Jay Gaulard Blog

Stihl BR 550 Backpack Blower

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

Today was another day of running around. I had to head up to Tile America in West Hartford to meet the tile installer. After that, I had to go over to Pat’s Power Equipment in Tolland for a new backpack blower.

I am sure I will write all about the tile in another post. Now, I would like to share an awesome new tool I got today…the backpack blower. When I bought the pressure washer, I wasn’t too enthused. I mean, yeah, I’ll use it when I need it. The backpack blower on the other hand, is something I will actually enjoy using when I need it.

Take a look…

This is the Stihl BR 550 backpack blower. It’s the second most powerful one they have. I just used it on the driveway and the walkway and am very happy I got one so powerful. I have recently heard good things about those hand-held ones, but was skeptical. I used to use a commercial backpack blower and knew what it was capable of. I couldn’t imagine me trying to blow leaves out of the gardens, come Fall, and me not getting wicked mad at one of those hand-held machines.

Here are the specs:

DISPLACEMENT: 64.8 cc (3.95 cu. in.)
ENGINE POWER: 3.0 kW (4.0 bhp)
WEIGHT: 9.7 kg (21.4 Ibs.)
FUEL CAPACITY: 1400 cc (47.3 oz.)
AIR VOLUME:
With tube: 900 m3/h (530 cfm)
Without tube: 1490 m3/h (877 cfm)
AIR VELOCITY: 89 m/sec. (199 mph)

I think the things people look at are the “air volume” and the “air velocity.” Those are the two things that actually move stuff.

I like getting Stihl power equipment. When I do so, I never have to worry about if I just bought junk or not. I know it’s not.

The Flowers Have Taken Over - Pink Roses

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

When we first moved here, I really didn’t give the hillside on the property too much thought. I just said to myself that I was going to plant some pine trees there. At the time, there were some “unbloomed” bushes waiting for leaves. Some of them were those ever growing pricker bushes.

When I was a kid, we had this huge pricker bush in between our property and the neighbor’s. It was large and really needed to be taken care of because it was taking up so much room. I can’t really ever remember any flowers growing on that pricker bush. Oh, how times have changed.

A few weeks ago, I took some pictures of some half bloomed flowers in the front. I really didn’t know what I was in store for and to be honest, I am quite impressed.

Here, I’ll show you what I am talking about…

This is just a random shot in one of the more clustered parts of th flowers. As you can see, there are some pink roses in there.

Here is a better picture of those pink roses.

Here are a few photos of the whole area of flowers. Pretty neat, huh?

On my way back, I decided to pick Laura a bouquet of flowers. I think this is the nicest one yet.

Introducing the Tiger Lily

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I discovered what that mystery flower is…a Tiger Lily.

If you remember back a few posts, I couldn’t figure out what a certain flower was. It’s the one around the mailbox. The flowers are all over the place and now I know what they are.

Aren’t they nice? They are really tall. I heard somewhere a long time ago that you can eat Tiger Lilies. Is that true?

A New Stone Wall For the Garden

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

I did a bunch of weeding yesterday and then pulled out the weed whacker. I cleaned up all along the front edge of the garden and really was quite proud of myself. Today, I was outside doing something when Laura decided to visit me. I asked her to look how nice the front of the garden came out and she relied, “Um, yeah…it still needs something. Some sort of an edge.” Then, she went back inside.

Well, listen to this. I could read the writing on the wall. I knew that if I didn’t get my butt in gear and make a brand new stone wall, I was in for some serious punishment when I walked through that door later on. What did I do? I made a new stone wall, that’s what I did. I am actually quite gifted the art of stone wall building.

The only thing that went wrong was I forgot to take a before picture. That kind of stinks. I always forget because I really never intend to do these things. It starts off with me grabbing a big rock and walking over to the garden with it. Then, I grab another. The rest is history and I really don’t think I am able to change.

You might want to call me up right now and ask, “Hey man, where’d you get all those cool rocks?” To which I would reply, “They were around.”

Peace out.

Tons of Roses in the Front

Friday, June 13th, 2008

You have to believe me when I tell you that I am really sorry about all the posts with photos of flowers in them. Really, it’s for the ladies. Sometimes, I feel like such a gentleman. Yesterday, when I was up front doing some trimming, I clipped a rose for Laura. Isn’t that sweet? You don’t have to tell me.

The whole hillside is almost fully in bloom. I had no idea there was such a variety of flowers. It is so exciting to watch what blooms next. Every morning, I wake up and do my thing. Then, I go outside with the camera. Today, I was just standing there on the hillside looking at everything. There was a cricket chirping and a bee going from flower to flower. It was pretty cool. Sometimes it’s nice to just watch things. There are even baby bunnies living under one of the bushes. I almost stepped on one the other day when I was trimming around the Blue Spruce that I planted. It ran and scared the heck out of me.

This is another prize winner from the same garden as my last prize winner.

This is what I am talking about. There are Roses upon Roses. They are all different colors too. There are pink, red and white so far.

