The Beast, Lawrence and LB ....

A new family has taken roots in Pleasantville ~ “The Husqvarna’s” ~ individually known as The Beast, Lawrence and LB.

The Beast the Snow Blower

A Husqvarna ST227P, Two Stage Snow Blower with a 254cc engine. The Beast has featured in a couple of previous blogs, “Let it snow let it” and “The first nor'easter”.

With a couple of significant snowfalls during the past winter, the machine has already certainly already paid for itself. I had never used a Snow Blower before and basically had to learn on the job. It takes practise and much care to use, a few times both myself and The Beast almost landed in the front ditch, this after narrowly missing a couple of Honda Civics’.

With winter now behind us, The Beast is in summer storage after having a thorough wash, polish, lubrication and all moving parts greased.

 

Lawrence the Lawn Mower

Lawrence the Lawn Mower purchased this past weekend at Cross Small Engine Repair during their annual tax free social event which included hot dogs, Tim bits and other goodies.

With enormous sadness, after 28 years of loyal and extremely reliable service I decided to retire my 3.5HP Tecumseh engine Crappy Tire Lawn Mower. With the lot size we have, I learned very quickly last year that come springtime, I would require some power assistance to the wheels.

If it were not for that reason, the Crappy Tire Lawn Mower would have kept going. In its lifetime I reckon it has been used on just over 900 separate occasions. Religiously after each use I always hosed and washed it down. At the end of each season, it was winterised and carefully stored. The only parts replaced on it were all four wheels (I wore out the first set), the rewind starter and both cables. At the beginning of each cutting season, this Lawn Mower always started first time and it did so with its original spark plug.

I am really proud of this Lawn Mower and will certainly keep it in running order.

 

Old faithful, 28 years and still starts first time



 

The replacement, a Husqvarna LC221RH, is a Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) with a 160cc Honda engine.

 

I used it yesterday for the first time and can report it is fantastic. The Honda engine runs perfectly smooth, the RWD is such a great aid that I required none of my normal breaks.

After the first cut, Lawrence was given a thorough hose down and wash something that will happen (religiously) after each use. To help with the washing process, today I made a little washing area for Lawrence, which is only a hop and a skip with his garage door.

So, will Lawrence achieve over 900 grass cuts …? I am positive with my usual care, attention and maintenance it certainly should do.

Washing Pad for Lawrence

 

LB the Leaf Blower

I never thought a Leaf Blower would feature in my life, but after last fall I decided it’s a must.

Purchased this past weekend at the same tax free event, LB completes the array of domestic Husqvarna’s. With its 28cc 2-stroke engine, it is remarkably quiet while pushing out 425 cubic feet per minute at 170mph.

This fall will certainly be much easier …. Perhaps time to retire the Crappy Tire Rakes …?

 

 

 

Gaff Point

With glorious weather, a high tide and Alan a fellow Scotsman, I had my first hike at Gaff Point. The point is situated at the southwestern end of 3km crescent shaped Hirtles Beach which is located just outside Lunenburg.

The Gaff Point trail is a 7km loop with awesome seascape views, fantastic scenery with a mixture of beach, estuary, forest, heather and rugged coastline with steep cliffs.

Off the main trail are two coves, Sand Cove and Grabble Cove. Sand Cove with its secret beach is a neat sandy area tucked away between some very steep cliffs and multi-coloured rocks and is accessible by way of scaling down a bank with the aid of a rope tied to a tree. Today we did not set about the rope trick, which is obviously something you attempt at your own risk.

The trail was not too difficult, the only challenge was walking on what was today a predominately the cobblestone beach. Normally Hirtles Beach has broad areas of sand with the stones all pushed up high onto the beach perimeter. It seems though during winter the sea storms washes away the sand exposing more rocks and pebbles, during spring and summer the beach recovers and the sand areas return.

 



Hirtles Beach at high tide and cobblestones with Gaff Point in the distance





Looking back on Hirtles Beach

Heather along the  cliff tops

West Ironbound Island



 

Sand Cove and the Secret Beach

A misty morning wander

A lovely wander in the morning mist down to the LaHave River. With the tide on its way in everything was quiet, still and gentle. The air was beautiful, it is an absolute joy to have this virtually on our doorstep.

 

Bring on the power cuts ~ The Champ is ready ....

A spot of insurance was recently purchased and today was installed, a generator and associated parts. It was really not something I had ever thought I would need. Back in Ontario I had the occasional power outages mainly in the summer, but none to make me ever consider digging deep into my sporran to buy a back-up power source.

