I have been married for 36 years. The first month we were married, MIL drove 500 miles to visit, unannounced. While I was at work on that Friday, she did all my laundry (all my undies too), cooked dinner, and cleaned our apartment. (The message I received, was "you are incapable of taking care of my son.")I fixed supper for her that week-end and her comment was "aren't you going to take that nasty skin off the chicken?". It was downhill from that point on. Ten years ago, she grew very ill and came to live with us, (My husband is her only child, and she divorced many years ago). Has been here ever since and will be, likely, until she dies. And so, here we were with 26 years worth of unresolved issues between us (but "between" felt like a very small space). My advice to you comes from first hand experience. Resolve it NOW. No matter how difficult it may feel, no matter how your imagination warns you of horrible conflict, speak calmly, but honestly, now. Listen to her side. Arrive at a reasonable agreement for you both. These things have a way of growing deep roots, broad canopies, and coming to live with you. Boy do I wish I had followed that advice. I should tell those who are interested that we have found peace over the years, thanks to God and my wonderfuly patient husband, but the first few years were beyond awful. I now know that for the most part, our conflicts were far more misunderstandings than fact. So again, I reiterate, don't wait until MIL is old and senile. Get it right while you are both young and have some space. It will be worth the effort. Sorry if this sounds preachy.

You guys are morons for all that immature "get the in-law stuff." Grow up. The only person that behavior will hurt is the girl's husband. Perhaps his mom is a busy body but she wasn't trying to do harm by mowing. No. she was trying to help, BUT, this woman runs mowers, weed eaters, chain saws, snow blowers, her own tractor, and who knows what else, so how is it unreasonable to say she should have checked oil?? She knew it has sat all winter, she knew the whole story behind buying it. The yard probably needed mowing and she wanted to help out. No mower in decent shape would run out of oil. Sounds like the daughter bought a piece of crap mower to begin with. Sounds a little like you and her mom in law are related. And for your information, the mower was bought by a man for his son, brand new.. Son didnt like it and it sat a good while. My daughter bought it and as a stated ONLY TRIED IT OUT ONCE then put it in garage all winter. I also found out she pumped up one tire that had leaked down, and also charged the battery. Wasnt quite is summer running shape was it? and since she did all that, wouldnt a normal person check the oil? Hell she even brought gas with her to gas it up. The thing was barely broken in, if it was at all. Original owner and his son i doubt even ran it enough to even get to the oil change first due on a new engine. Duh. No mower of mine that is in "like new" shape would be hurt by running it. Really? then why does a like new engine, that the oil is on ADD or bit below on the stick, and is run cross ways over and over on a hillside sieze up? maybe due to starvation on each pass till it is starved enough that it happens? Only thing i agree with is it "may" not have happened if she had been on all flat ground. If you want your mower to stay put take the key out. Key was in one of those screw and bolt cabinets on the wall, she searched till she found it. Making enemies out of the in-laws is a shortcut to a miserable life. Who says it isnt already miserable? Ok, put yourself in daughters place, two days later, mother n law was nosing in again about making a flower bed at daughters, i heard her say, " i would love to cut that grass down short where i am going to put flower bed, but NOTHING AROUND HERE WORKS.... Would you blow a gasket or say something nice to her and pat her on the head? I told her it would be working if you hadn't got on it and blew the engine. She got mad and left, good.... Oh, and after talking with her husband, maybe reason her stuff works is cause the husband always makes sure they have oil and such. But again, shes been around equipment long enough to know that you do it as well. I can see your point only because you dont know her. if you did, you would feel different. Now you will probably think, "well keep stuff away from her" if so.. you should realize that is hardly possible 100% of the time. Anyway, what's done is done, its to late. Engine is coming off soon to see what the damage is, which i feel its a bent rod, if that is all, it would be hard or costly to fix. barring any cylinder or crank damage.

Well, I've never heard of this and I kind of doubt it works, but it wouldn't hurt your plants to try it. I believe I know where this idea originated though. Organic growers often use molasses, either liquid or dry, in soil improvement. The main reason for this is that sugar stimulates microbiological activity in the soil which improves it. Since soil that has a lot of microbiological activity in it is healthier than soil that does not, that would mean that plants grown in that soil would be healthier, and we know healthier plants attract fewer pests and survive their damage better than plants in unhealthy soil. So, to the extent this works, if it works, the reason likely would be because of the sugar's stimulating effects on the soil. You really have nothing to lose by trying it. Note the sugar in the soil may attract ants, and ants often farm aphids, so watch out for the aphids. If you have fire ant issues on your property, you might need to be extra careful about attracting ants to a specific location. However, squash bug issues vary from year to year. Last year, in our garden, we never saw a single squash bug at all, although we have them to some degree most years. So, in order to test whether it works, you'd need to plant squash plants of the same variety with sugar and without sugar and give them the exact same soil and care otherwise, so that you could see if there is any difference in plant performance. I have a feeling that if this method works, it would have been studied and reported on many university websites. I've never seen it mentioned before, so I feel like it probably won't work.....but you'll never know unless you try it. Dawn

PM, Jas's book is amazing! It has so much humor, love and pain shared. I loved reading how much all of his family means to him. Must say it touched me in more ways than I could of imagined. What a strong lovin' family to make it through all of this. I'm on chapter 17 now so won't be long before I'm done. Guess you know I don't want to work, I'd rather read! I don't dare take it with me tho.lol Hope the sales continue to roll df. I've been through laughter and tears reading Jas's story. His book was worth the wait! He found a great author. You are a 'Proud Momma' and deserve your title!!! Jane gave 'PM' a whole new meaning and it's perfect. Punk