Toro 22" Recycler Mower I Bought Sight Unseen at Auction A while ago, I won an auction for an older Toro push mower. The listing said it was in good condition and the pics looked pretty good, too. The best part? It's electric start! Not the kind where you need to plug it into the wall in order to get it started. No, this has its own, onboard battery! It's also self propelled. Since it has a Briggs & Stratton engine, I figured there was little chance the engine was bad, so I p

I have wanted to get a new-to-me truck for a while. While I did really like my 2018 Ram 1500, it was having some issues that I didn't want to deal with anymore. Mainly, the fact that it seemed to like to eat rear axles. The first axle was likely my fault. The pinion seal failed and I didn't notice for some time. In that time, I think water got into the axle and damaged the bearings. By the time I discovered the seal was bad, the damage was bad enough that the axle housing its

Spring is finally here in Michigan. It's been a rough winter and an even rougher start to spring. With the snow, ice, rain and wind (all at once it feels) we have had some trying times. But, hopefully that is over, or at least it will settle down a bit now. We have been working on things at the Estate but it's been fits and starts. We made a family day of cutting down Autumn olive and pulling stumps. My wife drove the tractor and pulled on the stumps after I cut them down. My

After buying the new 2500 Ram, it was time to look into getting a larger equipment trailer. The trailer I had was only 16ft long and rated for 9000lbs. Plenty for hauling the tractor around, for sure. I bought it because I was previously hauling the old 8N around in the utility trailer rated at 3500lbs, which meant, I was really pushing the limits, especially if I had an implement on the trailer at the same time. It was sketchy, at best. I found the 16ft trailer on the side o

Turkey hunting season signals another season in Michigan. That other season is Morel mushroom season. These little things grow in the early spring and are highly desirable. Finding them is usually a closely guarded secret among hunters. Lucky for us, there are some spots at the Estate where mushrooms can be found. Then, add in that they will also pop up in random places. This makes it fun to wander the woods looking for their little heads to pop up. With all the rain we've ha

I've only been turkey hunting since about 2018 or so. I was never into it as a kid and even as an adult, I never tried it, I'm not sure why. Then, one day I had an email from the Michigan DNR that turkey lottery applications were available. I looked at the different zones and decided to apply in the area I Grouse and Woodcock hunt in because the dogs and I have seen lots of turkeys in the same area. Did I have a plan on what I was going to do? No. Did I even know how to hunt

At our "city" house, there are a ton of squirrels. Everyone around us has bird feeders, which turn into squirrel feeders. We have Grey,...