Jay Gaulard

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New Folding Aluminum Lawnmower & ATV Truck Loading Ramps

It was only when I discovered the riding mower had actually been shipped that I purchased aluminum loading ramps. I knew I’d need them if I was to use my trailer for either lawnmower or ATV storage. This is the kind of thing I usually wait for the last minute to buy, but not this time. I got these suckers before I even needed them, while the mower was still in transit.

Folding Aluminum Loading Ramps

The old Jay would have simply hoisted the front of the mower into the trailer using brute force. The new Jay has no more brute force, so I enjoy driving up nice strong ramps. These things are so beautiful, they’re difficult to describe. I’m not even sure they have a brand name. They’re just known as what I wrote in the title above. I guess that’s a good thing because they’re surely less expensive this way.

These ramps measure 7 1/2 feet long when they’re unfolded. Each one measures about a foot wide and together, they can hold something that weighs 1500 pounds. When I have them unfolded and I stand on them, they do flex, but they only go a certain amount. I haven’t been able to coax them any further, no matter how much I bounce. Rolling up and down these ramps on the mower is a dream. Tools are wonderful things.

I took a few up-close photos for you. I know that when I was looking into this type of ramp, I wanted to see the hinges and the quality of the welding. There wasn’t much of that to be found. After this post, there will be.

Let’s start off with how these ramps connect to either a trailer or a truck tailgate. The ones I have offer three teeth on each ramp. Simple lay the teeth on top of whatever it is you’re loading into. There are also included tie-downs that you can use to fasten the ramp to the vehicle, but since I’m on grass and there’s little chance of sliding, I haven’t used those yet.

Aluminum Loading Ramp Top End

This next photo is of the hinge. You can see that it’s bolted and has some pretty good welds.

Folding Loading Ramp Hinge

Now I’ll show you the bolt and the nut that holds the hinge together. You can see there’s a small cotter pin in there, which is good to know.

Hinge Bolt

Hinge Nut with Cotter Pin

Finally, I’ll show you the tread on these ramps. As you’ll see in the photo below, there are small areas that are lifted to prevent from sliding. This is genius.

Aluminum Loading Ramp Tread

I picked these up from Amazon for $133. I initially looked in our local Tractor Supply, but found theirs too expensive. The only one that was in my price range didn’t fold. They were put out by Reese and I really liked them, but I couldn’t fit them in the car. I got these instead.


Checking the Oil in the Cub Cadet XT1 Enduro Ride on Mower

This is pretty funny. Think about this for a second – back in the day, purchasing a ride on mower was huge. In the morning, you’d pull your trousers up as high as they’d go, hop in your Buick and take a ride out to the closest hardware store (or wherever they sold these things) to kick a few tires. Back in the day, lawn mowers where made out of iron. Iron that weighed about two tons and that still sits in fields across America today. You used to mortgage a mower. It was meaningful.

Today, you go on the internet, look at a few pictures, real some semi-real reviews and order a lawnmower. A week later, someone brings it to you. Oh how far we’ve come. Oh yeah, it’s also made of plastic.

All kidding aside, today’s lawnmowers kick the butts of yesterday’s. I swear, if I had the mower I used to use as a kid today, I’d probably let it roll down a very high embankment. Talk about the damn belt that ran the blades popping off. That probably happened about 10 times during one lawn mowing session. And the reality is, I never figured out why. I used brand new belts, nothing was bent or mis-aligned – it would just pop off.

I never had that happen with my John Deere. Not even once and I used that for almost 5 years. Granted, the John Deere was brand new and the one I used as a kid was no where near brand new.

After I assembled the Cub Cadet I just bought a few days ago, I started it up and mowed some grass. I made sure to read that the engine was shipped with oil already in it, but I never actually checked it. As a matter of fact, I had no idea how to check the oil. If you look at the photos in my previous post, you’ll see that the unit was shipped with half of the hood missing. I had to pop that on. After thinking about things overnight, I began to wonder where the oil dipstick was located. It wasn’t until I saw a video of someone with the hood open that I knew I needed to explore some more.

The hood does actually open. All you have to do is lift it from the steering wheel side.

Hood Open on Cub Cadet Riding Mower

Under the Hood of a Cub Cadet XT1 Enduro Mower

There are no catches or clips. It’s merely friction fit.

Now, once the hood is open, it’s obvious where the oil dipstick is located. It’s the big yellow thing that looks like a handle. I took a picture of it fully installed.

Cub Cadet Dipstick

And then I took another one where it’s kind of just resting on the edge of the tube after I pulled it out.

Dipstick Pulled Out

Just as an FYI – it’s always good to mess with these things when you have a shop rag in your hand. There’s almost always dust and debris floating around on the filler tube and the dipstick handle itself. It’s best to not let that stuff fall into the engine.

