Gonna be hot again today, not like back east and down south but anything over about 85 is hot to me. So far this morning I have managed to accomplish killing two hours in the cool of the day playing here on this magic box. Got most of the problem branches off the walnut tree yesterday. Was fun as there was a strong breeze blowing. Had a mountain of brush off of it with more to go. Finally decided enough of being on a swaying ladder and turned to loading brush. One of the tree plantings I did 25 years ago was to make sure I had PU access into the garden area. Took some back and forthing but did get it there. Chopped brush and used Alma's new anvil shears to cut all the small side shoots off the branches. Don't know the brand but it is a nice tool. Will be able to load all the brush on one load if I continues really chopping it small. One more trip up the ladder today to remove the last big problem branch. Also attach a cable up there. Need to cable it back to the PU, add about 3 5gal buckets of water to the middle, reef it tight and fall the tree. It wants to go the wrong way. Although Alma never really said it is O.K. She didn't say NO! NO! so I take that as agreement. I am sure that I am reading it right, right?? Subject removal of the locust. In addition to bringing up more morning glory seeds when the stump was ground it apparently has caused the roots to send up shoots. I am finding them all over up to 30 ft away from where the tree was. Handy dandy spray bottle of Round Up always convenient. Ceresone: I heat almost totally with wood - 5-7 cord yearly. Sold a few cords twice but it really doesn't pay. I use 'wooding' as both recreation and physical excercise. Currently building a good stock so I can continue heating with wood when I can no longer cut more. Checked the 1/2 acre of hay that I want to go to seed. It is looking dry and strawy now but the seed heads still seem firm. Will wait a bit more then lay it down with sickle bar mower and chop it up with the riding mower. Always fun in the hottest part of the year. Just about finished with watering for this stretch. One more move of the sprinkler chain after breakfast and that's it for another 4-5 days. Harry K

Where is everyone? Did your garden gates get locked, LoL. I wanted to apologize for sounding so harsh in my earlier post. I usually just let things like this go, but for some reason, this time, I just didn't. I know things happen. This month has been an extremely stressful one, and I let it get to me and didn't handle this situation right. Do we know if this swap will continue for July, or will it be on hold, or canceled? I know Kelly is having a pretty rough time of it right now. Maybe we could all pull together and keep this going so she has it to come back to when things calm down. We could all post if we would like to swap this month, and then we could pick our own partners. Maybe we should post a simple wish list. That way, it would make it easier to choose as we might have some of the plants in our gardens that another is looking for. Am I making any sense here? LoL. Well anyway, post your thoughts on this. Have a wonderful night, Tina

Yay for you! They turned on our electricity weeks ago and people have been getting shocked from bumping into unfinished outlets. Including my 2 year old daughter. But nobody would have been able to work in the heat we've been having... My flooring guy couldn't work today because the builder STILL has not showed up to do what he needed to get done. I called him to jack him up yet again and apparently there had been some kind of disaster on a new project they were prepping (for after our house gets done next week) and he needed all his guys there to help. Can we say FRUSTRATED? He promised that they were going to work over-time the next 3 days to get back on track. I'll believe that when I see it. LOL Meanwhile, my cousin and her hubby, who are also building and are 2-3 weeks behind us, are getting a divorce. Makes me thankful for my own marriage...I've always heard that if you can survive building a house together you can weather anything. Guess there's some truth to that. V

