The Saga Of...

Everything around here seems like it has to be a saga. I'll fill you in on some of them a little later, but first: The Saga Of The Rototiller!

As I reported a couple of weeks ago, after our little Mantis tiller died for good I decided to order a "real" rototiller. I got on line and ordered one from Sears. I wanted to save the $65 shipping fee and said I'd pick it up at the store. Well, that model wasn't available for pick up at the store. I didn't try to have it shipped to the house so I don't know if that would have worked. I went ahead and ordered the next model which is basically identical with the exception that it is called the "CA model", and it was $10 less. I think it has a little less powerful of an engine. It probably has something to do with being a "CA model". They did something just a tad different with the engine I'm guessing to try to be more green or less polluting or something along those lines.

Anyway, about a week later I got the email notifying me that it had arrived and was ready for pickup. It comes on it's own wooden pallet with a box nailed around it. You may recall that when we picked it up the box was basically just sitting on top and when we got it home we discovered there were no instructions.

I did manage to find the instructions on line and printed them out (all 48 pages!). While going through the instructions I found there was supposed to be a hardware pack included along with the missing instruction book and a jar of engine oil. We decided to bring it back. We would return this one and try one more time.

Just as a funny side note when I brought it back to the store and was going through the process of refunding my Sears card before charging it again, the register gave about 6 choices for "reason for return". Oddly enough "missing parts/pieces" was not included in that list. The salesman (I won't be rude, I won't be rude, I won't be rude) couldn't figure out which button to push and he asked my opinion. After looking at the choices I told him to put down #6: "won't start". After all, I told him, it would be hard to get going without any engine oil.

Finally we got the return taken care of and ordered a replacement. It arrived from a neighboring town within a couple of days. This time the box was in good condition, the manual and oil was included, along with some miscellaneous hardware.

Later my husband went to assemble the handle bars and put the thing together. Guess what? Some of the other bolts were loose, some others were missing. Fortunately he was able to tighten what needed tightening and from our stash of nuts and bolts found what he needed in order to get the thing together.

This is what the garden looked like a week ago:

This is what it looks like now:

It's still a little early to plant a lot of things and I still want to add some compost and till that in too. But the good news is now the rototiller works and it works great! It would have taken the little tiller about an hour to do this little plot, but the big one only took about 10 minutes!

I'm dreaming of heirloom tomatoes!

The Saga Of The Infected Tooth:

About a year ago I started having problems with one of my upper molars (#14 in tooth speak). I ended up having a root canal and getting a crown. A few months later it was apparent that there was another infection and we decided to retreat. The retreat didn't work. The infection returned.

My choices were: retreat again; get a partial denture; get a bridge; pull the tooth and do nothing; get an implant. After listening to how each is done and talking to my dental assistant daughter I decided to get the implant. My first appointment today at 1:15 is for a consultation (even though I have already decided that's what I'm going to do it is required. This is with the surgeon dentist, not my regular dentist). I hope we can get this started soon. I just want to get it over with! The bad news is our insurance doesn't cover implants so we'll have to pay for this ourselves. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for my laptop!

The Saga Of The Young Parents:

My daughter and her boyfriend have split up again. He is living out of town with some of his relatives. They get along okay, fortunately. So now I'm babysitting one week and not the other while the baby goes for one week here and one week there.

This is such a good example for an argument against premarital sex and teen pregnancy!

The Saga Of The Bad Back:

My husband is back to work. His physical therapy is done and he is mostly better. However after talking to a few attorneys and other people he knows who have had similar problems the news is not too good. They are all saying the likelihood that he'll have to have back surgery down the line is not just possible but very probable.

So we have retained two attorneys, one for Workers Comp, and one for Personal Injury. Eventually we'll get this all sorted out, but at least for now he's back to work.

It seems I had another saga to report but now I've forgotten. Old Timer's must be kicking in. Anyway, that's almost enough news for the whole week!

PS: The next lamb is due this weekend!