Donn, I found this interesting read on our local fishing site. The article below describes competition for water between Long Island surfers and fishermen. By the way we fish for stripers in the Chesapeake Bay all year. There is a decent population of schoolies most of the year. The Delaware Bay is dead. Not as many fish in my neighborhood. I would love to see my son Patrick, age 3, hook into a nice fish. Maybe on his next mancation. Mancation = Men's Vacation! www.thebassbarn.com SURF-TURF WAR 'BOARDERS' VS. ANGLERS FOR L.I. SEAS By SELIM ALGAR (); KEEPING IT REEL: Surfers teem around the Montauk Point coast over this past weekend as an angler waits hopefully for the fish to bite. August 27, 2007 -- It's a totally gnarly dispute - pitting surfer dudes vs. surf fishermen. And the ticketing of a surfing legend's fianc for illegal wave riding on the north side of Montauk Point, L.I., has only further stoked tensions between the area's anglers and its burgeoning community of wave riders. The two groups are tussling over use of a small strip of shoreline in an area that prohibits surfing but allows surfcasting. The fishermen claim that surfers make it impossible for them to freely throw out their lines into the water and that the boarders also drive fish from the coveted fishing destination. Surfers, asserting a natural right to use the shore resource, have flouted the prohibition and benefited from lax enforcement for several years. But increased complaints from anglers have led to an increase in patrolling and ticketing of surfers in recent months. Longboarding legend Terry Simms, 48, of California, said he was hassled and trailed by a parks officer earlier this summer. His fiancée, Nancy Opitz, 38, said she had finished surfing in late July when a patrol car pulled up behind her vehicle and gave her a ticket. "Nothing like this happens in California," Opitz said of her citation, which wound up being dismissed on a technicality last week. "Montauk is not just a fishing town anymore." But the fishermen disagree. "This is really the last area we have left," said Jay Blatt of the Montauk Surfcasters Association. Blatt said that casting heavy lures and sharp hooks out into a crowd of surfers puts them in danger. "The two activities are not compatible in the same area," he said. Blatt said surfers have successfully petitioned to open up all other areas of Montauk for surfing and are gradually squeezing out fishermen. "This is a fishing town. It has been for centuries," he said. "But they think they should be able to surf any time, anywhere, anyplace. They're out to usurp us." Tom Naro, chairman of the Eastern Long Island Chapter of the Surfriders Association, said the fishermen are being alarmist. "We're not trying to exclude anybody," he said. "But no one user group should have the spot to themselves." Naro also dismissed Blatt's claims that surfers scare away fish and that they are regularly hooked by wayward casts. "You have to want to hook a surfer if you're going to hook him," he said, saying that the two activities can co-exist safely. New York State Parks spokesman George Gorman said a meeting is planned on the issue in the coming weeks and that the surfers are actively fighting to have the prohibition lifted. He noted an increase in organization on the part of East Coast surfers. "They grew up and became attorneys," he said. selim.algar@nypost.com

Hi Everyone, We are back from our trip. It was fantastic. we had a blast. Melinda, I would love to trade with you sometime, I have a lot of dl's, but love other plants, and have many. Joy, I am so sorry to hear about your beloved kitty. we have had to do that a couple of times, one was with our very first dog my dh and i got. we had him for 18 years, it was very difficult. My heart goes out to you. Marea, Again, I am so sorry. They are family, and it hurts so much.Especially when you werent there with them. *hug* Nancy, So happy to hear that your surgery went well. Maybe you can watch someone else do the work in your gardens while you sit in the shade and relax and get better. =) Whoo hoo, I am trading with Jean. I will check your list, hope I have something on it. If not, I will send you a list of what i have, maybe you can find something. Also, I will check locally to see if there is anything i can purchase. I have a dl farm about 20 mins away. And several nurseries I have discovered in the last year. Debbie, What a great box of goodies. Marea, When do our boxes have to be sent. I may have missed it if you posted that. I am very excited to be back trading with you all again. We bought 6 blueberries, and 6 fruit trees, so got a lot of work ahead of us. Plus we have to finish our raised strawberry bed to get all our strawberry plants in. I also found a clematis I have been wanting. Fairydust!! It was the only one they had, and I nabbed it. Only $10 Got lots of cool projects planned for the garden this summer. I cant wait. hehehe Take care everyone, stay safe Hugs Jo

