Hi Everyone, Debbie, glad to see you are still with us. I agree with you about members needing to leave. It is always sad when they need to leave us. Sounds like you have had a really "good" summer. Can't wait to hear all about it. PICS??? Cindy, Hope you are doing good. Stop by and say hi if you can. Paul, Yeah, you ARE still with us. Please do not melt. We only have you and Cody, gotta keep our guys, ya know? Carol. NICE seedling. Are you gonna name it with the AAHS? Hope it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to fix your car. Or, are you going to have to get another one? Jean, You are right, WOW is the word for that box of goodies. Can't help you with your daylily ID, sorry. Marea, LOVE that Magic Amethyst. Ok, please explain "rodeo". You have my curiosity piqued. Barb, Hope you adjust to your new brace quickly. Hope the drive goes quickly for you, and your time with the attorney is as easy as possible. hugs! Had to close accounts and do the attorney thing after my mom passed, not an easy thing to do. My thoughts and prayers are with you still. Gloria, THANK YOU for the prayer for the military. They so need us to be there for them. Wish I could give each and every one of them a hug, and a "thank you". Dawn, How did the shower go? And hope you had a blast on your mini vacation. Angie, Hope you are doing better after the bad storms. Keeping you in prayers. Shirley, Did you get to meet Dolly? Hope you had a ton of fun. Mary Ellen, Did you have a blast at the Waterpark? Hope so. Di, Thinking of you. Give little Benjamin a hug for me.Love ya, I went back to work yesterday. Wow, things have changed in 4 months. It is a bit of an adjustment, just being a regular associate, after 6 years of being a manager. But, I LIKE IT!!! ,No doors to unlock, and packages to sign in, no paperwork to do constantly, no decisions to be made, no deadlines to meet, no keeping an eye on all of the workers and making sure they are doing their jobs, no reprimmands to give out, no having to make grouchy customers happy. I get to turn all of that over to one of the managers. AND, no more 55-60 hours a week away from home. YIPPEE!!! So, I get to be home and work in my gardens, and do crafts. I will actually get to use the thousands of craft items and fabrics in my sewing/craft room now. I am soooo happy. It is going to be a big adjustment for all of the other managers as well. While I was working yesterday, the manager on duty was on the phone, and the back door rang for a delivery, she looked at me, and i just smiled and shrugged my shoulders, "NO KEYS". After she got off the phone and brought in the delivery, she came back out and grinned at me and said "You are really gonna be a pain in the a** aren't you?" I just grinned back and said "Who Me?" Yes, I am definitely gonna like being a part timer instead of a manager. Well, best get moving, gotta start dinner. Our turn to fix dinner for everyone(we all take turns), we are all going to SIL pool. Have to be there at 4. Hope I didn't miss anyone, hugs to all, Jo

I'm finally getting around to posting on this thread! Thanks Karen for starting Part 2. I've been so crazy busy at work I've bearly had time to read more than a thread or two here and there and even less time to post. So yes, I'm in Houston and have driven to San Antonio (3.5 hrs) and Austin (3 hrs) to meet fellow CFers. And of course to Karen's in Lake Charles. And to La Grange to visit lyfia. In addition I attended the notorious Pigeon Forge Pajama Party. Plus several local Houston get togethers. ltcollins and Jimtex, I think you both live very close to Houston, right? You definitely need to come to our next event. Looks like a lot of people are missing from the map that was started over on the conversations side. Hey man, go put in your pin!!! Here is a link that might be useful: map

First, about Tennessee tax valuations. All Tennessee counties reassess on a periodic cycle of four, five, or six years. As far as I know, most are on a five year cycle. That means the assessed values are current to five years old, depending which county the property is in and when they last conducted their assessment. You can ask the County Assessor's office for the information, or you can find it on line by digging through the state web site. Some TN counties also have a good on line presence. Some don't. Tax valuations are done by formula, like most places, so they are often behind the power curve when it comes to reality. Second, the price of lots in high-end subdivision developments in East Tennessee is really high. I'm not sure why, other than fact that the developers could get what they were asking, at least up until the economy crashed. Third, the owners of most of those lots are either the developers themselves or people who bought them on speculation. Most are in a position to ride the current situation out. The developers are in more trouble than the individual landowners. Some of them are in serious straights, so watch where you are buying very carefully. Some are in court proceedings at the moment. Fourth, there is not a lot of prime non-development real estate on the market in East Tennessee at the moment. What there is tends to fetch a premium price, but it is much, much cheaper than lots in the high-end developments. The most expensive goes for around $25K an acre. Good, desirable, undeveloped land goes for around $10K an acre. The closer to Pigeon Forge, the more expensive the land tends to be. To me, that is backwards. I want to be as far away from that road clogged, tourist trap as possible. Land within a easy commute of either Knoxville or Maryville tends to be higher, too. The farther you get away from those two places and Pigeon Forge, the lower the asking price. My advice to anyone coming to this area is look outside the high-end developments unless you like HOA fees, higher taxes, and constantly dealing with other people who want to run your life. There is still lots of acreage available here at reasonable prices. You just have to look for it. Who knows, you might find a deal right down the road from us. :-) Here is a link that might be useful: Tennessee Web Site

NBC news had a man looking for his wife and two young daughters. I keep looking for any updates on that story but haven't seen anything other than when he made it back to their house it was burned up. I feel so bad for him and pray they have/will find his family alive still.