Gee, and it all started because I drove a forklift at work, lol! I tell Jim that's why he went out with me...figured if I could do that, I could adapt to a tractor ;) Deanne, I'll try to drive anything at least once. I have to admit though, it took 3 years before I'd even attempt to take that stuff down the road from one field to another, and I'm still very slow and cautious about it. Hi, Marian! Up until a couple of years ago, we had a John Deere A, and John Deere B and a four bottom plow hanging around. Just looking at the plow made me tired, thinking about all the acres we cover. Eden, I do love the wide open spaces. Only drawback is that it's hard for me to garden with that as a backdrop. No matter how much stuff I put in, it looks small and empty with all that space around :) You'll see what I mean when I post pics of the stump bed. Michelle, the Versatiles are real work horses. Not sure what year they are, but they plug along all day with very little trouble. There are a lot of Deeres around here, but not many Internationals or Fords. (I think the blue Fords are really pretty!) What's your soil like? Lots of clay? 'bug, I see the MOST gorgeous scenery at harvest time. Not to mention all the wildlife that's hiding in the corn. I feel sorry for the rabbits...think how scary it would be to have that giant combine come roaring up in the middle of your dinner. Tons of deer...gorgeous, desctructive beasts that they are. Chelone, um, yeah...it's like workin' with the Chippendale dancers...HA! There's even MORE stuff to drag around behind a tractor. Rototary (sp) hoe, in case the ground gets a crust on it and the plants can't pop through, anhydrous applicators for putting on nitrogen, chisel plows....they can keep you busy dragging something around for as long as you'll tolerate it, lol! OH, in the bottom of the tractor seat, there's sort of a glove box doo-dad. There's been the same roll of toilet paper in there for the six years we've farmed with these guys. Wouldn't use it on a BET! In my "lunchbox", I carry travel size kleenex, two 16 oz bottles of water, my checkbook-it has my drivers license, cash, etc., Excedrin, Midol, a travel ashtray (yeah, I know, I'm just sayin'...) and a container that's usually full of roasted almonds. I've been left in a field to starve one too many times. And, I still have room to tuck in any emergency necessities I might need. The guys find it endlessly amusing when I offer them a "cigar", LMAO! They embarrass so easily! It doesn't pay to be bashful around these clowns. Plus, they stay outta my lunch box for fear of what they might find ;) As per request, I'll get some shots of the gardens. Hopefully I can get some of the peonies before the rain beats them into the ground...NOT that I'm complaining...we need rain. I usually offer up my gorgeous peonies in return for it. That's also how I got the "stump bed". We were in need of rain really bad one year, and the storm that brought the rain that saved the crops took down the old silver maple tree. I already had a planting area around the base of it, so what the heck, ya roll with the punches, eh? Went from a shade bed to a sun bed pretty quick. Thanks for all the kind words..I tend to forget there are people who DON'T have all this crap parked around on their property :) Brenda

I have lots of stuff left...still working on my salsa bonanza of 07, believe it or not! I canned a LOT of Annie's salsa that year! I have maybe four pints of stewed tomatoes and several quarts of unseasoned tomato sauce; the chunky tomato-basil sauce, multipurpose, and italian seasoned sauces are all gone. I have a lot of the roasted tomato basil soup left over b/c there was something about the flavor that didn't quite work for me. Maybe it was the basil after canning. I've made the soup before but frozen it, and I liked the flavor of the frozen better. I have about 8 jars of tomato sauce and 4 of the veggie juice cocktail. Still have a few jars of dilly beans and maybe one of sweet pickle chunks and a few jars of bread and butter pickles. Lots of blueberry and blueberry-cherry jam left, but the strawberry freezer jam and the strawberry-banana jam (that ended up in the fridge after a discussion of its safety) are all gone. I have a lot of salsa verde, green tomato relish, and pickle relish. Some beets (no pickled beets left, though) and jalapeno rings. I still have some peaches in spirits and peach salsa from 07, too. Those peaches are probably pretty high-proof by now! Dilly beans--try them in a bloody Mary as your stirrer, or as a tangy side to a plain glass of V-8! apple pie jam--I ended up using a lot of that in oatmeal, and it was great!

Julia, absolutely DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ON YOUR ELECTRIC FENCE!!! When the power is on, it will burn it or ground it at that point where contact is made. (I hope I have this right.) We have to be vigilant and check the wires to keep them free of anything. We have some daylily foliage very close to the wires, and these will burn if they touch. We go in and clip them back if this happens. When you do your fence, try to keep this in mind. Try to keep them away from the plants as much as possible so there will be little chance of this happening. Unfortunately, our setup means we have to watch the plants that are close to the perimeter, and do our best to keep them away from the wires. Next year, we will be in the process of evaluating a number of the d.lilies and other plants in there to see what should stay and what should go. We might be able to move some things more into the middle and away from those lines. The moonflowers you see in the pics are planted on an old barbed-wire fence that we have never taken down--probably should do that some day. We try to start seeds in April or May and get them in the ground when they are growing good. We have a trellis in the middle of the Main Garden and the moonflowers are grown there,(and on the old fence.) Usually, by the middle of August into Sept. it is pretty well covered with vines, and it's wonderful when the flowers bloom. In the evening, the nighthawk moths come in to pollinate the flowers, and it's fun to watch them, they look like hummingbirds. We also grow tuberoses and they bloom about the same time, so in the evening the fragrance is tremendous. Avedon

Chubbles' self-ID elapsed time of 53 minutes misses the forum record of 43 minutes, set last year. Chubbles, you should consider submitting the photo to the Moth Photographer's Group as your moth has more details than their photo. It looks like the Group now has a series of "live" moth images. They are accepting up to 4 different views per species.