To check the oil, you’ll need to let the engine rest for a while. The oil needs to be settled. I pulled the dipstick out, wiped both sides on the rag I have and then pushed it back into the tube. When I pulled it out again, I checked the level.

Oil on Dipstick

The oil line should be in between the F and the L. That’s Full and Low. It should also look clean.

Here are a few rules to follow when using a ride on mower such as this. Always check the oil before you use the mower. You never know when something could go wrong and it’s nice to know you’re starting an engine that actually has oil in it. Also, Cub Cadet recommends that you change the oil and filter every 50 hours. The hours are recorded in a gauge on the instrument panel. Also, I swear I read someplace that the first oil change should occur after 5 hours of operation. I’m still looking for where I read that.

Since the first oil change is right around the corner, I’ll be sure to document that. It’s then when I’ll have a chance to use the nifty oil drain hose. Check out this valve at the bottom of the engine.

Kohler Engine Oil Drain Valve

Anyway, I thought I’d share my thoughts on this topic. Until next time!


How to Reset the Tire Pressure Monitor (TPM) on a 2009 BMW 328XI

It’s that time again. Time to watch the small low tire pressure indicator light flip on in the instrument panel of your BMW 328XI. When this happened to me just a few days ago, I was like, “Uh oh. That’s not good.” I think my first reaction was to think I had a flat tire. Then, I remembered what month it was. October. It gets chilly in October and that chill reduces the air pressure inside tires. I remember this happened in my pickup truck as I was driving from Florida to Maine. Right in the middle of Virginia – bam – the low pressure light came on. It took me around a year to fill the tires up to the recommended 70 pounds. I always thought that was a lot for a tire, but that’s what it wanted. As soon as I began driving around, the indicator turned off by itself with no action from me.

BMWs are a bit different when it comes to things like this. Because the computer needs to know when the tires have proper pressure in them, it’s not advised to reset the indicator without first filling the tires with the correct amount of air. If you do reset when the tires are low, you just told the car that whatever it is currently inside the tires is right and when you do get around to filling them, the light will come back on. That’s because the computer will think they’re overfilled. Moral of the story – never reset the indicator light without property inflating the tires first.

Here’s a photo of my current instrument panel in my 2009 BMW 328XI. That’s right, only a little over 35,000 miles. Not bad for a 7 year old car. I keep thinking if we didn’t take this car to Florida, it would have even less. Oh well.

Instrument Panel of 2009 BMW 328XI

Here are the instructions you need to follow when attempting to reset the indicator light in your 3-Series.

1. Fill the tires with the correct air pressure. The rears call for 36 pounds and the fronts call for 32 pounds.

2. On the left side of the steering wheel is your turn signal. Inside that control is a toggle switch. Push the switch up a few times until you see the RESET indicator appear on your instrument panel display screen.

2009 BMW 328XI Turn Signal

3. After the RESET word appears, on the same control, push the BC button in and hold it there for 5 seconds. The word RESETTING will appear in the instrument panel.

4. Once the vehicle is in RESETTING mode, you’ll need to take the car for a cruise. I’d say it only takes a few miles. Once the tire pressure monitor has been reset, the warning lamp will automatically turn off. And that’s it.

Do you have anything to add to this post? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!


Mowing Down the High Grass with the Cub Cadet

I know, I know, I have railed against mowing the lawn for years now. It’s just that now I have a new lawnmower. One that I can sit on and not cause my back to absolutely kill me after a few minutes of walking.

Over the past three years, I’ve gone from not mowing much of anything and merely cutting paths through the grass to mowing small sections of what were once a lawn. Today, I began the process of bringing things back to their original glory. Let me show you what I mean. Take a look at this satellite view of our property.

Satellite View of House in Maine

If you look closely, you can see where I’ve been mowing. This capture is from this year. The lighter areas surrounding the grass used to be lawn. I chopped the front yards in half and really reduced the size of the back. It’s probably about 60% of what it used to be when we moved in.

I’ve come to the conclusion that grass isn’t a bad thing to have. When we had a lot of unattended high grass, the bugs were terrible. When I began mowing that down, the bugs weren’t half as bad as the year before. I’m hopeful that next summer is going to be even better.

The reason I decided to start getting things back into shape is because we’ve got about 80 small Norway Spruce trees growing out there. We’r hopeful that one day they’ll grow large enough to become some sort of a privacy screen. I’m actually going to order 50 more today. Ones that are already four years old, so they’ll take off much faster than the trees I previously purchased.

