What does it matter if you have children or not. My brother and sil and two kids would come to visit and it was a nightmare for me.Sil would get on the exercise bike and ride it like crazy at dawn and I would be woken up thinking a train was coming through my bedroom. I worked and am the kind that needs so much sleep or I am a bear and not nice person to be arund, crabby I get. The crying from oldest nepew was awful. They wouldn't help parents out or making suppers, nothing at all and claimed with a baby they couldn't do things like dishwasher,etc. So, I did it with him on my hip and working with one hand cleaning up the kitchen. Sil would go running just before supper and arrive in time to eat. You have to talk to them and tell them they are responsible for putting kids to bed by such and such a time, you wear the kids so they are tired out, they sure don't have a bedtime routine ad found that out being a nanny and evening babysitter. They need to be told its bathtime and yes, start doing it and then giving them a small snack and drink and brushing their teeth, make sure they go to bathroom before bedtime and then what book do you want read and make bedtime special. Tv and electronics are gone including for adults too after certain time of night and they might settle down after all that. That is who I would settle kids for naps or quiet time is wear them out in am, gave them a nice lunch and read to them and bedtime. Kids need routine and so many parents are lazy and won't do parenting, they would rather let them do what ever they want to do and wait until they drop off somewhere and carry them to bed. When they go to school, kids are exhausted even teens from lack of sleep. I agree if that won't work, then motel they can go and separate mom, grandma and baby from them as mom and grandma must be tired out too. I used to tell my dad why mom lets her son and sil and grandkids not help and do things? But she wouldn't and would be so tired. I finally was the bad guy and told my brother he has to pull their weight around here when visiting, they kids were older teens, they were told motel they will stay when they come out for their visits as its too hard on everyone and he wasn't hapy but they did that. So, talk and put straight what must be done and make sure its being done or motel they go. When you go visiting or welcomed in when things like power outages happen, then you respect other homes and rules whether you are family or not. That is great the dances can cope with it all and grew up used to all that but not all of was and makes it hard.

I'm here, a2g! TG, good news on the jaw thing. It sounds like your guy is taking a careful approach. Also love the doors! :) raee, sorry you went through the abscess experience, too. It seems it's not as uncommon as one would think! Great news on the leaves. I put out a call on Freecycle for people's bagged leaves. Specifically mentioned I wasn't volunteering to rake their yards, but could keep more out of the landfills if it were already bagged. I gotta pick that up, but at least my new garden bed will have a strong leaf layer! And sorry about the deer. They've done some damage here, but mostly kept away I think because of my dog. Now that she's gone...? (Shhhh! don't tell 'em) cal_quail, glad HD is stepping up, at least with the plumber thing. I wonder if they care about this stuff, or if they continue to recommend these (dumb) companies? I've been working hard on my newest garden bed. I'm going Hugelkulture and it's coming along nicely. One of my goals was not to buy anything for it. I didn't realize that was a goal until I started thinking about the lasagna layers. Anyway, I've got the wood from OCD reuse center purchases (and have enough for 2 more beds) and am starting to collect the timber (junk wood) to put in the bottom. I was seeing all kinds along the road, when my neighbor took me to two woodpiles he has, which for some reason he's not using. Aged wood won't pull the nitrogen out of the soil as energetically. Plus, I've been bringing home 5 gallon buckets of coffee and tea grounds to compensate for that. I have pictures, but am working off old phones. (No $$to take my old phone to the repair place, to consolidate probably lost info onto the old SIM card, to transfer it to the new phone I've had for 3 months now.) It is my hope to be able to go back and post some pics appropriately. BTW. Anyone remember the generic Blutooth pin for the Motorola Razr phones? They were extremely popular, so I'm hoping. :) I've tried the most common ones, but so far, no go. If I can figure that out, I can transfer a bunch of pics to my computer. These phones have lost the capability to email pics, and one just can't take 'em anymore. When do those abilities expire? Grrrr... In the meanwhile, here's a picture I'd sent to my sister of my latest adoption (last August), Buster. He's put on a few since meals are regular:

Quite a few of the British also use that glottal stop in a word where Canadians would vocalize an "r": e.g. "fo-y" instead of "forty" (I guess that involves both the disavowed "R" and "T")! (Spell check doesn't like my pronunciation, either). ole joyful

Dear Paula, I'm so late this year but I will not miss to tell you that I'm glad your are still cancer free! I already checked a few of your jokes and they get better every year :-) It has not been a good gardening year over here, the weather was crazy and frost was really late and rain in June/July, so I was not able to take the pictures I would have wanted. But soon it's time for new ones. The sun is shining for two weeks now and I hope I can detect a few signs of life soon.