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So what I learned was, riding mowers are not that heavy; I can lift up one end and pull or pivot it about anywhere I need.
If my Snapper didn't have the underseat kill switch I could simulate a zero turn by stepping off and pivoting the machine when I need a tighter turn radius. I would like a smaller (30") electric zero turn designed a small yard but suspect they would still be too expensive as the same controls would be required.
 
After my first mow today, I learned that the turning radius on these things is maybe better than I expected but still crap compared to what I'm used to with my push mower (i.e. 0 degrees by pushing down and pivoting around on the back wheels). I sorta get the appeal of the zero-turn mowers now, though not at the prices they're asking. @Eddie_T I like your idea of hopping off and pivoting the machine by hand. Mine also has that safety device, and others, to prevent stuff like that, but maybe just starting it again wouldn't be such a big deal. As it is, I will have to figure out new mowing patterns, because today I was just going where I would have gone with a push mower, and that added a lot of redundancy.

Still, I cut all 0.6 acres in less than 1/8th the time I expect it would have taken with a push mower, and I can't say it wasn't fun.
 
My old snapper didn't have the seat switch or the foot pedal to keep the blade engaged. I could actually lower the speed and walk alongside it.

Safety at all costs. My DIL had an Impala experience where the car shut down and she was locked in. She's afraid to drive it now.
 
Speaking of new mowers, I bought one and it arrived yesterday. My first riding mower. It came in a sort of crate, and I spent 2 hours prying it into pieces, resorted to cutting through some of the pieces with my jigsaw, but the mower was still kinda held up in the middle, under the deck, by some cross-pieces that I had no way to remove or cut. Finally I just grabbed the back of the mower and pulled, and it rolled off easy as pie. Forehead slap.

So what I learned was, riding mowers are not that heavy; I can lift up one end and pull or pivot it about anywhere I need.

I can't find uncrating instructions for the Cub Cadet, noting on their site or Youtube. What were the underside cross pieces attached to?
 
I get the safety cut off, but that is eliminated the entire time you are mowing, so there's a much better time window for a blade malfunction to happen then as opposed to a minute while walking beside it.

Then again, of course all I would be thinking about in that minute is the blade snapping and me bleeding out via the Femoral artery.

Ok, haven't eaten yet today.
 
My dad disabled that dead man's switch on the riding mowers so he could turn off the blades, get off it, pick up some branches/sticks, etc and continue mowing without having to restart it.
Today is a day of rest.
Yesterday I took mom to return a package to USP. They charge to tape the packages so I taped it. I printed out the QR code & it printed huge for some reason. I cut pieces off the paper to cover old bar codes & labels on the box. Walked in to the UPS store & the employee chuckled about the size of the QR code and scanned it from 5ft away. He printed the return label, slapped it on the box, receipt printed at the same time, he gave Mom the receipt and it was done. Less than a full minute.
Went to a craft store to look at upholstery fabric while Mom sat in the car-- they didn't have riding carts or any sort of accommodations for disabled people at the store (other than the mandatory handicap parking spots). While trying to find the upholstery fabric, I perused a section with wood stuff to see if there was anything I could use. I found a set of 3 shelves for 30% off. They were almost exactly like ones I wanted to built & the price was cheaper than the lumber to build them so I got them. One has a pretty big wood knot on top but it was the last set in the store. I'll use some wood filler & primer over it. I will also reinforce the brace attachments since they are currently stapled on from the top. I'll pull the staples, use some sticky tape to hold them in place, put on side braces that will be hidden, prime, & paint.
We also went to Samsclub & stopped to eat at a Chinese buffet (they require masks & gloves and provide them for customers).
 
I had this gospel bluegrass song "Mansions For Me" stuck in my head around dinnertime today. I started thinking out loud:

"Jesus is building a mansion for me...I guess that means he's the one doing the framing, on account of his carpentry skills. Zeus is probably the electrician, and Poseidon can at least stress-test the plumbing if not do the installation. YHVH can definitely be trusted with the HVAC, and Vishnu was practically made for hanging drywall. Muhammad's been hired to install the security system, and I suppose L. Ron Hubbard is arranging the finances, but the Buddha is trying to talk me out of buying," at which point my wife and kids were groaning at me to please stop.
 
