Just a follow-up to my original posts. I called the Deere dealer after not hearing from him for a week. He still doesn't know how much it will cost to fix and whether he can do it. He says the water pump and cam are shot which is not surprising at 1400 hours (especially with plastic cam parts) but he also says the crank shaft is shot which sound dubious. He said he would call me back when he knew, but when I called him back to ask how much a new tractor was, his voice brightened considerably and he had the sales rep on the phone with me in 2 minutes. Given the chimera that will result from cobbled parts, we'll probably purchase a new x720. Thanks mownie 7, I believe you had it right in that the water pump was worn and potentially leaking into the engine (I did need to top off the coolant from time to time). Who would suspect that a water pump could cause the entire engine to go (if the dealer is telling the truth). Also, a water pump failure would cause the temp gauge to rise while the engine continued to run. I still think crank shaft replacement is dubious, but he has me over a barrel and clearly wants to sell a new machine. Ultimately, I had 11 exceptional years of service from this machine. I worked it hard and it never complained. I'm still a Deere fan in spite of NYC service deficiencies.

Kathleen, my parents will be buried together. Literally. I have had Mom's ashes (beautiful marble urn) here with us the last 10 yrs. She hated being alone and I couldn't stand the idea of her in a cemetery that way. So the plan was to to bury her whenever Dad passed and they could be together. He wanted to be cremated too, and the mortuary have put his ashes in with hers for us! The headstone will have the engraving of "Together Forever" on it. When I let her urn go to the mortuary a few weeks ago, I kind of felt like I was losing her again. And of course I also had emotional thoughts of letting Dad go. Tho I knew it was best to have this funeral. But I discovered something wonderful, for me, when making the arrangements with mortuary...they had these very TINY keepsake urns! Just 3" high, in different finishes. They put a small bit of both my parents ashes in a copper one (Mom loved and collected some copper pieces long ago). So I do have both my parents with me here at home, in a way. And when I am buried, their little urn will be with mine. Hope this isn't too morbid sounding for some of you. But here's a photo of the 3" urn. I have it on one of a trio of shadow boxes in Dad's room, some more of my Cherubs are on the other boxes. hugs, Karen

Whether I'm a perpetual "poo-poo"er or pragmatic, perhaps it's a fine line! Or they could be synonyms. :) I don't begrudge people going and seeing these people for entertainment purposes but as I have repeatedly made clear, I object when these scam artists take advantage of people who have lost loved ones and need consolation. That's where I draw the line. They're no better than the Bible scam from "Paper Moon". A wrestling match is hardly the same in this respect, though the analogy has some merit. The difference lies in the lies and the use of the lies. Does anyone REALLY believe they sawed the lady in half? At least Copperfield doesn't charge the lady to put her back together! Do people really believe the elephant, Leer Jet or the like disappeared into thin air? Oh, but Copperfield is REAL, isn't he? I can't think of anyone who has gone to a wrestling match hoping to talk to their child who was tragically killed a month or two before. Going for the entertainment and being aware of your senses is fine. Believe in wrestling or believing in the BDIU doesn't really matter unless there's a scam involved. I hardly think, Lydia, that if someone were to say they're off to rape the mentally challenged or bilk seniors out of their retirement fund, that you'd simply say "have fun"! At least I hope not, but then again, I'm not psychic so... ;) Some people believe that soap operas are real. Harmless but what happens when they set up a fund to help "Little Jimmy" in that soap opera and cash in on peoples' need/desire to help? That's a big difference in my mind. Many people used to defend the seance mediums like some here defend John Edward. Are there some mediums, fortune tellers, astrologers, etc that were/are real? Possibly. Go to one for fun? Sure. But really, having a president running a country being guided by one is scary if not sick. Personally I want to believe that there is some sort of afterlife. Way too much reveng to be had for just one lifetime! I also believe I've been contacted by the "dead" on occasion. I also think that some things are coincidence and some are nothing more than a dream. I'll admit I've gone to my mother's grave and talked to her. I'll talk to her even when I'm not at the site of her life container for that matter. Something like that giving comfort to a person is harmless when not abused. So I guess it's the ethics and morals prompting my "poo-poo" rather than disdain. There's a lot of times I've known things would happen, just knew it. I think most everyone probably has the sense in them if they recognize it and can separate it from the rest. But no, I don't think I can chat with the dead on a daily basis, I'm not that big of a fool. But I do think I could scam these people on par with many of them, which my morals forbid. And I'm certainly sensible enough to realize that much can be coincidence too. I would find it interesting to go to one of these things in person or at least see one recorded and unedited, but I can't in good conscience contribute financially to this thing any more than financially support a spammer. And the biggest thing, I possibly could be convinced, but I'd still need an explanation then as to why he needs to "cheat"! I still can't understand why billionaires need to cheat on their taxes though. BTW, nobody has been able to answer these questions for me: If these people truly are the psychics they pretend to be: 1) Didn't Dionne Warwick KNOW her Psychic Friends Network would go belly up? 2) Didn't John Edward know the people would find the microphones? Wouldn't one of the dead folks tell him? 3) Why does John Edward need a GPS? (or any of them but he brags about needing it) and lastly and probably most importantly, 4) Why won't one of them tell Natalee Holloway's mother where her body can be found? We know her mother is very willing to pay big bucks for info and I would think with the greed shown by these scammers they'd line up to grab it if they could. Or for that matter how about finding Jody Husintruit, Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart or even Bin Laden? And good night nurse, why not help poor OJ look for Nicole & Ron's murderer? He searched the golf courses unsuccessfully for years, as promised and could use some help. Hey, they could even do a reality show "Find The Body of the Week". WTH, maybe they should just testify at the trial to start and we would save a lot of money. The dead person could identify the murderer. And hey, once and for all he/they could tell us at which Michigan McDonalds Elvis works! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go "poo-poo"!

The Dancing Goat is a dairy farm there in Tampa, Florida, where John lived. Cracker is his beloved dog, who appears to have found his forever home. I hope you can read it without tears. I couldn't. This is their post from Face Book. The Dancing Goat · 8 hrs · The first 48 hours! Cracker is settling in just fine as a Farm Dog in Training. Yesterday we walked 2 blocks morning and night and today we are up to 3 blocks. In a couple weeks, I hope we can be up to a half mile for at least our morning walk. He is having some nightmares I think - whimpering in his sleep. I got up and laid on the floor with him and he was ok That just kills me. On a good note, he got his first golf cart ride this morning and at first he jumped right off of it and I had to coach him back on. But several more rides later, he is jumping onto the golf cart (floor only - his portly girth won't allow him to jump to the seat and I cannot lift him) and seems to be enjoying the ride. He seems to know when "Mom" is running an errand, it could be fun and extra attention involved.