Snowbunny, I am sorry you lost your beloved dog. What was her name? I have three memorial gardens for my lost dogs. The first is for Bridget, an incredibly smart, funny, Golden Retriever/Lab mix. Two years before I lost her, she helped me dig the water garden, me with my shovel, she with her paws. When the liner was installed, the water added, and the rock edging in place, we began and ended every summer/spring/fall day there. In the morning I would sit and drink my coffee, Bridget at my feet, and at night, we would sit and listen to the frogs and watch the fireflies. She is buried on the other side of the path. I put a shepherd's hook over her grave and hung her collar from it. Six years later, though faded, it is still there, as are my memories of my beautiful girl. And though they are covered with moss now, her beloved tennis balls can still be seen, here and there, among the plants. My little Homer, a rat terrier, died two years ago. His loss has hit me like a ton of bricks. On the last camping trip with him, I found a triangular rock that I brought home and less than a month later it became his grave marker. I hung a grapevine wreath on a tripod behind his grave and grow a beautiful vine with bell-shaped flowers over it. A friend gave me a small angel holding a tiny dog in her arms, and I put that there too. Because hiking and camping were Homer's favorite activities, besides loving me, whenever I go camping or hiking, I bring home fossils, special rocks, and small pieces of driftwood, and surround the angel with them. And lastly is the Big Dog Memorial Garden. It is in honor of Big Sunny (165 lbs), O'Malley (120 lbs), Badger (110 lbs), Byron (90 lbs) and Peanut (125 lbs), all whom were dearly loved. The plants in this garden are all huge, either in leaf or in height, and it is located by the large pond they all loved to dive into during the hot summer months or played on the ice of during the winter. My best to you. Whatever you come up with for your garden will be wonderful. Kate

I emailed indyjoys partner and she was having a problem getting her package out right now. She asured me that she would send one though. Sorry I haven't been on lately as I am looking for a new job. Anyone need a Nurses Assistant in the Baraboo WI area? Sorry to the two gals who have not recieved a package. I will email Indyjoy's partner again. I understand that we all have things going on but we need to make sure we take care of trades as many people may not want to continue trading on here if they get stiffed too much. Carmen sorry that we had a name mix up I will take credit for that but it sounds like your package is on the way....and if it is even half as good as mine you will be very happy. Indyjoy if you do not get your package by next weekend let me know and I will send you one. I just found the best place to get plants and its been under my nose the entire time. A laddy near me sells plants from her house. She digs them up and puts them into plastic bags and sells them for next to nothing. I bought a hibiscus for a dollar! Who ho! I hope everyone that got their packages are happy with them! Indyjoy let me know by next Saturday ok? Just shoot me an e-mail.