Continuing my search for an ethical covid-19 vaccine I discovered this website:
COVID Vaccines and Fetal Cells: What’s Ethical and What Isn’t? - Blog - Eternal Perspective Ministries

Here's an excerpt from that blog:

Vaccines with No Connection to Fetal Cells
There are some COVID vaccines in development that not only don’t come from fetal cells but also have not been tested by them. See these excellent resources:

  • Some groups are working to avoid fetal cells not only in vaccine development but in testing.
  • The use of umbilical cords and stem cells sounds promising. Hopefully many people who have babies would be willing to donate the umbilical cords if it could be used to save lives!
  • Live Action reports, “Maryland-based drugmaker Novavax is ‘using an ethically-derived invertebrate cell line Sf9’ in testing its vaccine, which is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials. Companies like Novavax and Sanofi are clearly demonstrating that safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines can be developed without reliance on abortion-derived cell lines. Novavax is among a handful of vaccines that may be available in the United States as soon as spring 2021.”

    If you want to take the vaccine but believe the testing makes the fetal-cell-free vaccine itself unethical, or even if you have doubts about that, then by all means wait until a vaccine is produced where the testing isn’t an issue. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s leading and listen to your conscience! Speaking of the controversy about whether it’s right to eat food offered to idols, Scripture says is right for some and not right for others depending upon their consciences before God. Under inspiration, Paul says, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
  • The John Paul II Medical Research Institute (JP2MRI) seeks to find cures and therapies exclusively using a variety of adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. The Institute does not engage in embryonic stem cell research of any kind. JP2MRI develops preclinical research technologies that will broadly advance drug discovery and regenerative medicine for many diseases. In addition, the Institute will engage in educational outreach to increase the number of scientists and future medical practitioners who will work with adult stem cells, always with an emphasis on medical bioethics that is consistent with the dignity of human life.”
Dr. Trasancos writes, “The good news is that there are ethical COVID-19 vaccines in production, lots of them. We must support those and keep our eyes on the long-term goal. We have a chance in this moment in history to demand ethical vaccines as the norm not the alternative if we stay vigilant.”
 
Can't remember if I mentioned that we had a power outage & the surges got through the surge protector/backup unit & fried her power supply (which is under warranty still). But she couldn't use her computer to discuss RMA on the power supply & it was faster to order a replacement. This one has double the years in warranty. It's completely modular so all of the cables can be removed. Came with a ton of cables & even a wall plug.

I got my brother to help me to tackle the massive pile of empty water bottles & trash Mom built up. It was up to my waist. We got those 50 gallon contractor bags. I had my brother hold them while I picked up trash. At first I just used my hands, but as I got further in to the pile I got a large dust pan:
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I started scooping stuff up with it and dumping it in to bags. My brother crushed the trash down so we could fit as much stuff as possible, tied them up when they were full, and put them out in the kitchen. I had to bite my tongue when he complained about how he had the harder job. I was sweating & fighting through my shoulder pain. Together we filled seven 50 gallon contractor bags. Then Mom came in & started criticizing and micromanaging. My brother had been complaining he needed a rest shortly before that so we both called it-- still with more work to do of course. (For the record, my brother was responsible for taking the trash out to begin with & he promised to do this but I ended up having to do most of it because he didn't do it). I went back without my brother and filled an 8th bag. Found a 30 gallon bag I'd filled with the trash in an earlier effort to clean buried in the pile. Also found 3 slippers, mom's missing walking cane, one of her diabetes testing kits, some dice she just lost, and various other things. There is still more to clean- I'd say 2 or 3 more bags, but I can see the floor. Most importantly, it was clear enough to access mom's desk to put her computer back. (It is a LOT easier to do the cleaning when someone holds the bag up and open). I helped my brother haul all the bags out of the house. Had to lift them over some stuff because they couldn't fit in between. My arm does not like me anymore. LOL.

We realized we were going to lose daylight so we went to pick up Mom's computer from our friend's house (he installed the new SSD and the power supply for us). I let him keep the screwdriver that came with the kit because he really liked it (plus I have another one in another kit). Got home & my brother set her computer in and hooked it back up. She was in a pretty good mood after that. She was able to watch her Dimash videos.

Spent a little time pestering Ben on the homesteading forum about kitchen ideas & giving storage suggestions. LOL. I love planning renovations.
 
@zannej,

Let me get this straight: you were cleaning out a massive hoarder-style mess that your mom made (why?? how???), and she was criticizing and micromanaging?!

My mom's always sorta had a habit of holding on to trash, but it never got past what I'd call the "very cluttered" stage. Like, it was never anywhere close to "gross, I feel like I need to wear a respirator in here" and there were never weird smells. I could probably fit the clutter in her minivan into a couple plastic grocery bags, the handles firmly double-knotted, give the interior a vacuum, and it'd look basically new in there.