Good Morning Everyone, Sorry I've been away so long - time for me to re-join the world. Again, I can't thank you all enough for the kindness and support that has come from this group. There was such an outpouring of love - you all are truly special! Shirley and Dawn, that is just too funny when you say that your Mom/Gram did all the talking for the men - it was just the same with my FIL and MIL - she definitely did all the planning for what they would do and also talked for him much of the time. He would just get that twinkle in his eye and smile. It must be such a common thing with couples that are together for so many years. We (the family) finally all got together yesterday and celebrated Christmas. Art was so sick and in the hospital much of December and into January that we just never did it. Yesterday was the first time we were all together since the funeral. We all had some good laughs and some good crys, but definitely felt his presence there with us. Carol, I am so sorry to hear of your granddaughter's miscarriage. I know that you were excited for the baby even though she was so young. We always have to try to believe that everything is for a reason to help us accept and get through it. Oh, it must have been so hard to let those last two sweet little pups go! Glad your planning for a vacation and something to look forward to. Dawn, crossing my fingers and saying a prayer that your footers stay put until the temps warm. Once it warms up are you guys ready to get the walls in place now? I'm looking forward to seeing pics when that happens and it really looks like a house. It will be so fun for you too when you are able to start doing some of the things inside. New belly pictures too please - I imagine you're quite a bit bigger since the last picture. It is such a cool feeling when the baby starts really moving around alot when they get bigger. I can remember actually seeing a knee or a foot pushing out from my belly sometimes. Oh yes, and the hiccups. These next couple of months are going to go so fast for you now. Now really is the time for you to try to get get lots of rest and also get anything done to prepare. Your life is about to change forever - very exciting but very physically and emotionally draining much of the time too. We just celebrated my firstborn's 14th birthday last week and I look back and wonder where the time has gone. Feeling a little anxiety already about how fast the next few years will go by and I have to let him go out into the world. Annie, I am also so sorry to hear about Kelly's miscarriage. I'm glad she is feeling better now though. Your family has certainly been through enough. You are such an amazing woman to always keep your chin up and stay so strong. Sharon, Nancy, Carol, Annie and Dawn - Just want to say thank you for being the "bones" of our group lately. We all have times that we all but disappear for awhile and there always seems to be a core group that steps up and keeps it going, keeps us all connected. Thank you for being that these past few weeks. And speaking of disappearances - Miss Cindy, I sure do miss you and could certainly use some pictures of some of your awesome daylilies right about now. Oh, and please drag that friend of yours Sherri on over here too. Miss you guys. Marea, love the canna in the living room pictures. It's so nice that your sun is strong enough to grow them indoors in the winter. What a nice thing to look at in February. Glad to hear you're still making progress towards your move. I'll bet you will be so happy when it's done. "Snazzy Memories' is just beautiful and will be so meaningful to Dawn and Jenna. Once again, I am so touched by your big heart. I hope that some day we are all lucky enough to have 'Snazzy Memories' in our gardens. I have a few hostas that were potted on the porch that I ended up bring in a few weeks ago. They have all sprouted and opened their leaves. Makes me want Spring even more. An early arrival would be just fine with me.It is so cold here too right now. Hope you're all remembering to keep those bird feeders full. I've been filling mine twice a day. The birds will just sit in the trees within 3' of me now waiting while I fill them. I barely turn my back to head for the house before they flock to the feeders and ground to eat. The poor babies are so cold and hungry right now. Barb, hope your "blueness" ends soon and things start looking up for you and hubby. Missing your posts. I'm going to try to get those DL seeds out to you soon. Debbie, MaryS, Gloria and Angie, it was so nice to see you all post. Please come around more often - miss you guys. Jo, I don't think I have ever seen you so quiet - miss you too but know how busy your life is these past few months. Please let us hear from you. Anita, so sorry about the tragedy at your house. Hope your hubby realizes that he did all he could for his friend and feels at peace with it. We sure would like to hear from you again soon too. Dawn, how are the fish? Well, enough rambling. Sorry if I missed anyone. Got to work later on today so I have some chores to do at home ofcourse. Hope you all have a great day. Any big Colts or Bears fans here? Hugs, MaryB

Jennymama, I just wanted to say congratulations on your new quarters! I came to this thread late so have just been reading through the posts...I kind of started chuckling about halfway through at the different "camps" we are all in (those who say "go for it" and those who shudder at the thought of living in a travel trailer for several months, LOL.) I wanted to do that when we were building on our land, and two years later I still think our lives would have been easier in many ways had we done so (we also thought about going ahead and building the shop and putting a small bathroom in it, to live in during the build.) I think you have three really big considerations that will make you very glad you did this. One is that the drive to your dd's school would take up so much of the time that you will need for dealing with things as the house is being built, not to mention time that could be better spent with your younger one. Two hours a day, five days is a week is a LOT of time that you just gave yourself! The two other things will be important to your sanity and comfort over the next few months, and they are the facts that you can put your travel trailer a bit away from construction site for privacy from the comings and goings of the workers (and safety for the kids re: construction materials) and also that you have that big finished shop. If you can keep that for your own stuff and not have it become a repository for storing construction stuff, it will be a real asset as far as storing kids' toys and household goods. You can both have things with you that might take up too much room in the camper, and start to move more of your stuff when it gets closer to time for the move. Good luck with the build and enjoy the outdoors.