?Ever feel like Mother Nature's giving you the finger?

[BamaJohn]

Normally, Mother Nature's been good to me, giving me tailwinds when I needed them, and covering for me when I do stupid things.

But today, She's been giving me the finger, and whispering: "this is not the day to be doing this..."  

 

It began with a significant early morning squall, complete with winds, lightning, and heavy rain.  But I had checked the weather forecast, and the squall was supposed to pass thru pretty quickly.  So, I geared up to wash the travel trailer (including "debugging" the front).  Once dry, the cover was planned to be installed (with a little help from a friend).

That's when the fight started.........

 

• rigged up my new "water cannon" soap dispenser (which attaches to the end of the pressure washer wand), and dragged the pressure washer uphill from the basement.....THE PRESSURE WASHER WON'T RUN!  Go thru the usual air/fuel/spark checklist, and diagnose carburetor issue.  
• Go back to basics, and get out the bucket/soap/brush on a stick, and proceed to wash the trailer exterior, then rinse with the garden hose.
• As you'd guess, the front of the trailer is splattered with dried bug guts, and soap/water only removed the surface grit.  So off to the shop to get several different concoctions to try:  BMW bug remover spray;  Honda spray cleaner/polish....WOW...these bugs are REALLY stuck!

Then I remembered that I'd bought a new, improved, magic potion that swears it cleans AND waxes, leaving a UV protectant finish.  THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, RIGHT?

 

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, that stuff allowed me to return the finger flip to Mother Nature, and whisper "today IS the day!"

 

What's your story?.......

 

[Rockosmith]

Pray tell, what is this magic elixir?  

[taylor1]

Glad it ended well for you. Not so for me. I also pulled out my pressure washer today. Wanted to bleach the deck and pressure wash the whole boat. Scallop season is open and was planning on goin out tomorrow and catching a few. Got about 10 seconds of pressure and then no water. Worked my way through everything and of course the last thing to check is it. The adjustable nozzle is clogged. Tried every to unclog it but no go. Looks like it's the wife with a scrub brush and me with the hose.

[Hosstage]

Mostly mother nature loves me, it starts raining just as I pull into the driveway when riding, I've never hit hard rain on multi day long motorcycle trips, and very rarely hit any rain on trips, I have raced the first snow of the season home and won every time, snow falling as I pull into the driveway. That has happened at least ten times.

However, the weathermen have let me down  more than once, no rain tomorrow, so big ride planned, wake to drizzle or downpour. Miss the temperature by 15 or 20 degrees, no snow till next week to find 6" on the driveway.

Generally, God loves me and my motorcycle. Not sure why, I do everything in my power to disappoint him.

My pressure washer has performed flawlessly for 25 years, here's hoping for many more! One way to keep it nice, I never loan it out. Just about everything else can go out the door, but for some reason I'm very possessive of my washer.

[Hosstage]

I did hit quite a squall once when out in the boat with the family, but that wasn't Mother's fault, I saw the nasty clouds in the distance, "those won't hit for a while yet". Go a little longer, turn to go back home, and those clouds are on top of us, oh schmelt, this is not going to be good. It hit is like a ton of bricks, I thought seriously about running the boat up onto the neighbors shore and putting it right into his yard. Luckily the storm was moving so fast that it passed in about 5 Minutes. 5 long minutes. The lake was calm and gorgeous once it passed.

My wife will never trust me again when it comes to weather.

 But, the best story ever comes out of it. While we're fighting to get back, I see a pontoon loaded with family, small kids, dad waving for help, "it won't start!" I am torn, maritime law says I have to help, but we are also in dire straits, I turn the boat to go help, my wife screams what the hell are you doing? I say we have to help them, and that is when she utters the most famous and most uncharacteristic words to ever come out of her mouth: "F 'em, Leave 'em!"

I am shocked, just paralyzed, then I just bust out laughing, I mean I can't stop. This is one of the funniest things she has ever said! Now she's even more pissed, and really scared, rightfully so. I tell her I'm sorry, we have to try. Just then, the other boater yells over, I got it, it's running! I've never heard more calming words. I turn for home, and take my ass chewing from the wife once she is safe and warm in the house.

But, now whenever an incident comes up, it's family lore to say "F 'em, leave 'em!" 

[BamaJohn]

3 hours ago, Rockosmith said:

Pray tell, what is this magic elixir?  