I don't get to go on the internet too very ofter but am glad I found this sight. I have been trying to remember the good things without waking up the pain. It has been very difficult but I think it has worked a few times. I feel very guilty about not having been there his very last breath and see him there waiting to die. My Dad had an abdominal aortic aneurism. Last August he had a GI bleed. The doctors told him it was a small one but the next one was going to kill him and he didn't have long to live. My Dad wanted to go home and get his affairs ready and I hired someone to come in and help him as he had numerous medications to take and he was getting weaker because of the blood he lost. My Dad and I lived in separate cities and I have 3 smal kids at home. This one particular night I called him and asked him what he was doing and he said, "I just had Mr.? over from the funeral home and I picked out my coffin and arranged the music and the legionaire tribute and so on." I was mortified. My Dad was a strong man, he just wanted to die at home and when that happened he didn't want anything to fall in my hands to arrange. For the next few months I watched him die as he got more and more weak. He hated taking the pills so we decided if he just wanted to take his pain pills just to keep him comfortable that was all he had to take. The first of November I had to go to Toronto on business, I was in a meeting when my phone rang it was my Dad. He told me that he called the ambulance because he was vomiting blood andhe figured his time was up so he said he called to tell me he loved me and that I was his favorite and that he was very proud of me. I told him I was on the next flight out and he said he would try and hold on to see me one more time. I made it home to find him back home and drinking his cup of tea in his favorite chair. You see they did not have a bed for him and sent him home. Dad was on a waiting list to get into Paliative Care at the hospital. Dad was a veteran so it didn't take long once Dad had come to the conclusion that he would get better care there. From mid November to December when he passed away I had rec'd 9 calls that this was it and I better get to the hospital. Each time I would get there he would be sitting up talking or sleeping. The last week I was there Saturday night and we had spent time with Dad in the TV room and he said that my little brother was going to bring in Dad's dog the next day. We had a good visit. Sunday my little brother sat with Dad. Monday my Mom and my sister (no longer married to him and my sister was not his) went to see him and they said he had ate some fried chicken and had a great day up talking and making fun. Monday night I spoke to him on the phone and he said he had a good day and he loved me very much. I wasn't able to go down on Monday as my husband's grandmother had died over the weekend and we went to her funeral. Tuesday morning I got the call, I rushed down to see my Dad looking like death was on it's way. My step Mom had passed away in 2002 and she had the same look before she passed away. When I got to the hospital my 2 brothers had already got there. They said he had been out of it and was not responding to anything. I went in and sat down beside him and cried like a baby while I was holding his hand. He squeezed my hand a a couple tears rolled down his cheek, he knew I was there. I stayed all week in his room until Saturday, it was my daughter's birthday I had to go home I hadn't seen my kids all week. At 2:00am on Sunday I called and asked if my Dad was OK and they said he was the same and I told her to tell him I would be there first thing in the morning and to tell him I loved him. At 5:15am I got the call that my Dad had took his last breath. I hate to hear the phone ring in the middle of the night. I honestly think he waited until I was gone to die because he didn't want me seeing him like that. I now have a very big guilt that I was not there for him but am trying to put that feeling away I was there when he needed me most. He did not die alone though one of the nurses there was the daughter of a real good friend of my Dad's and she was there when he passed away. I went to my Dad's house after the funeral with my brothers and we packed up a lot of my Dad's things. I brought home his PJ's and his robe. After the funeral I felt so helpless, no more travelling to see Dad no more long distance phone calls, no more Dad. I was having a hard time sleeping, each night at 2am I would wake up and could not go back to sleep I was having a hard time breathing when I layed down so I had to get up. 2:00 was the time my Dad's funeral was. I was having anxiety attacks. Christmas Eve I was still having a hard time sleeping it was nearly 2 weeks since he passed away. I was up again at 2 so I got up and went down stairs and cried non stop. The kids got up at 8am it seemed like forever. My girls are so great and if it were not for them I think I would have probably curled up and died. The was a gift underneath the tree from my Dad, he had given it to me in November and I had forgotten all about it. When my youngest daughter found it with my name on it she passed it to me ever so gently as if it were a rare diamond. I always looked forward to opening my Dad's gifts because they were always so off the wall. This year it was a father and daughter figurine, it made me cry and my girls hugged me so hard. Over the years my Dad got me a meat slicer, a vacuum sealer, a set of wind chimes that were so loud that I remember one night going downstairs outside and throwing them on the ground. I loved his gifts because they were gifts that you would never go out and buy yourself. I would give anything to see his old hen scratching on a gift or card. The year I turned 40 and I didn't receive any flowers from my Dad the first in I don't know how many years. Anyways Christmas night I landed in the hospital the doctors gave me all the usual tests and couldn't find a reason for my shortness of breath and my chest pains. She asked me if I had a family history of heart problems and that is when I broke down in tears and could not stop crying she didn't know what to think until I told her about my Dad. She said that grief can do a lot of weird things to your body and mind. She told me nothing was physically wrong with me and gave me some anti depressants. I did not take them when I found out there was nothing physically wrong with me. That night I slept past 2am I awoke at 4:30am I was so excited that I broke the pattern. I suppose I have said enough tonight, thanksd for all your words of wisdom and thanks for letting me ramble. Take care to all and God bless.