Valerie - only problem is that it's not just one or two, but 30!!!!! But I figure if I see if they're alive, then even if they are, I'm not going to get blooms until August. So I'm going to bite the bullet, throw them all out (I can hear the screams from some of you!!) and start again wiser and happier. Carol

Hi to both Marys. Last year was my first time winter sowing. Had mixed results, but am back again this year with about 200 jugs planted thus far. Started in late Dec. and am still planting every time a trade or round robin comes in. It's not too late. Everything sprouts at it's own right time. I will start planting my annuals soon as our weather settles down abit. We are still getting snow and hail squalls here in Washington. Talk about your crazy weather. There's no sign of globle warming here. I have about 20 gallon jugs sprouted thus far. We are not crazy. Unless we're crazy like a fox. I will have at least 100 new types of perennials, shrubs and trees this year all for the price of some potting soil and a few stamps and bubble envelopes. Imagine what it would all cost if we bought those plants at a nursery. Connie

gnomey & all you others who freak out over snakes need to come & see me. My DH was just like you when we first started dating & couldn't even be in the same room (big chicken, the snake was in a cage). The only good snake was a dead one. We volunteer with our local animal welfare org & take our pets to animal education opportunities. There are usually a couple more pets than people to hold them so we are always looking for extra hands. My DH thought I was kidding when I told him he would just have to get over it because we needed the help. In a matter of weeks, he was a "snakehandler" & we even went on to have a few of our own. They are not cold (just room temp), not slimey or wet & they feel like a piece of good leather. They are not interested in you if you are too big to eat & usually just want to get away & hide. Walk heavy & when they feel your vibrations, they will crawl off. So visit me & I will help you with your fear. Dave, They love chipmunks. If you have chippies & a place for the snakes to hide, they will come. Linda

I think this is where my family uses texting. It's basically a way we say little things back and forth without really interupting what else may be going on in the other's day. Sometimes it's just to share something exciting or something silly that we know the other will get a laugh out of. My sister sent me an out of the blue pic of her first ripe tomato in the garden. Could I have lived my day without seeing this? Of course, but sister was so pleased she just reached out to share and knew I'd be happy for her. This is the sister who kills plants because she has forgotten to water or did not plant correctly blah blah. Yep, I was excited as she over that pic as she's really tried hard this year to 'get it right'. Yes, my 34 yr old son gets a head up on highway conditions if we know DS is heading out and DH has just made it in. One drives 35 miles one way to work, the other 20 and both open highways through rural settings. Yep, texts go back and forth 'I made it'. Youngest son, 24, and niece, 25, drive abt 25 miles into work. This winter during our blizard conditions texts went back and forth between us all. Yep, this one in, yep now this one too and on and on it went until as our family as a whole knew we were all safe and sound. It's just my family's way. Nobody finds it being annoying, but than we are a close family and all live within an hourish of each other. And yes, texts went back and forth between GS's BM and us too. Texts went back and forth during my mother's three surgeries this summer. CC'd most and a couple got individual messages. Texts make it so we can stay in touch, write what needs to be said and answers or responses can be sent at receivers leisure. PO1, 'dont forget to wear your coat'? My grandmother use to say to me as I came in without one ' honey, don't you have a coat' and would run to her purse and start getting out cash to buy one LOL. "Of course, Gma I have a closet full I just did not have enough sense to put one on today". Then she'd make me a cup of tea and mumble about how I would catch my death. But I too think the BM in this thread is going overboard and in a way trying to control one house from another. Whether she's doing it deliberately or because she really does not have a clue how this affects her son and the rest of the household, I don't know. With what we've heard of this BM, I tend to think she has some mental issues (perhaps intensified by drinking). I think she obesses over the hours Love tends to SS by Love's self (going to steal her child's affections) and goes nuts in the evenings when Mr Love is home and BM's mind frets over the family unit going on without her. Whatever and why ever, what BM is doing is not normal nor healthy for those she inflicts herself on. I might get a text photo from one of my kids just simply sharing something they though I'd find funny or enjoy.