Today I broke my garden tractor. I tried changing the oil in the hydrostatic transmission, because it started making more noise than usual (and it's had a hard life anyway). I documented the process for the nice ol' duffers over at http://www.mytractorforum.com/, but ended up with a garden tractor that doesn't move. The joys of a "sealed unit" that never requires maintenance. Sure. I guess that gets the manufacturer out of writing a service procedure too.
That project successfully in a disastrous state, I moved on to building a bench I'd been planning for a while. It's called an Aldo Leopold bench after the American ecologist. There's some debate about his original design, but it's a pretty simple design that makes a sturdy, comfortable bench.
I used the basic plan linked above, except made it 47 inches wide, and used coated deck screws and construction adhesive instead of carriage bolts and wood screws. My version used four feet each of a 2x10 and a 2x6, and all of a 10-ft 2x8. It's plenty sturdy, and comfortably seats two (even when one of the two is my size).
Tomorrow, maybe the garden tractor will make its way back out of the dugout (whoa, enough with the baseball puns).
