I have a L130 - similar - same front axle. My axle (mowing 2 acres country plot, snow blowing with 48" blower) has snapped 2 times. I tried nickle rods to weld it first time, but at about 50 bucks it was too much work to do and did not hold. I just ordered the 2nd axle, but will probably make my own axle soon from square tube steel. Should not be too hard to do, and probably will cut off the spindles and weld them into the tube. The rest is just drilling. Might line the pivot hole with another steel tube too. Anyway, the cast iron used is pretty close to pot metal, and is about as cheap as it comes. I think Deere only makes the axle and the dealers actually claim their Cast Iron axles are stronger than average lawn tractors. Ha ha ha. My old Sears and Murray had tube steel axles which never had a problem in years of use at the same property. I wont bother talking about eh TuffTorq tranny - another too little and too light thing deere did to make more money on this tractor. This shows what kind of management Deere has, and personally I would never buy another deere. I sure dont want to put 10,000$ into a green lawn mower just because its supposed to be good. For 10k$ I could have a machine shop make me one that is actually good. Sorry about my rant, but this lawn tractor has to go.

I'm an artist and see your dilemma. However, I don't always create my artwork the way the customer wants it. A lot of times, I can picture in my mind what they want and know I can do better...that's what an artist does. The end result always makes the customer happy(ier). I would do the photo in color. If the photo has enough colors (or not), it will go with anything she puts in the room, and I'm sure she will introduce a pop of color somewhere...if not, it will certainly be a boring baby's room, IMO. And, if she doesn't, your photo will stand out even more when entering the room...as the eye will go right to it.

You're very welcome! It's always nice to see a kitchen start coming together that I've helped work on...even if it's just a little! I wouldn't worry about about the slow progress...even with a GC doing our kitchen & DR, it took almost 6 months b/c of delays, scheduling, etc. (We're not very experienced DIYers so we didn't feel qualified to do it ourselves...) Good luck with the cabinets...it sounds like a great situation! If you can't order add'l cabs, come on back here & I'm sure we'll come up with something for you! Keep us posted on your progress...and good luck!

Like I said above, it's just a personal preference/reaction, but I always felt cash gifts said "we didn't put any thought into this." My late mother-in-law always gave me generous cash gifts, but I always wished she had bought something instead. I used to take the cash to Tiffany's and buy a piece of jewelry and then tell people, "My mother-in-law gave me this." Only technically true, I guess, but it felt so much better to me than saying, "My mother-in-law gave me the money to buy this." Unfortunately, it's all moot now since my jewelry got stolen years ago. :-( I should add that for certain recipients, like teenagers and college students, cash is probably the most appreciated gift of all. This post was edited by alisande on Thu, Nov 20, 14 at 12:47