Greetings All, I am very pleased to see more women exploring natural options for various aspects of daily living. But I do have a curiosity about those who claim to be "environmentalist" but seem unsure about how to collect their menstrual fluid. Any female who is an environmentalist would have no doubt considered using a non-disposable product for handling her menstrual flow--I would hope. Since some posters have touched on it, but haven't gone into great detail about collection/reusable menstrual products I will provide more information. Menstrual Cups: Not limited just the Diva or the Keeper/Knock off MoonCup are a great option for both improving your foot print on the environment and allowing you to neatly collect your menstrual flow. Insteads fall into this category but because they are worn very high in the vagina, next to the cervix like a diaphragm I would not recommend it for those that want to stay neat or collect blood. I would imagine it difficult to remove the Instead without spilling the flow but you would have to check out a forum of actual Instead users to find out if I am right. I personally use a Mooncup UK. If you are looking to switch to a menstrual cup you should explore all your options and brands that are made world wide and get one that you think will be better suited to your body. If you look at the bottom of my article on The Culture of Menstruation http://theanthroblogogist.50webs.com/body/the_culture_of_menstruation.html you will see links to every known menstrual cup made. If you need more information you can indefinitely feel free to contact me through my website. I've also heard about people using the rinse water from their cloth pads. Thats great as long as all natural detergents are used to launder your pads. Try etsy or ebay to find very cute cloth pads, or find a pattern and make some yourself. With sea sponges I am not really sure how much of an environmentalist one could be, since these were actually living creatures at once. I can't assume but can only imagine how far down hill things might go in the harvesting/farming of sea sponges just to be used as your personal tampon. I wouldn't recommend it as they are not a readily renewable source & something like a menstrual cup has more positives on this option. I do not recommend using disposable products to harvest your menstrual fluid from as they are laden with chemicals which is why most truly heath and environmentally conscious people have looked for better options. I am sure that if these are just house plants and nothing edible it might be fine, but for your health benefit switching to one of the healthier options discussed would be an excellent choice for yourself and the environment. To all of those people here who are "grossed out" by this I can only lend a sad laugh that you think of your body that way. It is silly to think that far "grosser" things aren't being put into every product you could possibly buy in a store. I do think that there are valid points about pathogens and disease, etc. But I would expect a person to know their body, know if they are taking BC to be careful or avoid fertilizing edibles. And use common curtesy and not fertilize a public (especially edible) garden without the consent of those who share it. Other than that, there is little if anything gross or dangerous about using your own bio-goods to contribute to the natural life cycle of the earth. To answer someone's question about being married. Yes I am married & my husband knows about all of this. He was weirded out by me bringing up the watering of plants with the blood from my cup (I haven't done it yet) But he is pretty open minded and would never try to stop me from doing so. Also I am sure he would eat plants I have grown that way (We use natural methods of BC, so no extra hormones). Why do people think its accptable to eat plants grown from animal feces or even animal blood as fertilizer, but somehow our own is just disgusting suddenly? Goodluck & health to everyone, please visit my page if you would like more info, or to discuss any of these topics further. Sincerely, The Anthroblogogist http://TheAnthroblogogist.50webs.com Here is a link that might be useful: Visit The Anthroblogogist Website

