It's a Pulley! And it Moves!

I learned another lawn mower-related word today:  "Pulley".  It's those round things above the "deck" that the belt kept slipping off of over and over again today, making an hour and a half or so of mowing take three hours.  I mentioned it on the phone to my father, who said the belt needed "tightening"  (is there a buckle or something?).  After I explained my terminology issues, he explained what the "pulleys" were and that one needed to be moved further away from the rest of them.  When I heard this involves a crescent wrench, I decided not to do it myself unless I have to.

You really do learn something new every day.  It's just like the computer--every time it breaks I learn something.

So I mowed the lawn, trimmed with the weed whacker, clipped with the hedge clipper, pulled some weeds, and then it rained.  After it rained, I pulled at least a gross of ragweed--they're pollinating now, so after a rain is the only time it's safe to touch 'em.   I focused on near where people would walk, because they'll get it on their clothes and bring it indoors.  But the hay fever isn't bad this year.  Maybe the drought killed hay fever season.

So here it is, August, and I'm mowing and weeding every week.   A few plants are putting forth a weak showing of spring flowers.  They're confused, too.

I also tidied up the camper by our front door.  I picked up everything, dusted, wiped the table, and swept.  The twins have been sleeping out there a lot.  We have a TV with no reception and an old VCR, so they watch movies with one of the dogs and share the sofa bed.

OK, here's today's Picture of the Day:

No, wait, this is better:

This is Scooby, one of our dogs.  He's actually been on a diet and lost a fair amount of weight since this picture was taken.  He's even more handsome now.  He's enjoying his physical fitness.

Here's the picture I was going to show you:

It's from https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/AccuWeathercom-Astronomy/178186248887910 .

They follow the solar activity a lot--I remind myself slightly of Jonas Quinn and his 'thing' for the Weather Channel.

Here's another of their pics:

We live in a marvelous time--this is a sunset on Mars, courtesy of the Curiosity.

Change of subject....

I've found a new weight-loss website, called www.sparkpeople.com .  It's free.  You can enter everything you eat into their search engine and it'll keep track of calories, carbs, fat, and protein.  It will also keep track of your exercise.  I've been eating like I always do, and exercising, and it says that it may actually recommend that I increase my caloric intake because of my activity level.

How many times in my life have I heard that I might not be lazy enough?

I figured this is worth a try--it is free, after all.  I'll keep you posted. (Posted?  That was unintentional.)

G'night.