Well I am a primary teacher atm, but most of the examples are just from a quick google. I think the confusing thing is that the "senses" doesn't just mean the verbs "see" "hear" etc, but actions connected to them so as "eating" is connected to tasting and is a physical action then it follows the rule. I think, "I could lift it yesterday," maybe for extra emphasis compared to today, makes it sound alright, but if it was just a pure fact about something you did with no comparison to anything, I would hazard you would phrase it differently. "Did the gardeners manage to dig that tree up?" "Yes, they did it quite easily". I wouldn't use "could" in the question, it would sound like a request then, and I would just say they did it in the answer.
I think a lot of these sentences possibly look fine on the screen because structurally they are accurate, but semantically would actually sound quite odd if you heard them spoken.
I think a lot of these sentences possibly look fine on the screen because structurally they are accurate, but semantically would actually sound quite odd if you heard them spoken.