Pretty neat, right?

Jay’s Tomato Plant Garden

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

If you call a porch a garden, then that’s what I have.

I told you that we bought some tomato plants the other day. We put them in a bucket that we had here. Well, they have been taking off so nicely, I decided to get some more. I figured buckets will work ok. My mother used to get the biggest tomatoes from a couple of 5 gallon buckets.

Check ‘em out. They grow fast too. I have a few different kinds there, so it should be exciting. Now, I just have to find out if these plants are related to the current salmonella issue.

Some More Great Photos of Flowers

Saturday, June 7th, 2008

I think so much of myself, don’t I? Just look at that title.

As I was wondering around outside today, sweating, I decided to take some more photos of the flowers on the property. You may already have seen some of these, but others are new. I know this because we just planted them.

On the same day I bought the Rhododendrons in the post below, Laura decided to put some flowers in the shopping cart. I usually don’t go down the flower isle, but then again, I am boring.

Here is what she picked out.

This is a Stargazer Lily. I believe we may already have a few, but there is no harm in getting more.

This is somesort of a cream Lily. I asked Laura what the name of it was, but she couldn’t remember. Please feel free to inform us.

This is Sage. I am told that it spreads to make a nice ground cover. I hope so, because there is a lot of ground.

That’s all of the new flowers. Now on to the existing ones.

This is Baily’s Gold. From what I gather, this is a nice spreading flower as well and is really easy to keep. I think I am going to split up the existing ones and disperse them around the area.

Here are some more Iris. These are light purple though and a bit more delicate looking than the other Iris.

Again, the showcase Lupine that sits at the edge of the sidewalk. This really is a facinating flower. It has been fun watching it mature.

There is no shortage of Roses around. This is just a small sample of some pink Roses and red Roses. They really are beautiful.

Rhododendrons To Line the Woods

Saturday, June 7th, 2008

Every time I visit either Lowe’s or Home Depot, I try to go into the nursery to grab a few shrubs. I can always find a use for shrubs, I just wish they were free. That would be wild.

I need about 50 Rhododendrons. I would like to line the entire wooded area up front as well as both sides of the driveway. I love the look of fully grown Rhododendrons. They are great cover and have wonderful flowers.

I remember one house down in Yonkers that I did some work at years ago. It was owned by an old (rich) dude. He had everything looking just perfect. There were huge Rhododendrons, Japanese Yew, Hemlock and all the rest. It was so green and so was I, with envy. I still have the image in my mind and that’s what I would like to have one day.

But for now, I will have to do with small Rhododendrons to start.

I bought three of these during my last trip to Home Depot.

This is one of the areas I would like to line. When the plants grow larger, they will hang over the rocks and all I will have to do is push the mower under the plants. I know, I am too slick.

Photos of Spring Flowers

Friday, May 30th, 2008

I took a little stroll outside this morning. Of course, I had my coffee in hand. I didn’t have my camera with me, but after what I saw, I ran back inside to get it.

Here we go again. It’s picture taking time in the Northeast. Let me know what you think of the latest flower photos.

Apparently, there is more than one type of Iris. This one is yellow. I am used to the purple ones.

This is a purple and white iris.

Here is another, just in a different spot.

I believe these are Primrose, but I am not sure.

I know I had these in another post, but I totally forget what they are.

And I never knew what these were.

This is a really cool flower I noticed growing the other day. I saw the one flower, and then a bunch more popped up.

These have got to be Purple Azalea.

These are really nice. I am guessing they are some sort of rose.

This is my prize winning shot of the day. I can’t identify it, but the photo sure came out nice. I am going to make it my pic of the week.

Holly, Hydrangea and Tomato Plants

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

We made a visit to Home Depot yesterday (we are going to be buying from Lowe’s from now on). I wanted to go shopping for shrubs. Maybe I can just cut this, and the following posts short. You can just read all the other ones about shrubs I have written through the years.

I had a bunch of stuff on my list, but mainly items from the garden area. Here is what I got:

- 1 Blue Hydrangea
- 4 Holly bushes
- 2 Rhododendron
- 1 25 lb. bag of grass seed
- 2 Tomato plants

and some other stuff. Maybe I’ll write about that later.

Laura picked out the Hydrangea and made sure it was blue. There are a few others around here, so it should fit right in.

There are a lot of areas I need shrubs. I really like shrubs at the ends of driveways. I don’t know why, but I do. Therefore, I needed shrubs to put at the end of this semi-naked driveway. I put the Holly and Rhododendron there. There is room for a lot more though.

I also did some seeding yesterday. I went through the whole bag in about two minutes. The spreader settings needs to be high, so it really shoots out fast. I raked the seed in some bare spots in the lawn, and just spread it out on the areas up near the road. If the birds eat it, I’ll just get more.

What’s really exciting is our new tomato plants. These are hybrid something-er-others. They are supposed to produce nice big tomatoes. I like tomato sandwiches, so I am hoping they come out nicely.