OMG, where do I start...to think my idle comment sparked this hotheaded commentary, lol, boy am I glad some of you who favor terse and boring passages in their descriptive prose have not read the novels that I have written on this forum to expostulate on my mower's ailments...which mownie has picked up and RUN with... I have to defend Mownie, here, because it is precisely his willingness to expound on details that makes his posts informative, AND exceedingly helpful. I learned more in a week about my mower's basic fuel and electric systems than I have in the ten years I have been dinking around with it...and I am definitely an amateur. Mownie's eloquent and colorful descriptions really make the problems and the solutions clear, and no one of course is ever beyond correction or clarification for that matter! As far as the quotes...they serve a vital function in separating the "quoted" from the response, especially when you are like me, and mownie, and tend to ramble on about this or that, and it helps to REFERENCE the passage that he is about to comment on. Guess some of you never really learned the mechanics of goood writing and the use of punctuation to illuminate your efforts to communicate??? Besides, aren't you talking about *****ASTERISKS??****** those are NOT "QUOTES" !! In my opinion it is very helpful to have that text set apart from the answer or comment or whatever. Finally, Mownie, I think this is a very helpful thread to anyone who in fact is NOT aware of the cut-and-paste basics of computer-ese, which I suspect from reading posts in ALL CAPS and mis-typed words and stuff like that, and that a lot of folks who DON'T dabble in computers use these forums because someone suggested they try. And in the end it IS a FORUM, and if the info is too elementary to be useful to you, you can proceed to more complex dialogue as it suits you...whereas if you DON'T know stuff like cut and paste, it could be a pretty handy gadget when someone opens your eyes to it. SO in the spirit of assistance that these forums are supposed to offer, mownie's post on this subject is in effect very useful, or is bound to be for someone, and that is why it is there. There are folks out there that will surely be helped. Finally, oh, i said that already, in general cut-and-pasting of elements relevant to your search for a solution when gathered in the course of surfing this forum is indeed a good idea, especially if it pertains to your particular make and model of mower or engine. Now to find those little tidbits out there again... SO Thanks, mownie; every once in awhile an innocent and well-intentioned attempt to be helpful sparks a major outpouring of public opinion. The beauty of the human condition, lol. And 12G, YES, you said it Bud! Should be up there in top Tractor Forum posts! I think I will cut and paste THAT little gem, to start! OK I'm ready, all you people of few words, bring it on...!!! =)

I read this forum quite regularly, but rarely post here...But sometimes.... I just gotta say it..... You people are nuts...... I am quite used to people telling me I am nuts and have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to such matters, BUT since I am never, make that NEVER the one who has neither virus/malware issues and problems and NEVER have spent even a dime nor any time on such matters, the reality of the situation is that I and the few other Linux users here are really the only ones who have any idea what they are talking about when it comes to PC Operating Systems and PC "security".... A whole forum of "what should I get","what's wrong" "I bought/installed and/but" "what should I do". Soon many reading this will be thinking "Oh he's just one of those Linux nutscases" But, ask yourself, does he "Buy this", "get this", "do this"......Oh yeah, and then ask yourself if your system can match mine on safety, security, performance. I have yet to have either of these boxes contract a virus or a worm or a root-kit nor any other form of malware, not bad for systems running zero AV/security software..... I very rarely ever disconnect from the W3 and rarely ever even turn either of these things off. I have 4 browsers running right now and my email account has been open for days. Other than an outgoing firewall, I am currently running absolutely zero "security" software of any kind. And no reformatting, no scans, no defrags, no registry anythings. I watch videos, play music, redo photo's, make phone calls and do all sorts of other sometimes fun stuff with neither and never a worry nor a care. And my total investment in Operating Systems and software on both boxes equals zero dollars and zero cents. And all my upgrades/dates are free too..... Do yourselves a big favor and go to distrowatch.com, read about the different flavors of Linux and pick yourself out a few LiveCD versions to trial. Or you can always just wait for MSWin7 to be released and start buying all sorts of new software to go along with your already penetrated and compromised, outdated and obsolete brand new high dollar Operating System. Some of the new Linus distro's are so simple to install and use that my best friends 59 y.o.wife has installed several different versions on the same hard-drive and has figured out how to use them all with little more than dang near no assistance from any body. She has even figured out how to use Knoppix6 full time and save everything she does/wants to a persistant image. Oh yeah, she is really good at kids and cooking and sewing and fishing and growing things and all sorts of DIY stuff, but, when it comes to computers, she has the techno-savvy and training of your average box of rocks..... Dang folks....even my daughter, whose "technotude" is somewhat close to absolutely zero has installed and has everything running and learned the ins and outs of both SimplyMepis and VectorLinux on her PC all by her little ol' self. And while her friends are having regular issues after frequenting such mandatory malware magnet sites as YouTube, and MySpace she has nothing of the sort, ever.... But, if you wanna believe that you must MUST have MSWin-something, feel free to spend way too much for way too little, and want to keep spending and installing/scanning/removing/etc for no other reason than you insist on running something as shaky and insecure as Vista1, hurry up and buy the fix for Vista1, Vista2, otherwise known as MSWin7, that's certainly your right.... Well, let's see...I may have exaggerated things a bit by stating the "free" thing........Getting Linux will cost you somewhere around $.125 for a blank CD-R, or the current cost of a blank DVD-R.... HAGD Here is a link that might be useful: better than MSWindows, IMHO it is anyway

