Funny how a 48" by 3" branch, stuck under a 72" finish mower deck, can create such a ruckus. And smoke, there was lots of smoke. And vibration, or perhaps more accurately shaking.
Squealing, shuttering, and smoke.
Probably going to have to replace that belt soon. But I got it cleared and it's operating again. For now.
Was working to reclaim the old garden area, and mowing the overgrowth around it.
The old garden is sort of our riff on an English cottage garden. Crushed stone paths between framed garden beds. We have 2 larger beds and about a half dozen narrow long beds. The narrow beds are roughly 4' wide by 12' long. There is also a hexagon bed in the middle and a couple others. It's actually a practical garden, or it was, and it looked sort of pretty too. The 4' wide beds, surrounded by stone paths, made reaching into the middle easy. And doing vertical gardening in the narrow beds with support sticks and tomato cages made life even easier. The 2 large beds were for things like melons, pumpkins, etc that spread.
The entire thing is overgrown. Mother Nature has done a fine job of trying to reclaim it. It's going to take round up or a similar product to recover the stone paths. But they are still there under the overgrowth. The wood frames, which I think are cedar, are actually very solid and sound. It's been several years since we gardened in this area.
The photo clearly shows the 2 larger beds. Which both were tilled today to try to cut up some of the weeds/grasses. The grass around them is covering the stone paths. There is also a bluestone walkway under there that I was standing on when I took the photo, but that is also invisible. You can see my burn pile about 50' farther back in the field. I did manage to get the area around the burn pile mowed today after clearing the branch from the mower. I'll have plenty of debris from deadfall to toss on there too.

Got the stone stairway down the hill mostly reclaimed. Cut the thorn bushes and other nasties cut back all the way down so it is walkable without being a hazard to life and limb again. It needs to be sprayed with vegetation killer, but at least there are no more thorny plants growing up in the rocks or dangling over the path from the sides. It's cleared on each side of the path about 3'.
Also you can see an old swinging bench sitting in the photo. Believe it or not, that is sitting ON TOP of a bluestone path/small patio. Like I said, going to need some round up (or maybe I should just salt the earth).

Squealing, shuttering, and smoke.
Probably going to have to replace that belt soon. But I got it cleared and it's operating again. For now.
Was working to reclaim the old garden area, and mowing the overgrowth around it.
The old garden is sort of our riff on an English cottage garden. Crushed stone paths between framed garden beds. We have 2 larger beds and about a half dozen narrow long beds. The narrow beds are roughly 4' wide by 12' long. There is also a hexagon bed in the middle and a couple others. It's actually a practical garden, or it was, and it looked sort of pretty too. The 4' wide beds, surrounded by stone paths, made reaching into the middle easy. And doing vertical gardening in the narrow beds with support sticks and tomato cages made life even easier. The 2 large beds were for things like melons, pumpkins, etc that spread.
The entire thing is overgrown. Mother Nature has done a fine job of trying to reclaim it. It's going to take round up or a similar product to recover the stone paths. But they are still there under the overgrowth. The wood frames, which I think are cedar, are actually very solid and sound. It's been several years since we gardened in this area.
The photo clearly shows the 2 larger beds. Which both were tilled today to try to cut up some of the weeds/grasses. The grass around them is covering the stone paths. There is also a bluestone walkway under there that I was standing on when I took the photo, but that is also invisible. You can see my burn pile about 50' farther back in the field. I did manage to get the area around the burn pile mowed today after clearing the branch from the mower. I'll have plenty of debris from deadfall to toss on there too.

Got the stone stairway down the hill mostly reclaimed. Cut the thorn bushes and other nasties cut back all the way down so it is walkable without being a hazard to life and limb again. It needs to be sprayed with vegetation killer, but at least there are no more thorny plants growing up in the rocks or dangling over the path from the sides. It's cleared on each side of the path about 3'.
Also you can see an old swinging bench sitting in the photo. Believe it or not, that is sitting ON TOP of a bluestone path/small patio. Like I said, going to need some round up (or maybe I should just salt the earth).