I moved out on my own when I was 18, but if for some reason I still lived with my mom--or if I was still a teenager living with my mom--and she started accumulating that amount of junk, my first move would be to find my own place to live. My next move would be to hire my mom a therapist, if not an interventionist. Those conditions are unacceptable. Why do you put up with it?
 
Flyover, I'm her caregiver. I promised my dad that if anything ever happened to him, I would take care of her. Plus I'm not financially stable. She pays for everything for me in return for me being her live-in caregiver. I know part of it was from feeling depressed. We all went through a slump.

Criticizing and micromanaging is how she's always done things. I think she got it from my grandmother. My grandmother would criticize rather than praise. Mom wasn't doing it in a mean way, but she always thinks things need to be done her way so she will say 'Why don't you do x instead?" and I had to explain to her why I was doing things the way I was doing them. When I was younger, any time I cleaned she criticized the way I did it. "You're holding the broom wrong!" or "No, you're not sweeping right!" and "You need to run the vacuum in a different pattern" type stuff. Mind you, she never did a lot of cleaning so we didn't see examples of it growing up. Whenever she did clean, she would usually lock us outside so we couldn't interfere. But I still remember as kids, she let the dishes sit for so long they got moldy & my dad (who worked 60+hrs a week) had us take them outside and spray them off with the hose and then bring them back in & wash them. He made it like a game for us though-- like when we washed the car. Put on bathing suits & got sprayed with water & such. He briefly hired someone to clean our house but brought her boyfriend over (she was married & was lying to her husband) & he stole stuff (minor things like stamps, loose change, pens) so she got fired. When we lived in Singapore we had a live-in maid (which was super cheap over there). When we moved to Guam, I ended up doing most of the cleaning. Mom cooked and did laundry. I did everything else. But, it was easier because I was in better health back then.

Anyway, yesterday was grocery shopping once I was able to get enough energy to get up. Today I was sick. Something I ate I think. My brother cooked something with spices that didn't agree with my stomach so I spent the day curled in the fetal position trying not to throw up. I got one of my cats to stay against my abdomen to help with the tummy ache. Didn't help that I have another kidney stone. I took some pepto & slept. Just got up and ate something a bit more gentle on my stomach and took my medicine. I'm feeling better now, but still tired.
 
@zannej, I apologize as I did not have the complete story. Thanks for explaining. Now I understand your situation a little better, and I guess it makes a little more sense. I wonder whether the spirit of your promise should require you to unconditionally put up with living in filth (how your description sounds to me anyway) -- but that's where my mind goes. It sounds like you're maybe more accustomed to that situation. Again, I don't mean to sound harsh. I just think from a basic health & hygiene perspective, the way you've described it at least, you might be endangering yourself by living in that, possibly compounding your own health problems. I don't mean to be in your business either, just calling it like I see it because when you described the situation it shocked me.
 
No need to apologize, Flyover. It's fine. I know the house isn't healthy. We are living in filth which contributes to my chronic fatigue and lack of motivation to clean. My brother's refusal to help or do things most of the time is one of the main issues I have. He leaves trash on the floor, puts empty containers on top of the refrigerator, spills stuff, and never cleans up after himself. It's funny because he criticizes other friends who mooch and don't clean up after themselves but he doesn't see that he's doing it. Mom pays for everything for him and the one chore he's supposed to do is take out the trash- which is supposed to include picking it up if it falls on the floor. And he is oblivious to the fact that I'm the one who has to pick it all up. After my health took a turn for the worse (due to the wreck in 2016) I had a much harder time keeping up. I admit, we've never been great at cleaning-- again, no good examples. Weird thing is, I clean when I go to friend's houses. I don't even know where to start most of the time at home. There's so much stuff. Mom sort of used retail therapy for her depression and bought a bunch of stuff & I don't know what to do with it. We have a ton of boxes. Add in that I'm a supreme procrastinator and it's a bad mix. I wish I knew how to organize better and remember where stuff was. I did finally get rid of one box yesterday & got Mom's coffee maker on the counter (after I did some cleaning). I'm waiting for my brother to pull the trash bag out so I can start picking up trash in a new bag (it's easier when it's in the can or someone is holding it and my brother doesn't have the patience to hold stuff for me for long). I can't lift the bag because of my shoulder injury. I wish I could get my brother on board with helping more, but he's too busy playing video games. He treats them like a job.
At least the new cordless vaccuum arrived. Once I figure out how to use it, I can vacuum up the carpet. I had no place to plug it in for several areas.
Past few days I've had kidney stones. Figured out what made my stomach ache-- my brother didn't strain the grease out of the hamburger meat and it acted like a laxative. It hit his guts too when he got down to where there was more grease. I'm more sensitive to it. I had to put away the leftovers and wash the pressure cooker (since he wouldn't do it). He's cooking again now.
Visited my friend & we had some good laughs. The baby over there is so fat he outgrew a toy seat thing designed for 4-year-olds (and the baby is only 8 months old). I was joking that his father is the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man (bc he kind of looks like him) and a few minutes later we went to the store. There was a Stay Puffed Marhmallow Man toy. I had to get it. My friend was laughing hysterically about it. Showed it to the baby and he mimicked the hand gestures and desperately wanted the toy. My brother put a sticky note on it saying it was the baby's Daddy. His mother wasn't so amused, but once they took the toy out of the box, the baby was very happy.

