Well Carrie, if I did get a response like I said in my last response to you, I can't remember who it is (amnesia). I've looked back through the mail and can't find anything. Well, it's October here in the Upstate of SC and the temp is starting to drop a little so maybe its best that I can't remember. I hope you have a great winter. I'm trying to get some Spring Bulbs ready to plant but I have to plant them in a place where I can sit and get up by myself. Never know how my legs are going to be when I wake up in each morning, may be able to walk, may be just able to hobble around until I get all loosened up. I really enjoyed writing to you and I pray that your plant to great. The pic is of my daughter and myself. Its a few years old. She didn't take up my interest in gardening. She's a nurse and I'm so proud of her because we feel like this is a calling of God and she is a wonderful young woman. Now she does have a special relationship with wild animals. When she was small, I was always taking wild animals away from her and letting them go but it was too late by then, it wasn't wild anymore. She'd go out on the porch and yell BABIES and chameleons, field mice and others would come running from everywhere and see who could get to her first. We called her Ellie Mae! ok, I'm getting in bed now. Bye. Joel Morris

Funnelweb, I like your approach! We have a similar attitude. I remember a few years ago we had a snake in the backyard. I only saw it partially once in the old chook shed as it scuttled away very quickly. I thought "god what the heck is that" and then figured it must have been a blue tongue as we had quite a few of those. Then one day my son's school friend was here and they got a good look at it. The friend was all for killing it as he used to live on acreage down around Berry and reckoned that when it gets to breeding season they (snakes) get agressive.. but I reckoned it wasn't doing anyone any harm and indeed it had only even been seen the once, and frankly, I'm flattered it likes our place, so I issued a protection order for it. we have some frogs and some water and the old chook shed has a nice northerly facing concrete floor and stuff in it to hide under. Sounds like pretty good snake apartments really! There used to be an aviary and chooks in nearby yards, and these attracted the mice, but those are gone, so the food supply may not be what it once was, and I don't think snakey is till around. I have been doing a project re family photos recently and had a disappointment. We have an old family story about my grandfather walking along and stepping in a taipan which was curled up asleep minding its own business in the long grass. Snake jumped up into the air in fright. Granfather jumped up into the air in fright.. the family story went that snake went one way, grandfather the other.. but then going through my mothers photo album, there's a photo of my grandfather holding up a dead snake. Mum says, yeah, that IS the snake from the story. .... sniff... I liked that story better when I thought the snake lived to tell the tale. As far as I know the only fauna permanently living in the old chook shed at the moment is a rather large and impressive red back. When I found her she was a beautiful specimen. Red backs made excellent pets. They are quiet, timid and provide food for blue tongues. Sure you don't want to go sticking your finger in their gob, but I reckon that's about what you'd need to do to rile one up.. and im our experience the red backs aren't stupid, they do their best to choose places you don't interfere with too much and set up their web out of the way there. They are lovely little creatures.

I'm not even sure I'd be comfortable calling myself a small-r rosarian. I've been growing roses for only about 5 years; before that I chose plants that reminded me of roses but weren't as intimidating - begonias, dahlias, etc. Now I'm up to 55 roses; mostly floribundas with a handful of HTs, shrubs and minis thrown in. A couple climbers too but I don't have a lot of room for the really big ones. If I did I'd try Jude the Obscure in a heartbeat! I'm living in Toronto Canada, and my neighourhood is a nice little microclimate that qualifies as USDA zone 5b; at times I can even stretch that to 6. My yard is full of mixed perennial beds and has all types of light areas. I've got almost as many varieties of hostas as roses, and more iris, but only because they don't take up as much space. I also love lilies and peonies, particularly the intersectionals. In my "past life" I was a wildlife biologist and worked at several different zoos in Canada and the US throughout my education/career as a keeper, trainer, wildlife educator, and researcher. I loved that work more than I can say, but ultimately, when the time came, being at home for my kids came first. To my immense pleasure, I found that my appreciation for nature, science and taxonomy, my obsessive devotion to detail and my love of living things of all shapes translated very naturally into gardening. I'm not a member of any rose society yet, but now that you mention it... I'd better look into the local club scene! This is the big version of my current profile icon. It's not a rose shot but it reminds me of a very special time in my life. The shot is about 10 years old, and is me visiting with some young and friendly elephants. I will always feel highly privileged to have had such experiences. Karen

shades, I have a dolly (no straps tho) but I still couldn't move things. could maybe stack a few smaller boxes on it. jed has some stretch bands? with hooks on the ends that he uses. I actually have 2 small ones like his. should buy longer ones. yes, I have different people say they'll come do stuff - but then something happens and they don't show up. I've been trying for over 3 wks to get new front tires. my mechanic said he'd get some for me and put on. then stuff happened at his shop (to do with wind storms here), after that his elderly mother needed help up in phx... I had a test scheduled and had to cxl it! he got here and took wheels off to have tires put on... then many days later on NYE day he made it here and put wheels on front. and left. about 2 hrs later I got in car to go to store and heard horrible noise when backing the car up. couldn't go anywhere. he finally made it back here on sat. Tires were wrong size. too big and were hitting the struts. He put those on the back and my back tires on the front so I could at least go to the store. he's coming back tomorrow to take car to the tire shop to have them changed and rotated back. good grief! that something so normally simple would be such a bear to get done. this has also had me stranded in my own house for days. I wanted to get out and pick up take out from local Mexican rest. - tired of my own 'cooking' - lol! (finally got my 'dinner' today!) Then Jed over watered my plants last sunday and ran me out of water - but I didn't know it... had to shut down the pump til more water could be delieved - on Wednesday! (that was today and I now have water again). just thinking of these things tires me... oh, and in between these things my son landed himself in the hospital in the Midwest with a blood infection. been in there 5 days, has something connected to him/in him by his heart. could have died / or lost his leg. will be able to go home (info from dd) but will need to return to hospital every day for 10 days to have more antibiotics put in whatever that 'thing' is attached to him. he says it's called cellulitis (what he has). I would have guessed that meant he had cellulite - he's way too thin and fit for that! And with my fibro I've been sleeping a ton again. and cold, damp weather outside here - that doesn't help. I hope anyone reading this survived...