Here in rural Nova Scotia the considerations and practicalities are much different. During the past winter our hydro went out twice, once for 6 hours and the other time for about 3 hours. Having the woodstove which has (at this date) evolved into our main heat source does provide less concern about having no power, but having an electric pumped deep well for water, it is more critical ~ it is a fact that a box of matches and a candle does make the toilet flush …..

A possible power outage for 6 hours is fine and no big deal, but one never knows for how long the hydro is going to be out. During the past winter, some of our east coast neighbours in New Brunswick were in the dark for up to 10 days. So with that fact in mind, it provided enough motivation to investigate generators and all that goes along with them.

The Planning and Considerations ~

There are a few planning and considerations to take into account before purchasing a generator and the associated additions. The first one is "what are the needs and wants" as far a desired features and appliances to be powered. It is good to have the fridge, the freezer and the deep well pump as "the needs". Then "the wants", could be the TV, modem, some lights, the kettle and microwave. Once that is all decided the total power requirements must be calculated.

If those selected features/items were all running (in our case with only the kettle or microwave but not both), it would amount to about 5500W. To this calculated wattage, the start-up demand must also be considered for motorized appliances such as fridge, deep well pump and freezer. In my example this could (briefly) add an additional 2000W to the overall power output requirement from the generator. I would therefore need a generator with at least 5500W running power, and in the unlikely scenario of everything starting at the same time a total requirement of about 7500W.

Choosing an actual make of generator is a minefield, there are far too many cheaply manufactured Chinese knock-offs on the market, which I am told would make better ship anchors than generators. Considering this fact, I spent a good amount of time researching a lot of makes and finally deciding upon either Briggs & Stratton or Champion. The ultimate decision came down to which one of the two would come on sale first at Canadian Tire ~ eventually the Champion did at $400 off, it is Model #100107, 6500W running with 7800 starting watts.

The next part of the overall puzzle was how do I get the power from the generator to my appliances ..? I had absolutely no idea, so this too required careful research and education through one, two or more YouTube videos. I learned early on, that a generator must never be wired in a way that it makes your breaker panel live. This type of direct connection could have fatal consequences for utility repair crews and also overload your generator by possibly powering too many circuits in the house. The correct and legal way is to, either use a two position Interlock Toggle Switch added to your main breaker panel, which flips between that and a second breaker panel powered by the generator, thus allowing only one to be powered at any time ~ by either the utility or generator. A disadvantage of this type of arrangement is that you never know when the power is restored unless you switch back to the main breaker panel to find out.

The other method is a transfer box, which in a very clever way allows the main breaker panel to be left on but not powered by the generator, while transferring generator power to your selected circuits ~ this was my preferred option.

The purchases and transportation ~

Not being a person who likes to pay for delivery, a relevant and important aspect of the Champion generator purchase was ~ will it fit into the back of a 4-door Civic ...? 

I called Canadian Tire to ask if someone could measure the box, which they kindly did. So with those numbers I carefully and methodically studied the Civic door opening with the acquired box dimensions. I decided that if the box is lifted in a level state 3 inches above the back seat, it would fit ... but with not much room for error. The only possible negative to my plan was the weight, the Champion is 213lbs. So, I could foresee a slight issue with that aspect, how to keep the box level and elevated the necessary 3 inches ......

Feeling somewhat confident about my Honda Civic back seat analysis, off we went to Canadian Tire. Eventually, it took myself and two Canadian Tire guys to guide the box into the Civic. During the whole process at no time did those two guys, show the slightest confidence in my continued assurances that the box would fit. They kept reminding me that they could arrange delivery ~ “no way” I thought, it’s going in ... and it did.

Uncharacteristically though, I neglected to plan for the arrival and eventual extraction of the box, all I will say it provided a number of interesting challenges . . .!!

The transfer box which is a complete kit, is a Reliance 31406CRK, which came with a 10' generator cable. I required 60', so I also ordered an additional 50'. This will allow the generator to be operated at the open door of the garage, keeping the noise level away from the house. The cable and the kit were bought through Amazon.ca with no delivery charge.

The Reliance Transfer Box

Circuits and Balancing ~
Before doing any installing, another prerequisite is to decide what house circuits have to be powered to accommodate the selected features and appliances. The transfer box has a total of 6 protected circuits 3 on each side of the box with each having a 120V supply. Two of those (one from each side) are required for the deep well pump giving a total 240V. This then leaves 2 circuits at each side for everything else.

