I took this tiller apart and found that the tine gears and bushings are worn. It's 15 years old and I thought the old machine would go on forever. It'll cost more money than I want to spend to fix, so I guess there will be no garden this year. Oh, I'll put out some tomato and pepper plants but I'm afraid gardening on the scale that I'm used to is out of the question. It happened at just the right time. I found out from my doctor this morning that I have another bad disc. My back has been bothering me for some time now, in fact, it's so uncomfortabe to sit at the computer that I've been neglecting the blog. So, I'll have to be careful while lifting heavy stuff like bags of fertilizer, remodeling materials, and grand kids.

easter

Marley, Hunter, and Jenna hunt for Easter eggs.

quote of the day

“The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it.”

--Edward Dowling - Chicago Daily News, 28 July 1941
Found at Time Goes By

what i'm reading now

This book was written by Jacob Weisberg, the editor in chief of Slate. He also wrote In Defense of Government, and co-wrote In an Uncertain World with Robert E. Rubin. He has been a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and a columnist for Financial Times. Here is a blurb from the cover: This is the book that cracks the code of the Bush presidency. Unstintingly yet compassionately, and with no political ax to grind. Slate editor in chief Jacob Weisberg methodically and objectively examines the family and circle of advisers who played crucial parts in George W. Bush's historic downfall.

miscellaneus appurtenances

• It's been warm and dry and we're under a fire danger alert. I heard the sirens in the distance echoing down the holler so I grabbed my camera and caught this photo of a truck from the Westville Fired Dept. on it's way to render mutual assistance to the Christie-Proctor dept. fighting a brush fire in the hills just west of us.
  
  

  
  

  • The daffodils have joined the crocuses. They're shouting to me, "Hang on, Wally, spring is right around the corner!"
  • Ever have one of those days? I've been having one of those weeks. This is complicated so stay with me. My electronic piano keyboard has Midi capabilities, which means with the proper software, I can play the piano through my computer, take lessons, and record my own playing. My new computer's operating system doesn't support the midi programs for my particular model, but Windows 98 does. I still have my old processor with W98 so I bought a KVM switch that connects two computers while using only one keyboard, mouse and monitor. A wonderful invention. I got it all hooked up and everything worked fine except I couldn't connect to the Internet with the old computer. It didn't recognize it's own modem. I stayed up late reinstalling the modem and tinkering with it until it finally worked.
  • I'm trying to get my tiller ready to plow a new garden. I installed a new seal for the tine drive shaft and thought I was good to go, but now there is a clattering sound coming from somewhere deep inside the apparatus. I suspect it's a worn or malfunctioning dog clutch. So, back to the wrenches and sockets. I'll take it apart again and see if that's the problem. If it is it may mean some downtime while I order new parts. The grand kids and I were going to plant potatoes on St Patrick's day, but now we'll have to wait.
    
    

two blogs

In the right hand column you'll find two new blog titles. Testing the Waters, My Caribbean Adventure is written by my daughter, Rachel. She's going to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island to live and work for a few months. I'm looking forward to some interesting posts and spectacular photos.

Milk Gravy on Biscuits is the work of my online friend, Clarence. He was writing Can You Hear Me Now? I think he made the change when I bought my new computer and during the changeover I lost the link to his new blog. I thought he had dropped off the planet until I received an email from him. So we're plugged in again.

dorothy's chocolate pie

Dorothy made a chocolate pie. Whenever she makes a pie I can usually wait until it cools before having a piece, but with a chocolate pie I like to have it warm. She holds me off until she thinks the filling is set enough to hold together then down come the barricades and I rush to the kitchen counter. I've eaten chocolate pie from the ovens of different cooks and it's always disappointing. Most people simply use chocolate pudding as the filling and that should be against the law. Dorothy makes hers from scratch using real cocoa powder. So, I cut a slice and with the first bite I saw a vision of Quetzalcoatl descending from Paradise with a cocoa tree under his arm. I saw noble Aztec chieftains take huge draughts from goblet after golden goblet of royal dark xocolatl. I saw deep brown rivers of cocoa flowing from the mountains to the valleys, across the seas and over the prairies to Dorothy's kitchen where she baked it into a pie. I had two slices.

3:10 to yuma

We watched the 2007 version of 3:10 to Yuma last night. Since it was a remake, first we watched the 1957 black and white version starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. The new movie is action packed and visually interesting, but I prefer the old version. The cinematography was just as spectacular in high contrast black and white as it was in color and the walk from the hotel to the train station was intense with suspense compared to the blood and guts in-your-face violence portrayed in the new film. The old film ended with good triumphing over evil but you can't really say that of the new version.

quote of the day

It may be that two souls meet and it is not destined that they are to be together in this world. They touch each other and part. They have other work to do. Yet the meeting can never be forgotten; it is ingrained on the soul itself.

--Reshad Field

Jenna poses

Jenna dressed herself today. Notice the chic inside out and backward shirt. The avant-garde use of a t-shirt for a skirt and the tasteful use of her big sisters shoes as a fashion statement.

a new room

Marley rejoices over her new room. Her dad is putting the bunk bed together.
Her room has a beach theme so her aunt Rachel painted this picture for her.

more birthdays

Jenna blows out both candles on the cake her cousin Sami made for her.

Dorothy gets an assist from Jenna.

It took Burk, Jenna, and Marley to blow the candles off his.