First of all, Brian would like to thank everyone for the Birthday wishes! Well, we're back. What a place, Las Vegas. I've been going to this city for nearly 30 years. It's always been a spectacle and always fun. And we surely had fun on this trip. But Vegas has changed. I don't mean so much physically, which is a given. There's something new in the air now and it's really a sad change. Odd as this is going to sound, Vegas has gotten greedy. It's always, always been a city where you leave your money behind. Broken dreams etc. But it's also had a welcoming side. You might lose your last $20 at a slot machine, but you could crawl around the floorboard of your car and come up with enough spare change to buy a shrimp cocktail. You could still find games with $2 bets. Gone are those days. Now the minimum to place is $10. There are no perks anymore. People who used to live off the casinos, happy in the periphery, are now charging you five dollars for a can of Pepsi at the mini-mart. Seriously. It's that out of control. Listen to this example. It's Brian's birthday on Sunday. He wants a juicy steak. So I take him to Gallagher's Steak House at the New York New York. Famous. Fabulous. Trendy. I didn't want steak. Oooh...Lobster is on the menu but at the dreaded Market Price. I ask the waiter how much that lobster would be. Well, that would be $45. Okay, I'll have the lobster. The Maine lobster? Yep. The bill comes. I have paid $105 for the lobster. The $45 was for the "lobster tail." Undisclosed except for the waiter saying "Maine" lobster, I had ordered a completely different dinner than the one I was pointing at. I was floored. Not wanting to ruin Brian's dinner, I quitely went to the Manager. The man simply told me to pay up and walked away. The ol' bait and switch at one of the nicest restaurants in Vegas. I didn't want to make a scene. Of course I fired off a missive to the Better Business Bureau and Gallagher's Corporate office. Momma didn't raise a fool. That aside, we did see an amazing show. Cirque de Soliel's Zoomanity. It's their adult themed show and was pretty risque. That's the Vegas I remember ;-) My advice to anyone thinking of going to Vegas. Go to Costa Rica instead. Kisses y'all, Steven

Here are directions to Mill Race Park.... Take I-65 South to Exit 76A (Columbus/Taylorsville - US 31 South Exit), merge onto 31 South, get and stay in right hand lane. You'll go through 3 stop lights Light #1 Big Foot gas station on right side of road. Light #2 Silgas propane business bldg on left side of road, large propane tank out front, with SILGAS in big letters. (You'll drive a little distance between each of these lights). As soon as you go through light #3, you'll veer to the right onto exit IN-11 South (I think there's a sign above the stop light or just past the stop light that says Downtown Columbus). Follow IN-11 South to the first stop light, turn right at light (Lindsey Street) get in the right hand lane, park is on right, watch for Mill Race Park entrance on right (it's before the next light). I'll have a sign or balloons or something, to mark the entrance to the park, and leading to where we are in the park. (I won't know where we'll set up, until the day of the swap). If by some chance you miss the IN-11 South exit, (that means you went straight instead of veering to the right onto 11), go to the next stop light (Washington Street) turn right onto Washington Street, take Washington Street to 5th Street, turn right onto 5th Street, take 5th Street as far as you can (2 blocks I think) and you'll be right across from the park entrance. If all else fails, stop anywhere and ask how to get to Mill Race Park. I'm horrible at giving directions, so if they don't make sense let me know, I'll get someone to 'splain them better. 'Chele (aka Micky)

The squirrels got all my species tulip bulbs despite Ro-Pel -- did you get any of those, Mary? (species tulips, not squirrels :) ) Also, I brought inside some easy-to-root nonhardy plants like dicliptera suberecta http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1274/ and bulbine frutescens http://www.magnoliagardensnursery.com/productdescrip/Bulbine_Orange.html that now need to be pinched back -- if anyone wants me to bring cuttings, let me know, and I'll bring a pitcherful. Michael's sells packages of mini-ziplocks for cheap; I have a couple packages I can bring for folks to use to split up bulk seeds. LynnT

I plan to come -- can bake something with the pie cherries I am just harvesting. Anybody got spare bean seeds, or butternut squash? We have mislaid the bag of seeds I so carefully bought in March. I found some seeds from last year -- Vlad's purple pods, a few Kentucky Wonders, and I have my big bag of Sicilian "Chiclets" beans so we've put in two rows of that, and we got desperate and put in some fava beans and asparagus beans this week -- but still have space for Romas and wax beans if anyone has any left. I'll bring some Chiclets if anyone wants to try growing them -- that's my name for them because they are square and white when fresh, we have no idea what the commercial name for them might be -- they are a mid-season bean good both as a green bean and as a shelly bean. Anything else people want me to bring? Lynn