A great birthday...

That's what I had. My wife got me that digital camera I've been thinking about for a year... So now I have no excuses when it comes to taking pictures. Seems our cats are a constant "Kodak-Moment' judging by the number of pics we've taken of them in the past day!!

Speaking of birthdays, one of my oldest friends, Greg, has a birthday two days before mine. Well yesterday morning I had a chance to chat a bit with him (if you can call rapid emails chat)... He moved up to Alaska and we don't talk as much as we used to, but, every time we do, it puts a smile on my face. If you get a chance, check out his website, he's taken some incredible photographs and posted hundreds of them!

http://www.arctic-exposure.com

For a sample of his writing, and some journals of his travels:

http://www.axua.com

I had another thought today. It seems lawn equipment is not made as well as it used to be. Especially lawn and garden equipment! I bought my first lawn tractor (a riding mower actually) in 1978, used, it served me well for 4 years and all I ever did to it was change the oil and spark plug once a year and sharpen the blades as needed. I bought a larger one in 1984, again used (10 years old at the time), and did the same with that one. I then bought a larger diesel tractor in 1984 and used it 5 or 6 years. The first two mowers I gave to neighbors who needed one, the tractor I traded to my friend Greg and I know that with the exception of repairing a bearing on the mower deck it's still in use today too.

The small garden tractor I bought 4 years ago when we moved into this house on the other hand has been a handful from the beginning... it throws a belt nearly everytime I mow the lawn, and has trouble keeping bearings in the mower deck. The Briggs&Stratton engine however seems to be as reliable as ever.

But... with the gas today.. anytime you intend to leave it sit idle for more than a few days it's imperative to add some gas stabilizer, or, you'll find yourslef disassembling the carburetor just to get it to start again... Seems that the absence of 'lead' in todays fuels encourages the growth of some petroleum 'microbe' (or so the parts depot folks tell me) and it's those microbes that make up the nasty gooey crap that clogs the carb... I'm gonna head over to one of those 'landscaper' supply type stores and see what kind of additives they sell those folks... no way would they ever want to have the set back of a carb rebuild simply because they didn't use a particular piece of equipment for 2 or 3 weeks!!