New Troy Bilt

So I did quite a bit of homework on lawn mowers and finally made a decision. I went with a Troy-Bilt TB350XP self-propelled with 21 inch cutting width from Amazon.com. I just couldn't find the thing locally and the shipping price with my Amazon Prime membership can't be beat. It arrived in two days in a pretty sturdy box:

I was surprised at how little packaging there was inside the box. No styrofoam or molded casings at all

But there was plastic around the top of the engine to keep that fire-engine red unscathed from transport

Putting it together took maybe 10 minutes, but reading the manual took half an hour:

I love how accessible the replacement parts are on this engine. The filter is literally one wing nut screw away from being replaced:

My first time out I felt like I was damn near jogging to keep up with it. It cut very clean and was extremely pleasant to use. The grips, while oddly shaped, were very comfortable. It started on the first pull. The packaging included the unit, plus a quart of oil for it. The blade was sharp and I discovered it had a built in deck wash as well. You simply screw on a water hose, turn on the engine, and turn on the water. It get's rid of all the clippings without having to flip the engine on its side. So far, I'm one happy customer.

Water Irrigation System

So we had some pretty hefty rain here in Fort Worth a couple of weeks ago, and our front porch area flooded almost instantly. Now, it didn't cover our walkway, but it did flood the little planter area. There were two weeping systems installed, which should have saved us from having flood issues. I say were, because this project is all about replacing them. First, a picture of how much of the mulch was displaced from the flooding:

I started to investigate and almost instantly realized the system was done for:

Obviously there was no cover on the system for quite some time. Perhaps this was back from the 80's when the home was built. After visiting Home Depot, I realized that without storm drains at the streets I was simply looking to run the water to a downward slope that would take it away from my home. Our home is built on a small hill, but the porch area and planter areas are on flat land. Now I had my goal! Let the dig begin.

The entrance is covered with a grate and a weeping system fabric that looks like cheesecloth, but is designed to let water in and keep mud out. The exit actually closes (manually) but pops open when water hits it.

I replaced the Y-joint weeping system with a single entry point that was starting from a deeper entry point. Finally, cleanup (pre-mulch):

Post mulch:

The culprit of my flooding woes: