Hi to all of you. I feel as if I've been gone so long, I half expected to see pictures of Ivy at her high school prom! Glad that is not the case. Oh, 'bug, I love to watch Patrick skate. I also skated until I was about 16 and then went back to ice dancing as an adult. What I love about Patrick is that he is the whole package-not just a jumper, but his footwork is wonderful and his spins are good, too. He is, to my mind, one of the greats. Cindy, your gardens are beautiful. Your clematis is way beyond mine. I only have buds at this point. Doesn't seem fair since we are so close to each other! Happy birthday to Stella. Want to see pics of her celebrating and of Isla in the water. Babies do love that class and they are so cute the first time they go under the water. I laugh every time I think of doing that with John. Norma, your dogwoods are just lovely. We lost three since last summer. I am exceedingly envious and appreciative of your wonders. Chelone, the Picea looks great. Really, if you are worried about all your unfinished projects, just drop down here for a visit. I have tons of "not even started" projects. I think having in-progress ones would be grand. I suspect I am just plain lazy. Sending good thoughts Nolon and Marian's way. Hope the surgery went smoothly. I am always amazed these days at how routine so many of these operations have become. Hope that was the case for Nolon and that recovery is quick. Julie, won't you have fun redesigning your garden now with sun-loving plants. Much as I hate them in my bird feeders, I am glad the mama squirrel was able to rescue her babies. Martie, happy news about Ky and Lauren. Hope something breaks for Rich. Job hunting is not easy these days, is it? Drema, congratulations on the job! So nice to "hear" your excitement! Michelle, Kenzie is such a cutie. I understand her wanting to feel the sunshine-love that! Deanne, that is one absolutely beautiful plate. What immense talent you have-and in so many different areas! Impressive! Those dew-drops on the rose are incredible and the colors-wow. Eden, cute Easter pictures with THE bunny. :) Saucy, thanks for the birthday wishes. I hope your weekend in NYC with Sarah and Emma was full of laughter and fun! Kathy, I always love your garden pictures (the roses are fabulous), whether your own or the ones you visit, but now I want to see your b-w stairwell gallery. I bet it is marvelous. Yeona, that necklace is so pretty and I'll bet she loved that it referenced the eggs she gave you. Love the one you made for your mom, too, Michelle. Woody, I hope your weather improved from last weekend and week. It will be more fun once the clean-up is behind you. I suspect, though, that Randy probably enjoyed the fact that you were stuck inside and got the sweater finished. It is fantastic! All you talented folks put me to shame. I never learned more than a basic stitch because my mother, who was a wonderful knitter, was never inclined to teach us. Oh well. Hope I caught up with everyone, but I am sure to have inadvertently missed someone, so if I did, I will catch you next time for sure. Around here, we have a huge oak that is leaning suddenly and Chuck is, I think, going to leave it until it falls on the house. He wants to just have someone cut two big limbs to see if that helps. Egad. All I have to say is that it had better not hit me when it topples and crushes the cars, the kitchen, the living room, dining room and my pretty little magnolia that is near it. Not to mention all the stuff in the house that will need to be replaced. Aaarrrgghhh. I will be back sooner than later this time, I think. We have our state tests this month and I have finished collecting the evidence for six of my kiddoes who are doing portfolios for their reading assessment rather than taking the multiple choice test. I have five students doing math portfolios that are due in two weeks, so we will be busy finishing those up. It just takes so much time. Oh well. All the rest are taking the tests. Wishing everyone a week of contentment at the very least and perhaps joy and laughter here and there. Time to finish laundry and start getting ready for the week. Oh- and I am setting a goal-when I realized that the Queen is only 26 years older than I, I decided that it is now or never to try to get back into shape a little (I am currently 35 pounds over my nine month pregnancy weight-not a pretty sight), so I am sharing with all of you-perhaps that will force me to get back to being more active!!! :)

Thanks for the comments, as you can tell...I love frogs! Brenda: Would you believe that crazy Damselfly landed just as I was about to click the pic. I really don't know what happened to it, but I would bet that the frog was thinking "lunch"! Glenda: My own cat would not be a threat to the frogs either, but the neighbor's cat truly is a serial killer. He just kills for the sport of it, and he is not particular about his prey; anything that moves suits his fancy. It is common for him to leave carnage all over the neighborhood! It is also a common site for the neighbors to see this old granny chasing the cat from my yard and yelling "go home, you murderer! LOL Of course, I would never do anything to hurt him, because I love all animals. And I think that mayabe the cat actually enjoys it when I chase him. Sometimes when he turns around to look at me, it almost looks as if he is smiling...

