fancifowl; Thanks SO much! I sent you an e-mail also. If anyone else has a chance, you should check out the photos. Some beautiful Black Hamburgs and Sumatras and I really love the Sumatra x Pheonix hybrid. Very sharp. The American Buff geese are very nice also. Do they tend to be as aggresive as the other breeds? Our neighbor had a Pilgrim goose just show up at his house one day. We (ours and his) are the only 2 houses on this dirt road and he is well off the main road. He thought it might be mine. It was very friendly. His daughter put a necktie on it and took its picture! Last I knew it was still there. It hangs around near his porch and is friendly with his dogs. Karen

OMG, MissSherry - you're doing a meadow? That's fantastic! Do let us follow your project so we can see how it develops. I think that is an admirable adventure. Had to go feed my HEs and TEs (yes, Jeff! LOL!) this morning and I have lots of chrysalises now! I put my browning banana in a plastic bag yesterday and set it outside to hasten the "ripening" process so I will have some fruit for them when they emerge. It's rainy this morning so I will wash pots to get them ready for transplanting milkweeds and my new plants til I can get them in the ground. I am thrilled my Giant Milkweed is up from seed as well as my Caelsapinia gillesii (bird of paradise). If the rain stops by noon, as expected, I will get out and pull up more bermuda grass.......argh.....the laundry can wait; my clothes get dirty anyway LOL! I have one of those gorgeous Golden Delicious Salvia elegans that needs repotting already. I just potted it up 3 weeks ago and it has already outgrown its pot. I bought it at a local nursery in a 3" pot; potted up to a 6" deep pot, and shazamm! The foliage is just gorgeous. Those hot red blooms will look magnificent with that gold foliage come fall. I should have some happy hummers and Cloudless Sulphurs this year. Gonna have to look up your plants to see what they look like, MissSherry. Didn't realize there was a Delph that could be grown in the south. I have grown some Helianthus laciniatums from seed this year (seed was 6 yo and still germinated without storing it properly). They appear to be very vigorous, like the plant itself will eventually be. Also a good meadow plant. Susan

Yesterday was my father's 83rd bday. One year ago on his bday, our ice storm hit and by this time of the day, hundreds of limbs were down,(One through the thin tin of our mobile into the living room), the electricity was out and a huge limb bigger than my waist fell into the field where we had parked the cars, just brushing the rear bumper of our son's van. This year it can't possibly be as bad for us as we had a metal roof built over the trailer and a carport built, and there just aren't that many limbs left to fall. We also bought a generator and a couple battery operated lanterns to go with the candles and oil lamp. We survived 9 days in our home because we have a wood stove and propane cookstove, but no electricity because the small generator that we borrowed was only big enough to keep the freezers cold, although DH did disconnect the freezers each evening long enough to pump hot water into the house for showers. I've prepared though. Filled several gallon jugs full of drinking water and brought in 2 five gallon buckets of rainwater to flush toilets if need be. Done laundry, charged cell phone, filled woodboxes. Now need to take a shower and I'll be prepared. Right now here in extreme eastern Ok, it is either 27, 30 or 33 depending on which of the outdoor thermometers is right. There is a thin coating of ice on the porch railing and 3" icicles hanging from the roof, although the sidewalk is still just wet. So far we have only had light rain and right now it has stopped. I pray it stays stopped until DH gets home this evening. George, we also cook on our woodstove a lot in the winter, soups, stews and beans mostly. Thanks for the idea of making bread. I ground the last of my wheat yesterday and will make 18 hr no-knead bread for tomorrow. The recipe is simplicity itself. 4 cups flour (I use a mix of whole wheat, 7 grain, and unbleached white) 1 & 1/2 cups warm water 2 tsp salt 1/3 tsp yeast Mix everything briskly in a glass or crockery bowl, cover with a towel and set on the counter overnight. The next morning beat it down and let it rise again--twice. Then oil your hands good and form it into a loaf and allow to rise for the final time. Cook at 375 til done. Great stuff. Develops a bit of a sourdough taste. The 18 hours is an estimate. How soon it will be ready will depend on the room temp. Everybody stay safe.

Lisa, Yes, I agree with Carol... you are truly a nice person to assist those in need. I'm at 178th & Santa Fe just 1/4-1/2 mile from their location. I wasn't kidding when I posted the other day that it was flooding north, south, east and west of me. There were water rescues immediately south of us and residential evacuations to the west (probably your friend's neighborhood), roads washed away immediately north and flooding in several places east of here. A few years back, I remember being miffed at the "inconvenience" of having to navigate around construction from widening all the drainage areas around our neighborhood. Right now, I'm thankful that the city thought far enough ahead for the possibility of flooding or we'd be in much worse shape right now. Just a few swamped squash plants and I was already mad at them for not putting on any stinkin' fruit anyway(!). On a side note, if we ever move from this house I'm going to seriously study the 100-year flood table/zones before we even think about purchasing another place. Thanks for asking, Lynn