Sears replaced the lawn tractor, but couldn't manage to get the correct model by the time they had promised to make amends. Rather than creating any further delay, they delivered a better one. Our 16hp tractor was replaced with an 18hp model with a cast iron axle. The $250 upgrade makes the three trips to and from their store much more tolerable.

If you're up for some dry reading, the user manual is available in soft copy. I've been poring over it, getting ready to change the mower belt. Thanks to a rather unfriendly tree root, the original belt didn't last much longer than four hours. That, of course, is another story.

Jenny fixed my blog for me! It's a good thing too, because I'm helpless with style sheets and all that stuff. The images had become broken and the new Google bloggerbar thingie at the top was encroaching down onto the blog, but she fixed it. I'm so happy :)

Alicia has been in a great deal of pain lately. She recovered very nicely from her surgery, but about the same day I wrote the entry about that, she started to experience some pain in her left side. I was pretty convinced it was her appendix. UNC Hospitals' on-call OB-GYN wasn't sure what the problem was, but those symptoms aren't usually associated with the surgery, so yesterday Alicia went to see our doctor. They suspected it was a kidney stone, but urinalysis was inconclusive and her blood test didn't indicate anything interesting happening with her gall bladder or appendix. They did prescribe a large bottle of narcotics, though, and she'll be going back on Wednesday morning for further testing. If that turns up negative, they'll probably send her to the hospital for a more intensive battery of tests.

*My apologies to Herve Villechaize

Alicia had her tubes tied a week ago. The procedure is actually called a "tubal ligation," and there are no knots involved. Instead of tying knots, they put little titanium clips on the fallopian tubes. I thought the concept was really cool, but then the surgeon explained that she wouldn't set off airport metal detectors. My excitement waned quickly.

Some people have expressed confusion with Alicia opting for sterilization. In fact, her doctor called the morning of the surgery and asked her if she wanted to back out. The surgeon requested the call in case someone--such as her husband-- was trying to pressure her into the decision. That's not the case at all, though. Alicia is not interested in having any more children. She suffered numerous complications during and after pregnancy, and we're both pretty sure that Emma is as perfect a kid as the two of us can make, so we are both comfortable with her decision. We have discussed it at length, and this gives her the opportunity to have her wish, and leaves me the choice of having children with someone else if something should happen to her. Kind of morbid, I guess, but it's one of those things you need to think about, like life insurance, cemetary plots and a will.

Our self propelled lawn mower became a push mower two summers ago. The wimpy front wheel drive system just couldn't handle the terrain, and the mower itself began to falter last Fall. This spring we breathed a bit of life back into it. After a few attempts to get it back in proper working order, the thing finally gave up the ghost. Our weed eater also hadn't worked for nearly four years, not since a friend from New York came to visit and volunteered to do some yardwork. I'm not really sure what happened, but I think he put gas in without mixing in any oil, and the motor siezed. We've been borrowing yard tools for a long time, and more often than not just ignoring the yard work altogether.

With our dearth of working lawn equipment, and nature encroaching, we prepared to outfit ourselves and reclaim our house from the wilderness once more. My very tactful brother-in-law informed us that he would come help us with some tasks around the house just as soon as we made it "look like white people live there," so getting the outside of the house tamed had become a priority.

Over the past month Alicia and I went to Lowe's, Wal-Mart and Sears to compare their lawn mower offerings. After some discussion, we opted to go with a riding lawn tractor. Alicia and Emma went to Sears on Thursday and bought a 16hp Craftsman riding mower. It was the last one they had, and we were somewhat dubious about this, but Tuesday is the only day they deliver in our area, so I told her to go for it when she called asking if she should get it.

Things started to go wrong right away. They told us the driver would call Monday night and schedule a delivery time during Tuesday. We never got a call. Alicia heard from him midday Tuesday, and he delivered the goods just before time to pick me up. On the way home we bought and filled a new gas can, then headed home to fill up the mower.

With gas in the tank and the startup checklist followed, Alicia tried to turn the mower over.

Click

Nothing. We tried a few things, including charging the battery with our truck, and jumping from our truck. No dice. I called Craftsman and they suggested it was a wiring fault or a bad fuse. Alicia called Sears and suggested that they take it away. They asked her to drive out to their store (35 miles away!) and pick up a new battery. We went there immediately, which caused us to be late for Alicia's dad's birthday dinner. Both of us were in pretty sour moods, and when we arrived at home in the dark at half past ten, I quietly dropped the new battery in and Alicia climbed on and turned the key.

Keh-heh-heh-heh-sputsput-rumble-rumble-vooooom!

We have liftoff! She wheeled around in the yard for a time, changing gears and getting a feel for the mower. She moved to engage the attachment clutch and try to mow a little bit, and it stalled. Alicia cranks again and engages the mower. Stall. She tries to do things in a different order. Same thing. With a sigh of resignation she stepped inside, took a shower and we agreed to call Sears tomorrow and give them hell.

Not long after taking me to work, the manager of the lawn and garden department at Sears called asking if everything was working. Alicia explained the new problem, and the manager was quick to let us know that she was going to have a replacement delivered on Saturday. We were hoping to go out of town this weekend to visit my parents, but we need that tractor as soon as possible so we can get the yawn in order before Alicia's surgery. That, being a completely different story, is the subject of my next entry.

My company was bought out, or rather my company's owner was bought out. Now we are the American subsidiary of a Canadian subsidiary of a monstrous American corporation. Sounds bad, eh? It certainly could be. This event has been the single biggest contributor to my stress level ever. I think we'll make it through alright, but there are lots of unanswered questions and some serious changes on the horizon. I handle change ok, but the overall atmosphere at the workplace was rather grim for a while. Today things have seemed better, overall. It's the first day of a new month, we're still in business and we-- the employees and more importantly, the company-- are still making money. What else is there to do but keep our heads up and do our work? Besides keeping the resume up to date, that is.

Alicia has been wanting a tattoo for a long time. I have been wanting her to not get a tattoo for just as long. I did not want her to be in pain, I did not want her to do something she might regret later, and I did not want her to make a permanent change to her body that both of us have to live with for the rest of our lives. This year, as a twenty-fifth birthday present to herself, she decided to go through with it. She had been interested in an intricate triangular celtic knot for a long time, but was informed by Glenn, her artist, that he wouldn't be able to do the design she wanted unless it was stretched across her entire back. She picked another, simpler triangular design from his flash (tattoo industry speak for stock art) and came home with a new tattoo last Wednesday.

Now that she's had it done, I've warmed to it a bit. I was more than a little unhappy to be the one that had to clean and moisturize it for her for the first few days, since it's located on her upper back at the base of her neck, but aside from that I suppose it isn't so bad. Here's a look:

Back in elementary school, things were so easy. If we didn't like the way things turned out, we could declare "Do over!" and give it another shot. I wish I could have a Do Over for the past month or so. The only bright points were Alicia and Jenny's birthdays. The rest of the time, the events of recent weeks have seemed a lot like a horrific accident unfolding in slow motion. I can't look away and I'm helpless to change the course. I keep telling myself that if I hang in there a bit longer, everything will be ok. I'm getting awfully tired of hearing myself talk, though.