Fascia, Lawnmower Tuneup, and Chainsaw Issues

In a good example of things that are daunting and intimidating, yet aren't so bad once you actually do them, I started to remove the fascia off the barn. Mind you, I never would have initiated this if not for the roofing company telling me I had to. Sometimes it just takes a higher power to get things moving along.

As I mentioned, it wasn't so bad, and I'm assuming putting the new fascia back on will be a lot more difficult, but I can't dwell on these things. You have to celebrate the moments when life throws you a bone. I managed to get the boards off one side of the barn, and decided to quit while I was ahead. While most people would have continued until they finished the job, I had many other things that needed attending to, and I've decided that the only way I'm going to get them done is by chipping away at the respective stones.

So from there, I moved onto the next project, which was yard maintenance. While I was stewing in self-satisfaction over the minor triumphs of our lawn, I had to remind myself that at some point I was going to have mow it, and that meant breaking out the 'ol Toro and getting it up and running. I messed by not running it dry the previous year, so I did what I thought to be the next best thing - I siphoned off the remaining gas, drained the oil, and pulled the air filter. I then had to get the oil and filter before I could run the thing.

From there, I moved on to the wood pile. I have about 5 cords of tree length wood that still needs to be cut up, which means I can do real-man activities like use my chainsaw. The only problem was, I couldn't get the darn thing to start. I couldn't believe, the thing is less than a year old, and it wouldn't kick in. It looked like a trip to Joe's was in order, I needed a replacement chain, anyway.

I went to Joe's ready to plead my case about the saw (it was still under warranty), and while I was there, pick up the necessary real-man supplies. They took the saw out back, and got it started from the get-go. It turns out I'd flooded it, though I was only following their recommendations about how to start the thing. They'd warned me in the beginning about flooding it, but I still managed to screw things up. Oh well, the learning continues.

On the bright note, the saw was fixed, and I was ready to cut the grass. Spring is in the air, if you didn't notice.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to NRL (our son) for the pics.