So now in florida and checked on the peas this morning. Mauirose, you were correct, they did in fact do surprisingly well amongst the massive weeds. There they were blooming away, about 3 feet tall and hidden by the six-foot tall and deep-rooted clumping rank weeds named I know not what but hauled out by hand from the deep floridy sand. Now the peas have some sun. Somewhat ironically perhaps, I am here just in time to see them get frosted tonight. Most likely, according to the forecast. I was surprised - again - by the condition that cajanus cajan was not much if any farther along in its cycle here than it was in MA five weeks ago. I was expecting to find peas on the plants if there were plants to be found at all. But nary a pod yet formed. This all reinforces my feeling that cajanus cajan is not a crop for the lower 48 unless it were south florida and even there probably difficult. Unless those elusive short-season cultivars show themselves......

A few years ago me and my buddy were taking a late night drive in Lenox, Ny (it is in between Oneida ny and Canatosta Ny). We were going around a curve in the road when i saw a camel/dark tan colored big cat next to the road looking to cross. I thought I was crazy until my dads buddy who lives 5 min from sighting told me hes seen a couple around on his way to work. Now i have a more recent sighting on Lake road in Oneida ny. My grandparents live on that road and one day I was fishing oneida creek behind their house, there is about a mile in between the house and the creek with very thick woods. I was just fishing when I looked down and saw a huge cat like footprint in the mud at the creek bank, it looked pretty fresh so i decided to walk downstream towards Oneida lake. I walked about a half mile downstream until i saw a big cat identical to the one i saw on Buyea Road. It was moving very swift and quick, something ive never seen before. I watched it for about 10 seconds until it dissapeared into the woods. Mountain lions are far from ”extinct” in upstate NY. I believe there is actually a good population. There is so much hilly land up here and alot of deep woods for them to hide.

If anyone is still reading this thread, did it strike any of you as significant at the seating placement? Jill, Bethany and LuAnn on one couch, the rest on the other - do you think that was significant grouping indicating "teams" or simply where they landed when they all went to take a seat? LuAnn was not one of my "favorites" but she sure looked terrific and came off as more "real" in personality than she ever has, I actually liked her last night - a first for me. Divorce seems to suit her in every way, maybe she is finding out she is far happier without The Count. If so, *good* for her!! The very nerve of anyone to break off a marriage via e-mail. Anyone who falls in with Mr. NoCount knowing this is how he handled the mother of his children and the end of the 15 year marriage? Via email?!? They will end up with exactly what they deserve. Product description found stamped on rear end. What a bum. I'm interested to see how Lou Ann comes off next season, I might like her a whole lot more next season. She didn't seem so "I'm a countess and you're not" to me tonight, she struck me as a real person. I'm never going to like Kelly, to me she is a phony. It's ALWAYS somebody else's fault, has anyone ever noticed that? You can never tell if what she says is the truth because she is always the victim when somebody gets upset with her. Romana - without her would there even be a show? *LOL* She's ok, but she has to be willing to take it if she dishes it out and I'm not so sure she is good at taking it. If she keeps up this defensive cat back biting, they are going to take her down, she will look the fool by her own actions. For the first time, I realized that the blond one (terrible with names) is probably the most decent in basic character of the whole lot of them. She and her husband always creeped me out, but I realized tonight that she is an honestly decent person who doesn't go out looking for ill will and doesn't send it out there either - that's more than I can say for the rest of them. I actually liked her - a LOT, tonight. She presented her case against Bethany very well and I suddenly realized she is not one who back bites like the rest of them. Though I can't stand that husband of her's, I cannot begin to imagine how hurt she has been about the comments made about him. And, her (ok. awful) children. She just sits quietly and doesn't throw back like Romana does. She will say what she has to say and then just shuts up. I've know people like that, they have landed on their feet no matter what happened to them, their whole life. Good for her. Bethany - how decent of her to own up to her bad behavior regarding the blonde one - I really admired Bethany for that. I have always admired people who were willing to admit fault when called on bad behavior, expecially if they noticed faults in others and commented on it. It speaks well of Bethany that she owned her poor behavior. Bethany looked seriously worn though, too thin, tired looking, too much make up. I also saw a "softer" side of her, when she admitted she was hurt - I've always liked her, but she came off as too tough with very biting sarcasm, which I love but not when it's used as a sharp tool against others in the social circle. She looked like she badly needed a vacation and about five - eight additional pounds. Jill looked *terrific* didn't she? Good for her for not apologising to that viewer's remark for how she spends her money. Who has the right to determine how another should spend what is theirs?!? I couldnt believe that question. I may not have much much money, but what I have, nobody gave to me, it's what I earned and I'll spend/save/invest it exactly the way I choose. When did being wealthy become such a crime in this country? Sounds like mean spirited envy to me. I felt that to be a reversed snobby question. "Holy catfight!!" is right - can't wait until tonight - Romana is going to have a stroke and her eyeballs will fall right out of her head if she doesn't settle down *LOL* Those New Jersey women? I'm not going to comment on them, they might find out where I live and come after me. God Forbid! I'm ascard of them. I want them to remain on my tv screen, not on my front porch *LOL* I can't begin to believe that I actually watch this show........and enjoy discussing it! Just can't comprehend this. But, I do love it - brain junk food *LOL* I'll only admit it here though, to the rest of the world? Why, I would NEVER be caught DEAD................;)

Forcing was used then, as it is now, to produce flowers out of season. Potted roses were grown in heated glass houses to stimulate them to produce flowers. One of the famous HPs of the Nineteenth Century was almost dumped due to accidental forcing. An American florist invested heavily in "American Beauty", hoping to make back his investment as a winter forcing type. It wouldn't grow and it wouldn't flower. The plants were collected to be dumped, but business got in the way and they were forgotten. When they went to clear out the area, they discovered that the space where they had collected them, being by the heating boiler, was sufficiently warm to force them to grow and flower. Accidentally, one of the most famous of all "American" roses was saved. From the Reference section of Help Me Find... Magazine (16 Aug 1894) Page(s) 30. The main points required in a forcing rose under the present conditions are a good constitution and its accompaniments, namely, vigorous and rapid growth, strong upright stem, good substance, rich foliage, and immunity from disease; large flowers borne on single stems, with persistent petals of clean color and no tendency to turn purplish; sufficient doubleness of flower to prevent exposing the center when full blown, but not so double as to interfere with free and rapid development of blooms in midwinter; long and steady season of blooming. The variety coming nearest to a combination of all these good qualities is the American Beauty, which is undoubtedly the grandest forcing rose ever introduced and has no rival in the market to-day. It has steadily maintained its price better than any other variety and the demand for plants the present season has been greater than ever before. Not everyone succeeds with the Beauty. Its stubbornness has been the cause of many a heartache, and frequently in winter it puzzles those hitherto most successful in its cultivation, rewarding their care and attention with unmarketable blooms and keen disappointment. As one prominent grower has remarked, "It's no trick to grow Beauty until you get the fire on; when the short days come, that’s the test." The American Beauty can doubtless be made better by careful selection of stock. One grower who has been at work on it for some time claims a great advance in intensity of color.