Not dead yet

I know, no post in 2 weeks. Probably a record. But it is summer break, and maybe a break is in order, even for bloggers. I know you're desperate to hear the news, so here is some.

My John Deere L120 lawn tractor has been in the shop for 2 week because it was running so bad. It's still under its 2-year warranty, so it didn't cost me anything to have it repaired, except $15 to have it brought back to the house when I couldn't borrow a trailer. It had a bad cam shaft (a fancy rod with knobs that controls things like the opening and closing of valves in the engine). I'm glad it was a warranty repair because that would have been expensive out of my pocket.

Last night I put on a new set of blades and mowed everything. Some of the grass was tall like a hay field, so I knew I'd need sharp blades. I lost my metric set of sockets the last time I moved (or the time before that, I'm not sure) so I had to get some new ones. Everything on the tractor is in millimeters, and as tight as things are, there's really no fussing around with adjustable wrenches. I still bruised my palm pushing, but I got the old blades off and the new ones on. I can have the old ones sharpened at my leisure now.

It seems there have been things to keep busy with while not mowing the lawn. I did some work at school after classes were out. One day the power was out long enough to drain the backup power on all of my servers. Five of them had some trouble coming back up, which is definitely a record for us. I'm counting the two computers currently in my office, but, frankly, I'm used to zero problems even with my own machines.

I've also spent some time programming for fun. I've been writing a version the game Bejeweled, and it turned out pretty well. I'm happy with it. Linda is glad that it's done, because I tend to ignore her when I'm working on a project.

Linda and I have done some different things for therapy. We got a small exercise mat for home, and we've gone walking on campus for endurance. She walked for 30 minutes, from the back of Missouri hall to the eternal flame in front of Kirk memorial (which as usual was not lit). I brought her wheelchair from the car, and I wheeled it the whole way to see how hard it is. That was pretty interesting, and I'll post about that later.

Ellie starts swimming lessons, and summer pre-school is going. She was very upset that all of her best friends were split into a pre-kindergarten group. But they were cool about it, and let her switch. She can stay with the older kids as long as she cooperates and works on things like she is supposed to. If she gets spastic and random and young she may have to go back with the younger kids.