Good Evening Idylls! (((Dear Taryn)))...you didnt bum me out or chase me away! We just had a minor crisis here at home, but things have quieted down, so I thought I would catch up with the Idylls. Of course its so sad to know that Bruce is coming to the end of his journey and I feel so badly for Gigi and his children. Im glad they have had these last few years to make memories and to be together...memories they will carry with them always. Its really hard to even imagine how they will get through this; how anyone gets through this. One thing I do know is that they have been blessed to have you in their lives. You have been a true friend and an exceptional, strong, loving, and generous soul. I couldnt say it any better than Yeona "you are the epitome of a good friend. I'm sure that Gigi will need you more than ever, just as I'm sure you'll be there." I really loved your songs Taryn, especially the one about Living Like You Are Dying. It made me think of a quote I keep on my computer called "In This Moment." Every time I read that quote it puts pictures in my head and so I wanted to share them with you. I hope that anyone who reads this wont see it as a sad thing, because it is not sad at all to me....its a reminder of my blessings and gets me centered when I feel askew. This has been a hard year for me, but honestly, I *do* know how lucky and blessed I have been! I have lived a charmed life and I need to remind myself of that sometimes. The words of this quote always hit home and Im going to post it here because its filled with the pics in my head. I hope when you read the words that it fills your head too, with all the many blessings and special moments in your life. I dont want to take up space on the new post, so Im posting it here: In This Moment Author Unknown We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are... After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles *were* my life". This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness *is* the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special. Special enough to spend your time ...and remember... time waits for no one... So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off Until Spring... Until Summer... Until Fall... Until Winter... until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy... Happiness is a journey...not a destination... So, dance as if no one were watching... Sing as if no one were listening... And live every day as if it were your last...

Hi Jan, was cold here this morning with a frost. I was just uncovering my tender plants and it feels like it will warm up nicely. Here in western Michigan the weather is up and down all spring. I keep a close eye on it because I have many Bleeding Hearts and Lillium, they are frost sensitive so I cover them. It's a pain but they are so beautiful it's worth it. I am new to Daylilies and am thrilled to have found this site. I won a few auctions on LA and can't wait to get them and plant them. I too will be weeding this afternoon. Have fun. Nancy VB

Merryheart, I was living here in 2002. We moved here in February 1999. What I remember of 2002 was that we had a whole lot of rain in March, April and June and were relatively dry the rest of that year until October or November brought heavy autumn rains. Y'all may have had more rain in Carter County than we had here in 2002. I remember 2004 vividly because we were trying to get the barn/garage built and it rained daily. My dad, who was in the latter stages of Alzheimer's Disease went into a hospice facility in early June and passed away six days later. I was there with him for five of those six days. It rained here every day during that time frame. After daddy passed away, I came home to a wet, soggy, wildly overgrown and weedy garden/yard and trees full of almost-too-ripe peaches. I was playing catch-up for weeks. For what it is worth, we had about 30" of rain here in 2002 and the huge majority of it fell in March, April, June and October. In 2004 we had a little over 40" of rain, with more than 14" of that falling in June alone. The rain in 2004 was especially heavy in April, June, July, October and November, but each month had a pretty decent rainfall amount. I am just guessing, but I think we are on track to have a rainfall year more like 2004 than 2002. One of my peach trees is a Ranger and the other is RedHaven. The guys who were building our barn couldn't get anything done....and they were getting nervous because when they weren't working, they weren't getting paid! They noticed it tended to rain every day during the daylight hours but hardly ever rained at night that summer, so they bought some of those big worklights on stands and started working all night and sleeping during the day. It still took them about twice as long to finish our building as it should have, but that was the fault of the constant rain. Last night we received a weather statement from the NWS that the Red River was going to crest at something like 22.5' and that flood stage near Gainesville/Thackerville is about 25'. So, I think it is up and running about as high as we ever see it around here. I feel sorry for the folks in the Kingston area. Some of them always get flooded when the river is this high. My rainfall totals often vary significantly from the NWS totals and from the OK mesonet station for Love County at Burneyville. Our local cooperative weather service observer lives only a mile or so from us and you would be surprised how much our numbers will vary from his sometimes. That is one of the reason I try to track our rainfall for myself. My early-ripening peach tree is Red Haven and it always ripens around Father's Day, which makes it easy for me to remember when to expect ripe fruit. My other tree is Ranger, and it ripens later than Red Haven but earlier than Loring. According to OSU data, my Red Haven should ripen in early July. However, this tree does as it pleases and always ripens before July arrives. Maybe it is because we are so very far south. Nothing in my garden looks the way it ought to, and nothing is producing the way it usually does. I am hoping for sunshine and heat to correct the problems....if we ever have sunshine and heat again. Just the other day, some of our local firefighters at a meeting I had attended asked me how the garden was doing. I told them that it was pitiful and I was disgusted with it. They were stunned....saying that could not possibly be true. I assured them it was true. I described the garden and how the plants were looking and told them I'd only had about a dozen ripe tomatoes so far. That's when they told me that I was nuts if I wasn't happy with the garden because no one else has had any ripe tomatoes yet, and likely won't for another month. So, I tried to explain to them that usually my garden is 'spectacular' by now but this year it is only average. They basically told me to 'get over it'. LOL So, I guess in comparison to many local gardens, mine is doing fine. However, compared to how it normally does, I still think is it underperforming. I keep telling myself that some years are just this way and you just have to work with the weather you're given. This year's weather is certainly challenging though. I must say the trees love the rain and are growing like mad. We had an additional 2/10s of an inch after I emptied the rain gauge last evening, and both the skies here and the radar indicate it is likely we will receive more rain today. Right now the sun is shining and I bet the mosquitoes are hatching outside. Dawn

Lol Dr. Nature - 72 degrees huh? I'll think of you over the next 3-4 months as I brave our winters here. Actually, I was surprised to see a new male house finch at the feeder the other day. He was alone - no female with him which I thought was odd. Then yesterday I saw a female at the feeder and today another female. So some other ones have decided, for the time being anyway, to brave our winters. Would be nice if they stayed as my feeders have gone unusually quiet the last week or so. I have my chickadees that come around, but haven't seen the downy woodpecker that was coming for about a week now and haven't yet seen any red-breasted nuthatches. I live in an urban setting so I don't get any of the grosbeaks or crossbills but I'm still hoping that some day they might find my feeder.