I'm right here, just lurkng a lot these days. What 'Dorph said on the gambling question. The odds are the same on each new draw because these are considered "independent events", meaning the outcome of the first draw has no bearing on the outcome of the second. The idea that the first outcome effects the second is what's called the "Gambler's Fallacy". :) And now that I've managed to de-lurk, the thunderstorms have gotten really strong and I'm likely to lose 'net. Darn it.

Chelone, the cat's name is Lily, sister (in spirit) to Tiger, an orange male and the coolest cat who ever walked the face of the earth. Lily is more normal cat, Tiger thinks he is a person. He knows more people in the neighborhood than I do, and frequents most of their homes. There is also a third orange long-hair named Molly. Orange cats have the best temperaments IME. Thanks for the compliments - - it's nice to hear after all that sweat I invested! All of the materials used were found on my property except for the stone dust, which I got at a discount through a friend. I have to say right now I actually love the look of the walkway, while I think the patio is just "ok". I do prefer the irregular stones, impractical as they may be. The patio stones are a bit out of line since I was just eyeballing them and then I had friends come in to help finish who weren't as picky as me! As for Poor Martha (as she has come to be known in the neighborhood), my next step if the town historian doesn't call back and take over is to go to the Bureau of Vital Statistics (I think that's what it's called) in Hartford and search for that date of death. If there is a Martha, well, Bingo. If not, and there are one or two other people with that DOD, I can check which cemetery they were buried in and see if they have stones (and whether they are replacement stones). If there is no match that way, I might be out of luck because that means the stone was not local. In that case I would just beg the historical society or a cemetery to take it. The woman from the Connecticut Gravestone Network also said she can search ancestors.com because she has a membership. So we'll see if she comes up with anything. For now Poor Martha has been moved to the patio, where I'm sure she's doing a great job of freaking out the mailman when he walks up to my house everyday. Hopefully he has figured out that she was unearthed during the walkway reno!

Dennis, maybe some missed the original reason the Pro-Mix stunk, its because it rained 9 inches and turned the tub of Pro-Mix into soup. I didn't want to waste it as I am using the more expensive Pro_Mix BX with Biofungicide, which contain a patented bacteria strain that stops damping off. I now conclude it works, becasue I am also using Pro-Mix PGX but without the biofungicide and I can see little spots of fungus on the soil surface with the PGX, but nothing on the surface of the stuff with the biofungicide. The perfect stuff to use would be Pro-Mix PGX with biofungicide, but Orange County Farm Supply doesn't stock it, if enough people requested it maybe they would. BTW, I get my Pro-Mix BX with biofungicide even cheaper than you, the regular price for retail customers is $31.66 for a 3.8 cu. ft. bale, but Orange County Farm Supply gives me the contractor's price of $25.33 because over the years I have spent hundreds of dollars there. BTW, PGX is a fine grind for starting seeds, and BX is for transplants, but BX works for seed starting if you pick the big chunks out and cover the seed with pure vermiculite. Anyway I am salvaging the rest of the Pro-Mix BX with biofungicide by mixing it with spragum peat moss and pumice. I am hoping the bacteria inoculates the added ingredients. BTW, Orange County farm supply sells horicultural pumice for $8.33 for a two cubic foot bag if you want to make your own potting mix. Pumice is better than Perlite because it doesn't break down. You can also buy it directly from the manufacturer for $33 a cubic yard delivered, but need to buy a 60 cubic yard truckload, in case you want to know how much profit Orange County Farm Supply is making on the pumice. If they would sell only 10 cubic yards at $33 a yard I would buy a truckload for my planting holes.

Yes MamaGoose that is a wonderful thought provoking image. You and LL have been rung through the mill. I also had a few issues with medications for Joe. This is when I started to keep a detailed journal. Some thing that could not just be heard from me but written so the doctors and nurses would see I was keeping details and when he was told to take this or that med is showed up in his food journal as barfing his guts out. Stop the meds he was better. And even though these meds were supposed to keep him from getting sick they did not work that way. I was also very frustrated on the way they were taking care of him in the hospital. His skin was horrible and his toe nails were awful. No one even bothered to look at his feet but me. Interesting the first thing the home health nurse looked at was his feet and she was pleased I had cared for them She said it is common in hospital to neglect the feet. And when they brought him food they did not open the container even after notes taped to the tray and written on his board in the room. I would get there and everything closed up. He could not open the containers so he would go hungry. He was too out of it to ask. I had to spoon feed him for a couple weeks after we got home. Sometimes he fell back to sleep eating half a cup of custard. LBD sounds like a horrible disease. Spiders coming from the ceiling is more than enough to make a person go over the edge. Feeling so bad for your and and Hubby. MG and LL. We did get some sun. We canceled the dentist appointment yesterday AM. too much snow and emergency weather alerts saying stay off the roads. I think we got 5 or 6 inches of snow but at some point in the night there was a bit of rain so it laid down an ice slick under the snow. This morning we woke to sun and about 13 degrees. We did breakfast then out to put the snow plow on the ranger. Joe had about half of it done then I went out to help him do the rest. I know he wanted to do it all by himself but it is good for me to refresh my brain on how it goes on and comes off. Then I went off to the post office and Joe plowed the driveway. LOL He even plowed a swath across the back yard for the kitties to travel on their adventures.