Swimjim, Thanks for the response. I can appreciate your stepping up to the 22/44 for the beefier tranny. What do you think of the Briggs Twin engine compared to the Kohler Courage? For me the Kohler was a big improvement in terms of noise, from my old 8hp Briggs, and apprears to have plenty of power. Since my lot is fairly level, I felt the K46 would handle the tasks OK. I was concerned about pulling heavy loads, such as my lawn sweeper when it's full, but it handled that task with ease. I had fun comparing the Regent to other tractors. What I appreciate about the simplicity is they have kept things simple....much like my old '67. In fact, several basic design elements have not changed much...such as how the floating deck works. They have been proven to work...and did very well on my old machine. Features I liked the most.... The mow in reverse switch, that I don't have to hit every time I back up....unlike Deere tractors. I don't want some damn attorney telling me how to operate my tractor! Excellent ergonomics...this is a very comforatable tractor to operate. The frame design...which I feel is a more solid design than the 12 guage frames on other tractors I inspected. The K46 Transmission was important, as this apprears to be a good unit and suitable to my needs. It was one of the key reasons I did not choose a deere LA model...as they are currently using the T40(?) if I recall. It's interesting that their is an active discussion on the K46's right now. I wonder if mine is the same used in the X300 deere's? The electric PTO is nice...I only hope it is durable. The tight 14" turning radius is very nice...especially compared to the wide turning radius of my old '67. The price....at $2100 for my unit it is a reasonalbe balance between box store machines, and higher end Deere's & Simplicities. It is well built & IMO the "moving" parts are designed to last longer than most box store machines, and very close to what you get in the x300. I liked the x300 very much. It is beautifully built, but the price was a bit more than I wanted to spend, and the basic frame, tranny & deck design did not appear significantly superior. The engine is however very nice. Overall I am very pleased with this new toy....Happieness is a new tractor :). I highly recommend to anyone looking that they put Simplicity on their list.

So, it's all finished. I had it out yesterday for an ops check. It cut effortlessly thru thick wet grass. It's headed up back to my Aunt's ranch for duty in a couple weeks. The engine builder advised to remove two studs at a time to swop them to install the muffler. That worked fine. The transaxle (with an oil change and the thicker Lucas product) now holds second gear at half throttle and above. The bigger front tyres allow it to climb easily over small obstacles, yet there's enough clearance for the steering and mower deck. Thanks all for the words and encouragement.

Thanks Rifi, I had Pink Pollyanna when it first came out around 1990. It was part of a pitch for a group of small roses dubbed, "Patio Roses,"..... suitable for container growing. They are bigger bloomed than mini roses, and about the same size as the minifloras, which were very soon to be accepted by the ARS as a new class of roses. This is how I recall its introduction about 30 years ago. Pink Pollyanna was quite a nice bloomer and had an exhibition hybrid tea type, 2.5" bloom. It, unfortunately, was a black spotter, ranking with the best of them. I no longer grow it. Sweet Chariot was also a rose I grew in the early 1990's. It rambled too much and was hard to keep in bounds, however its fragrance was strong, especially as the heat of the day increased. Again, it black spotted pretty heavily. The blooms' narrow petals gave the impression of looking more like little zinnias or toy dahlias than roses. Its presence is not missed, except for its fragrance. Since Fragrant Lavender Simplicity's ancestry is 74% the above two parent roses, roses that I have trialed, I predict an expected disease resistance report from one or more of our forum members will be unfavorable. On the bright side, perhaps its abundant flower production and fragrance will be confirmed.

I know many have simply installed kitchen faucets in their laundry rooms. Pull-out and pull-down laundry faucets seem to be a fairly new category. I would think our neighbors would prefer to have the higher flow rate of a real laundry faucet. Now, one thing I wonder about is how many people will illegally install these new pull-down and pull-out laundry faucets in their kitchens. Residential kitchen faucets are limited by law to 2.2 gpm, with the typical average being 1.5 to 1.8 gpm. I wonder if there will be any enforcement.