ATV is Running!

Donovan and I put the ATV back together on Sunday, 24 Feb 13, 4 days ago.  Just a quick note that she started right up first shot.  Very happy.  We've driven the old girl around a little bit this week.

Garden Update

Thought I'd throw a picture update, into the blog, for the garden.  As you can see on the tomato plants, definitely started a little too early.  Guess I was just anxious.  The plants--tomato of many varieties, eggplant, and peppers of many varieties--are good size.  I've got to figure a way to keep them going until the weather warms to more than 50 degrees at night.  Well, as cheaply as possible.

This tub has 4 rows of peas in them.  The top two rows are bush type peas I'd discussed earlier in the blog.  The bottom two rows trellis.  They took a really long time to sprout and are growing really slowly, but hey, they're growing.  There are 3 more buckets to the right of this one.

1986 Honda Fourtrax 250 ATV Carb Rebuild

Donovan has a 1986 Honda Fourtrax 250 ATV that he got from his grandmother.  I asked him if I could use it some around here to haul dirt or mulch around in a little trailer that I have.  He said "of course, but it's not running."  I asked if I fixed it, could we keep it here for me and him since he was heading to college.  He said no problem.  So, I hauled it here.

First, it's an '86 so it's older and needs some love to get back into shape.  Gas in tank had sat for 6 months old since it last ran.  Dumped it and put in fresh with a stabilizer since I didn't know how long it'd be till it ran.  Next, the starter was fried and the kick-starter had been stripped.  So, I ordered a new kick-starter and installed it.  It was difficult to kick and I could see my foot slipping off after a while and digging a gash into my ankle so I ordered a new starter.

In the mean time, I took the gas tank petcock off and tried to clean it.  I got it as clean as I could, but the tank tube was cracked and there was a hole in the bowl.  Honestly, I don't know if that hole is supposed to be there or not, but it didn't seem logical and the rest of the petcock was toast anyway so I ordered a new petcock.  Following the fuel system, it follows that the carb would have issues as well so I decided to rebuild the carb, and ordered a rebuild kit.  Also, the back, right tire was leaking from spots where the tire joined the wheel rim in places where it was bent out.  I suspect it was someone trying to change tires too aggressively.  I ordered a tube for that tire hoping I could get by with it instead of getting another wheel.

Although the ATV has some issues, it has been kind of cool to rebuild and fix it.    I do like to piddle.  So, parts are arriving now.  With the rebuild kit in, I thought I'd log a blog entry and show some photos of the carb rebuild.  Except for the first carb kit pic and the last "done" pic, the following pics were used as a pictorial help guide for reassembly.  A special thanks for D-Rays Shop YouTube videos on his Honda 300 rebuild.  It helped a bunch and he's actually near me in Judsonia, Arkansas.

This kit above is the Moose brand.

In the pic above, the little rubber stopper is in the wrong spot.  Should be in the hole just to the right and I fixed that on rebuild.

Rebuild finished with all new internal parts.  Had to run to Lowes and get some  new screws that had been stripped (2 internal and the 7 holding the bowl and top cover on).  I mention it for those who may notice it and are here for help.

My Pond is Done

Great news.  My pond was completed yesterday, 9 Feb 13 around 3 pm.  Right after, it started raining and it rained a bunch especially throughout the night.  So, today, as you'll see in the pictures below, it's wet.  I took a video too and it's below as well.  Sorry, it's shaky from walking.  Anyway, my 1/2 acre pond is finished.  I have to put the fish habitat in, create some 3' shelves for spawning, and stock with fathead minnows by the end of April.  Sunfish will go in the pond come fall with bass and catfish the following Spring 2014.   

Pond, Day 10

Ivan made it back after a week or so and fixed the trackhoe and began working on my pond again yesterday.  They worked for about 2 hours maybe. Below is some video of them working.  If you look, there's an odd little protrusion of land in the middle of the pond and I'm very curious how he's going to navigate removing it.  If you look at the video, you can see that he digs down and swings around with a bucket of dirt that he lays out for the dozer to push.  He's pulling the dirt further in from the sides of the protruding land.  When he gets to the point of that land, he may have some trouble.  That strip of land is too narrow now for the dozer to pull along side it and it's too long to put it behind the trackhoe without boxing himself in.  I guess he could dig some and put it behind him, then spread it so he can then drive over it, and finally move the same dirt further back so the dozer can finally get to it.  But, that seems like a LOT of wasted time.  We'll see how he does it.  Ah, building my pond has finally begun again.  It's been one month and Ivan had estimated 1 week.

Garden Update - Seedlings Up

This year, I labeled each soil block individually.  These two photos are the 10-day mark for the plants.  As you can see, there are lots of varieties of tomatoes.  Some of the seed are different types of pepper and one type of eggplant.  About 24% of the seed didn't germinate.  I'm not sure if it's 'cause the seed is all heirloom from various sources or maybe my soil blocks are too compact.  For what it's worth, the two varieties I plated last year from Baker Creek came up 100% and it's the same seed.  Still, lots of plants and overall, I can deal with it. 

Outside, the peas haven't come up and may not despite planting two times a week apart.  I think it's still too cold, but Arkansas Statue University says you can start 'em.  Didn't make sense to me as this time a year, it often dips below freezing.  We'll give it a go weekly in the 4 planters till it takes.  FYI, it's my first attempt at peas.