Cool. Or cooler, anyway. (smile) Take advantage of the opportunity to travel in Europe while you are there. Highly recommend Holland, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden. France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic also good. Much to see, while the opportunity presents itself. Drive times by auto: Kaiserslautern, Germany to Amsterdam.....about six hours. Frankfort, Germany to Paris.....about 4 hours. Paris to Orleans.....1 1/2 hrs. Paris to Salzburg, Austria......about 9 hours. You can cover a lot of ground by car, in a relatively short time. If you travel by train (European trains are very efficient), only take carry on luggage. Checked baggage can get delayed in customs for days, between countries. See as much as your time and budget will allow. You never know if you will ever get there again.

Thanks! Most of our problems have been directly related to the city, our city manager, the mayor and council. I swear they all act like total idiots,showing their backsides at every chance. First the mayor on TV looking "catatonic" and telling us to all stay away, barricading the causeway and then saying there were snakes everywhere. My brother has to elevate his house 11'. The house next door to him, sits 3' lower, doesn't have to be elevated. The house across the street, 4' lower, lots more damage, doesn't have to be elevated. The 2 story, not hardly damaged house 2 doors down has to be torn down. The one story with minor damage has to be torn down. What's the difference you ask? The house across the street hired an appraiser to say the house was worth more than the city said it was, result? It is no longer considered substantially damaged! The house next door? He has a friend that works for the city who got his permits for him. The two story house? Noone is saying what's going on there but the owner is not known for playing nice with city council. There is a house, in a wealthy neighborhood, that is currently being re-built. It does not have to be elevated, it is not considered "substantially damaged". The only thing that remains of the original home is the slab, the walls blew out, the brick blew off and the roof collapsed. They just finished the new framing. It's all in who you pay off, who you married or your address here. I'm so disgusted, the city put a huge garbage dump on Broadway but won't let FEMA put trailers there because it will "look bad". Maybe they didn't notice the destroyed houses, marina, the boats in the middle of 61st, the missing chunks of the Seawall, the collapsed houses, the debris lining the streets, the lack of power to almost 1/2 of the island..... the empty abandoned hospital..... BAH! Tally Ho!

Ok Tally HO!

No! Lots of growth but not a bloom in sight. All the other passies are blooming. I'm dying to see this thing bloom. We'll see how it does over winter. Maybe with more water? Cooler temps? Can't find much info on the web on it either. We're still waiting on windows, this weeks excuse is "we need more time". I've been calling since August 1, supposed to be put in on August 4th. Needless to say I'm more than a bit angry and am looking at going to court as of this moment. I think I can prove they didn't act in good faith, the recording of the manager telling me it was taking so long because it's "on the coast" should take care of that. It's not like I MOVED the house to the coast, it's been in the same spot for almost 100 years! I wasted no time spreading the news to everyone that we live on the coast. Ya gotta laugh. And retain a good lawyer apparently. Tally HO!