn’t need it at the time and I wanted more ground clearance. Since then I have not been able to get it reconnected. Our son Travis came over one day and spent a lot of frustrating time under the tractor trying to get it to hook up and just could not get it to go. Alan said he was sure that he and his father could figure it out for me, and they came over yesterday morning to do it.

These two are country boys born and bred, and once they looked things over it didn’t take them long at all. And when that was done, they also disconnected the bush hog mower from the three-point hitch in back of the tractor and attached the Field Tuff pine straw rake that I told you about Terry putting together in a blog a while back. Thanks guys, I really appreciate you going the extra mile for me again.

You might ask why I wanted to switch back to the mid- mount mower when I have been using the bush hog for mowing the pasture. A couple of reasons. The bush hog is great when the grass is high and out of control, but now that I’ve got it down, the mid-mount mower gives a cleaner cut. And it also lowers the tractor’s center of gravity, making it more stable going up and down some of our hills.

Once Scott and Alan left, I tried things out and it took me a while to figure out the settings, because when I used the tractor’s hydraulic lever to raise or lower the mid-mount mower, it also raised and lowered the rake on the back. Looking at the manual, I could not figure things out, so I went to YouTube and quickly found the proper setting to lock one or the other out.

The rake works well, but there is so much dead grass piled up from earlier cuttings that it’s going to take a while to get it all tidied up. And by the time I get done I’m going to have a huge pile. More than we could ever use for mulch, so some of it will probably get burned at some point. Grab some graham crackers, Hershey’s chocolate, and marshmallows and come over and we’ll have smores. 😊

For a couple of years now Terry has been toying with the idea of getting an Ooni multi-fuel pizza oven that can work with either propane, wood, or charcoal, and she finally gave in and ordered one. She also ordered a 24×60 inch stainless steel table to use on the new back deck.

Yesterday was the launch date for the new pizza oven, and Terry told me going in that there would be a learning curve to it, so not to get my hopes up. She used hardwood lump charcoal to cook the pizza with, and she was right, there is a learning curve to it.

Not that it was bad, don’t get me wrong, but I had to admit that it wasn’t on a par with the pizzas that she cooks in the house. But then again, that’s a pretty hard act to follow. I’m looking forward to sampling the wares as she practices with her new oven. Never say that I’m not a supportive husband. 😊

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. There are so many things I want to say about this, but I won’t. At least not here.

Thought For The Day – I am on a seafood diet. I see food, and I eat it.