Wow Lesli, a Live oak, I love them. I'm trying to grow a Live oak here in Pa. It is the Quartz mountain Live oak, the hardiest Live oak, probably in the world. It did good last winter, which was a mild one. Your's is likely a Texas Live oak, but, if you are in Eastern Texas you could grow the plain Live oak that is usually grown in the more humid (rainier) parts of Texas. And is usually found in the moister southern states. Either way that is a beautiful tree, and good sized, well, you did say it's 500+ years old. I hope mine can handle my winters good enough to get some size to it before I croak.

OMG, I love all of these responses! Rox - too funny about the hummingbird trying to get your hat hibiscus!!! They are VERY territorial, but understandably so - they have to eat about every 10-15 minutes during the day so a food source can be the difference between life and death, and very worth protecting. HAHA! Mike, that's exactly what I mean - I can be staring RIGHT AT THEM and then stick my face right in their face! I love seeing them out there on patrol, well, after I regain my composure anyway. I have started to like many of the insects more now that I know what they do, and have even declared a truce with the wasps on my plants now that I know they are good guys. Lynn, I bet as your garden develops you will have more encounters. The more hiding places, water and food sources the more will come - so I bet with more foliage you will see more. I have a hummingbird feeder so that's why they come but I can't do regular bird feeders due to the cats. K! OMG, I am so glad to see the kitty so happy and healthy! I didn't know you were keeping her, that's awesome :) That is truly a magical moment for you to have found her (and saved such a tiny one!) before it was too late. Love the name - one of my dogs is named Charlotte!

Unfortunately, My dad's TV has about six sets of RCA Audio Out jacks, and not one set of them has anything to do with watching TV through a F-pin coax cable feed (as far as I know). TV audio outs only support video options, especially if the TV set is 27 inches or more. In other words I would have to get a receiver or cable box to funnel the channel line up through them...and he doesn't get it, he wants the remote that came with the TV to turn it off and on and change the the channels...end of story. Thanks for the link at Amazon. Very interesting. My little `19 inch Toshiba has a head phone jack and I plugged some speakers into it, and it sounds good. Somebody decided not to put headphone jacks on TV's over 24 inches...forces us to buy home theater systems. marf

I'm pretty good at poker...better than my DH. But I have a great story about his luck. Back when we were first married and he was still in school and working co-op, he called me about a Red Cross benefit that he saw advertised. Admission was $25 per person. They were giving away a free trip at the top of every hour. I believe there were 3 or 4 trips total. I told him 'No, we can't go...it's just too much money for us right now'. An hour goes by and he calls me again and say, 'honey, we HAVE to go. I had Chinese for lunch and my fortune cookie said that I would soon be crossing great waters'. He sounded so excited, how could I say no. When we got to the event, the head of our local Red Cross was greeting people. My DH went up to him and introduced himself as he went on and on about how he was going to win. He told the guy about his fortune cookie. The man looked at my husband with this 'I'm not sure what to think of you...you nutball!' My DH was and is quite a social butterfly and at times very flamboyant with his stories. So, we hung out with our friends, had some beers and made fun of the winners who went crazy as their names were called and they ran screaming up to the stage. Around 10:30 I thought it was time to go. I had to work the next day and I was getting sleepy. I said, "Mark, we're not going to win...look, there must be over 1000 people here." And he held up his fortune and said, "there's still the trip to Ft. Lauderdale left and I'M GOING TO WIN IT". I rolled my eyes. We decided to find a table and play some euchre to pass the time. As we were playing we heard our last name (a very unusual ethnic name) and it dawned on all of us. We won the last trip! I got up and jumped up and down and probably screamed more than any of the other winners. DH went up to the stage waving his fortune cookie. You should've seen the look on the Red Cross guy's face. Total disbelief. Well, it makes for a good story. We had a grand time in Ft. Lauderdale....then stayed another 4 days in Lauderdale-by-the sea!