Unexpected Weather

The weather wizards predicted big thunderstorms yesterday, which I could see as I cut the yard. One in particular appeared to be moving away, which considering how it looked, made me glad...but I was wrong. 

I had just put up the mower, was in the house, and looking out the kitchen window, when a huge gust hit the house. My wife was standing at the glass door, and commented the rain was blowing sideways. I looked, and watched my sister-in-laws Kawasaki Mule roll out into the driveway. It poured rain for about thirty minutes, and over the next few hours, we accumulated four inches of rain. 

After it all passed, I went to visit my sister-in-law. She reported her porch chairs, with her grill blew across the yard and hit the fence. The grill had a full propane bottle attached, so it wasn't a normal gust of wind that hit our area. 

The nearest thing I can find to describe the event is a microburst. I saw a video of one, and the best way to describe it like a large bucket of water being poured out over an area. The gust of wind is ferocious, and can reach the speed of an F1 tornado.

Beside what we originally found, a small tree snapped and fell, the martin house fell with a bent pole (it's been through three hurricanes), and lots of limbs were blown from the trees. The area of damage doesn't extend beyond a few thousand square feet, and there is no sign of the path of a tornado. 

I live, and learn, and learned microbursts are probably something I never want to see again.

Mower Deck Madness

With some help for the two handed requirements, a good set of extra eyes, some elbow grease, select curse words, and good old sweat, I added some of my blood to the grime removed to change the spindles on a riding mower deck. It was about a three hour task, which means a well trained mechanic could accomplish the task in about an hour. It was an interesting experience, and made me aware of some things I didn't know. 

The mower is a Cub Cadet ZT 1 zero turn mower, with a 54 inch deck. It has three blades, so there are three spindles, two idler pulleys, one tensioning pully, and a really long drive belt. That's pretty standard, but what I really found to be odd are the spindles. 

My earlier experience with mower decks was with spindles that could be rebuilt, if you had a good press. The housing were steel, the bearings were greased once a season, and the assembly was held on the deck with 1/4 inch bolts. The pulleys were easily replaced, if needed, and reused during a change. 

This deck is different. The bearing housings are some type of lightweight alloy, the bearings are sealed, and the spindles are mounted with self-tapping screws. Rebuilding the spindles could probably be done, but realistically, it would requires more than I have available. Small mistakes could ruin the fragile housings, and remounting the spindle would require drilling out the mounting holes, and replacing the self-tapping screws with bolts. That, and removing the pulley would probably guarantee disaster. 

It went well for a first time effort, and will probably need to be done in about three years. According to the experts, that's about the life of a mower spindle with amount of grass that's is cut during our season. I was satisfied, and the whine, with the uneven cut disappeared. 

From my research, I determined the mower is one step below a commercial mower. That's understandable, since a commercial mower is around twice the price. I was impressed with the deck, since it's a welded deck, the condition is excellent, and will probably last the life of the mower. I've had to change stamped decks, which don't ever seem to last the life of a mower. 

So, I have some new knowledge of mower deck repair, and old fart's remorse. Moving around under a mower deck is not nearly as easy as it once was, and muscle cramps lead to strange contortions, which spectators find disconcerting. 

The Big Question

There are many things about the current administration that unsettle people, and it's obvious why:

- Laws are obviously broken, evidence is available to the general public, yet nothing is done to those with favor of the current administration's agenda.

- Inflation is out of control, but a chosen member of a private corporation (Federal Reserve) and its board, have free reign over all of the banking of the United States. Their reassurance, without any real transparency, can hide monetary actions that don't have the United States' best interests in mind. 

- The three people at the top of the government include someone that is clinically demented, an incompetent creation of failed EEO policies, and an aging alcoholic that avoids criminal prosecution by their position. 

- The military is run by officers that not only ignore their prime duty, they broke their allegiance to the United States by ignoring the oath that took.

- Federal agencies are running amok with criminal activities that rival the worst of organized crime syndicates. 

- Money is being sent to foreign countries, yet domestic citizen's needs are ignored. 

- The Southern Border is basically open, and nothing is being done to prevent the influx of illegal aliens from causing great harm to the United State. 

The list goes on, but the big question is: With all that is known about the condition of the United States, who is really pulling the strings:

- Is it a concerted effort of a few traitors? 

- Is it the culmination of an out-of-control system of agencies without any oversight?

- Is it foreign influence?

- Is it all of the above?

One thing is for sure, and that is we know honest elections are compromised, much of the media is complicit in subterfuge, the economy is being destroyed by inflation, crime is out of control an illegal methods of control are rampant with agencies, which causes physical harm to citizens. 

Donald Trump is being targeted, and the only reason I see is that he exposed an effort to  destroy the rules of law demanded in the Constitution. He's a huge threat, since he has the majority of honest people backing him. Whoever that's pulling the strings know this, and have a foolish belief that destroying Trump will destroy what placed him as President. Continuing the harassment only galvanizes the majority of voters, and increases what they perceive as a threat. Increasing the threat can only lead to anger, civil disobedience, and eventually: outright rebellion.

Regardless of what powers are involved with the destruction of the United States as designed, causing civil unrest will cause great harm to the nation, and if logically analyzed, is the work of foreign powers. Whether they are acting with domestic agents isn't as important as knowing what is happening; and for those that swore to uphold the Constitution, their duty is to stop the actions of those trying to destroy the United States.

Setting a Trap

With all the hoopla about the FBI raid on Trump's property, it makes me wonder if it was an elaborate trap to catch those that think they're smarter than they are. Anger, greed, and incompetence can lead to mistakes, and leading those so willing to think they have the information they need can be fruitful to those that create the information to unveil the efforts of enemies. Time will tell.

It Really Doesn't Matter

They raided Trump's home. Regardless of anything they found, everyone that supports Trump will automatically assume it was planted. The feds, and their ignorant minions, made a mistake that will bring only rotten fruit to their efforts. May they pay dearly for their mistake, and those involved find long days in prison for treason.