The Liftie

Congrats to our Liftie friends who start distributing through REI next ski season. Hopefully they will use this pictures for some of their marketing material! Grandpa Farmer Bob's old ski is in the lower left.

Liftie holding Epic passes

Horned Passalus

The missing pine trees in our back yard left a lot of trash exposed. In the process of cleaning up ... I had to break apart pieces of the old cherry tree that had been decaying for at least 6 years (planting new tree).

In the process, I encountered several strange bugs and larvae ... 

Horned passalus beetle - more black in real-life

 

Horned passalus larvae ... more gross in real life

These things were pretty harmless ... I am a bit bummed to see them go.

Children's Museum in DC

Sara and Janelle took the kids to the Children's Museum ... kids had a blast.

Julia, Poppy, Summer walk across their bridge

 

RJ in odd chair

 

RJ and Milo with air gun

Four Square Petition

The actions of one caused all to suffer ... so RJ initiated a petition to bring back Four Square to recess.

 

The petition was signed by several classmates (except for one annoying kid who scribbled on it) and got the game re-instated.

Skiing - Last Hurrah

On a 60 degree night, the snow was melting fast. All runs except Velvet were closed. The U-Me Double was the only lift running. Ski Patrol was talking about the season at the bottom of the hill.

But The Johnsons were still skiing. Around 8:30pm RJ's binding came off  (again) after some pond skimming. Around 8:40pm we packed it in. There might have been one other person ... but for the sake of this blog ... let's say we were the last ones skiing during the 2021-2022 ski season.

Skiing in jeans?!?

Hockey Champs

The green team won a close game versus white to secure the the 10 and under rooftop hockey league (RHL) championship.

 

Pre-game photo - RJ is the super-intense looking guy

 

RJ is the one standing in front of the coach

 

I only took one video ... I was busy talking to Julia, switching spots between Mom and Granddad, and biting my nails.

 

Post Game Celebration

Not sure who was more excited - kids or parents

Skiing with the Kovaceviches

Milo, Summer, and Poppy came for a short visit. We all enjoyed some slush skiing and an extravagant frozen pizza dinner.

This demonstrates why you need the GoPro version with a screen so you can frame your video.  

 

The girls enjoyed a bit of skiing ... but had a lot more fun just hanging out. Ava from the neighborhood joined the fun!

Girls Playing the Detective Game

 

Lawn Tractor Head Gasket - Part 3

White smoke was pouring out of our 2012 John Deere Eztrak Z225 lawn tractor ... again. The good news is that the last head gasket replacement was in April 2017 ... so I got 5 years out of this one!

The first blown head gasket occurred 3 years and 9 months into ownership ... the second blown gasket was in April 2017 ... no wonder Briggs and Stratton went bankrupt.

Taking the back off requires some banging and swearing

 

Reference Material

This post documents information that I will probably need again. Hopefully not next year.

Engine: Briggs and Stratton Intek 31P777  

Torque pattern (220 inch pounds)

 

Other info needed to put the engine back together:

• Rocker cover bolts (4) torque: 45 inch pounds
• Intake valve clearance 0.003 - 0.005 in (bottom, aluminum rod)
• Exhaust valve clearance 0.005 - 0.007 in (bottom, steel rod)