George, my feeling is that anyone who looks at a few weeds instead of the plants you are growing, just doesn't understand a garden. Mine has good days and bad days, and today is a bad day when it really looks like it needs some attention. The first thing I see are the half dead pea vines. I will probably take them out in a couple of days, but I find it hard to do when they still provide a snack as I walk by. No one but me would notice that there are three climbing squash vines, about four inches tall, just ready to take over their space when they come out, planted at the base of the same trellis. Also, I recognize that some people's weeds are other people's food. I don't have much lambsquarter, but I have a constant problem with poke in my garden. To me it is a weed and I would love not to have it, but that is never going to happen. My neighbor likes it and it grows to be six feet tall and covered with berries and the birds plant it everywhere. I grow dandelions too, but I don't want to. LOL I once had a sign in my house that said, "If you have come to see me, come anytime. If you have come to see my house, make an appointment." I think most people who want to see your garden, just look and what you are growing, and pay little attention to the tasks that haven't been completed. That is especially true of other gardeners, and should we really care what the non-gardeners think? I had a friend in Alaska that had a large family and a busy life. She said her secret to housekeeping was to get up every morning, make sure everyone made their bed, wash the dishes, empty the trash cans, then move the vacuum cleaner to the middle of the living room, and go on with life. If company came, they would just think they caught you in the middle of house cleaning. At the time, I was young and energetic and laughed at her ideas and never once thought of adopting it. As I am typing this, I am resting after completing several difficult chores outside. The kitchen is clean, I'm getting ready to take out the trash, and the vacuum has been setting in the middle of the room for an hour or so. Although I have only met Dorothy and Glenn one time, I feel sure that they will not make any non-favorable decisions about you or your family, based on a few weeds. LOL I have a neighbor with a manicured lawn. At one time, he was going to move and sold his riding lawn mower. They changed their minds about leaving. His next door neighbor bought a new lawn mower and told him to use it anytime. I never see the neighbor who owns the lawn mower using his mower, but his lawn is always mowed. The neighbor who sold his mower mows his lawn, his own lawn, and the neighbor on the other side of him. Then he is also part of the 'rotation' that mows the lawn of the lady that has cancer. This man does not plant vegetables, but decided he would like to do so this year. His plot was tiny, so not room for much of anything, but I offered him plants and seed. His wife kept telling him that she was afraid he wouldn't take care of it and it would look ugly. Everything he owns is in good repair. Several times in the Spring, he would be looking for Al, or his wife wanted to tell me something, and they couldn't reach us by phone. He would walk over and find me in the garden. One day he said, "Gardening is hard work, isn't it?" I said, "Yes, especially in the Spring, but I love it." He didn't plant the garden. He is in his 70's, and has never planted a vegetable garden and had the experience of watching it grow. His plot was tiny and he could easily taken care of it. Maybe if I hadn't made it look hard, he would have.

You just try and see the positive. The island is still pretty depressing, especially if you drive around at night-you see how much is still dark and empty. I often don't see another car all the way from work to home. Burglaries are up, no surprise there, noone home, lots of tools at jobsites. There is still a serial killer running loose, no new victims, no word. The serial rapist/flasher was released from jail. Approx. 50% of the business' have reopened. They have the posts all set for Murdochs and are starting to rebuild the building. The Flagship is still empty, even the ramp hasn't been replaced. Blue tarps are still everywhere. Houses are being raised or razed. My brothers house will be raised in 3 weeks. We're still waiting on windstorm to fix the roof, no blue tarp because we have asbestos tiles & they won't put a tarp on those. There are more restaurants off the Seawall opening back. We all got our appraisals, $7,700.00 decrease for our house, $40,000 decrease for my moms, she is very upset about that. I'm fighting mine, I think with all the trees destroyed, the island with no medical care, the damage, etc. that it should be valued even less. UTMB built a wall to block off the ER and now has an "urgent" care clinic in the space next to the main ER. They put an article in the paper telling people to call 911 & not to go to the clinic. There is still little or no reconstruction going on, the cafeteria is in a tent in the parking lot, the pharmacy in a portable building in a garage.... Driving home yesterday I really noticed how many trees are dead on the East end. It is worse North of Broadway and on the West end. There was an article in yesterdays paper, there is still a watch and wait approach for trees, don't cut them down yet. It is pretty sad with so many, many dead oaks. Big, huge beautiful trees. So many dead bushes too. Hackberry is a native, did you know those nasty little berries are EDIBLE?? The Houston Chronicle actually suggested planting them as part of an edible landscape. You'd have to eat a million berries. Sometimes I wonder who writes that stuff. I knew the trash trees would all be fine. You can't kill tallow. Lots of possums on the island still. Snails and slugs are rebounding quickly. I heard tree frogs for the first time the other night. Still no toads. Found one worm all the time I've been digging, tiny baby so maybe the eggs survived and are hatching. Lots of birds, not so much for them to eat as they migrate through, they can empty 12 feeders in about an hour, without help from the gackles. Coyotes are still here. Lots of pelicans, dolphins and reports of a killer whale just offshore. The sandhill cranes were back for the winter-they've headed north already. Fishing is getting better, shrimpers still having problems with debris in the water. Oyster beds remain closed for the most part. The holes in the Seawall sidewalk have been repaired. Sand dumping is finished. Work will start soon on repairing the ramps on Seawall that were destroyed. There is a group interested in repainting the mural on the Seawall that was destroyed. Tally HO!

