It was a scorching day today, and the Alpacas were feeling the heat and being bothered by flies, they kept trying to use the dust bath that the chickens had created for themselves but it was far to small, so I thought I would give them a helping hand at making a dust bath..
I got out my trusty Mantis Tiller it has a little petrol engine and it is brilliant and lightweight to use, then came a problem, I couldn't get it to start, no matter how much I pulled on the cord it was not having any of it.
I am not mechanically minded at all, so thought the dust bath is not going to happen until hubby returns next week. I was rummaging through a box and found the Mantis instruction book, it suggested removing the plug and cleaning it, I went through hubby's sprockets and just couldn't find one to fit, reading on further in the book it said a tool and spare plug were including with the spares, so more boxes went through and there it was a bag of bits including the tool
Following the instructions step by step I got the plug out gave it a clean and then decided to check the air filter it was dirty so I put a new one in. Put it all back together gave it a couple of pulls and it started.
I was so chuffed with myself.
This is the area before I tilled it
I had attempted take the top off with a spade but the ground was solid
Here it is all tilled to a fine powder, Alpaca sized dust bath.
As well as pampering Alpacas I finished glazing the greenhouse and sprayed it with cool glass, it was so hot in there, I have been picking blueberries, I have a few with my breakfast then the rest get put in the freezer.
The kitchen flooring is now all down
Now we can start getting the kitchen straight.
I did myself a leftover salad for dinner, there was a few slices of salami and chorizo in the fridge with a smoked salmon fillet a bit of salad and a few cherry tomatoes the first pickings, along with some tortilla chips, Balsamic vinegar for dressing.
I hope you have all had a lovely sunny day :-)
Well done Dawn ! You should be proud of yourself.
ReplyDeleteGill
I need to do myself a t-shirt mechanic in the making :-)
DeleteFair play. I'm always really pleased with myself when i fix something mechanical. Those mantis tillers are great aren't they. I love mine, saves so much time and makes a great sewd bed if you dig it over a bit first.
ReplyDeleteIts a great bit of kit, hubby bought it for me about 10 years ago, its so easy to use compared to a rotavator.
DeleteWoohooo, how organised are yo knowing where to find all the manuals? I must try harder x
ReplyDeletethat was an easy one as the manual was with shed/greenhouse stuff :-) I do usually keep manuals for everything and they live in a folder of sorts, when we moved out I left them an instruction manual on everything in the house including the log burner.
DeleteClever girl! I certainly couldn't have done that.
ReplyDeleteRe: dust baths, our two cats have been having dust baths in this hot weather ( they don't have fleas or mites, they just seem to enjoy it.) Georgie likes his fur brushed out at end of day; Henry jumps in the bath and likes the overhead shower put on - he just loves water!
I did consider setting up the sprinkler but we dont have an outside tap yet and my hose fittings are srew on so wouldnt have gone on the tap.
DeleteWell done on the fix but to be honest I am far more impressed that you were able to find something/anything you needed so soon after the move!
ReplyDeleteI am constantly shiffting boxes around in the barn trying to put them in groups together, when packing I tried to pack appropriate things together.
DeleteThe problem here would be finding something in Cs workshop/muddle. He says he knows where everything is but that's no help when I'm trying to find something. Well done on getting the tiller started and on being so organised so soon after your move. You could get a new job of sorting out smallholders when they move house!
ReplyDeleteI do have my own tools but they are still packed, so I am raiding hubbys, I dont fancy a new job thank you, I dont think I would like to organise others I have enough just keeping myself organised :-)
DeleteYour kitchen floor is lovely!!! well done you on getting the tiller working, I would have handed that project over to someone else! xx
ReplyDeleteThanks, I am liking the floor last house we had light colours so its a bit of an adjustment going for a dark colour but more practical, with the tiller I was going to leave it for hubby but reading the manual that gave very clear instructions gave me the confidence to attempt it myself.
DeleteI love it when I fix something, not only because it means no money spent on a repair or a new item, but meeting the challenge feels great.
ReplyDeleteJean x
I did feel a great sense of achivement. Usually anything mechanical is left to hubby.
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