Small pines don’t grow well in matted, overgrown grass. They like their nutrients and when the surrounding grass is too high, there aren’t many nutrients to go around. The grass uses them all because grass is a dirty hog. When it’s trimmed, pines usually do much better. Also, I’ll be able to see the small trees and will be able to fertilize them here and there, when need be. I think I’ll do that this coming May.

Walking. I enjoy walking around the yard while drinking wine. A larger lawn will give me more space to cover. Enough said.

Dirtbags. We currently look like dirtbags and that makes me feel uneasy. Although I’m probably a dirtbag, let’s not let the world know that.

Let’s take a look at some before and after shots of today’s lawn. Here’s a before photo of one side of the driveway in front of the house. Look how ugly it is.

Overgrown Grass & Weeds

High Grass Near Driveway

Both photos show the same area. If you look back to the satellite image above, the area these photos display is at the left side, dead center. The top shot is from me standing near the front door of the house and the bottom shot is from me standing out near the road.

Before cutting anything, I walked around the area to be mowed and removed any sticks and rocks. Then, I pounded some stakes into the ground beside the tiny little pine trees that I managed to find. I’m sure I butchered one or two, but as I explained to Laura, some loss was to be expected. This is the cost of letting things go for so long.

Now, let’s take a look at the area after I mowed it. The two shots below are from the same perspectives as the ones above.

Mowing High Grass

Mowed High Grass Near Driveway

I think it looks so much better and will look even better when some real grass grows back in the spring.

Here are some additional picture of the same areas. During today’s work, I also restored some of the lawn that is located along the left side of the house. I basically doubled the size of that area.

Cleaning the Lawn in Fall

Mowed Grass in Autumn

Restored Side Lawn

Since we have about one more month of workable days outside, I’m going to do my best at completing the entire lawn. I’ll first need to pick up a pair of loppers because some trees have begun to grow where I need to mow. I’ll also need to get my hands on some additional tree stakes. We’ve got a lot of little seedlings out there and I don’t want to mow any more of them down.

To be continued.


Assembling a Cub Cadet XT1 Enduro Series Riding Mower

I have an interesting story for you. When I think about it, I feel a little strange. I’m not sure if it’s because of my impulsiveness or my odd online purchasing habits. I’ll let you read it to get your thoughts.

It’s getting pretty late in the lawn mowing season. Even though we’re growing cool season grass, I’d say it stopped growing about a week ago. It’s probably the cold snap we’re going through right now that put the brakes on things. It’s actually supposed to warm back up in a few days, so perhaps they’ll be some new growth soon.

I haven’t mowed the lawn in months. Since we had such a dry summer, if I had to guess, I’d say I mowed no more than five times in all. I started some time in May and ended some time in July. I think I may have done half of it in September sometime but I can’t be sure about that. The fact of the matter is that I avoided it like the plague because all I have is a push mower and a fairly large yard. In mid summer, even after the sun begins to go down, my face gets all red and I become very annoyed. I end up overheating and I can’t seem to get “unhot,” if that’s a word. Using a push mower to mow a big lawn pretty much sucks. Actually, using a push mower for anything is terrible.

For three years, I’ve gone back and forth in my mind with whether or not I should buy a riding mower. I knew I should. It wasn’t that. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to drop bank on a yard tool. At times, I even convinced myself that I enjoyed mowing with a push mower. I told myself it was good exercise and that if I ever did purchase a new mower, it would just be a better push one. Most likely one of those expensive Honda’s everyone raves about. I was planning on that next year some time. I was going to find a Honda out there somewhere and bring it home.

A few weeks ago, I was walking around the grass, looking at it. I was outside for around 10 minutes before I walked inside, visited Home Depot’s website, looked at riding mowers for another 10 minutes and bought one. I figured they had some in stock at the closest Home Depot and that someone from the store would drive up in a day or two to drop it off. They offered free shipping, so once it was done, I didn’t think too much about it. The only thing I did do was visit Laura in the living room to tell her I just spent $1800 on a mower. She was a little surprised, given all the ranting and raving I did about these things. She was probably expecting me to get a push mower if I got anything at all. Surprise!

Here’s where things get weird. Apparently, Home Depot didn’t have any of the mowers I purchased in stock. Anywhere. When the order was processed, I received a tracking number in my email. The mower was being shipped out of Tennessee somewhere and it would be here about a week and a half later. If I had known it was coming from so far, I would have simply called around and drove somewhere to get it. A simple idea turned into a long process.

I wondered how in the heck Home Depot could be making any money off this sale. I mean, how much is it to ship a riding mower from Tennessee to Maine? Probably a whole lot. I guess they had to bite the bullet and do it. After all, they were the ones who offered. I just took them up on it. They used a private shipping company though, which made me feel even worse.

