Today was a fairly normal Tuesday, if there is any such thing as normal yet.
We awoke around 8:30-9am, had some yummy Puerto Rican coffee and bananas and then checked on the chickens in the coop and gave them some watermelon and cantaloupe rinds. We watered the trees including about 10 more that we planted after clearing and finally being able to mow in that area.
New trees we planted after mowing the area
Britton wanted to clear more of the other slope in the yard with the lawn mower and proceeded to do so. Unfortunately he hit a huge rock (as well as a lot of random things such as glass bottles and padlocks) that had been apparently thrown out into the yard years ago by the previous owner and had over time become buried under leaves and trees and whatnot.
Our week-old mower blade below and the new one above
So we had our goal for the day: to find a new blade for the (new) mower. We stopped at Rubely’s which is the closest little hardware store on our side of Rincon and where Britton gets to practice his Spanish. He always asks me what the word for whatever it is that he is looking for before going in to the store. In this case he asked me what “blade” was. I said “cuchilla” which he always gets mixed up with cochina (meaning pig or slang for dirty pig) so we laughed and repeated the correct word a couple of times. The guy at Rubely took one look at the blade and I could heard him say “piedra!” which Britton didn’t understand and he looked back at me in the truck and I yelled back “rock!” and we all laughed. Yep a big rock must have bent that blade!
But unfortunately Rubely didn’t have the right sized blade. So we went to another store and finally found it at Rincon Rental. By then we were getting pretty hungry so we went to our newest quick-food restaurant find: Pizza Land near the Plaza. We took our Strombolis and a few beers and went down to the public beach and enjoyed our lunch while watching the kite surfers in the wind.
Pizza and beer at the beach!
This is the same beach platform that I have been doing my morning yoga classes and so I took the opportunity to practice a few poses as well.
Tree pose watching the kite surfers
Later this evening we will let the chickens roam around in the yard while we are on guard for any hawks and we water the new transplants and gardens again. The chickens will then slowly load back up into the coop as the darkness descends and we will also load back up into the cabana and watch a few shows on the computer since poker night is cancelled this week for Britton. Overall, our Tuesdays have never been better and will never be the same again. And when I reflect on this day I acknowledge that I am perfectly happy with that.
Kona Brewing beer – perfect! 🙂
Get a big vice (at least 8”) and a cheater bar (big pipe). Affix the vice to a very heavy workbench. Bend that blade back. Lawnmower blades are expensive. I think Walmart had them the cheapest. I bent a lot of blades. Eventually they get so bent up you have to replace them but you should be able to bend them back many times. We had a lot of grass to mow so we went through a lot of mowers not because of the engine but because of the mower body. I always wanted a big wheeled mower to go over parts of the yard I was using a trimmer on but they just don’t make them that big and also strong.
Thanks for the tip on the blade bending. I tried a few things and wasn’t getting anywhere with it so I just bought a new one ($12). I will look into the items you’ve mentioned.
Once we have these areas cleared, re-mowing them will be easier. When I come across a rock, stump or other item I dig them up and smooth it out. The first pass is pretty crazy though with stuff flying in every which direction.