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Play.., I mean working, in my front yard. One out, one to go. Cut two small red oaks that were dead in the centers and feeding the wood ants. The brush and wood had already been removed when the missus took this. Me and the stump bucket are struggling with a 12 inch red oak stump with roots that go half-way to Hell. Donated most of the wood to the neighbor that cooked some Boston butt and ribs for us yesterday. Had to knock off 'cause I ran outta daylight and I need to get the 50H service done. That, and maybe a brake controller in my F-150 are on the agenda tomorrow.
Got the missus driving the little orange machine to help me out in the yard. Opens me up to get more done without having to swap seats. It's hydrostatic drive too, and nearly as much horsepower as the LX. Just doesn't have enough weight for heavy work. I think all the levers on the LX will intimidate her a little, but she needs to learn why it's so much fun running a tractor.
The stump closest to Little Orange is about 16 inches at the base. It came out a lot easier than the one I'm poking at on the LX. Probably because it didn't have much of a root structure being that close to the cedar. I don't think I spent more than 20 minutes getting that one out. I'm also trying to avoid a flower bed we have just the other side of my digging, too. Unfortunately, looks like one of the large tap roots goes right under the flower bed. If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any. Might have to expose that root and take the axe to it. For a little stump, that thing is SOLID. That tree has been struck by lightning, had the top broken out of it in 2005, and has been gnawed on by big black wood ants since I moved in, so I figured there wouldn't be much to digging it out. I was wrong. VERY wrong.
Not getting a response from the local dealer via e-mail re their bandwidth to do the 50H service, so their loss. I'll just get the filters and a couple gallons of UDT2 tomorrow, and keep the mechanic's fees in my pocket. Saves hauling it over there anyway. Planning on running Castrol GTX in the engine for as long as I own it. I run the same stuff in Little Orange, so if I keep a couple 5 quart jugs on the shelf and spare filters, I'll be good to go on the next oil change. The UDT2 is gonna be a different story. Didn't particularly want to mess with it, but the temps here hit nearly 80 today, and we didn't get the rain that was promised for the past two days. So, a little cardboard on the ground, and I'm good to go for oil changes and hydraulic/HSD filter changes. Hoping Express will take the waste oil. Guess I better find someone tomorrow that will . Maybe O'Reilly's parts house.