# Ride on Lawn Mowers - Flood pics



## Zeus. (10 Jun 2021)

Hi all,

Been weighing up ride on lawn mowers recently for my garden which is about 3/4 of an acre with inclines so thought four wheel drive would be good, there not cheap, thinking eco as well.
Came across *this* on ebay.

Well it ticks all the boxes 

Zeus


----------



## zozo (10 Jun 2021)

Haha, I remember a complete series of tools like that being offered. The drill hammer and the chainsaw
And a few more...


----------



## mort (10 Jun 2021)

I live in a normal semi detached house in suburbia and two houses down, the admittedly strange bloke turned up with a goat one morning to cut his grass. I think it lasted a few weeks chained to a post in his back garden.


----------



## jamila169 (10 Jun 2021)

> strange bloke turned up with a goat one morning to cut his grass. I think it lasted a few weeks chained to a post in his back garden.


you mean it took more than an hour to realise that goats will eat almost anything before they'll eat grass?


----------



## Zeus. (10 Jul 2021)

Went for second hand Husqvarna R320 AWD Out-Front Ride-On Mower and a thirty year old tipping trailer, trailer was is excellent condition for its age.



Cut a few paths on long grass for starters



Wife wasn't too keen on them 😇


----------



## LondonDragon (10 Jul 2021)

I can see why the wife might have not been keen on the idea! but I bet you had fun doing that


----------



## Zeus. (10 Jul 2021)

Even named than as 'Silfen Paths' after Peter F Hamilton Commonwealth Saga - Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained an Epic/must read, read them twice and looking forward to read them again. For any fans of the Saga I have yet to find 'Morning Light Mountain'


----------



## shangman (10 Jul 2021)

I rather like the paths! In a week it'll all merge and look natural and lovely. Would be even better with some wild flowers in the mix!


----------



## foxfish (10 Jul 2021)

I use a Husqvarna it is OK, I had the mulching blades fitted so no grass to pick up.
It has never been easy to start, it does always start but never straight away.
I had a Honda before and that seemed to be a much better built machine, it cost me £1200 it lasted about 15 years and i still got £400 part excahnge .
Yours has the blades front mounted which I think makes the driver look like a meerkat  ha ha….


----------



## Zeus. (10 Jul 2021)

shangman said:


> Would be even better with some wild flowers in the mix!


Yes, read up about that and with the grass being so dense wild flowers wouldn't have much of a chance unfortunately.


foxfish said:


> I had the mulching blades fitted so no grass to pick up.


The deck is a mulching deck so no pickup


foxfish said:


> I use a Husqvarna it is OK, It has never been easy to start, it does always start but never straight away.


Starting hasn't been an issue for a nine year old machine, it has a Briggs & Stratton Engine, which I do intend to strip on overall come winter


foxfish said:


> Yours has the blades front mounted which I think makes the driver look like a meerkat  ha ha….


😆, dead handy for getting under bushes and it has a pretty tight turning circle, back end kicks out a bit when doing so,


----------



## foxfish (10 Jul 2021)

I had a big green ride on at one time, I cant remember the make but it had a two forward speed gearbox And could go really fast (15mph?) 
Anyway, I decided to sharpen the blades (big single deck) while still in place so i made a one sided ramp and drove her up an an acute angle.
I used a 4” grinder with a sanding disk to sharpen the blades, worked a treat so I dove back dow the ramp and started it up.
I thought that it sounded a bit rough and reved it up a bit only for the motor to completely seize up!
What had happened was the engine oil  had drained away while it was at an angle.
It was an expensive mistake for sure!


----------



## Karmicnull (10 Jul 2021)

Zeus. said:


> For any fans of the Saga I have yet to find 'Morning Light Mountain'


For which you should be profoundly grateful!


----------



## Wookii (13 Jul 2021)

Zeus. said:


> Cut a few paths on long grass for starters
> 
> 
> 
> Wife wasn't too keen on them 😇



Excellent! Mini Pitch-and-Putt or a Go Kart track as a second income could be in your future! . . . Man, I'm so envious of that outlook and river access!


----------



## Zeus. (13 Jul 2021)

Wookii said:


> Man, I'm so envious of that outlook and river access!



You might not be when river floods, when it flooded earlier this year when river was at 4.07meters ( last owner sent me these pics on request)





You can see the level it reached inside the garage where the wall is wet
the highest its been on record is 5.17 meters sept 1999, so thats just below the light switch


----------



## Wookii (13 Jul 2021)

Ouch! I guess there’s no such thing as a free lunch eh! . . . but you still went for the house?


