I wish I had some kind of cool news/happening/event/situation going on to write about, but I don't. Things here have been kind of slow and steady with no real excitement at all. I do always manage to keep myself busy doing something around here, so its not as bad as it was back in February when I thought I was going to lose my mind being stuck in the house.

After tinkering with the Lowboy off and on for a week, I did figure out that it needed a starter. I got online and checked prices at a few places, and almost fell outta my chair. $300 and up! I talked to the neighbor and told him to see if he could find me a used one, since he and his dad have lots of sources for parts. Turns out.....I didn't need to talk to him about it, dad had a spare in his old barn! Of course, it had a different pulley on it, so I had to swap them out, then had to drill & tap the body to accept the screws that hold the voltage regulator. I put the new-old used one on, wired it, popped on the belt, tensioned and tightened it, and crossed my fingers. Wooohaaww, the motor turned over! Just as my luck would have it though, a weeks worth of fiddling around and cranking the old one left the new battery low, so I had to put it on slow charge overnight tonight. When I had the charger on hi/start, the motor would crank, but of course not fire.....ugh. I'll mess with that tomorrow. If I was able to get it running last year after sitting for almost 5 years, I think I can manage getting it started from just sitting over the winter.

I'm still not sure what I am going to do with the John Deere lawn tractor. The engine need work, which really ticks me off. It's only 5 years old, it shouldnt need engine work. That gets under my skin, and now I'm more pissed at them for selling the low-end models to be built by MTD. (murray tractor division) They make the cheapo disposable craftsmans, mtd's, and others. Now MTD will make the John Deere's and Cub Cadets that are sold in the big box stores and in the farm-chain stores. Sell out the name and quailty to sell in quantity....I may just sell the thing and get away from the name after hearing this. I'll boycot them just like I do with Kraft Foods and anything Pepsi/Pepsico. ( for those who dont know, pepsi has been the biggest condributor to sarah brady and company *handgun control inc* for many years)

We're doing a bit more to the garden tomorrow, putting in green beans and sweet corn. We'll still wait a week or 2 to put in the rest since we've had frost for 3 nights in a row. That will probably happen after our camping trip. Lisa's friend from work is coming over tomorrow too, to put in his own small garden area like he wanted. I just hope he doesn't need a lot of room since I made the paths wider between plant rows, which cut down on open space. Ah well, if I have to, I'll just widen the whole thing another 4 or 6 feet. It's not like we wouldnt use the space lol.

We *may* be getting more hens, I should know more by this weekend. If we get them the count will be 6 more, lol. No idea what breed, but he says they are laying. I'll take what I can get now, though Lisa has her heart set on silkies after seeing tammie's today, lol.