diff --git a/Src/Cdunifmodule.c b/Src/Cdunifmodule.c
index ddfb81df..400ba4f9 100644
--- a/Src/Cdunifmodule.c
+++ b/Src/Cdunifmodule.c
@@ -3089,7 +3089,9 @@ static int PyCdunifVariableObject_ass_subscript(PyCdunifVariableObject *self,
 		if (PySlice_Check(index)) {
 			Py_ssize_t slicelen;
 			int length;
-			if( self->dimensions[0] == self->file->recdim ){
+            length = INT_MAX;
+ 			if( self->dimids[0]== self->file->recdim &&
+			        self->dimensions[0] == 0){
 			    length = INT_MAX;
 			} else {
 			    length = self->dimensions[0];
@@ -3097,6 +3099,10 @@ static int PyCdunifVariableObject_ass_subscript(PyCdunifVariableObject *self,
 			PySlice_GetIndicesEx((PySliceObject *) index, length,
 					&indices->start, &indices->stop, &indices->stride,
 					&slicelen);
+
+			if(indices->stop == indices->start){
+			    indices->stop = indices->start + indices->stride;
+			}
 			return PyCdunifVariable_WriteArray(self, indices, value);
 		}
 		if (PyTuple_Check(index)) {
diff --git a/regrid2/Lib/esmf.py b/regrid2/Lib/esmf.py
index f1521b19..5862332c 100644
--- a/regrid2/Lib/esmf.py
+++ b/regrid2/Lib/esmf.py
@@ -614,7 +614,7 @@ def __call__(self, srcField=None, dstField=None, zero_region=None):
         # default is keep the masked values intact
         zeroregion = ESMF.Region.SELECT
         if self.regridMethod == CONSERVE:
-            zeroregion = None # will initalize to zero
+            zeroregion = None  # will initalize to zero
 
         self.regridHandle(
             srcfield=srcField.field,
diff --git a/regrid2/Lib/mvESMFRegrid.py b/regrid2/Lib/mvESMFRegrid.py
index 235e1fd5..9310a608 100644
--- a/regrid2/Lib/mvESMFRegrid.py
+++ b/regrid2/Lib/mvESMFRegrid.py
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ def apply(self, srcData, dstData, rootPe, globalIndexing=False, **args):
 
         zero_region = ESMF.Region.SELECT
         if 'zero_region' in args.keys():
-            zero_region=args.get('zero_region')
+            zero_region = args.get('zero_region')
 
         self.srcFld.field.data[:] = srcData.T
         self.dstFld.field.data[:] = dstData.T