----------



## Zeus. (13 Jul 2021)

Wookii said:


> but you still went for the house?



Yes, there is always a risk. Unlike Brian May I am aware of the risk of flooding of house.


----------



## zozo (16 Jul 2021)

Meanwhile, in Germany and Belgium, this was yesterday and the day before.


The area where I live is 20 to 30 miles downhill away from this area, we got the aftermath, a tad less drastic but still, quite some villages evacuated.

I feel really lucky living on top of a hill and see the creek below it turn into a rafting monster.


----------



## Zeus. (16 Jul 2021)

What a tragedy 😭😭, one of the hidden issues when rivers are held back with banks and we colonise the available land is when freak weather happens and banks bust and very high volumes of water moving fast destroy everything in their way.


----------



## zozo (16 Jul 2021)

Yup,  it's a wake-up call, how a small idyllic village with a romantic babbling brook can turn into a horror movie. 

From this




to this 

in less than 3 days time.


----------



## Zeus. (16 Jul 2021)

Flash flood Hit Coverack in Cornwall 2017, a lot of rain in one place

Not as bad as Germany


----------



## zozo (16 Jul 2021)

It seems all of Europe was hit by heavy rainfall this year. Reports from Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands and also the UK?

How unlucky can one get, first downhill with that Corona lockdown, then uphill for a bit than this.  Devastating especially the people hit with a business to run.


----------



## Onoma1 (20 Jul 2021)

> shangman said:
> Would be even better with some wild flowers in the mix!


Yes, read up about that and with the grass being so dense wild flowers wouldn't have much of a chance unfortunately.

The work New Pereniaal Movement provide ways of adding in flowers to the grasses and suggest ways of planting to manage modest flooding. In a UK context, the work of academics at Sheffield Uni are particularly interesting. See, Designed Ecology | Landscape | The University of Sheffield or  About

Inspired by Dutch planting designer, Piet Oudolf they focus on naturalistic planting designs working with nature.

BTW love the shapes you cut and I definitely have lawnmower envy!


----------



## Zeus. (21 Jul 2021)

Wife wasn't too happy with long grass, plus didn't want to have to cut it all and get it heathy again too late in growing season as getting it dry would be tricky. So cut most of it.


----------



## Zeus. (21 Feb 2022)

Think I will leave it a little longer to cut the grass 

The new pump I fitted is coping with the water getting through the wall, another 20cm deeper and it would off been over the steps. It was a close call. Good to test the pump,  some minor modifications need doing to the land drains  which can be done later in the year which I had planned for as well.


----------



## Andy Taylor (21 Feb 2022)

Zeus. said:


> View attachment 183153
> Think I will leave it a little longer to cut the grass
> 
> The new pump I fitted is coping with the water getting through the wall, another 20cm deeper and it would off been over the steps. It was a close call. Good to test the pump,  some minor modifications need doing to the land drains  which can be done later in the year which I had planned for as well.


Get yourself some ducks and geese and keep the rather large puddle as a nature reserve🤣


----------



## Zeus. (21 Feb 2022)

River hasn't peaked yet, had a new forecast shortly after last post which had higher levels


----------



## Karmicnull (21 Feb 2022)

Fingers crossed for you.


----------



## LondonDragon (21 Feb 2022)

Oh crap! summer project! Add a couple of tiers to your wall and a couple of extra steps!!


----------



## Zeus. (21 Feb 2022)

LondonDragon said:


> Oh crap! summer project! Add a couple of tiers to your wall and a couple of extra steps!!


once the water gets up to step water coes through wall and up trough ground as well. so probably wont make any difference 😤


----------



## Zeus. (21 Feb 2022)

You can see the water going over flood defence in farmer field, making a bit of noise as well






need to wait till river drops before water my side will fall, pump is still on think its helping a little but not much 🤷‍♂️


----------



## Zeus. (22 Feb 2022)

This morning



Just needed the lady of the lake to present Excalibur to me
AT present



Soon as the river level went lower than the step my pump started winning @30,000 Litres/Hour plus a smaller pump


----------



## LondonDragon (22 Feb 2022)

Did it flood your basement?


----------



## Zeus. (23 Feb 2022)

LondonDragon said:


> Did it flood your basement?


yes




And 'Olympus has fallen'




Lowered the water level in tank to 10cm after pic was took as base is compromised, didn't need a bucket of hose to get water out as I just let it go on the floor


----------



## Wolf6 (23 Feb 2022)

Wow, that is terrible  hopefully the damages wont be too bad once all the water has gone.


