I haven't stopped by here in a while. I just can't put to words my impatience (did someone say impatiens?) waiting on spring to come. I feel this urge to post things here - I miss it - but I have nothing to say... at least I don't think I do. The only thing I know I have to say is complaints towards this never ending winter we're having, the subzero temps, my concern for what plants may be dying out there (hard to voice that concern when people have water manes breaking but...). They just said on the news we're warming up for the weekend: above freezing! Do I sound like I'm complaining? This is why I haven't posted anything. I'm such a Debbie Downer right now. I just want to go outside and grow grow grow. But for now I'll oogle at everyone's pictures :)

Many (((hugs))) to all of you. Have missed everyone. Thanks for sharing your lives, flowers, family, and pets. Love it! I sure would have enjoyed that plant exchange, Cindee. Our garden club has one each May. It's such fun. I, too, was not with you for the whole summer. This has been the worst ever summer time-wise. Each time I turned around, something HAD to be done. Art class ran into June (which is no good for me). Then it started again in Sept., but I told her there's just no way, so I got a two-month reprieve. Start again this coming Thursday and am taking my 15-year-old granddaughter Katie with me as a visitor. She has awesome talent and is as bad with art as we are with Hippis. I purchased another garden tractor this summer - I now have three and use them all -- there is just so much to take care of. Have also been picking up kids from school - into June this year, and come Sept. that started again. It's 1-1/2 hours r/t which really cuts into my days. Next year they will at least both be in the same school. Now I'm dog-visiting. My friend went to FL for many weeks and her husband pays me to come and be with them for an hour each day while he works. Oh, and I decided a truck would be in order, so purchased my son's 2000 black Dodge Dakota V-8 Sport. The price was right, and this will be better to carry mulch. It was hard to get with the Explorer (plus it's fun to drive). This way I can just drive up to the mulch heap and have them dump a bucket into the truck. Then I can drive it right to the garden that needs it. My days are all just cut up and I get nothing done. Lots of my plants got frosted, and the hippis were under blankets for several 30 degree days. Had some construction going on until beginning of Oct. and could barely squeeze through the furniture stacked around for probably two months. It was not a bad summer, actually a pretty good one, but it was stressful. For the most part I was healthy, and pretty much kept up with things like the 25-year-old I think I am -- not the 74-year-old that I just turned today. I neglected my orchids and many of the gardens, but the hippis grew and grew. I repotted most of them for the sake of better growing medium. I could probably exchange some orchids in the spring if I get a chance to repot. Right now they should be throwing spikes, so not a good time. Also, some Hippi bulbs. I have to say, this has been like sitting down at a nice table under some palm trees with warm breezes relaxing with a bunch of dear friends that enjoy the same things and understand eachother's obsessions. Soon we'll all be sharing tons of gorgeous pictures. I also have a bunch of bulbs coming from RC and want to order some of those on my wish list. But gotta run now and try to dig the rest of my dahlias.

Ronda, maybe your crocus will bloom yet, don't give up on them. It seems like one day you see green leaves, then a slight swelling, then a bud creeps out overnight! I should have taken another photo of those crocuses- they looks so frosty and cold (even though Dusty would be out weeding in her "it's 30º, it's a heatwave" T shirt! LOL) later on the sun came out and those babies popped right open, a lovely little sea of purple/lavender. Dusty, I spent 23 years in the confines of Minnesota. I know cold. The coldest temp I ever saw, not windchill, was -38º maybe lower and I'm just blocking it out-- and the windchill then was -75º. I went skiing once at -22, really tough to keep your nose and eyeballs thawed out. You have to be tough (aka stupid) to do that! My teenage car was about a 16 ton Pontiac Bonneville. One morning I went out to "warm it up" in really true bone- chilling cold well below zero. No cloth seats then: we had bubble plastic seat covers, colder than heck on the back side! I didn't realize quite how cold it was until I drove off some minutes later: the car tires had frozen flat where the weight of the car flattened out the tires parked overnight. So when I drove, it was thumpety thump, thumpety thump down the ice cold streets until the friction warmed them into round tires again! Ilsonshine- I have never kept a garden journal but one thing I tried "tried-" (meaning I remembered to do it for about a week) last year was log in bloom times of various perennials in various beds, ostensibly to plan better placement and remind myself of what I can count on to bloom, when. If I had a dime for every notebook or stray piece of paper with garden notes on it around this house I'd be retired and organized if I ever got them all in one place. I'm thinking my Circle Pal's file box might come in real handy to get garden notes organized too. Yippee: I picked up file dividers and note cards to fit that box the other day! Five weeks to Spring! Five weeks to Spring! Spread the word. Better get some of my 'winter' stuff done soon. (or it will wait til next winter) Poochella

i just wanted to also mention that friday Jared is finding out if he is cleared of his mrsa, so i am praying that the good LORD has cleared his whole body of that nasty stuff!! so he can finally hold his Anna marie!! i know i so worry so much about that stuff, but with antibiotics ya never know, and i have been reading on it, and ahhhhh***sighing*** i just worry. LOL i'm his sister/mommie, LOL ya know the whole half raised the little guy, LOL ok, 1 more day closer to my next niece, so hubs was looking on the net today and found daddy's girl by red sovine, LOL we do like his songs, there's a few of them that are really great!! :'>> ummmmm.....one of the dad's was a truck driver, LOL and hey becky it was nice to see you post again!! haven't seen you in ages!! :'"" i know ya been busy!! the kids's winter sowing prject i told ya about, OMGoodness!! its doing great!! more than half did great!! some cats got on my porch, uhhhh not my cats, and knocked some of them over, i'm NOT happy, they were in heat. seed starting in the bag, not good for me, kinda sucked, so i started it a different way. BUT cuttings in a bag, now that's a WHOLE different story!! that is SOOOO working for me!! the roots are even great!! i love it!! just fill the bag up with your breath and zip, if ya feel better, change it once a week or so, with your new breath, but it works great, but not with roses!! LOL Hugs Medo