Anyway, what’s done is done. I mowed the lawn a few hours ago and I have to tell you, as I was riding around on this little piece of heaven, I decided that this was the best $1800 I ever spent. The thing rides like a dream and has tons of power. I plowed through the highest grass without hesitation. With my push mower, I would have had to stop and clean all the clumped up grass from the chute. That is, if I didn’t bog down and stall a thousand times like I usually did. That was miserable.

The purpose of this post is to introduce you to my new riding mower and to show you what one looks like when it’s in the crate. I know folks don’t get to see this type of thing very often so I thought it would be fun. I’ll also offer some details on how I assembled it. After all, it didn’t come completely put together. Later in the week, I’ll go back out and take some more photos of it and talk about some of the features and so forth. Today, it’s all about getting it out of the box.

Let’s start off with a photo of the mower in the crate right after the fellow in the delivery truck left. It sat on the driveway and I wondered where I was going to begin.

Cub Cadet Riding Mower Still in Crate

After about a half-hour, I managed to unscrew the sides with my new Dewalt screw gun. The great thing about this step was that the company used about 20 really nice screws. I kept them and added them to my collection to reuse at a later date. I also unwrapped the mower from being confined in that huge bag.

Cub Cadet XT1 Mower in Crate

As you can see, there is no hood attached as well as no steering wheel, among other things.

Luckily, there was a quick set up guide that only consisted of a few steps. I’ll show you both pieces of paper below. These are the steps for assembly.

Cub Cadet XT1 Enduro Riding Mower Assembly Instructions - Page 1

Cub Cadet XT1 Enduro Riding Mower Assembly Instructions - Page 2

If you’d like to actually read what’s on these pieces of paper, you can right-click on either image and choose “Open Image in New Window.” That will give you the larger version.

The first thing to do was to attach the hood. No tools are required for this step because it snaps right on. All you need to do is line up the clips. Here’s a before shot:

Hood Missing on Cub Cadet Riding Mower

And here’s the hood after it’s been installed:

Attaching the Hood on the Cub Cadet

In case you’re interested, this is a close-up of what one of the clips that holds the hood in place looks like:

Hood Clip

The next step is to attach the dash. Again, that snaps right into place.

Missing Dash Board

Attaching Dash Board

After that, since the dash was popped on, I could screw on the steering wheel. I actually did this once before, before I realized the dash board was missing. I had to undo and redo. To install the steering wheel, the center piece needs to be removed and the steering wheel needs to be slid down the shaft. Then, I believe a 1/2 inch socket will tighten the bolt.

Cub Cadet Mower Steering Wheel

At this point, all that was left was to bolt on the seat and attach the wires to the battery. I did that. Simple enough.

Bolting on Seat

Connecting Wires to Battery

The instructions say to be sure the little plastic clip for the battery wires is attached to the metal fender under the seat. It also states that the shipping bracket for the grass guard should be removed before operation as well. I did both of these things. All these steps are in the instructions I shared earlier.

After about an hour, everything was finished. I pulled the tractor off the pallet, which was a real pain in the ass. The wheels were wedged between the boards. Being out there in the cold was no party either. The sun was going down and I was getting chilly. Lucky for me, I’m strong and the mower wasn’t too heavy. I got things the way I wanted them and snapped my final photo. This is the beast.

Cub Cadet XT1 Riding Mower

I’m not sure you know this, but I used to have a pretty sweet John Deere X300 ride on mower. That was a 17HP with a 42 inch deck. At first glance, I’m thinking I like this one better. For sure, the engine has more power. That’s a definite. The mower deck is also wider on this one at 46 inches. I didn’t really notice that when I was mowing this evening, but I’m happy those few extra inches are there.

Again, I’ll take more pictures later in the week. I also want to show off the aluminum ramps I bought to load this thing into storage. They’re just as awesome. Until next time!


New Dewalt 20V MAX Cordless Compact Drill Driver Kit

This purchase has been a long time in the making. I didn’t want to have to buy a new drill gun because I thought my old Black & Decker was still fairly new, but the truth is, it’s years and years old.

As far as I can remember, I bought my first cordless drill back before 2005. I know it was then because that’s when Laura and I purchased our first house. I needed it to do all sorts of repairs. The drill didn’t last long and some time before 2008, when we moved out, she got me the Black & Decker for my birthday. I’ve had that one ever since.

Just as luck would have it, I popped one of the “freshly charged” batteries into the gun last week during some drywalling to discover there was no charge whatsoever. Nothing. Not even a click of the motor. Over the next few days, I tried different angles for changing it and it still provided the same result. That battery was gone.

It wasn’t a surprise. Both batteries have faded through the years to the point of becoming quite annoying. If memory serves, I went through this once previously and had to replace both of them. This time, I decided to move on and head to Dewalt. The Black & Decker is great, but the Dewalt offers the lithium battery and I wanted to get me some of that. That was my street talk.

