unicornduke | Weekend stuff

technically the weekend isn't over for me, I took tomorrow off work.

I also took friday off.

I'm at my parents this weekend and ideally I would have driven down thursday night but for work, I went two hours north, spent the day cutting and counting strawberry runners (for science!) and then went two hours home. I carpooled with a coworker and I have so many regrets because I had forgotten how bad of a driver they are. Got home kinda late.

So I drove down friday morning. That was fine, easy drive. My plan was to rototill and get the garlic all planted that day because sunday night into monday was forecasted rain. No problem, I thought.

Well, the rototiller hadn't really been cleaned since it was used to renovate the strawberries and by not really cleaned, I mean the rotating bar that the blades are on was half wrapped in drip tape that had been chewed up and wrapped itself around the car in a stranglehold. This doesn't actually stop rototilling because the drip tape will simple snap at some point but at a certain point, it just builds up. So I pulled an entire trash bag worth of drip tape off. Only way to do it is to cut through it all with a utility knife.

After that, I was able to put the blades back on (you renovate strawberries by rototilling all but a strip down the center of the strawberry row, thus avoiding the crown of the plants and the drip tape. ideally.) and that took some time because it's just a fiddly process. There are right and left facing blades, they fit in certain ways, you need to align them to the blades one set over so there isn't an easy catch for rocks, the bolts are kinda difficult because they become encrusted in dirt. I finally got around to rototilling 3, 200 foot rows, which takes about 15 minutes.

So by the time I finish all that, it's time to walk the dogs for the evening. After that, I planted two of the three rows of garlic with 55 pounds and I finished literally as dusk was ending and it was getting really dark.

Then saturday I did a lot of stuff including securing a ball hitch to a tractor which required the absurd two foot pipe wrench and a channel lock to tighten fully. Moved a lot of pumpkins and gourds with both the bobcat and my arms. Overall, the day was busy but went smoothly.

Today (sunday) things were less busy but more chaotic since the weather drizzled on and off at various points so tables and people and pumpkins needed to be shuffled around and arranged. I also got the last of the cracked garlic planted in the third row (20 lbs). I wanted to crack and plant a bunch of the culls I had sitting around to finish the row, but it didn't happen this weekend since I think it will be too wet tomorrow morning. Freshly tilled soil and rain make for a mucky bit of planting.

I was also happy today because I decided to bring all my stuff "to work" and by that I meant, bring all the things I needed for a full 13-14 hours of work out of the house and to the selling area just because. And it worked great. I brought: a raincoat, a "dirty" hoodie and a logo "nice" hoodie, a flannel, a water bottle, sports hydration powder, granola bars, a book, ear protection, lighter boots to change into when the muck boots get sweaty, and a notebook. Used just about everything and only needed to run back to the house to walk the dogs in the evening. There was also some food down in the selling area.

I'm now just about ready for bed. Tomorrow's plans are to make a nice breakfast, do laundry and drive back home, but leisurely.