It is crazy how many riders are falling out of the Giro. Crashes and illnesses have left the field and some teams in tatters. I was looking at the weather for Sunday and it is looking like I will have a cool ride for my first 50 miler as it is to be 64F with chances of rain mid day. Hoping for little wind...

I got the boys to school then went to my weekly session which went well. It was getting warm already by the time I got home so headed out right away to get mowing done. I went across the creek and made it maybe 2 passes before the mower head borked. I was left with only one string on the cutter head but managed to power through and cut until the gas ran out. It is the densest grass on the farm and the mower did great even with just one line.

After cooling off for a bit and setting the chicks on the deck in the heat I went and wandered up the hillside. One of the downed trees is COVERED in fungus. The entire tree is sprouting.

Cut one open to see. Not positive what it is exactly. I made a round of the upper pen fence line and found no issues.

The creek is flowing wonderfully ever since I removed the obstructions from this pinch point. No backups and it has finally returned to the original stream bed.

I spent a good bit of my afternoon hunting for the replacement part for the mower. Toro seems to no longer provide the part, ANYWHERE. You can see the missing wire. I am figuring I will have to make my own line attachment using the 2 slots. I have heavy wire or metal rod and a welder so will rig something up. The worst part is missing the grass guard from the main shaft which allows the grass to nearly lock it up. Maddening and I am not able to model it for 3d printing as of yet...

Much cooler today and we are expecting rain this afternoon. I get the boys to school in a bit, Giro is on, make sure things are covered for the rain and try to rake the cut grass before it hits, I will do a trainer ride, setup a trencher rental, wash my clothes, we have our session this afternoon, and then figure out dinner this evening.