Dewalt DCD771C2 20V MAX Cordless Lithium-Ion 1/2 inch Compact Drill Driver Kit

From what I understand, the new lithium batteries take much less time to charge and offer more power output. Each charge also lasts longer. I suppose this is what you get with advancements in technology.

I was browsing around at the specs for my old drill and there are many complaints about the old style NiCad batteries. Like I just mentioned above, that’s the only issue I have with mine. The drill is fine. But, at $30 to buy new batteries (again), I’m just not interested.

This Dewalt drill weights 3.9 pounds, which is much less than the 7 pounds of the Black & Decker. I know people who used to purchase the smaller 12V drills simply because of the weight issue. When you’re putting a deck together and are working outside all day, these heavy tools can do a number on your wrists. This drill is probably as light as they’re going to get.

I took a few photos of the drill. When I was looking around at photos online, I really couldn’t find any taken of the “less than obvious” places, such as the batteries themselves, the items included in the kit and the electrical connections where the drill meets the battery. I’ve got all these spots for you below. By the way, I paid $120 for this kit, which includes the drill, charger for a single battery, two lithium batteries and a handy carrying case.

First off, we have the box. This is what everything is inside of.

Dewalt Drill Kit Box

Next, once you open the box, you can pull out the carrying case, which has all the goodies enclosed inside.

Dewalt Cordless Drill Carrying Case

In this photo, I’ve removed each component of the kit and displayed them exactly how they were stored inside the case.

Dewalt Cordless Drill Kit Components

This is where the bottom of the drill handle meets the battery.

Dewalt Cordless Drill Battery Connections

And this is the battery itself.

Dewalt 20V MAX Lithium Ion Battery

There are two speeds to choose from on this cordless drill. This is the switch that controls them.

Dewalt 20V Cordless Drill Top

There’s also a switch the controls which direction the drill is turning – forward or backward. The small black button is this switch. The power trigger is also included in this photo.

Dewalt 20V Max Cordless Drill Trigger & Forward and Reverse Switch

I connected the battery to the drill. This is what it looks like. The disconnect button is right in the front.

Battery Connected to Dewalt Cordless Drill

And finally, this is the top portion of the drill.

Top of Drill

I hope I got everything. There’s nothing more annoying than trying to check something out and not being able to find any good photos. When I’m at the store, I get frustrated that I can’t read the commentary on something and when I shop online, I get frustrated at not being able to touch it. Maybe this will help someone.


Visiting the Sandy River Apple Orchard in Mercer, Maine

Years ago, Laura met someone on a cruise. The woman was from Maine, so they began chatting about life in the state. During their conversation, the woman mentioned that she had lived here for over 70 years and feels like she hasn’t even made a dent in all there is to do. I thought that was interesting. At the time, I hadn’t done much around the area, so I had no idea if it was true of not. I’m beginning to think it is.

Yesterday was our second and final apple orchard visit for the season. So far, we picked 1/2 bushel at Cayford Orchards, which simply wasn’t enough. We needed more apples. We have trouble letting the season go by without completely stocking up.

For the past few years, we’ve been picking at North Star Orchards in Madison, but I’ve been making a concerted effort to get out there to see new things. While North Star is beautiful and they have wonderful apples, we’ve sort of worn the orchard out. This past week, I told Laura that if I have to take one more photo of what I already took photos of last year, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with myself. The time was ripe for change.

Sandy River Apple Orchard isn’t the easiest orchard in the state to find. Like many other addresses around here, GPS can’t quite figure things out. I knew this before getting in the car because I’m a Google Earth genius. Where we would have ended up if I hadn’t looked online is anyone’s guess. But, with my navigational expertise, we made it there just fine. And when we arrived, I was a little bit surprised at what we found.

Apple Orchard

Between Apple Tree Rows

I jumped out of the car and told the man sitting near the boxes of apples that he may have one of the mose beautiful orchards I’ve ever seen. It’s really true. The orchard is totally cozy and is, and I don’t use this word very much, “nestled” on both sides of a very infrequently traveled dirt road. There’s an interesting history to the orchard that dates back to 1852. Apparently, the initial owner of the property was given the land by the U.S. government for his service in the military. Since there wasn’t enough money to pay the soldiers, they were given land. That was a long time ago, but I really enjoy listening to stories like that. To think about these things as we walk around places we visit is incredible, to say the least.

There are all sorts of cool things on the orchard property. One of them is a restored barn and the other is a Quilted Apple Retreat, where folks can take a few days off to visit the orchard and quilt to their heart’s content. I’ve never seen something like this before, but I think it’s a great idea to get away from it all.

