Home and Lawn

Lighted Christmas Wreath Restored

In the early years of our marriage, my wife and I bought a lighted Christmas wreath. The wreath was two feet in diameter and was strung with the old incandescent cluster lights. This wreath hung in our picture window of our first house and would make its way to the transom window above the front door of our second house. Over the years this Christmas wreath had become my favorite decoration to hang during the holiday season.

LED Panel Lights In My Garage

The other day I witnessed a children's story time that showed a picture of an incandescent light bulb symbolizing an idea. At that moment I thought to myself, pretty soon these kids will have no idea what a traditional light bulb looks like as they get replaced with more modern lights. Take for instance my own garage where I recently replaced the last of my light bulbs with LED Garage Ceiling lights that aren't bulbs but now LED lights composed of 6 adjustable LED panels. So it goes, time has moved on in my own house.

Powered by Battery: Did EGO's New Cordless Electric Mower for 2020 just leak?

Whether intentional or not, Home Depot briefly listed a never before seen "21 inch Select Cut Lawn Mower with Touch Drive Technology" .  While we're unaware of public announcement from EGO POWER+, we came across a couple interesting pages online via Home Depot Pro that may very well be an upcoming new EGO Power+ mower about to hit the market. Details on this new mower are subject to change but below is what we can speculate from the information we know so far.

EGO is about to introduce to market a new 21 inch 56-Volt cordless electric walk behind mower with two significant features:

Powered by Battery: That EGO Power Self-Propelled Mower Is Finally Mine

For the past couple years I've had an obsession with battery-powered cordless tools. While I've bought a number of cordless power tools and even a cordless snow blower...what has been missing in my garage is an all-battery lawn mower.  For the past couple years, I've had my eyes on the EGO Power+ 56V Lithium-Ion Self-Propelled Mower.

Powered by Battery: The Ryobi Electric Riding Lawnmower

A few weeks ago during my visit to the local Home Depot, I came across the Ryobi RM480E, an all-battery powered electric riding lawn mower. Ryobi claims that you'll get up to 2 hours of run time or cut up to 2 acres on a single charge. This quiet, smooth battery powered riding mower houses three high-torque brushless motors to support the mower's blades and drivetrain.  The RM480E's uses four 12V lead acid batteries instead of lithium-ion which given the choice  and given the size of the mower  so they're not lithium).

Starting my Summer with the Blossom Smart Watering Controller

Spring brought to South Dakota plenty of rain. The lawns are green, the flowers are in full bloom, and it seems we can't go beyond a couple days without a rain shower or thunderstorm. While water is usually plenty for my city, we do things smart around here and restrict water usage for our lawns year round. It's not uncommon in my part of the country to see the weather pattern quickly change from wet to dry. What once was green can turn brown in a hurry.

Home Is Where The Network Is

A couple years ago, my wife and I took advantage of the post-housing bubble low interest rates and upgraded to a larger home. We came across a pre-owned house built in 2006 that came with the price, size, and style that just screamed to us "buy me".  As a family, we carefully reviewed our finances and listed our pros and cons before making the purchase. My wife and I were excited to finally have a bathroom connected to the master bedroom. Our then young son was excited that he finally had a family room that offered him fun and adventure. Secretly though, what sold me on the house had nothing to do with these things. What impressed me most was that this house had a network distribution panel.

How YouTube and the Social Web Saved Winter

My back hurts. As with the rest of the United States, my neck of the woods has received more snow and cold weather than one could possibly want for the winter season. Due to the constant snowfall, I have spent a number of my days clearing my driveway from snow with the help of my 15 year old snow blower. Several days ago, the snow blower's auger died on me leaving me with a useless rusting piece of machinery.

Auger Belts

1. Remove the plastic belt cover on the front of the engine by removing two self-tapping screws. See figure 23.

2. Drain the gasoline from the snow thrower or place a piece of plastic under the gas cap.