I've been distracting myself by planning random things. I need to stop doing that and focus on what I need to do instead of stuff I want to do for hobbies & fun. I'm very bad about getting off on a tangent.

Right now one of my cats is acting like a heating pad for my shoulder.
 
I never grew up celebrating Mother's Day -- the adults in my house including my mom and her mom all considered it a Hallmark Holiday. It took me years into my parenthood for me to learn to treat it as a real holiday for my wife's sake. I don't know why I had such trouble learning.

Holidays seem like this normal part of everyone's lives that they remember and plan for and look forward to, but for whatever reason they are always a big problem area for me. I just don't inherently care about them, it's always this big effort, I always have to be reminded and kicked in the pants about each one. So as a result I pretty much hate them all, even the ones my mom and grandparents did celebrate. But I like making my wife happy and now my kids are used to them too, so I guess it's a few kicks in the pants every year for me until I'm dead.

I did good so far this year at least.
 
I have a cabin up north and i dropped three huge trees that were dangerous, so now i have been Turing those trees into fire wood. I have 10 cords so far and will probably end up with another 4-5 cords. the small wood (under 8 inches) is already done but now there is just really big wood 24 inches in diameter. all maple or silver birch. I have been using a hydraulic splitter good for 23 tons, but that is too small for this stuff, I have found a 35 ton splitter and will be renting it soon.
Once this is done i will have all the wood i need for the rest of my life .
 
Ok, back to Milk, and the general Organic vs. Conventional topic. I remember countless times as a kid pouring out nasty stinky Milk, that was long before Organic was even a term. Now, this milk that was $4 for a half gallon might not last 7 weeks like it says, but conventional wouldn't last 2 weeks. That's a Guarantee.
 

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Raw milk will spoil faster than pasteurized milk but it's not a nasty spoilage as it can then be used for buttermilk and cottage cheese. I just finished another gallon of cream enhanced market milk with a sell by date of April 27. I need to mark the one I enhance tomorrow but it appears that I am using a gallon in around three weeks. The gallon I will open and enhance tomorrow has a sell by date of May 25 and I'll mark it as being opened May 11 and keep on shaking the jug every day.
 
I don't like a lot of holidays either. I think they are mostly Hallmark BS and excuses to con people into buying crap. One of the biggest scams is flower bouquets. What a waste! I'd rather have chocolate or power tools. Or both. Trying to convince mom to order a pneumatic upholstery stapler now that I have another air compressor.

I tried to get my brother to help me with some cleaning today but all he would do was take the full bag out of the trash can and set it on the kitchen floor and put a new empty bag in the trash can-- although, putting a bag in is something unusual for him. He normally leaves that to me.

Just not feeling like doing anything. I cooked for Mom. She's still slightly cranky because the other day when we were in Alexandria I asked if we could skip Samsclub since my back was hurting from lifting stuff already & she agreed it was OK and we could go back another day. Of course, in her mind she twisted it to say that I refused to go and that she wasn't OK with it. She also yelled because sometime last night she woke me up wanting me to make her a baked potato. I was trying to get myself up and she must have heard me groaning while trying to move & she shouted "Nevermind, don't bother!" and hung up. But of course, she was claiming that I "refused" to get her a baked potato. I've heard her claim someone refused to do something when they said "Yes, give me a minute". Like, she couldn't wait for me to go to the bathroom & wash my hands first. She's not very patient. LOL.
 