We'll see if others find it effective....I hope it helps others.

Disclaimer:  I am not affiliated with this product in any way other than to share my experience from a first-time use.   

[wbw6cos]

John, I carry this spray bottle to deal with bugs on the RT and it works great. 

 

For the travel trailer, I would recommend that you use one of those gallon bug sprayers and pour in bottles of the hydrogen peroxide solution.  That way you do not need a ladder to reach with the small spray bottle.  Once you spray it, let it sit a few minutes and then use a brush with soapy solution you would normally wash with.  Rinse.   Eezy peezy.

 

 

Remember, it is not nice to fool Mother Nature.  

[Rougarou]

For bugs on vehicles

[BamaJohn]

Note:  this post was more intended to bring out funny stories of our interaction with Mother Nature.  There must be a lot of stories we'd enjoy hearing.

 

[RandyShields]

Sorry for the highjack John.  For those interested in the side story about bike cleaners, an all-in-one product that a number of folks use is Original Bike Spirits.  It does clean and protect, and can also be used on windscreens, but it has a bit of a petroleum smell.

[Hosstage]

4 hours ago, RandyShields said:

Sorry for the highjack John.  For those interested in the side story about bike cleaners, an all-in-one product that a number of folks use is Original Bike Spirits.  It does clean and protect, and can also be used on windscreens, but it has a bit of a petroleum smell.

Did mother nature mess with you while using it?

[Hosstage]

I rarely work outside as part of my job, but it seems when I do, it is the lousiest weather of the season. So far in the last two years I've had to work outside on the coldest day of the year to that point, the first (and heavy) snow of the year, the hottest day of the year, and one when it was raining, then started lightning, that's when I called it a day.

To be clear, I've only worked outside 5 days in the last two years. Me and mother mostly get along, but she seems to be telling me I should retire soon!

[wbw6cos]

It usually happens to me when I spray the lawn for weed control and it ends up raining the next day, even though (!!) the weather was forecast differently.   Sup wit dat?

[Rougarou]

54 minutes ago, wbw6cos said:

It usually happens to me when I spray the lawn for weed control and it ends up raining the next day, even though (!!) the weather was forecast differently.   Sup wit dat?

 

Enjoy,....but ye may be a bit late for this, 'cause once ground temps hit 'bout 50*, stuff starts germinatin'

 

 

 

[BamaJohn]

12 hours ago, RandyShields said:

Sorry for the highjack John.  For those interested in the side story about bike cleaners, an all-in-one product that a number of folks use is Original Bike Spirits.  It does clean and protect, and can also be used on windscreens, but it has a bit of a petroleum smell.

Agreed, Randy...I keep about 3 cans here...1 can in the bike at all times.

[BamaJohn]

1 hour ago, wbw6cos said:

It usually happens to me when I spray the lawn for weed control and it ends up raining the next day, even though (!!) the weather was forecast differently.   Sup wit dat?

It's a conspiracy, William. 

[BamaJohn]

On 3/18/2022 at 7:13 PM, Rougarou said:

For bugs on vehicles

Hmmm  I clearly remember you dissing on cleaning bikes, Richard...

[Scott9999]

@BamaJohn

I live in Northern Idaho, so mother nature has her middle finger permanently extended towards me.

 

As for as "doing stupid things", my must have read my autobiography by the same title.  🙄😒

 

"My story"?  Well, it starts at the beginning of last summer, when I thought ahead (hahahHAhaha) and ordered 400 sq ft of cultured stone to finish the concrete foundation around my house (seven years after I built it, eleven years after the first contractors STARTED it and the last homeowner abandoned it unfinished, I may finally get it done).   Well, it was 100F to 110F for something like six weeks over the summer, at which time I was supposed to start the project.  Which was OK, because the stone came in a month late, at the beginning of September, instead of the beginning of August.  (So much for forethought, planning, and buying stuff early.  I ended up returning that pallet of type-S mortar to the good folks at Lowes, who even picked it up.  Funny, I have no idea why they won't deliver anything here anymore.)   Well, because I was told the revised date was October, naturally, I did little to nothing to prepare.  The stone arrives on 24 hours notice, six pallets, "surprise" on my front driveway, and then we're off to the races.  I forecast my prep work to take me about 2 weeks.  6 weeks later, I was 3/4's done, winter was closing in, nights were getting dicey (freezing weather is not ideal for mortar work on a solid concrete sub-surface).   So, I ran up the white flag, cleaned up, stored 4 pallets of stone in my garage, two in front, stored my mortar in a dry, conditioned garage, and .....