----------



## PARAGUAY (23 Feb 2022)

As above post hopefully damage retrievable


----------



## John q (23 Feb 2022)

You have my sympathy mate, flood water damage is horrendous. Sadly these incidents are becoming the norm these days. 😪


----------



## Zeus. (23 Feb 2022)

I was going to scrap the base anyway, but son was going to use the tank and base but due to renovations was unable to get it moved. Damages are minor - house was build with regular flooding in mind, the cellar foods on regular basis and we knew it would happen sooner or later - was hoping for next year 🤷‍♂️
Glad it happened as can see what needs doing for next time and have detailed spreadsheets of critical levels when my flood defence gets breach

Tank base is unfortunate, no stock was lost


----------



## GHNelson (23 Feb 2022)

Terrible mate, hope you can get things sorted after the flood water recedes as soon as possible! 
All the best!


----------



## Zeus. (23 Feb 2022)

River nearly back to top of normal range



garage and tank room all hose piped and brush out





Parts of the floor was even dry before I started with the hosepipe


----------



## Karmicnull (23 Feb 2022)

Respect for knowingly taking that house on.  Would love to see the outcome of your basement spreadsheet and measurements.  Hopefully it remains worth it for the fabulous location!


----------



## Zeus. (23 Feb 2022)

Karmicnull said:


> Respect for knowingly taking that house on.  Would love to see the outcome of your basement spreadsheet and measurements.  Hopefully it remains worth it for the fabulous location!


well I used the Govs website for flooding used their data from nearest measuring station upstream and the one above plus York's Viking recorder station, both upper and lower recording stations had computer predictions as well.
used observations and landmarks on garden for certain levels at nearest measuring station, plus had spread sheet showing diferances between station at 1,2,3 and 4 hour time differances - as it takes time for water to flow down river.
Present spreadsheet has 300 rows and 12 column's of data
snap shot of data




If your after all the data will pm you a download for it 
You can download the last five days of data from the Govs website for any of the measuring stations - well you can since I asked them for the data download some time back, I was after all the data for years not just five days, but five days better than nothing


----------



## Karmicnull (23 Feb 2022)

Nice. And you've correlated that with the depth of water in the garden and basement so you can predict how future flood warnings will affect you?


----------



## Zeus. (23 Feb 2022)

Karmicnull said:


> Nice. And you've correlated that with the depth of water in the garden and basement so you can predict how future flood warnings will affect you?


yes.
Over 4m at measuring station  its over my flood defence and garage floods, make on wall shows depth





mark was made from pic when flooded last year when the house wasn't mine 4.07m and the same depth was reached when this year the measuring station had higher levels of 4.093m , this is probably due to the farmers field flooding opposite keeping the level at the house down.
I do have another mark on the wall at 5.12m which is the Historical high 20+ years ago






Although Aldwark Bridge measuring station is a bit of a bottle neck



Our house isn't a bottle neck - so it should ever reach the level on the wall and a neighbour who has lived there many years has said that once the flood wall is breached on opposite side of river (green verge behind trees in middle of pic below) it doesn't go up much further as the water can spread a long way. So hopefully the 4.07m mark is the highest it will go



If it reaches the 5.12meters mark on wall most of York will be under water
On the plus side they will never build on opposite side of river


----------



## Kelvin12 (24 Feb 2022)

Jeez *Zeus *all that going on and you still took the time to answer my Pm.  Bloody marvellous mate speaks volumes of you.   Didn't  know it was so bad over there.  Know what you are going through and at the moment we are getting deluged and our river is on the rise but not as bad as yours and wont3 be as bad......  

Dirk.


----------



## Zeus. (24 Feb 2022)

Kelvin12 said:


> Jeez *Zeus *all that going on and you still took the time to answer my Pm. Bloody marvellous mate speaks volumes of you.


Well your cant just sit around and moan about it, there is always something to do, 'Life is like a bucket of water - you can only take out what you put in' . Its our choices of what we put in the bucket that's makes it worth while


----------



## Garuf (24 Feb 2022)

Is there a way we can help?


----------



## Zeus. (24 Feb 2022)

Garuf said:


> Is there a way we can help?


Thanks for the offer, however its all covered/expected


----------



## KirstyF (25 Feb 2022)

Fabulously positive attitude to have about something that would knock the stuffing out of many folks…..and it really is a beautiful spot. Glad ur finding a way to live alongside what nature is throwing at you and have to admire your fortitude. 😊


----------



## Zeus. (25 Feb 2022)

KirstyF said:


> Fabulously positive attitude to have about something that would knock the stuffing out of many folks…..



A few years back I had bacterial meningitis in Egypt. It was hit and miss for 24hrs, after that what's  a bit of flooding


----------