I haven't seen that movie in so long I only vaguely remember the mother in that. Mom is in a better mood today. I got her a new little flashlight on clearance.
Got up early to pick up my friend, went to the hardware store to make sure we had enough fittings, grabbed some breakfast from McDonalds, and drove him out to the house. The red cow was very happy to see us and started circling the truck and hopping up and down. The poor black cow is limping- it looks like her hip has slipped out of joint or something but I don't know if the vet can do anything about it. I asked the vet last time I was at the office and got a non-committal answer and refusal to come out and look at her.

Things came to a halt when we couldn't find the pex cinch tool. Looked all over for it. When I was searching for it on one side of the truck, the cow was trying to shove her head up my backside. Ok, she was just bumping me trying to get my attention. I had to turn around and pet her and sing to her for a few minutes. Decided to just bite the bullet and buy another pex cinch tool. Drove back into town & checked tractor supply. Found a few things on clearance but no pex cinch tool. Grabbed feed for the cows & some diatomaceous earth. Got stuck in line behind some dude who didn't know the right pin to use the debit/credit card & wasn't sure if it was his card or his wife's and he argued when the clerk said she would keep him rung up but pause his checkout so other customers could checkout. Finally got to checkout and then headed straight to the hardware store. I decided to take one last look for the tool without having a cow pestering me. Right after my friend walked through the door I found it stuck under a jump-starter kit. I ran in and showed it to him. He said "Good thing, because the one in here is $75!"

So back we went to the house. Friend then realized that the water supply lines he'd been ready to cut were the wrong ones (but fortunately he didn't cut them) and he was going to have to change his plan a little. Then we realized all of the pvc glue we had (for scabbing on to the old lines) was dried up and no good. But he had to be back to watch his baby while his gf went to work so there wasn't enough time to go to the store and back and then get him home. So we've rescheduled for another day.

One of the guests staying at his house had what they thought was a heart attack yesterday. Dude is 24 but had Covid twice so he's got some permanent damage. His kidneys are shot and he apparently got blood clots. They called 911, got transferred to an ambulance service which promptly hung up on them. So my friend managed to pick the guy up, throw him in his car, and make it from his house to the hospital six minutes before the ambulance arrived at his house to pick the guy up. He didn't know they were even coming since they never confirmed it. Turns out the guy threw a clot. It went to his heart. I don't think he has any insurance so they didn't keep him overnight. They released him and he went to the doctor today.

Another mooch at my friend's house overstayed his welcome again. He'd been refusing to pay any rent or contribute to pay for food, utilities, internet, etc-- all stuff that he used. He used more electricity than anyone else in the house. He constantly broke the rules & argued. He kept moving stuff around without asking and even moved stuff after being specifically told not to. Complained he was treated like a child but he acted like one. Friend told him he had to start paying & he cried and had a fit. When he go this next paycheck, instead of contributing, he bought a non-working junker truck & dumped it (along with another truck) in my friend's yard. Friend was livid bc the jerk claimed he spent ALL of the money he had on it. Night before last he made the mistake of yelling at my friend's daughter for walking in to her own bedroom and wanting to sleep there. Without permission, he had moved a cot into her room to sleep (the cot does not belong to him but he's been using it). She went to tell my friend but it was 1am and he was too tired to go kick the guy's a$$. By the time he got up in the morning, the mooch was gone. He had turned on my friend's computer, deleted a bunch of stuff from it (read some of his private messages & deleted them) logged out of all of all of my friends' social media accounts, packed his stuff, and left-- stealing the gf's house key on his way out. He sent some nasty messages to my friend blaming him for the stupid behavior, acting like his leaving is what caused the trouble (no, it was that my friend didn't get to see what he took with him). Also the guy who had the blood clot had a falling out with this jerk & his phone went missing. He used a tracking app and it was going back and forth with the jerk to work. So he stole that guy's phone. Not the first time he stole stuff either. So, my friend isn't sure if the guy stole anything else from his house when he went. Cops have already given my friend permission to get the trucks towed out of his yard since the jerk refused to come get them. Friend blocked him on social media and phone so the jerk is pissed off about it. Refusing to give the gf her keys back. I'm tempted to message him and say I will meet him to get the keys and ask him to check to see if the other dude dropped his phone in the truck accidentally (so he won't get hung up on defending himself for theft). But he doesn't have any respect for women so he'd probably be a dick about it.

IMO, my friend needs to report to the cops that this guy stole a house key & needs to give it back. My concern is he may have gotten copies made.
 
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