I am so envious of your spectacular finds, adina! And such bargains! I paid 3 times the price of your magnificent carousel horse for my small aluminum playground pony. I think your carousel horse would look lovely painted like a horse on a real merry-go-round. I'd paint all the little gee-gaws on its bridle and saddle bright colors. I think it would really set off the cream color you plan for the body and bring the creature to life. I hope you post more pictures when this steed is installed in your garden. I love your other metal art creatures too!

OK, first of all, let me say that fuel does not flow out of a carburetor into the engine because it is pressurized by a fuel pump, or by gravity. There is a form of pressure involve in how fuel gets from the carb to the engine, but not like you may have thought Lots of folks think that a fuel pump, or gravity pushes fuel out of the carb and into the engine. That ain't how it works with a carburetted fuel system. A carburetor operates like this: The carburetor Fuel Bowl is FILLED with fuel by a fuel pump or by gravity, but that is only for FILLING the bowl. The float then rises as the fuel fills the bowl and as the float rises, it operates a "needle valve" to close off the flow of fuel into the carb so that the flow of fuel INTO the bowl is stopped at a specified point, or "float level". Fuel is "withdrawn" from the carburetor bowl and into the engine induction system (intake) due to what is called "venturi generated vacuum", which is created when the air flow being inhaled by the engine causes a "vacuum" inside the carburetor throat. Because there is a vacuum inside the carburetor, atmospheric pressure is able to cause the fuel to flow out of the bowl through prescribed passages and into the carb throat. The strength of the venturi vacuum applied to the carb fuel passages is in direct proportion to how far the carburetor throttle plate is opened. Open the throttle plate, and you are "giving it the gas"......as in: "Here, take this gas, its a gift.". Not like the carb is force feeding gas to the engine, but only OFFERING the gas to the engine, venturi vacuum is actively drawing the gas out of the carb bowl, not simply receiving the gas fed to it. That is the basic outline of how carburetion works. Now, about that strange little solenoid on the bowl. That solenoid is included in the more recently manufactured engines to prevent what is known as "afterfire combustion" in the exhaust system. Afterfire is most commonly called "back fire" by people who have heard it. Afterfire happens AFTER the engine has been put into shut down mode (ignition system has been stopped) either by the operator turning off the key, or because a safety interlock switch has been activated (seat switch etc.) Afterfire is the loud bang that issues from the muffler/exhaust system as the engine finally winds to a halt after the ignition system has been turned off. Old school machines where there was not a fuel solenoid would almost always produce a loud bang or pop when shut down hot. That is because even though the ignition system has been "killed", the fuel system continues to carry fuel into the still spinning engine by venturi vacuum. The interior walls of the exhaust system are still hot enough to support combustion at all times during engine operation, but because there is little or no fuel in the exhaust stream, afterfire is not possible when the engine is running. But..........just as soon as you shut down the ignition system, fuel is no longer burned INSIDE the engine. Instead, the unburned fuel flows on into the exhaust system, where temperatures are still high enough to ignite the fuel. So long as the exhaust stream is rushing through the muffler while the engine winds down, the fuel does not ignite. But when the engine finally stops, the fuel heats up and detonates, and that is when the bang occurs. The fuel solenoid prevents (or minimizes) afterfire by stopping the flow of fuel out of the carb main jet as soon as the key switch is turned off. With the main jet now closed off by the solenoid valve, the fuel component is mostly absent from the air flowing into and out of the engine. This "air only" flow through the engine effectively purges all traces of residual fuel from the exhaust system, so there is no fuel to make the big bang. Now, back to your neighbor's carb. Installing a manual fuel shut off valve does work to prevent any small leakage past the needle valve from drowing an engine while the machine is stored between use cycles. But, the fact you see little movement in the float may be an indication that the float system is not working correctly, and is incapable of shutting off the fuel flow, or " maintaining optimum fuel level" during operation. During operation, the float keeps the needle valve ALMOST SHUT OFF, allowing only enough fuel into the bowl to maintain the correct fuel level. The fuel rate entering the carb exactly matches the rate at which the engine is withdrawing fuel from the carb........but only if everything about the float, needle valve, and its valve seat.....are in good order. If the float and needle valve are not operating properly to limit fuel entering the carb, the fuel level will rise and overflow the bowl and when that happens, the fuel mixture becomes too rich to burn efficiently, and the engine might not run at all. I think in the case of you and your neighbor, a new carb will be the best action to take. And replace those bolts with new also, vise grips are not the tools to use for installing bolts. Removing when necessary, yes. Installing.......never.

And if it is the flower buds, rather than the leaf buds/growth tips, being eaten, then you will get no, or fewer, flowers this spring. I don't know if they would work, so am offering it only as a suggestion - but one of the critter-ridder sprays, probably one that claims to deter groundhogs or rabbits, might work. I know red pepper/cayenne powder will mostly keep squirrels out of my bird feeders (I mix it with the seed), but didn't stop a raccoon from taking several feeders down from the hooks at night, and dragging them off into the bushes if they were hard to open (hanging the feeders from light ropes did the trick). If you are dealing with a large tree, the suggestion becomes impractical. It might be too late for this year, but you could make yourself a note and spray next year at this time or a bit earlier. The other thing to remember is that the trees evolved with bud-eating "varmints", so it probably won't kill the tree unless the varmint (whatever it is) keeps it up over the entire spring and summer, for a couple of years. The tree won't get bigger, or will do so more slowly than it might otherwise, but it will probably live, as long as the varmint moves on soon. Whatever the "varmint" is, it is probably attracted to the nutrient-rich buds, in the absence of other foods. You could always "give in to it", in a sense, and put out some other food that it can get to - either bird seed, suet or peanut butter come to mind. This would at least keep it from the chestnut buds. It would also, unfortunately, teach it to look to you for food, so it's a toss up.

Hi Everyone, Longtime forum lurker, first time poster. I've been following this post and a couple others regarding CC's. Gill (or anyone else who might know), how much of the stalk do you leave on your CC's when you separate and repot them? I received a CC recently and there was a 3.5 inch stem. Should I trim it or leave the length as is? How much of the stem do you "bury" into the "soil" mix? Thank you for any direction - Lily