Also the power requirements on the both sides transfer box (marked A~B~C and E~F~G) have to be balanced. For example if all the appliances use 5500W, it best to try and get as close as possible 2750W from each side. In my situation, if everything was running I will have 2500W and 3000W.

The Installation ~

This is my favourite part ~ taking all the theory, the study and the planning, then putting it into practise ....

After mounting the transfer box next to the main breaker panel, all the selected house circuits have to be wired via the main breaker panel into the transfer box. An inlet box which is also supplied with the kit, is installed at a convenient location on the outside of the house. Some additional 10/3 building wire is required to go from the back of the inlet box to the in-house transfer box.

 

Transfer Box in position ready to be wired into the selected house circuits

 

All wired and closed



The Testing ~

After the installation, it was time to test that everything was good and fine. Each circuit on the transfer box has its own three position toggle switch ~ LINE (utility powered), OFF (no power) and GEN (generator powered).

The first test is to confirm the "LINE" position, in this position all the selected circuits should be live powered from the utility, then the "OFF" position where the circuits will have no power, finally my favourite "GEN", for this test the generator has to be fired up.

There is a sequence to this, first plug the generator cable into both the inlet box on the outside wall of the house and the other end into the generator. Start the generator, let it run for a couple of minutes to balance out. Flip the generator Breaker to "ON", then with a flashlight (because the house power is off), go to your transfer box and flip each circuit one at a time from "LINE" to "GEN". If the job is done correctly you will have lights, fridge, freezer, kettle or microwave and flushing toilets .....

IT WORKED ...

 

The Inlet Box

 

The Generator Cable

 

The Champ

The woodith cometh ......

Planning well ahead, today Mike our local School Bus Driver and Wood Guy delivered four cord of fire wood. This wood will be dried out for use during winter season 2018/19.

Over the last week we moved just under three cord which we bought last August from the outside storage to the woodshed, this will keep us warm during 2017/18.

Over the past winter we burnt about three cord which was kindly left for us with the house, I reckon this will be our typical consumption.

All that is required now is for this new bundle to be stacked ….

To give some idea of the amount of wood, if it is stacked 4’ high it would extend for 96’: ~ gullible volunteers are more than welcome …





When is it not perfect ...?

Today I was out on my own for a wander on Crescent Beach and George Island.

At one end of the beach there are a group of rocks, one of which I have now adopted. Back in July 1971 as a 10-year-old, I did the same with a rock at Big Sands, near Gairloch in the West Highlands of Scotland.

"My Rock" as I often refer to it, is very special to me. It provides many extremely happy memories of great times and adventures as a young boy. I often fished off my rock, caught crabs and only when the tide was in, I would jump from it into the water. On other occasions I would sit and gaze at the beautiful Torridon mountain range, often getting completely lost in my thoughts. In the late evenings, I would witness the most magnificent sunsets which I have never seen equalled anywhere, truly fantastic.

I believe everyone should have a special place in their life, a place you recall with fondness, warmth and where you never once felt fear. A place from your past or even now in the present, which provides safety and comfort. A location whose surroundings render an environment to develop your hopes, formulate your ambitions and think about your dreams. A place perhaps like mine that only requires the company of the sea, the mountains and the warm wind to make it perfect. Living almost 30 years in Ontario, I missed My Rock and all the 360° splendour it provided. My hope during all those years was always that some day in the future, I could find another rock, a place that I could sit and look out in any weather to enjoy the peace and perhaps again get lost in my thoughts.

It may not have the grandeur of the Torridon mountains, the smell of peat coming off the surrounding hillsides or the even the company of local sheep, but the rock on Crescent Beach will do just fine ~ I have found My NS Rock.

Below is a photo taken today at My NS Rock and a couple of My Rock in the West Highlands of Scotland.

On my way back along Crescent Beach I came across some young lads having lots of fun with a surf board connected via a very long rope to a Volkswagen. I have also added a photo of a very elusive Cardinal doing his best to avoid me on George Island.

When I got home today, Linda asked ~ "So how was it ...?", I answered with a question ~ "When is it not perfect ...?"

My NS Rock, it will do just fine .....

Looking south east at My Rock in Scotland (far end of the beach) with the Torridon Mountains in the background

Looking west My Rock in Scotland at low tide