Rusty is right. JD dumped many small dealers and now you have to drive for parts. They don't follow the successful Walmart program of many little profits making a huge profit. Bad move in my mind. As a part time job, I service, on average, one machine every day of the year. 90% are Sears, or MTD. I really have to do almost no repair on the bodies, mostly routine stuff on the engines. I always loved my Wheelhorse 312A, non-Toro, but when I bought a used JD316, I have to honestly say that JD has it all over my Wheelhorse. Neither one has nickeled and dimed me, but my Eaton hydro pump did fail on the Horse after about 1000 hours. That set me back $800 for the part.

Here's what I've read lately: "Left Neglected" by Lisa Genova (she wrote "Still Alice"). I really liked it, almost as good as "Still Alice". "The Almost Moon" by Alice Sebold (she wrote "The Lovely Bones"). I didn't like it although the 2nd half was better than the 1st. "Deception Point" by Dan Brown, a good read. "The First Time" by Joy Fielding, pretty good. "A Secret Kept" by Tatiana De Rosnay (she wrote "Sarah's Key"). It wasn't very good and I skimmed through most of it. "The Distant Hours" by Kate Morton. This is the 3rd I've read by her and I've enjoyed them all. "Earthly Possessions" by Anne Tyler. I usually like Anne Tyler's books and this one was not bad. But some people find her books boring, so she's not for everyone. I am now reading "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain. I like it so far!

Back in the 70's when I was young and, in the words of Moms Mabley, "just as cute as I wanted to be," I had a dress that suited me right down to the ground...it was a narrow winter white cotton sheath with a mandarin collar and a long, wide sash, and it was covered in big black Asian calligraphic characters. I wore it and wore it, until one day I was standing in the will-call line at the theatre, feeling fabulous, and a Chinese family walked by, did a quick double-take, and burst out laughing. I will never know what my dress said, but I didn't wear it again outside my house!

I read #1, forced myself to the finish #2, & opted to just ask my friend how it all turned out in #3. I've never read a Harlequin book so maybe this is customary.... but the part I find disconcerting about the 50's books is this: If Christian Grey were of mediocre looks, poor to average income, we would label him as a pervert & a stalker, a man with huge control issues (not just in the sexual realm), misogynistic, very jealous, & deeply scarred emotionally. The story line jumped the shark for me when he got away with really invading her privacy & stalking behaviors. We would tell our dtrs, grand-dtrs, sisters, nieces to RUN from a man like this. But .... NO.... this man is drop dead gorgeous & has a BAZILLION $$$$$'s. Therefore, anything can be overlooked. I know the story line is a flight of fancy, but I'm not sure that culturally, we don't also buy into this type of excusing the behavior because of looks/money. How could an educated, smart woman, a virgin, who was so very unaware of her own physical beauty, seemingly with near zero sex drive prior to meeting/doing Christian zip right to nymphomania & buy into dangerous sex games with basically a stranger ... all in the blink of an eye? The implausibility of the story line was a turn off to me... even aside from the multi-orgasmic repetitiousness of ALLLLLL that sex...... No, I don't get the fascination with the "50's"...