Did you mean seventies with no rain? How nice. We had seventies the last two days, but the rain was a mostly all day hard affair. We are supposed to have a couple of dryer days these next two days. Your blooms look really good Mantis. I particularly like Laura Harwood and Lavender Stardust. Apache War Dance looks fabulous. Such a good bright bloom. My faavorite is the lovely Morning Mood. kay

WoW! The gang's all here! And it sounds like everyone is still very busy. I to have DH home all day, but rather than trying to manage everything, he just sits in his chair and of course I don't get anything done with him sitting there so I find "something" for him to do and he just looks at me and asks, "Why don't you just ask me to leave the house so you can get stuff done?" He has been retired for 19 years now so I am used to him being around but it was a big challenge in the beginning. I like my quiet time! Our Pond....I love our pond and until the flood it was really not much work at all and all of the water lilies and other flowering plant are so beautiful and the fish become friends. After the "high water event" we though "doing this" several times would fix the problem of silt...they didn't so we did what we should have done in the first place, remove everything and start from scratch. The large rocks were the hardest. It's like building a rock wall - everything has to fit together and for some reason I do better at this than DH so I pointed at a rock and he moved it and like a little bird making her nest I would turn it 5 times and put it back the way it was the first time. It is now beautiful again but no sipping drinks...it's raining! Luvs...don't you just love block garage sales? We used to have a 3 mile long garage sale here on our road, all of about 20 homes. It was always so much fun. Maybe it will happen again in a year or two. Anj...how is DH doing? Much better I hope! And about your having a water feature....they are well worth the effort and if you don't have fish they are so easy. We built our pond in '04 and have had so many hours of enjoyment. Punk, so much work and now taking on your brothers new home...and the pressure we put on ourselves when we have company, so take a vacations already! Don't you all just love the fall season! It is my favorite time of the year as far as colors. Our tree leaves aren't very "colorful" when they change, mostly they just get yellow and drop off the trees. Thank goodness for all of the artificial stuff! And now the gourds and pumpkins look so real. Like you Luv, I start with fall and just add Halloween things and remove them and add Thanksgiving things. And with more children in the area I need to make up some crafty treats to give out even though most kids go off to town to Trick or Treat, so I drop off their goodies. Well, we didn't get the deck and porch stained...but it is covered in hopes of a couple of dry days. So now we are putting up new insulation under the house. I don't think we will every get everything done! So our selling and moving is still on the back burner. Houses here are not selling at all, but then would you like to buy a house that flooded two years ago? Neither does anyone else. But time will help. Off to work on the Problem Santa while DH is in town. I finally figured out that someone used acrylics over some kind of oils over acrylics...messsy! Had to use paint remover to get it all off...should have just cut a new face but I have this streak, something about being stubborn. Take Care! Belle

Pumpkin Patch showing the aging of the color. Crescendo, new to me this year. First bud. Crescendo, in the evening with the flash. I'm still waiting for first buds on Drop Dead Red, Tuscan Sun, Memorial Day, New Day, Peace, Night Owl, and Top of the World.

Isabelle Rose is so pretty! I added that one last year, but it has not bloomed yet. That's a gorgeous photo of Shores of Time. I still consider it one of the best pinks around. My Bluegrass Shadows was not splotchy at all the first two years, but my first two blooms this week were ultra splotchy for some reason. Kara Louise is the one Hansen red that's never been splotchy for me - maybe being at the corner of my shed protects it from the dew. Yours looks a different shade of red from mine. I can understand why you added it if your daughter's name is Kara. The clump of Butterfly Moon looks fabulous. I got that one from Nancy last year as a healthy, robust plant, but it did not fare well in the potting soil I used to pot it. I put it in the ground last fall, and it still looks wimpy. No scapes yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Wonderful post. Like A Gee Six even appeals to me. If I had room, I'd offer to take it. Debra