I have put money (cash plus Kubota loan for balance) on a Kubota 1850 with front loader, 54 inch finecut deck and front loader with tooth bar. I have a back yard that is a hillside, not a fine lawn but with some fruit trees. Main use will be cutting the grass, some winter snow removal from the driveway and general sorts of use of the front loader to move some dirt etc. Not a farm, but not anything like a city lot. (about 2 1/2 acres with 1 in grass and 1.5 in woods) I am going to get a rototiller for it and also have some concerns about stability on the hillside slope for cutting grass etc. Used a sears 46 inch garden tractor before. Never rolled it but makes me get jittery with the turns at the top of the hill. Is the 1850 more than enough HP for this kind of general use or should I be looking at upgrading to the 2350. Dealer wants chunk of change to redo paperwork since it is already set up with Kubota. Any thoughts on power on the 1850? I really cannot justify a 24 with backhoe but it might come in handy upon occasion just hate to spend almost 6 grand more for an occasional toy. Could have someone come in and do the work for less, just not as convenient. Another question is on tires. Are the turf pretty good even with the front loader? Dealer is going to alcohol fill them to help with the balance against the front loader.

LOL! I get to see the airport and hotelbut not even the office building, BP! Since 9-11 and bankruptcy, half our layovers are so short you need to decide if you want to eat or sleepwe usually celebrate when we get to do both! :-) Sometimes I walk out to a fast food place if theres one nearby, but thats about it on domestic layovers. But international layovers (because of legalities) are longer, so I have had some fun times on those. It also depends on if youre with a fun crew or not. Its not a whole lot of fun to be out walking around a strange city all alone. At least not for me! Ive gone out walking for hours twice in Frankfurt, and had dinner. The second FRA trip was my funnest one---was with a really fun bunch of girls. Got to go to the Great Wall, Tiananmen, and the Forbidden City in Beijingit was my first intl. tripand I didnt have a camera! That was fun, but it was over 100 degrees! Went for a nice walk and to the 100 yen shop in Osaka once. The place across from the hotel where we went to eat was in the World Trade Center! I kid you not! Did a hop-on-hop-off bus in London, which included a short boat ride down the Thamesto the Tower of London--and have a picture of me in front of Buckingham Palace. That was fun! And had dinner in Paris when I was still in trainingbut I dont like Paris or Parisiens! Also went out walking there, so have seen the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, and walked over one of the bridges to the "left bank!" And Ive been thru the (very short) tunnel where Princess Diana was killed on the way to the hotel. We took the subway a couple times in Paris, and I couldnt believe it! We let the first couple trains go by because they were so full we didnt think we could get in, and finally realized if we didnt just push in, we were gonna be there forever, so we pushed in with everybody else, and youhonestlydidnt need to even try to hang onto anything. We were body-to-body wedged in-between the people and couldnt have fallen over if we had tried! The only thing I hung onto was my purse! When I get to Honolulu or Kona, I usually go out walking for a whileby myself. In Kona Ive walked thru the oldest church in the islandsbut mostly just take a walk along the beach and thru all the little shops, and the same thing in HNL. The hotel is just a couple blocks from the International Market Place, so I usually spend an hour or so roaming around in there. Im not a big fan of humidity, so people will think Im nuts, but it can really be stifling over there. And I had a fun time on my first trip to Anchoragewhich is also considered intl. for us because its over water. It was December and there was 4 hours of daylitemore than I was expectingand I walked down to the Anchorage Museum which has a VERY interesting exhibit documenting Alaska from before the dawn of man to the present. Really, really interesting, and I highly recommend it if anybodys ever up there. The spooky thing when youre there, tho, is that we stay right downtown (tiny downtown!) on Fifth Street which is where something akin to a crack in the earth opened up during the 8.+ earthquake of 1964, and 4th and 5th Streets were offset by several feet when it was over with. And the tourist channel at the hotel tells all about it, complete with pictures, just so you dont forget about it! About the only other thing Ive really ever done is, on the one Manhattan layover Ive had since 9-11, I and 3 other girls went down to ground zero. The public viewing platform was still up, and I cant begin to explain the impact it had on us all to be there. Then we went to a little sidewalk café a few blocks away and had drinks! The ride down and back to the hotel on the subway was something else tho! We were lost both ways! And going back to the hotel we were half drunk too, and acting TOTALLY insane (comic relief), so we were entertaining all the New Yawkers on the subway! When flight attendants get to goofing off, we often get into our evacuation commands, so, since we were lost, we were going, "grab your ankles," "come this way," "jump, jump!" I dont know what people thot we were doing, but we were all laughing so hard we were crying, and Im kinda surprised we didnt all get locked up that time! On the other hand, there are a lot of nutty people in NYC! But I am glad I got a chance to go to ground zeroand I DO have pictures of thatand of us acting goofy on the subway! Thats allin 7 years! Otherwise its just straight to the hotel, sleep for 4 or 5 hours, and get up at 0200 to get back to whatever airport. It is DEFINITELY not the relaxed, romantic image most people probably have. The part I really like about the job is being in an airplane (I should have been born with wings)and helping people! :-) Skybird

Good for you Sunflower! I've been thinking about your situation over the past few days, and had an epiphany a few minutes ago, and wondered if that might apply. You seem like a sensible and reasonably mature (though young - under 30) person who's goal-oriented. All good. And you talked about moving forward with your relationship -- and I get that. Moving forward in a relationship is generally what we like to do. It's the normal and logical progression of life: High school, some high school boyfriends, college, some college boyfriends, graduate, get a job, set up life with an apartment, career, more boyfriends. Then you find a BF you especially like who especially likes you, and you move forward -- maybe live together, then get married. Then you have kids, raise a happy family, etc., etc. You spoke of moving in together as 'moving forward', and I'm wondering if in your mind, is somehow is. Like it's 'advancing to the next stage of life' -- moving your game piece forward, or 'growing up' another degree. And in a sense, it is. It is moving to another stage of life. But viewing it from that angle makes it sound like it's automatically a good thing -- a step ahead, a move forward. And in reality, it isn't at all! (Does the teen mother who marries her high school baby daddy somehow 'win' by going through her step-forwards quickly?) It certainly can be a move forward -- with the right guy at the right time in the right circumstances. But it can be every bit as much the learning and growing experience to say "No" as it is to say OK and move in together. Laying out your ground rules -- the way you did by specifying that he had to get his finances in order -- That's a very empowering thing you did! If it turns out we were all wrong and he is a reponsible guy, then he'll respect you for taking a stance now. And if he's a weak link, that'll become evident too, and probably a bit sooner now. You're doing the right thing Sunflower! And that's really a step forward.

We get this question a couple times a year on average. Mulch is what you're looking for. Bermuda is the best high traffic turf, but it will not grow in the shade. St Augustine is the best for shade but it can only take light traffic. Even the mailman walking across the grass once a day will carve a path in it. The local product called shredded cedar mulch will work if you make it deep enough. Start with several inches. This is made from the "cedar" (actually an unsually prolific juniper) that grows in the Texas Hill Country. Making mulch out of it is win-win for Texas. Fortunately it makes a great mulch. Where do you live? Central Texas is not very specific and means different things to different people. Do you have shade in the area where the bermuda is not taking? What kind of bermuda do you have? Sodded or seeded? If sodded, what variety (TIF or Celebration)?