Nancy, Y'all have had quite a bit of cool weather already, and I think that helps the rosemary because the cooler weather has hardened off the rosemary to gradually cooler weather (or, at least, this is how it is supposed to work). The years in which I've lost rosemary were ones where the autumn stayed flat out hot forever, and then the first cold spell hit hard in December like a tornado flying across the plains, and the rosemary could not take the sudden change from very warm weather to intensely cold weather....like, 70 degrees one day and then 18 degrees the next night, with worse temperatures following after the 18 degree night. The only other time I've lost rosemary was in a winter that was very cold/very wet and the soil just stayed too wet for the rosemary for months. That's why I now have one rosemary plant in a bed raised 18" above grade level and the other one in a large urn that's a couple of feet tall---if the rosemary is not in well-drained soil now (the urn has a cactus soil blend to which I added extra decomposed granite), then I'll never have anything in well-drained soil because I don't think I can make anything drain better than that tall bed and that urn. I hope you have fun painting the furniture and making decorating decisions. I enjoy doing things like that so much. I don't know if 4 cold days will faze the bugs at all. It is so complicated. Some insects have anti-freeze type substance in them that helps them survive winter, so I think it just depends on what insect you're talking about. Time will tell. This morning Tim removed a very, very large leaf-footed bug from his car that we assume got into the car trunk at the police station. It was hideous-looking. I told him to not bring home ugly bugs like that. It was a good 50% bigger than any leaf-footed bug I've ever seen here, and maybe even more than 50% bigger. It possibly wasn't a leaf-footed bug (I didn't go over and observe it that closely) and might have been a kissing bug, which I don't think normally could take our cold weather up here. Regardless, except for that hideous thing, I haven't seen many insects lately and take that as a good sign. Possibly they all are just hibernating, as they tend to do, in mulch, beneath leaves, etc. We need a really cold, prolonged spell that lasts weeks to knock back the insect population significantly and I doubt we'll get that, but constant recurring cold spells, with warm days in between, could help kill insects. One thing to do is to rototill the garden soil in cold weather, so you stir up bugs underground and expose them to colder air surfaces at the ground level. That exposure helps them freeze to death. Rebecca, While they may prefer well-drained soil, I grew calendula in the ground in beds with barely amended clay for several years after we moved here and they did fine. Granted, it was one drought year after another, except for 2004, so they might have done better in the clay in dry weather than they would have in wet weather, but they also did well in 2004 when it was pretty wet in the spring. You can find southern peas dried, canned, frozen or (at some stores) freshly shelled and sold in plastic containers or bags in the fresh produce section, ready for cooking, usually with an expiration date of about 7 days. I don't know if you'll find any specifically labeled PEPH--but you might if your local stores carry one of the brands of vegetables produced in the south. Margaret Holmes' veggies include canned White Acre peas, but I'm pretty sure all their other southern peas are listed on the label as Field Peas or Blackeye Peas (either of which might/might not include PEPH types) and I think Glory Foods' peas also are only listed as Blackeyed Peas on the label. I'm pretty sure I've seen PEPH sold canned before, but don't remember where or which brand it was. Keep in mind that the average consumer calls all southern peas (whether they are PEPH, black eyed, green eyed, crowder, zipper, lady or cream peas) black-eyed peas and it generally is only gardeners or southern chefs who would refer to different kinds of southern peas, like PEPHs, with their proper name. If you want southern peas in what might be a more palatable dish, you can buy (or make) a traditional southern dish called Hoppin' John. Some Hoppin' John recipes are basically just peas, onions and peppers along with a few spices and others also include tomatoes or other ingredients. Here's one example: Margaret Holmes' Canned Hoppin' John When I make Hoppin' John, I usually use a lot of jalpenos so ours is pretty hot. Our PEPHs are shelled, frozen, and ready to cook along with our New Year's weekend ham, but when I want them fresh and have run out of frozen ones, Central Market has them freshly shelled, sold in plastic containers, for a very reasonable price almost year-round. I believe theirs generally are raised in far south Texas. Nancy, Canned southern peas are nowhere near as good as fresh or frozen, but they'll serve the purpose for observing the southern tradition of eating southern peas, preferably on New Year's Eve at midnight as the new year begins, for good luck. We just wait and have ours at noon and at dinner on New Year's Day since we aren't going to be awake and eating peas at midnight. Keep in mind I am anti-canned veggies because my taste buds prefer the flavor and texture of either fresh veggies or frozen veggies. That doesn't mean all canned veggies are bad, but just that I find the other forms preferable. They are people, I am sure, who hate the frozen version and prefer the canned one too. Kim, I'm sorry you're ill for the holiday weekend. Please stay put and take care of yourself and get well. Flu is running rampant right now. The linked map shows how widespread the flu is, as of last week: Weekly Flu Map for W/E 12/23/2017 It probably is wise to stay there in Denton until the weather settles down since all sorts of light winter precip are possible over the next few days. We're under a Winter Weather Advisory here through 6 a.m. tomorrow (and y'all are under one in Denton until midnight) but nothing really is happening here yet. I'm hoping nothing falls from the sky. We had drizzle before we reached freezing temperatures, but by the time the temperature dropped to freezing this afternoon, the drizzle had ended, so I think we're lucky so far. Jennifer, All southern peas count towards fulfilling the Good Luck requirement. I've lived in the south all my life, and it never has matter which southern peas you ate for good luck, as long as you ate southern peas. When we lived in Fort Worth, our next-door neighbor, a lovely woman in her 70s/80s got together with a bunch of people from her church every New Year's Eve and they ate southern peas right at midnight for good luck. They said if you weren't eating them at midnight to welcome the new year, you wouldn't have good luck. We've always just waited and had ours at noon on the 1st. It probably is a silly custom, but it doesn't hurt to eat the peas, so why not do it? Amy, Uggh. I wouldn't have been able to eat oyster stew again either after finding that big wad of hair...and I don't want to think about where the hair might have come from. Tim is outside making a shelter for a feral kitty who's been hanging around, and we've been feeding it this week and trying to tame it. Feral cats here usually will not survive all the predators wondering around in the winter, so I'd like to bring him or her indoors to stay safe from the predators and the cold weather, but most feral kitties won't let you pick them up and bring them in, so a big box with a fluffy old comforter on the covered patio will have to suffice. I might take a heated throw blanket out there, plug it into an outlet in the garage, and try to keep the kitty warmer on Sun and Mon nights if I cannot get it to come in tomorrow. (Most cats like me better, by far, but this one prefers Tim, so he might have better luck trying to pick it up and bring it in. We do always wear thick leather gloves when attempting a feral cat rescue.) It is cold and cloudy here, but otherwise quiet. Our VFD/PD/EMS GroupMe mermbers are giving us constant updates from all over the county and beyond (if they are traveling), and even though there's been drizzle and there's been freezing temperatures, there hasn't been freezing drizzle yet. We're keeping our fingers crossed. Dawn

My mom became the best BS'er up until this last month and even though she couldn't carry or start the conversation she had her way of making you do so without realizing she didn't have a clue what was being talked about. Most anyone that met her for the 1st time was surprised that she had Alzheimer's even though seconds later she wouldn't remember them or the conversation. My sister's and I chuckle about this as we now wonder how much she BS'd before the disease as we never knew her to do this and especially so well! And then there was the day my high styling mom who always had her make-up on before anyone got up in the morning in her other life was asked if she would like a bib during her meal and she gleefully said "yes" rather than the glare they would have gotten before, My sisters and I figure she saw all the other residents with one on and she wasn't going to let her peers out style her-lol... This is a horrible disease on so many levels. My mom's 3 siblings and mother had it. I have more friends than not that either they have a spouse or parent that have it or have died with it. And since this disease is different for each individual and your road may be different than the path I'm on, the best thing you can do is educate yourself (so you don't beat yourself up), find a support group especially if you do not have other family members to support/share this, give her lots of love, have an open mind, be flexible, take what humor you can out of the situation and be the best advocate you can for her.