Well I'm exhausted from planting tons of stuff, mowing, weed eatting, pulling weeds in the iris and daylily beds. Just when I thought I was going to be "caught up" the mail lady brought me two huge boxes of daylilies that I had ordered and paid for in Feb. Thank God I had already paid for them, they cost a fortune. Now I have two more huge boxes of daylilies to soak and plant. Took me half the day to water all the brugs I planted last week. So far, knock on wood, they are all doing GREAT in the ground. I guess only time will tell. I still have my brug babies I grew from seeds to plant but I wanted to wait another week or so to do that. A gardeners job is never done, and I guess that's a good thing as far as all of us are concerned. LOL. I'm going to try to get the liner in the pond/ hole in the front yard sometime this week. I'm tired of looking at the hole with the huge bolders all around it. LOL I'm just about ready for some of those pond plants everyone is/was going to share with me. Things are really beginning to shape up around here. I made me 3 arbors for vines to grow up today too. Of course the hardest part for me was driving the t post into the ground. That's hard work for an old lady. LOL Other than that I didn't do too much, just sat and watched the birds, fish, butterflies, frogs and so forth. All in all a delightfully painful day. Now I'm going to soak in the a hot tub of water. Happy Gardening everyone, Marian

Daniella, I have no idea what kind of dog she is. We got her from a local high kill shelter, she a day past her "out" date and very sickly and she was the only dog my DD would think of having. That was 5 years ago, Lord only knows what I am going to do with the dog when my DD goes to college, they are joined at the hip. All of my dogs are either shelter or pound puppies, except for the black rat terrier, she was found on the side of the road. She came as a package deal with the BF, she is my dog now follows me everywhere I go. If anything ever happens to us, I will insist on her staying!!! Mary

I call them Dream Merchants. Really they are not selling a product but a dream. Went to one Amway party and the poor presenter spent an hour "explaining" to me that it was not about selling dreams. Alas, the first page in the Amway sales book says you have to "sell the dream". Pretty certain I ruined his Amway career. The scam is to sucker people into selling carp for you. You get them excited about being rich without having to actually work. Show a pyramid chart and talk about the hundred if not thousands of people that will soon be "working" for you. Stop to show some pictures of a tropical beach location. Continue by projecting huge wealth if thousands of people all sell this stuff for you everyday. End up by noting that some people deserve fabulous wealth and it can be theirs if only they cough up a hundred bucks to join your sales team. Not everyone wants to be wealthy so not everyone joins your team.... don't you want to be filthy stinking rich without working? I got sucked in by AFLAC. Fresh out of college and looking for a job anywhere. Being an "Insurance Agent" seems almost like a real job. I actually sold a few dozen policies before the reality set in. Just because you establish a customer does not mean that you own that account. No, your Regional Sales Manager has the right take over your accounts because you fail to sell them more insurance every month. Last sales meeting I was threatening to turn the RSM upside down and bounce him on his head. Had to quit before I gave into violent temptations. : ) lyra

floral_uk - thank you so much for replying so quickly. I've attached a picture of the mess I've now made. I suffer with depression, anxiety, OCD and bipolar disorder. This has really taken a toll on me this morning. I have seriously been outside in the rain with a bucket on and off for the last three hours, crying as I fight an endless battle. It just won't stop raining. And yes, that's exactly what I did. I purchased potting soil as I always do, mixed it with my native clay, and backfilled. I've got azaleas, brugmansia, roses, another clematis, etc and I remember this has happened in the past with those plants as well,when I first dig the hole, and if it rains soon after. But they've all survived. I don't know if I'm freaking out or what. But now I've made a huge mess. With my OCD, and my mind racing I simply cannot control myself. I keep scooping out buckets of water. Digging like I did only made it worse. It did pull the water away from it a little but since the rain won't stop it just keeps filling up with water all around it. I'm at a loss as to what I should do. I've come close several times to just carefully with the shovel scooping the clematis out of this muddy mess. It looks way worse now that it did, but I couldn't control myself. I freaked out and started digging a trench and quickly realized that wasn't going to be easy, and the more I dug the messier the whole area got. Please please please when you have time advise me on what I should do. If it means digging it up and letting it dry out a little then I'll do it and plant it elsewhere. It nearly killed me planting it the first time. I pulled a muscle in my back and now I am paying for it. And to have to do it all again I just dread. But I most certainly will. And any advice, tips or tricks on how to fill this mess I made by digging? Is bathtub effect normal? Am I freaking out for nothing? On this same side of the fence, about 10-12 feet down I have 2 brugmansia, a rose close by, cleome and they've all been puddled from time to time and all have survived over 5 years now. I'm embarrassed to even show the area I chose. It looks such a mess now. The little fence was to keep my dogs away. It worked but I guess I needed a dam instead of a fence What did I do wrong to cause this bathtub effect? Thank you so much for just listening. And I'm ready for any and all advice you have time to give.