Hello, everyone! I am a new member, and glad to be here. This is a long post, but it's worth reading, because it is a simple, inexpensive and permanent solution to the problem of rabbits eating your flowers and vegetables. I do cannot understand why so many people pass up this infallible solution for keeping rabbits and other small critters (and maybe deer, as well) from eating their flowers and vegetables. IT WORKS, PERIOD. Put in a blender the following, none of which need to be peeled or otherwise fooled with, except for the onion, which should be cut in quarters, to facilitate blending: 2 dozen habanero peppers 1 whole head garlic 1 medium red onion 1 tablespoon peppermint oil Add enough water so that it comes to about 4 inches above ingredients.(This really means to add enough water that ingredients will get as liquefied as possible.) Blend on highest speed until it appears to you that all ingredients are thoroughly liquefied. Add enough additional water to come up to the 1 quart mark on blender. Blend again at high speed for 30 seconds or so. Strain the mixture through a nylon stocking, or better yet, a nut milk bag, if you have one. It might even be worth your while to buy a nut bag expressly for the purpose of making this recipe. (Just do a search under "Not bag" or "nut milk bag.) But a nylon stocking will work. Strain mixture over a bowl through stocking (or nut bag) till no more liquid runs through. Then squeeze as much more liquid as possible out of what is still in the stocking. WASH YOUR HANDS AND UNDER YOUR NAILS VERY WELL WITH LOTS OF SOAP AND WARM WATER AFTER HANDLING THE MIXTURE. Using a funnel, pour the strained liquid into a 1 quart spray/stream bottle. Now you are ready to spray or squirt the mixture on your plants. Rabbits will NOT eat plants on which you spray this stuff. You don't need to over spray, but don't be stingy, either. Make sure whatever you spray gets a decent dousing. It won't take long before the critters keep away just because of the smell HOWEVER, you MUST be vigilant about using this stuff. After it rains, especially after a hard rain, spray your plants again. Whether it rains or not, spray every 3 weeks. If the smell wears off sufficiently, the rabbits will be back. Also, there will be young, "unschooled" rabbits coming along throughout the season, That's it. No rabbit fences, no dogs, cats, traps, etc. The main reason this mixture works is because rabbits will not take more than a nibble of a leaf with this stuff on it before they try something else. By the way, rabbits have a "favorites" list." So if you spray this mixture on whatever is their favorite item in your garden, they will begin eating whatever is second, then third, fourth, etc. on their list. So that means you need to spray most things in your garden, except for plants you know they won't eat, like tomatoes, for instance. I read the post about rabbits eating someone's tomatoes, and I would not believe it unless I actually saw it. The reason is that tomatoes, potatoes and other nightshade family plants have a horrible tasting poison in their leaves and stems. Rabbits simply cannot to tolerate it. Try a little nibble on a leaf yourself, and you'll see... Well, that's it: Capsaicin is the end of the line for rabbit problems, as well as other small critter problems. I think this stuff also works for deer, but am not sure. It may be that a mixture for deer needs to also have "putrefied egg solids" in it. THAT is something I would buy, not make!

ditto morz8's comment. I too love dogs but my kids' animals don't get much face time with me in my garden. I give them plenty of attention at family gatherings. They're dogs; they don't know the rules when they're in a garden not their own. Since she brought the dog and you had freshly cultivated dirt, I think I'd have experienced a Red Alert. Shouldn't be the kiss of death for your seedlings unless the dog chewed them. WS seedlings tend to be tough little troopers.