Quilted Apple Retreat

The farm has a huge variety of apples to pick or purchase. I want to say they have 40 varieties, but I’m not sure about that. I believe that’s what one of the owners told me. It’s a lot of fun because they’re all mixed in with each other, so you don’t really know where you’ll end up or what you’ll get.

Picking Apples

Apples in Picker Basket

Just walking around the farm with camera in hand is a lot of fun. We picked our apples early on and then strolled around to take photos for a while. It’s not very difficult to bump into many quintessential photo opportunities. The rows of trees, the old bird house, the cat. Yes, I’ll show you that one a bit later on.

Old Bird House in Apple Tree

Sun Shining Through Oak Tree

As Laura and I made our ways through the trees, we bumped into a special surprise. This surprise is called the Wolf River Apple, which is, by far, the largest type of apple I’ve ever seen in my life. I wasn’t even aware that this type of apple existed, but when I saw them hanging from the branches, my jaw almost his the floor. These photos completely don’t do justice – just take my word for it, they’re huge. I started eating one at the orchard yesterday and I couldn’t finish it. It’s sitting in the refrigerator right now.

We easily filled out bag with this type and others.

Half Bushel of Apples in Bag

Wolf River Apple

After picking for a bit, we walked around some more where I took a heck of a lot more photos. I won’t bore you with all of them, but I will show you one of the classic apple tree. Such a nice day. It was definitely sweater weather at only 50 degrees. This is the time of year everyone I know waits for.

Old Apple Tree

We made our way back to the barn and paid up. We also looked through the different varieties of apples those who don’t like to pick themselves can purchase. Good looking apples with an awesome crunch. By the way, half a bushel of pick-your-own costs $15. Just in case you were wondering.

Apple Varieties

Boxes of Apples

The first half of our visit was spent on one side of the dirt road. That was where we picked all of our apples. The second half of our visit was spent on the other side of the road, where we did a bit of exploring.

After I paid for the apples, Laura and I spoke to the owner of the orchard for a while. Her name is Carol and she’s an extraordinarily nice person. We chatted about this and that and during our talk, she mentioned that we were welcome to walk down, in between some other apple trees into the woods, where we’ll find a small cabin. I guess it’s a getaway or a fishing cabin or something like that. It’s a stone’s through from the Sandy River, so I’m guessing I’m near accurate. Laura and I took Carol up on her offer and took off with cameras in hand.

Rows of Apple Trees

This is the kind of place you can walk around during the evening with a glass of red wine in your hand. Now that’s my kind of activity.

We didn’t get very far before I began taking random shots of Americana. There are hidden gems like this all over the place, especially in the leaves during autumn.

This first photo is of an old Radio Flyer wagon. If you were a kid, you may have had one of these. If you were never a kid, you probably didn’t. That was a joke.

Radio Flyer Wagon

This next photo is of an old apple box from Moose Hill Orchards in Derry, New Hampshire.

Moose Hill Orchards Apple Box - Derry, New Hampshire

We didn’t get twenty feet before we realized we were being followed. I turned around to see a giant Maine Coon cat hot on our trail. His name is Felix and he’s a real big boy. I picked him up to introduce myself to him.

Jay Holding Cat

I also took a bunch more photos of him, but this was the best one. He has a tendency to walk toward you as you get down on the ground, which makes for some tough photography. He stayed still for this one though.

Maine Coon Cat

We spent far too long with this cat. That may have been Laura’s fault.

Of course, as you walk through these types of places, you continuously see different angles of the sun hitting different things. This is the curse of photography – never getting anywhere and spending all your time shooting away. I promise, this is the last apple picture I’ll show in this post.

Apples Hanging From Old Tree

The tree in the photo above is right at the corner of where the trail begins that goes down the hill to the cabin and river. Here is the trail. Man those leaves were crunchy.

Path in Woods in Autumn

Standing in Leaves

The trail wasn’t too long. We did have to hold hands while walking down the hill though, which became very romantic, if I don’t say so myself.

It wasn’t long before we saw the cabin.

Cabin in the Woods - Maine

I thought this was just the coolest things in the world. Doesn’t it look like something from a fairy tale?

As we got closer, I took some more photos.

Cabin Front

Cabin Corner

Cabin Rear

After hanging around outside for a bit, we went in, which we were allowed to do, by the way. I grabbed a few shots of the interior as well. Can you imagine renting or owning this? I’m not sure people understand how inexpensive it really is.

Dinner Table in Old Log Cabin

Pane Glass Window in Hunting Cabin

Small Wood Stove in Fishing Log Cabin

Think about it – no news, no politics, no people, no traffic, no drama, no fighting – just a cat and yourself reading old books together in the woods. It doesn’t get any better than this.