Adiel, Those pictures are very helpful, and you are a capable photographer. I agree with RC that you got your money's worth on that deal. If you bought this machine new it would cost you over a thousand dollars. Your 5th picture shows that the hammers have had very little wear, with nice square "sharp" corners. (The corners on my hammers have worn to about a one-quarter-inch radius, so I am overdue to "flip" my hammers.) Those tires have plenty of tread (actually pulling one of these "wagons" around your property puts very little wear on the tires.) If the valve stems are in good shape, you could just put this thing up on blocks and take the wheels and tires to a tire place where they can use their high-volume air supply to "blast" the tires into a tight fit on the rims. Some places use a little acetylene or ether to "explode" the tires onto the rims, but I wouldn't recommend that it. I think they are just showing off when they use that reckless technique. This situation is very common with tubeless tires on outdoor power equipment, so a tire place should be able to get them seated and aired to the pressure indicated on the tire. Your last picture shows the chipper blade and the throat of the chipper chute, and the fact that most of the paint is still on the chute confirms that this machine has had very little actual usage. When it comes time to remove this blade to sharpen it, you will access it through the swinging "door" shown in your first picture. The grease Zerk for the main bearing is close to that door. It originally had a plastic or rubber cover on it, but those things get lost easily. I accidentally damaged my Zerk cover with a MAPP torch flame when I was heating my blade retainer bolts to remove them. My Zerk cover is still there, but its retainer loop is fried. Those retainer bolts are factory installed with the Red grade of Loctite to absolutely lock those threads despite millions of impacts. That is vital, because that chipper blade takes thousands of impacts per minute when you are chipping. It could be catastrophic if those bolts loosened in use, so you shouldn't be able to remove those bolts without heating them very hot. After they have been heated to burn out the Loctite, they come right out. But you should use Loctite Threadlocker Red 271 when you reinstall them. Absolutely don't use the blue or the green grade of Loctite for those blade bolts. The blade is high grade tool steel, and probably should be sharpened by a professional with a wet sharpening stone. You don't want to dry sharpen it, because the heat generated by the sharpening process could de-temper the edge. Ideally this tool steel blade could remain surgically sharp for years while cutting plain wood, but in reality wood contains some silica and your branches will have some grit and dirt on them and the blade will lose some of its sharpness over time. This is a picture of my 12PT9 at a worksite this fall after I had just "polished off" a large brush pile to make a space for a flower bed next Spring. You can see those oversize back wheels in that picture. The brush pile was large and an eyesore, and it yielded many wheelbarrow loads of wood chips for path material in my backyard garden. ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned)

Have just pulled one wheel off a log splitter the tire of which has sat flat for lord knows how long, probably through at least one winter and summer. Unfortunately we had to make the splitter roll about twenty feet, thus breaking the bead on one side. No way that I could see to reestablish the seal. Then, finding this thread I tried the ratchet trick, first putting dish detergent - maybe too much dish detergent - all around the circumference and then putting the air to it. Massive bubbles from a couple of locations, and the tire does not inflate. So I guess I will first take out the valve stem and see if the extra air will make it pop, andif that doesn's work then some silicone caulking the way someone suggested.Don't think I'll try the ether/lighter fluid trick, though. One thing I am not clear about, and that is, does prolonged application of air result in a seal, like well over 5 minutes? I have a pretty good Campbell-Hausfeld compressor that should provide enough. maybe I should try that again

Several notes specifically related to your Wheel Horse: 1) You mentioned your mower deck will not accomodate wider tires - must be a 42", as the 48" will. 2) 24" tires should fit ok. 26" may fit if on the proper rims but will be a very tight fit at the fenders. If you go this route I think you'll want to space up the seat/fender with some spacers under the fender. 3) If you use the 23 x 8.50-12 tire size on original rims, I would recommend Firestone 23 degree or a similar tire with relatively flat footprint. The Carlisle lug tires I have seen in this size have a very rounded footprint that, in my opinion, does not work so well on harder surfaces. 4) if you're looking for a used set of rims to fit your WH, they'll most likely need to be from another WH, as few other tractors use wheels with the proper rear offset. 5) My preference would be 23 x 10.50-12 Carlisle Super Lugs mounted on the wider wheel rims as originally used on the 520H and 520-8 tractors. I don't think the 5xi series rear wheels had the proper backspacing for the Classic style tractors. This combo will provide the added benefit of improved side-hill stability, especially if you add bolt-on wheel weights. They will also fit in conjunction with a 48" mower deck, but as you said I don't think they'll work with a 42". 6) I use a 520-8 regularly for mowing with the above wheels/tires and rear weights - haven't seen any adverse effects on the lawn, no spin marks anywhere, and very stable on the hills. It also does a fine job of moving my 6x12 trailer in the yard and even moving dead cars around. 7) Loaded tires work fine for traction, but as a hobbyist restoring old tractors I am not a fan of any corrosive liquid in the wheels/tires. Ed