 

.... waited the whole winter hoping the project would just go away. 

 

It didn't, temps are finally rising, and it's time to finish the other 90% of the prep work, and start installing stone.   It's a bit more complicated than that, but somehow, I just blame Mother nature for the whole debacle, just ... .well, because it's always better to blame someone or something rather than accept accountability for it yourself.

 

At this rate, hmmmm, I figure I'll have the stonework finished, start the spring landscaping project (i.e. 3 story house on a hillside, yippee!) ... maybe July.   So, before anyone ELSE (other than my old Southern California riding buddy) mocks me for being a p*ssy, when I should be out there hitting the twisties hard already, I've got an excuse and someone/something to blame.  Maybe not a good one, but it'll do. 

 

(Hey  you asked for a story; be careful what you wish/ask for.  Would you like some more whine, red or white?  🤣🤣🤣🤣)

[Rougarou]

15 minutes ago, BamaJohn said:

Hmmm  I clearly remember you dissing on cleaning bikes, Richard...

 

I do the windshield on occasion and the headlight covers, but the GSA hasn't had a hose put on it since I bought it Oct 2019 and the RT was last washed Sept 2019 for a possible trade in for the GSA.

[Rougarou]

56 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

 

Enjoy,....but ye may be a bit late for this, 'cause once ground temps hit 'bout 50*, stuff starts germinatin'

 

 

 

 

Oh, and if you have an issue with dallisgrass or crabgrass, wait til it warms up a bit, two hits with MSMA-6 20 days apart should knock it out. 

 

 

Check the legality for your state

[Skywagon]

John.....recent mother nature and senior moment combined.  Grass season...St. Augustine is growing and so is every weed ever known to man.  I buy $300 worth of lawn fertilizer that goes on dry and then waters in.  I buy $200 worth of pre-emergent that goes on wet grass.  Lets see.  It rains even though forecast is for no rain.  Ahh let's put out the pre-emergent.  First I better rake all the leaves or it won't penetrate.  Twenty two sacks of live oak leaves.  Old people shouldn't work that hard, but our yard man is busy and it has to get done.  I spread all the sacks of pre-emergent on the lawn....both front and back.  I wait a week or so to make sure no more weeds are coming and the existing ones are going away.  Weird....weeds are getting bigger and more weeds are coming.  Well maybe I better put out the fertilizer.  Healthy St. Augustine will choke out 90% of the weeds.  Wait for a dry day. I look at the sacks and guess what...........The remaining sacks are pre-emergent.  I actually fertilized the weeds and gave them a good healthy start.  If it wasn't for Mother Nature and that non forecasted rain maybe I would have done it in the right order.

 

Yard is recovering right now and I have some really healthy grass and weeds...although I can see the weeds are losing.

[Rougarou]

Enjoy!

 

 

Nevermind, don't use Crossbow,.....it's bad for St Augustine

[BamaJohn]

1 hour ago, Skywagon said:

John.....recent mother nature and senior moment combined.  Grass season...St. Augustine is growing and so is every weed ever known to man.  I buy $300 worth of lawn fertilizer that goes on dry and then waters in.  I buy $200 worth of pre-emergent that goes on wet grass.  Lets see.  It rains even though forecast is for no rain.  Ahh let's put out the pre-emergent.  First I better rake all the leaves or it won't penetrate.  Twenty two sacks of live oak leaves.  Old people shouldn't work that hard, but our yard man is busy and it has to get done.  I spread all the sacks of pre-emergent on the lawn....both front and back.  I wait a week or so to make sure no more weeds are coming and the existing ones are going away.  Weird....weeds are getting bigger and more weeds are coming.  Well maybe I better put out the fertilizer.  Healthy St. Augustine will choke out 90% of the weeds.  Wait for a dry day. I look at the sacks and guess what...........The remaining sacks are pre-emergent.  I actually fertilized the weeds and gave them a good healthy start.  If it wasn't for Mother Nature and that non forecasted rain maybe I would have done it in the right order.

 

Yard is recovering right now and I have some really healthy grass and weeds...although I can see the weeds are losing.

I happen to know how course and curly-edged live oak leaves are, and the fact that 1 bushel goes where 2 bushels should go.......jb