For my final photo, I’ll show you how close this cabin is to the Sandy River. I took this picture while standing on the front porch.

Sandy River in Mercer, Maine

What a day. One of the best ones we’ve had in a while. There’s some good energy coming from that area. I’ve been places where I couldn’t wait to leave and I’ve been places where I’ve never wanted to leave. This is one of the latter. Crazy.


TaoTronics 60 Watt Equivalent LED Light Bulbs

A lot has changed in the past few years regarding light bulbs. We went from regular incandescent to fluorescent to LED. While I love incandescent, I don’t love their energy consumption. I can sort of get into fluorescent, but I think LED is the way to go, especially with how the prices have recently fallen.

TaoTronics LED Light Bulb Package Box

I can remember not too long ago when a single LED light bulb cost over $20. I’m being conservative here because I don’t remember the actual price. I want to say they cost even more, but I won’t. I can also remember not too long ago when these same bulbs emitted really ugly light and had very large heat sinks attached to their bottom areas. Apparently, the earlier models left something to be desired regarding their light output and also got quite hot. Not something I’d like to use in one of my lamps, that’s for sure.

I haven’t looked for these types of bulbs since the last time I read up on them because of these conditions. It wasn’t until recently, after Laura and I discovered we needed to restock, that I found LEDs had come a long way.

TaoTronics Open Package of Light Bulbs

As I was doing my searching, I discovered that the light temperature issue had been resolved. Nowadays, LED bulbs offer predictable light color as opposed to pure white or some other weird looking alternative. They are right on par with their fluorescent brothers and sisters.

I also found that the heat issue had been resolved as well. No longer are the bulbs outfitted with large metal heat dissipators directly next to their threads. The most recent iteration of LED bulbs look pretty much like incandescents. Here, take a look. This is a TaoTronics LED bulb.

TaoTronics 60 Watt Equivalent LED Light Bulb

Looks pretty good, doesn’t it? It’s almost the same size as a regular 60 watt bulb that’s been around forever.

As I was browsing around, looking for light bulbs, I had to ask myself why I wanted to move away from the fluorescent versions. I’ll tell you, I was never thrilled with them. It seemed as though, even though their life spans were promised to be long and enduring, they went dead pretty fast. Also, their performance was spotty and they flickered here and there. Finally, their construction seemed weak. Just yesterday, I had to throw one in the garbage because the glass became unattached from the plastic base, which concerned me because I’ve seen these things get hot and glow fiercely until they just burned out. Then there’s the whole mercury things that’s killing us all. I just didn’t want to deal with them anymore.

I kind of dig the LED bulbs. They’re tight, they look good and they give off nice bright, warm light. I bought a 6-pack for $17.99, which I thought wasn’t too bad. There are better deals out there for larger quantities, but I wanted to give this type of bulb a try before I got any more.

The 60-watt equivalent alleges to use only 9 watts of power. Also, it’s said that they’ll last for 25,000 hours. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. I hope it’s true because I just spent almost $3 per bulb. I don’t like throwing money away, so we’ll have to wait to see if their estimate is accurate.

Have you switched over to LED light bulbs for your house yet? If so, what are your thoughts?


Versa-Trowel Adjustable Corner Drywall Knife

I happen to be a man who loves tools. I’ve got a whole bunch of them and am always on the lookout for more. To be brutally honest, I’ll admit that I sometimes want to get rid of my current tools, just so I can somehow acquire new ones. I get bored easily and love the prospect of shiny new things to look at. Of course, I would never do that. Just so you know.

I am nearing completion of the drywall taping in the log cabin room. As I mentioned in my previous post, that’s sort of an ugly and sloppy step. The next two coats need to be far better looking, which will require finesse on my part. Because of this, and because of the array of odd angles in this room, I decided to pick up the Versa-Trowel Adjustable Corner Drywall Knife. As far as tools go, this one is rather interesting.

Versa-Trowel

While applying joint compound to corners isn’t the most challenging thing on earth, it does present a few areas to be careful of. First, it’s time consuming. If you use a regular putty knife with fiberglass mesh tape, you have to keep the knife parallel with the corner. If you try to apply the mud and then slide the knife down the entire length of the corner, there’s a good chance that you’ll slice right into the center of the tape. Ask me how I know this. I’ll tell you. I did it. This is why folks prefer to use paper tape in the corners. That, and also the fact that when you fold the fiberglass mesh, it’ll crack. Ask me how I know this as well.

Anyway, if you apply the fiberglass tape so it’s gently curved, apply the joint compound and then put the knife into the corner so it’s parallel, you can simply pull the putty away from the corner. This process works well, but again, it’s time consuming.

