Mike, I know what you mean. Just, was it yesterday,?, a little girl of nine, 60-70lbs?? with long, medium brown hair, big, brown eyes was jumping rope, Hop-Scotch, and Hide-and-go-Seek. Today that girl still has long, brown, 'from a bottle,' hair, big brown/green eyes, 5'5, 115 lbs, sits before a computer, 'What's that, mom?,' watching big people tv shows, in a home filled with greens. That 9-yr-old wasn't allowed to keep plants in the 'spotless' house, so instead she went to the store, bought veggie seeds, dug and planted these seeds in the ground. The tomatoes were big, two watermelons, her doggie decided tasted yummy, grew, but she didnt know onions and carrots grew underground, or the corn seeds would grow into tall blades of Horse Corn. :) Mike, I HATE winter, too. SADS. Don't want to step out the door. I'm really trying to be optimistic. It could be worse. We could live in International Falls, MN..their temp was -45..that isn't counting wind-chill. The high here was 4F, tonight -2F. Wonder what the temp will be counting wind-chill. No snow, but it's on its way. One thing about snow..it reflects and brightens the ground, air and our plants. Mike, do you have outdoor perrenials? If so, cut off a branch, and place in water..it'll flower! I had a Pussy Willow..'it grew like a weed, so out it went.' Late Jan, early Feb, I'd remove a few branches, place in water and it'd flower. Magnolias do, too. I'm sure there are other plants, but those are the two I've forced. Flowers might perk you up. Do you grow Snow Crocus? They flower, outdoors, when snow is on the ground..It's not much, but that's all I have to offer. :) Feel better, it could be worse..Toni

I am not done but already tired. Been planting all day. Got most of the annuals in but still have that big flat of zinnias to do. I planted my peas and am working on the new tomato garden area. I lugged ten bags of compost from out of the car (that I bought yesterday) and dropped them out in the lawn between the terraces garden and the tower square garden. Been arrangeing them to make the new tomato planting space. I am putting bricks to outline (which I have) and need to drive stakes which will be every two plants. I have 8 tomatoes going there. I want to plant them tomorrow so I will just be happy if I actually make the gardenbed today.

I don't want to sound rude, but I must interject here. There's one in every bunch isn't there? Listen to one thing ladies... You are allowed to believe in whatever your heart tells you to believe in and whatever makes you feel better and helps you to cope with the grief that a loss such as these hurls you into. Grief is a horrible thing to have to endure, but just as is dying, so is grief a very real and unavoidable part of life. Don't allow anyone to succeed who tries to take away that which enables you to cope with this grief. I believe in and love God with all my heart, all my mind and all my soul, however, I can't help but get angered by people who think that the only voice of God comes through the Bible. Personally I don't give the Bible much credence because I believe it was written by man and twisted and turned around and upside down for the agenda of the day until present day very little of it is the true word of God. I know the word of God (for me). It's in my heart and in my soul and I for one certainly don't need someone sharing their self-righteous demonic sightings or their bible interpretations with me or anywhere near me. I generally say one thing to these people who think they have all the answers and that is... "We'll all find out someday, won't we?", and so as to avoid violating the guidelines, with that I bid you please take your naysaying to another forum. Sorry to all of the others on this forum, but this was such a wonderful conversation until I got to that post and I could not be silent and let someone like that spoil everyone else's great experience. I will sign on again soon and tell you all my story. Linda

BeeOhio said, "If you worked under & qualify for both Social Security & a government pension, your SS monthly benefit is probably going to be reduced. Very unlikely you would draw the full amount of both. It is called the Windfall Elimination Provision (see SS.gov for further explanation)." No need to unnecessarily frighten anyone. Here is a direct quote (cut and paste) from the Windfall Elimination Provision information on the Social Security Administration web site (which, by the way is www.ssa.gov): "The Windfall Elimination Provision affects how the amount of your retirement or disability benefit is calculated if you receive a pension from work where Social Security taxes were not taken out of your pay." Also from the same publication: "The Windfall Elimination Provision primarily affects you if you earned a pension in any job where you did not pay Social Security taxes and you also worked in other jobs long enough to qualify for a Social Security retirement or disability benefit." My first year with earnings (all $892) was 1968. I had five years with no payment into Social Security. My last year of earnings with payment into Social Security was 2013 (significantly more than $892!). I worked for the State of California from January 2, 1990, through December 30, 2013 (December 31, 2013, was my first day of retirement). The first 8 months of my state service was for the Legislature, and Social Security tax was not withheld. Nonetheless, I had enough quarters/years of paying into Social Security that even though I am collecting a monthly retirement benefit from the state as well as a monthly social security retirement benefit, my SS benefits are not affected. The SSA web site has a worksheet/calculator so you can figure out whether or not the Windfall Elimination Provision will affect your SS benefits. Just because you worked for the government doesn't automatically mean the WEP will affect you. This post was edited by Lindsey_CA on Sun, Sep 14, 14 at 3:06