Let's see if I can explain in the limited time I have; if I don't finish, I'll come back later or tomorrow. Have hubby's last chemo & radiation today. In my office I have a dual boot Windows machine - running XP (pro I think) and Vista. I also have the Mac. I have not tried to put Windows of any flavor on the Mac; it was on my list of things to do. I was going to buy the program verses what's on the Mac. My pain management Dr did it; he had some issues with drivers. Not sure if he did XP or Vista. The Mac worked fine at 1st. I was able to Network; I was able to access the Windows machine both sides. When on the Windows PC; I was able to access the Mac from both. I'm not sure what changed and when but eventually I wasn't able to access either puter - I made user accounts on Windows (both sides) and now am able to access Windows (both sides) from the Mac. The problem is accessing the Mac from Windows. Granted, it very well may be me; because I haven't been as "heavy" into building & using the computer since we moved. The most I do is work with pictures; for that I use Windows because the Mac photo program confuses me. I like Windows much better all the way around because of ease of use; software works & I can do things without reading a manual. With the Mac, I feel so stupid some days. I haven't installed anything except firefox.. forgot how. lol It's so simple too from what I remember but I have to get the dummy book to do it again. lol One thing that will not work on the Mac is my Microsoft Works. All of my medical databases are made with works. I looked for a Mac plug in (reader) but they don't have one. I also don't want to have to replace my full Office suite.

I refer to our two hundred year old home as a white elephant. I am in the greenhouse business and my husband is a rabid gardener, so the grounds are planted with rare trees and flower gardens and go on for acres. Over the years we have added a large gazebo and a spring fed pond. yadayadayada. Only a person who knows old homes first hand, and has the time or money to hire a professional full-time gardener, should ever buy it. There'll be lots of people to come look when it goes up for sale, but it would not be for the weak of heart. Heating bills. Put that at the top of your list. Even if you let the house fall down around you, they'll just keep coming. We've installed new double-paned energy efficient windows. Caulked. Weather stripped. Built a solarium across 2/3 of the northern exposure of the home for solar gain, replaced the roof, put in a new boiler, converted from electric to gas heat (yes we had to pay to have lines ran), and placed gas grates in strategic spots to take off chill or use when it wasn't too cold. Use reversing ceiling fans to distribute the heat. We've cut our heating bill IN HALF as far as energy consumption. But, rates rise and will keep rising. We still have six hundred dollar a month heating bills in winter. And this is an old farmhouse. It does not have fourteen foot ceilings. It also is nowhere near 6,000k square feet. And, until we put a small fortune in the energy efficiency items, a draft from a window on one side of the room could blow out a candle on the other. It's comfy now, and even cool in summer so we don't need air conditioning, but for the first fifteen years of my marriage you needed a wet suit to take a bath. Think also about the bones of the house. Redecorating is great, but get somebody in there who knows construction really well to look at the skeleton of the house before you even consider buying it. The last two winters, we replaced the beams and joists under our kitchen and dining room. They were logs with the bark still on them, or logs cut on site and hand hewn to nearly square. They were ENORMOUS,and likely dragged into place by teams of horses. We needed to chain saw them to even think about getting them out. We had to gut these rooms clean down to the dirt underneath and after we got new joists up then replaced floors. Moolah. BTW, we never thought about replacing joists and floor beams in this house. After all, they'd withstood two centuries before us. Then termites happened. LOL. The roofer left about a hundred bats homeless when we replaced the slate for modern shingles. We've put in a new entrance box and had to rewire the whole house and it has solid brick interior walls. The logistics of running electricals, and the plumbing for the boiler system were staggering. If you see fuse boxes that should send up a red flag to check out the electricals for modern wiring. Moolah. We had to restucco over the seventy five year old stucco over the bricks. (major, major moolah) We've had to repair or renovate chimneys and it's hard to find brickmasons here who are familiar with the old craftsmanship. That's another thing about very old houses. Nearly everything in seriously old house is done by methods not common to craftsmen anymore and that includes materials. If you have to replace parts of woodwork it's going to be something like oak or mahogany and large. Not box store kickplates. My walls are so old, it's not even plaster on most of them, it's a sandy almost concrete covering. If we put together all the money we have spent in the last two and a half decades breathing life back into our wonderful old home, we could be living in a really fancy new one. We don't want to. We love our old home and pretty much know it inside and out by now. But, it's like a marriage and yes.............we are the volunteer caretakers to an historic old building we couldn't see being left to ruin. But, it's going to take a very special person to want the job after us. Now, ask me about the plastering schedule where the doors and windows are. LOL. Old houses just keep settling. Not a door in this house even resembles a rectangle. They all have been trimmed or had wood added to them to fit the openings. Every window was custom made and no two are the same size. The house is nearly regained its integrity now, and I can see the end in sight of the major issues. But, if we had been forced to sell this at any point along our long path of renovation, and somebody else had to pick up where we'd left off, if they knew up from down, you can take it to the bank our money and sweat wouldn't have left much room for profit. There'd have been no quick sells. The end results perfect for us. It's rustic yet and even has a pitcher pump in the kitchen to pull up the spring water for the house. But you always live with a foot in the past where people lived simpler and made do in some respects. Some people can do that. Some people can't. It fits our lifestyle well.........simple and hard working. But, it was purchased because my husband wanted an old large home in a rural setting. If he'd just wanted "room" it wouldn't have even been in the game. Good luck whatever you decide.