The second thing you need to be careful of is ridges when you try to work on corners with the above method. As you pull the material away from the wall, it sort of bleeds out the edges of the knife. Because of this, you need to go over and over it, until it’s smooth. I really don’t mind this because I enjoy working extraordinarily slowly. After all, I’ve been working on this one room for almost three years.

There is an upside to using a flat knife in corners though. They’re great for pressing compound into any gaps you may have. And in all actuality, you’ll likely need to use a straight knife for this step regardless if you own a corner one or not.

Corner trowels work great for the finishing coats because the tape is hidden behind a layer of compound. There’s less chance of scoring the tape itself, so you can slide the knife up and down the wall at will. That’s what I plan on doing with the one I recently purchased.

Since I’ve never seen an adjustable version of something like this, I thought I’d grab a few photos of it to pass on to you. If you have any similar projects in the future, you may want to grab one. I paid $23 for it.

Take a look at the following photos. I modeled the trowel on the lid of a nice 5-gallon bucket of joint compound. I also left the ruler in the back for added interest.

Adjustable Drywall Corner Trowel Inside

Adjustable Drywall Corner Trowel Handle

Adjustable Drywall Corner Trowel Bottom

As you can see from the photos, this trowel has a hinge at its center. There’s also a wing nut that controls its angle. This is the reason I purchased this version as opposed to the fixed 90 degree one. I have a vaulted ceiling in this room that has three good runs of wider angles. If it was a standard room with regular corners, I would have just stayed with the fixed knife. Those only cost around $12.

Do you want to see what this bad boy looks like up against a corner? Luckily, I took two shots of that as well. I had to balance the trowel in one hand and the camera in the other. The things I do for this blog.

Drywall Knife in Corner of Room

Holding Corner Drywall Trowel

If you have any questions or thoughts about this trowel or this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!


Pick-Your-Own Apples at Cayford Orchards in Skowhegan, Maine

We’re out of whack this season when it comes to picking apples. It’s like this every year. Either we’re too early and head out when it’s still September or we’re really late and end up at the orchard towards the middle of October. I’d say the first week in October is probably the best. September has the tendency to hover in the 80 degree temperature range and that’s absolutely terrible for apple picking. Too late in October and you run the risk of having nothing to pick. It’s a delicate balancing act.

Cayford Orchards Wagon

Since Laura and I were heading down to Hannaford this afternoon to pick up some ingredients for a few upcoming recipes on my other blog, I thought we really should stop by a nearby orchard to grab a few apples. We usually do our picking at North Star, but since we were in Skowhegan, Cayford Orchards was a better fit. We’re actually planning a second apple picking escapade this year, so maybe North Star will be a contender.

Apples on Branch

Red Apples

Today’s visit was fast. There were hardly any apples left on the trees and we had chores to do. The lighting was also very bright, so we weren’t in any position to be hanging around taking photographs of trees, equipment, etc. In the most basic sense, I wanted apples. I need them for some pies I have planned for the future and you can’t get the good ones any cheaper than you can when you pick them yourself.

The orchard was beautiful. It sits on top of a small mountain and the trees follow the side of a hill as it slopes downward. It sort of reminds me of the one we used to visit in Stockbridge, Massachusetts – Windy Hill. While the Windy Hill orchard was fairly large, Cayford is relatively small. It does have a wide variety of apples though, which is great. From the limited exploring we did, I can definitely see that a longer visit could be very fun.

John Deere Tractor on an Apple Orchard

Trailer Hauling Apple Bushels

I’m not sure we were supposed to pick some of the apples we did. Upon arriving, I was explicitly instructed to pick only from the trees that had ribbons attached to them. The thing is, when I listen to instructions, it’s sort of like when I listen to someone’s name the first time I meet them. Or when I listen to driving directions when someone gives them to me. My eyes fog over and I ask anyone standing near me to repeat whatever it was the original person said. In one ear and out the other.

When Laura and I walked across the street to begin our picking, I ran towards the only tree that had tons of apples still attached to it. I filled about one third of the bag when I realized there was no ribbon. Once I thought about what I had done, I ran to another few trees with ribbons and covered up the illegal apples. Then, I hid the bag in the car and ran inside to pay. Finally, I booked ass outside to drive away as fast as possible. I don’t really think the lady who was running the register cared very much, but it was fun acting like I had done something horrible. Brings me back to the days of my youth.

Golden Delicious Apples on Tree Branch

Large Wooden Apple Container at Orchard

I don’t even know what kind of apples I picked. I do know they are big and they taste good though, which is great. They have that wonderful “crunch” only a fresh from the tree apple can offer. Again, if we do decide to visit another orchard this year, I’ll be sure to take some more pictures.