This is from the Gardening in Texas forum: Posted by beachplant 9b (beachplant@excite.com) on Fri, Nov 7, 08 at 12:04 Got e-mail today! finally! I've been to the community center a dozen times without being able to get online. Got confirmation today that I have a job also and that it means no break in service! YEAH! Rejected by FEMA and SBA, writing my apeals. Everyone on the island remains in wait pattern, wait on FEMA, wait on insurance, wait on UTMB-will we have jobs?, wait on city wait on permits-permits denied!, it's horrible and getting worse. The trees all look horrible, we haven't had enough rain to speak of, the water is still iffy, debris lines the streets, whole neighborhoods are deserted and without power, there is a dead horse on east beach rotting away, there is still curfew downtown, a lot of the business' aren't going to reopen...... It's very depressing here and getting worse. I'm working in the yard some but man is it dead out there, every time I rake up a pile of debris I think about what used to be there. Did find the brick sidewalk though, the tree covers part of it but found the rest under the debris. See ya'll at Mercer tomorrow. WE don't have any plants to bring but we'll bring pictures and smiles! Thanks to everyone for their concerns and prayers-the church groups have done more for us than anyone else, federal, state or local. We can never thank them enough! Even the Mennonites have sent food! Tally HO! This was my post in reply: Posted by drewsmaga (My Page) on Tue, Nov 11, 08 at 2:39 Tally, may I cross-post your update to the GW Kitchen Table? I've been posting there with updates I've gotten from the Chronicle, local new, and my horror when we went to Galveston a few wks. ago & saw how bad it was. I'm astounded that FEMA has abandoned TX with this hurricane (heard on on of the news @ 6 last night that local governments are begging FEMA for at least the same amount of aid Katrina victims got, b/c it ain't happening here in TX. My heart goes out to all of y'all in Galveston, Oak Island, Surfside, Gilchrist, Anuhuac, and so on and so on. . . I'm trying to keep this in the national attention. . . I am SO disturbed that the rest of the country has abandoned y'all. . . . Pat, safe in The Woodlands This is Tally's E-mail to me: Yes, please! I am trying to get the word out to as many people as I can and of course I thought of all of us on the gardenweb, we are from everywhere and we all talk! FEMA keeps doing stuff 30 days, 30 days, then the city or the state or the county has to try and get it extended for another 30 days. Why would anyone think that you could clean up after this in 30 days! And the idiot in charge said that housing wasn't going to be a problem in Galveston because all our damage was from wind and not flooding!!!! I guess he didn't watch the news, oh, wait, there was no news! The city imposing a media blackout didn't help at all. The state also had a no-fly order over the area. And then we had to compete with the election and the economy. Plus we didn't stand on bridges and wring our hands while holding out one hand. Good thing cause FEMA isn't any better. They had food and water to give out, but the city wouldn't let us in! Then they stopped giving out supplies, well, 80% of the homes were damaged or destroyed, a lot of people aren't home and won't be for months or years. Still no trailers in site, people are living in tents, cars, moldy houses, gutted houses, 15-20 people living with relatives. The people in public housing have it the worst, They didn't let them get their stuff out, they just left the apts open & moldy & put a big fence around the places. They are all in limbo. The city was going to let them in to get their belongings, the second floors of most places were OK. Of course by now that stuff all has to be moldy and smelly. Tally HO!

same Birthday, different lifestyles & attitudes, yet there is a commonality among the quoters I find interesting, wonder what an Astrologer would make of this. I enjoyed today's reading very much I noticed all have a fodness for cats