Final report on the spring planting of Cool Breeze: 32 lbs of cucumbers from 12 plants. Put another way, 24 pints of bread and butter pickles, 9 quarts of sliced dill pickles, and a few cucumbers for fresh eating and sharing with family. Every fruit was crisp, juicy, and sweet, even when the plans were under stress. They held very well in the fridge, too. That trait was really useful, since I needed to collect 2-3 pickings to get enough for a batch of pickles. Debby did them in; I've been battling mildew for weeks but after three days of near-constant rain every single leaf is badly damaged, even the newest growth. I'm going to give it a few days to see if any of the small fruit still on the vines will grow to usable size, then yank them. (Also, I need to get more seeds before I can replant.) I had pretty much expected to lose them in the heat and humidity of summer. With the good harvest, I consider them a big success, and will definitely replant this variety in the future. Note: The fruits I had this year were really spiny. I don't remember them being this spiny when I grew them years ago. I even had spines lodge in my fingers and break off in my skin. (The good news is that the spines soften up and fall out after a few hours.) If you have delicate skin, I recommend wearing gloves to harvest and handle them until you wash the spines off, or they soften on their own.

I travelled up the Oregon Coast not long ago. Being a sailor I was poking around some of the yacht harbors and such and found a grated area near where the fishing boats were docked. I poked around looking for things to photograph, and found a HUGE pile of fish remains with flies buzzing around and slime coming from the bottom. I asked the fisherman what the pile was being used for, since I am also a gardener I figured the remains would be used for that. He said they sell to pet food companies. I will never forget that. So - that is what I mean by junk fish. As far as human grade food - I dont mean a nice piece of filet mignon, although I am certain your dog would love that. I mean food that is not just extras body parts thrown in a heated bin and made into a soup and processed into dog food. As far as human grade food Im talking about meat which is regularly tested for pesticides, herbicides, and other contaminants. As far as high protein goes, I know from working at a vet that you add dog biscuits or something crunchy - not for the teeth of the dogs but to help them process all that meat, I know high protein diets can slow the digestive process and I also know that dogs and other wild animals supplement their diet naturally ie:BARF type diets. Even zoo's give their charges food they would not normally get in the wild, cantelope and watermelon to bears and tigers etc....Those are my concerns, that any pet get a good quality food and not junk food, and that food is tested for contaminants. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Dawnidea, I'd love to hear what your husband knows about changes to Audi - is it the 2016's? or the 2017's? I don't know if I can tolerate this car for another year. 1929Spanish, my old BMW was a 2003 with 178k miles on it- I loved that car more than any I'd ever owned (well, except maybe my 1967 GTO that I owned in my 20's). It was still going strong, but I haul my grandson a lot and didn't want to risk being stranded someplace with him, if it did break down - it was just getting up there in miles and too risky. I am not a regretful person, but I regretted getting the new one almost immediately. I sold my old one to my handyman; I almost offered to trade him the new one to get my old one back! Cyn, I'm glad to hear you love your Audi. I had a 1973 Audi 100LS that I loved, back in the 1970's, then two different model VW's that I loved when they were made in Germany, but I quit VW when they started being made in Mexico, because my last one was not reliable. All my cars have had 150K + miles, so leasing is a new thought for me. You all have helped me. Thanks!

That was a long. but very good start of the day quotes. Can't but agree with most of them and the second quote very much reminds me of my parents. They taught me tolerance in a time where it was not the thing to do.