Spent most of the afternoon yesterday working on an 'old' riding mower that had thrown a belt. Turns out that to put a new belt on it, so that the actual lawn mower blades turn, means taking about half of it apart to get at some of the parts. Dropped the whole mower assembly, removed all the connecting pins to the tranny, speed control and mower height settings, before actually getting access to the pulley's that turn the blades.

    Did finally manage to get the belt onto those two pulleys, but now had to reassemble it all in order to hook up the final drive pulley. Easier said than done of course. Took about an hour and two of us working together to finally get it all hoisted back into place and all the cotter pins and washers back on where they belong. Once it was all back together, it was time to hook the jumper cables up to the battery and give it a try.... It actually started right up, except that it was really loud with lots of shaking and sparks coming out from under the front end. Turned out that the front of the mower blade cage was hitting the front power pulley and causing all kinds of mayhem. So we regrouped, got that problem straightened out and then tried it all over again and.... of course it would never start again.

   Finally gave it up after more than 30 mins of trying different things, that basically had to do with how the jumper cables were connected. Instead, since we had about an hour of light left we both grabbed a regular mower and started cutting. I've been working on a part of the pasture that will be used as a parking area this Sunday when Rima has her annual Fall Party. So about an acre or so of grass that is at least 16 inches tall. My little suburban lawn mower really likes that stuff. It's going to be a long, hard slog if we don't get the riding mower running today. I'm off in a little while in search of a new battery, as it seems that may be the real problem here. Will just have to try it and see.

   In the mean time; here are some photo's from a trip we took to N. Carolina for a dance weekend about 3 weeks ago. We went for a hike over at Hanging Rock State Park on Saturday and these pictures are from that day. Believe it or not, I'm actually starting to catch up on some of my photo's. I may be fully caught up by Thanksgiving. Until then have a great day and enjoy!

Hanging Rock State Park, North Carolina - Oct 2013

The start of the hike and in the distance you can see the goal for the days hike.

There may be more truth to this sign than I first thought.

Loved this little outcropping of very old limestone.

Nearly at the top and the end of a long hike up.

The view to the north from the top of Hanging Rock. In the distance somewhere out there is Virginia.
 



Looking west towards another outcropping. The trees were just starting to change when we were there.

Another view to the NW. (at least I think that is the direction).

Looking down at the tree canopy below.

Looking more or less south.

A last look at part of the Hanging Rock outcropping.